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My MacBook Pro freezes if nothing is moving on the screen

S

siriru

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 25, 2018
9
0
Hello!

My macbook started freezing every time I started it. MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)

I did the usual, reset PRAM and SMC, even reformat, etc.

After doing that, I noticed that if I kept moving the mouse, my computer would no longer freeze. if I stopped moving the mouse, then the computer would freeze again.

The computer doesn't have this behavior if I start it in safe mode.

That's really annoying!
 
The obvious answer is to write some code to control a robotic hand to keep the mouse moving. The MBPro being completely in charge of its own destiny.

There may be less obvious answers. Does the port the mouse is plugged into matter? I assume it’s not wireless. Different port and different mouse?
 
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Howard2k said:
The obvious answer is to write some code to control a robotic hand to keep the mouse moving. The MBPro being completely in charge of its own destiny.

There may be less obvious answers. Does the port the mouse is plugged into matter? I assume it’s not wireless. Different port and different mouse?
Click to expand...

Okay I said mouse but it was instead the trackpad. It's the same with external mouse.
 
After some test, I figured out new strange behaviors. If something is moving on my screen, no freeze.

I was on Youtube, and I played a video => no freeze during the entire video. I stopped the video => freeze after 2s.

I tried something else: I launch another video, and I minimized the window > freeze after 2s, but I could still hear the sound.
 
Clearly something isn't right. I suggestion not to spend too much effort on trying figure it out, and just call apple. Have them diagnose and correct the issue.
 
Of couse something is not right, but I'm not going to give $300 to apple to have a diagnostic!
 
siriru said:
I did all those things.
Click to expand...
Other then backing up your data and reformatting and reinstalling macOS, there's little else you can do. Apple has more comprehensive tools to diagnose hardware issues, and if it is hardware you're hands are tied.

1. Pay the fee
2. Live with the issue
3. Buy another laptop

Good luck
 
Odd. It seems like a sensor/regulator bug to me.

Does it happen with the battery disconnected? Or when running another OS like Windows or Linux?

Have you tried a clean install? used a different OS/upgrade lately? installed any programs?
 
maflynn said:
Other then backing up your data and reformatting and reinstalling macOS, there's little else you can do. Apple has more comprehensive tools to diagnose hardware issues, and if it is hardware you're hands are tied.

1. Pay the fee
2. Live with the issue
3. Buy another laptop

Good luck
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but like I said earlier, I even reformated the computer. Of course I reinstalled OSX.

nerowolfe19 said:
Odd. It seems like a sensor/regulator bug to me.

Does it happen with the battery disconnected? Or when running another OS like Windows or Linux?

Have you tried a clean install? used a different OS/upgrade lately? installed any programs?
Click to expand...

Can I remove the battery on that model? I should try with Linux you're right. Like I said above I tried a clean install. I upgraded lately to Mojave but I had the problem before. I'm gonna try Linux right away!
 
The battery can be disconnected. Just be sure not to use a metal pludger or anything conductive so you wouldn't short the cable pins and fry the smc controller. Anything plastic would do just fine.

Reason I asked is battery and trackpad share the same compartment, and their problems often go hand in hand.
 
siriru said:
Can I remove the battery on that model?
Click to expand...
2013 MBPs have their battery glued on. Disconnecting the battery will cause the CPU to run at 1/2 speed - at least it does on the 15" model. I'm not entirely sure if that occurs on the 13" model.
 
maflynn said:
2013 MBPs have their battery glued on. Disconnecting the battery will cause the CPU to run at 1/2 speed - at least it does on the 15" model. I'm not entirely sure if that occurs on the 13" model.
Click to expand...
Technically, you can remove them and put them back, but that's laborious and inadvisable at this point unless you want to install a new bettery and know how to do that. Just disconnecting the cable will do.

Weird that it causes slowdown in your case maflynn. My laptop runs just the same with battery D/Ced.
 
OP wrote:
"The computer doesn't have this behavior if I start it in safe mode."

You have "found the problem".
Theres nothing wrong with the hardware.
There's nothing wrong with the OS install.

You know this because the problem doesn't occur if you boot in safe mode.
Booting in safe mode means you are by-passing all 3rd-party extensions, etc.

There IS "something wrong" with something in your account.
Something "non-Apple" that you have added is causing the problem.

You have to find out what it is.

Here is how to fix it:
1. Boot into safe mode
2. Go to the Users & Groups pref pane, click the lock and enter your password
3. Click the "+ sign" to create a NEW user account. MAKE SURE it has administrative privileges
4. Give it a name you like (can be "close to" the name of your regular account).
5. Let the Mac create the account.
6. Set all other options so that you get a login screen when booting (you DO NOT WANT to "automatically log into" any account)
7. Now power down, all the way off.
8. Now restart and log into your new account.
9. DON'T ADD ANYTHING to it yet. Just browse around and see if "the freezing problem" is gone.
10. Is it gone?

If the problem is gone, here's what to do next:
1. Get paper and a pencil
2. Now, you can start "adding things back" to the account, ONE ITEM AT A TIME.
3. Write down a note EVERY TIME you change something.
4. If things suddenly go wrong, look at your notes and see what the last item or two was that you "added".
That could be the source of the problem...
 
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I had this fault some time ago, it was due to the backlight on my keyboard, when the backlight went out, and I turn moved the mouse or something it caused a few second lag. To solve this, I just left my keyboard light on all the time.

I was fuming when this was happening for the first time, I too thought about a robotic arm, or at least a programme that would move my mouse a few pixels every second.

Hopefully this works.
 

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Fishrrman said:
OP wrote:
"The computer doesn't have this behavior if I start it in safe mode."

You have "found