MacBook Pro freezes entirely after reboot

[izzy0242mr]

Lately, my Early 2011 MacBook Pro running 10.11.6 (with Security Update 3) has been freezing up in what appears to be a kernel panic of some sort: it happens most often after reboots, although occasionally just randomly after the system has been running for a while, but basically everything freezes up and I can't do anything except force a shutdown. I have the seconds displayed in my clock in the menubar, and that freezes, as does literally everything on the screen. Can't move the mouse, etc. Sometimes, if I am constantly moving the mouse, everything will freeze up *except* the mouse and I can still move it for about 10-15 seconds and then it stops responding also.

At first I thought this might be a RAM error, as I had 1600 MHz RAM (16 GB) in it a while back, but I got that replaced with 1333 MHz RAM (also 16 GB) and it wasn't acting up for a while. Now the problem has returned today randomly and I am not sure what it is or why. Any ideas? I ran a hardware test with the CD-ROM a while back and it didn't turn up any errors.

EDIT: Sometimes after a reboot, it'll load most of the way on the OS X loading screen and then stop, and reboot again. I'm trying to boot it into Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key right now, but it's taking extra long to boot and so far hasn't booted successfully yet...

EDIT 2: Full specs: 13" MacBook Pro, Early 2011. Upgraded 16 GB 1333 MHz Crucial RAM, upgraded 1 TB hybrid hard drive, replaced DVD drive, replaced battery with Newer Tech battery. OS X 10.11.6

 

[keysofanxiety]

15" or 17"? What you described is almost completely synonymous with a graphics card failure. There was a repair program for it but it's expired now: https://www.apple.com/uk/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

If you have the 13", it's probably the SATA cable, and/or the HDD if you haven't yet replaced that for an SSD.

 

[izzy0242mr]

15" or 17"? What you described is almost completely synonymous with a graphics card failure. There was a repair program for it but it's expired now: https://www.apple.com/uk/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

If you have the 13", it's probably the SATA cable, and/or the HDD if you haven't yet replaced that for an SSD.

13". I have a hybrid hard drive that I've been using for a few years, although I've thought about upgrading to an SSD. Just an hour ago, though, I unplugged the battery (internally), took the RAM out and cleaned the connectors gently, and then put them back but switched the position of the RAM sticks. Rebooted normally and it's been running fine for the past hour+.

[How] can I test the SATA cable?

 

[keysofanxiety]

[How] can I test the SATA cable?

That's a difficult one really. All I can say is that they have documented issues with failing over time. They tend to deteriorate naturally from air and dust, so based on the age of the system, it's quite likely.

We can start by eliminating the hard-drive. If you'd be happy to run SMART Utility and see what that says. Anything other than Passed would indicate the drive is failing: https://cloudfront.volitans-software.com/smartutility323.zip

If that comes back clean, it's got to be the SATA cable. Apple have a silent repair program for them in the 2012s, though as you've got a 2011 it may be deemed vintage now. iFixit or other retailers should sell them fairly cheaply, though I'm sure we'll find one for you if you're located outside the US.

 

[izzy0242mr]

That's a difficult one really. All I can say is that they have documented issues with failing over time. They tend to deteriorate naturally from air and dust, so based on the age of the system, it's quite likely.

We can start by eliminating the hard-drive. If you'd be happy to run SMART Utility and see what that says. Anything other than Passed would indicate the drive is failing: https://cloudfront.volitans-software.com/smartutility323.zip

If that comes back clean, it's got to be the SATA cable. Apple have a silent repair program for them in the 2012s, though as you've got a 2011 it may be deemed vintage now. iFixit or other retailers should sell them fairly cheaply, though I'm sure we'll find one for you if you're located outside the US.

It didn't say Passed. It said Failing and the specific error was "Reallocated Bad Sectors: 8." Nothing else was in red/showed an error.

My hard drive is only about 3 years old - I wouldn't think it'd be failing this quickly. (Here's the specific hybrid drive if you want to look at it: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B99JUBQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

What does the specific error I got mean, and why would it cause the computer to act up sometimes, but not all the time? And do you think it is the hard drive if the problem is (currently, don't wanna jinx myself) fixed after swapping RAM and clearing PRAM/SMC five times and resetting battery?

 

[keysofanxiety]

It didn't say Passed. It said Failing and the specific error was "Reallocated Bad Sectors: 8." Nothing else was in red/showed an error.

My hard drive is only about 3 years old - I wouldn't think it'd be failing this quickly. (Here's the specific hybrid drive if you want to look at it: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B99JUBQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

What does the specific error I got mean, and why would it cause the computer to act up sometimes, but not all the time? And do you think it is the hard drive if the problem is (currently, don't wanna jinx myself) fixed after swapping RAM and clearing PRAM/SMC five times and resetting battery? View attachment 684682View attachment 684683

Yeah it looks like the drive needs to be replaced. In all honesty, 3 years isn't unusual for a drive to fail. The trouble with hybrid drives is that they still rely on the ancient HDD technology in addition to an SSD cache.

Hard-drives almost work similar to a record player. You have a needle which scrapes away, reading data from a platter. It's a clumsy and slow process. It means that drives are susceptible to drops, knocks, or even fail naturally over time due to wear and tear.

Your best bet would be to replace the drive with an SSD (I'd recommend Crucial or Samsung). There are no moving components in SSDs, so you don't risk losing all your data if the drive is dropped. They're also significantly more reliable and infinitely quicker. Load times will be ~15 seconds from a cold boot and applications will open almost instantly.

Also, SSDs are a lot cheaper than they were 3 years ago! The days of £1/$1 per GB are long gone.

 

[matram]

It didn't say Passed. It said Failing and the specific error was "Reallocated Bad Sectors: 8." Nothing else was in red/showed an error.

Reallocated bad sector are faulty sectors on the hard disk that has been detected by the disk drive and flagged as not to be used. Data has been reallocated to other sectors. Potentially data may be damaged.

A few such sectors is OK, the 100 you have is really bad.

In my experience this typically indicates a rapidly failing hard disk. You should have it replaced immediately!

 

[izzy0242mr]

Well, I got a brand new Samsung 850 EVO 1 TB SSD…and right after booting up, the exact same problem happened again. I have experimented a little (both with the new drive and with the old) and I found that if I booted into either the Guest User or a different user account that I have on the computer, the glitch/freeze doesn't happen. And if I use a different account for a bit before logging out and then back into my main account, it usually can be avoided. So I am wondering if it's a specific issue with some file or something that starts on boot? I tried booting in safe mode a few days ago and didn't have the problem when logging directly into the main account, so I guess that could be it…but I am not sure what it would be.

 

[izzy0242mr]

If I could post a log from the Console near times where it had freeze issues, would anyone be able to analyze it for me?

 

[Intell]

Replace the hard drive cable. When they're failing they can trigger false positives with SMART tests. They're cheap and easy to replace. If you want to post Console logs, I can assist with analyzing them.

 

[izzy0242mr]

Replace the hard drive cable. When they're failing they can trigger false positives with SMART tests. They're cheap and easy to replace. If you want to post Console logs, I can assist with analyzing them.

It looks like the Console logs reset after each reboot, and since the issue is it freezes, forcing me to reboot, I can't get any logs unless the computer happens to not experience the error. What am I missing?

 

[Intell]

Not much, other than replacing the hard drive cable.

 

[izzy0242mr]

Not much, other than replacing the hard drive cable.

I thought it was the hard drive and replaced that. How do I know for sure it's the cable and not something software related, especially considering the computer hasn't frozen when I use my secondary account or my Guest account?

 

[Intell]

What you're describing sounds a lot like a failing hard drive cable. It's a known problem in this model Macbook Pro.

 

[Sanpete]

Well, I got a brand new Samsung 850 EVO 1 TB SSD…and right after booting up, the exact same problem happened again. I have experimented a little (both with the new drive and with the old) and I found that if I booted into either the Guest User or a different user account that I have on the computer, the glitch/freeze doesn't happen. And if I use a different account for a bit before logging out and then back into my main account, it usually can be avoided. So I am wondering if it's a specific issue with some file or something that starts on boot? I tried booting in safe mode a few days ago and didn't have the problem when logging directly into the main account, so I guess that could be it…but I am not sure what it would be.

especially considering the computer hasn't frozen when I use my secondary account or my Guest account?

One way to try to find a software issue would be to take a likely piece of suspect software (something you run that most people don't, something likely to affect your system), and add it to your guest account, and test. Keep doing that until you find the problem.

 

[izzy0242mr]

One way to try to find a software issue would be to take a likely piece of suspect software (something you run that most people don't, something likely to affect your system), and add it to your guest account, and test. Keep doing that until you find the problem.

I've tried just disabling all the startup apps and it doesn't seem to do anything. I got a few screenshots of the Console log immediately before I forced it to shut down but I can't tell if there is anything in particular that made it freeze as I'm not familiar with the Console.
[doublepost=1487648945][/doublepost]

What you're describing sounds a lot like a failing hard drive cable. It's a known problem in this model Macbook Pro.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just wondering why the problem would *only* happen on my main user account and not my other two accounts if it's a hardware failure issue.

 

[izzy0242mr]

What you're describing sounds a lot like a failing hard drive cable. It's a known problem in this model Macbook Pro.

Hey just wanted to say I replaced the hard drive cable, and, not to jinx myself, but it so far hasn't had the freezing issue despite a number of reboots. Thanks!

 

[Intell]

I'm happy that fixed it for you! Don't forget to backup your data as a precaution.

 

[izzy0242mr]

I'm happy that fixed it for you! Don't forget to backup your data as a precaution.

Update: Every time I boot into Windows, and then restart back into OS X, I run into either the same system freeze after logging into my OS X account, OR the computer boots most of the way through the Apple loading screen and then reboots by itself again. So far this only happens a single time, not repeatedly like it was before I replaced the hard drive cable. Thoughts?

 

[Intell]

It may be a small one time glitch. Run Disk Utility's First Aid check on the drive to verify that it is working correctly.

 

[izzy0242mr]

Sorry, I meant precisely "this only happens (present tense) a single time," not it has only happened a single time: I mean that every time I reboot from Windows, this happens exactly once. After the first glitch it runs fine. I will try running First Aid from Recovery.
[doublepost=1493764180][/doublepost]

Sorry, I meant precisely "this only happens (present tense) a single time," not it has only happened a single time: I mean that every time I reboot from Windows, this happens exactly once. After the first glitch it runs fine. I will try running First Aid from Recovery.

Just repaired stuff in Disk Utility from Recovery and it just had the same issue. Froze up after it booted and logged in. Held down the power button to reboot, it started loading, froze, and then rebooted itself as described from earlier. Repair didn't seem to fix anything. After the first crash and self-reboot, it is running fine. It's always like this and I have no clue why.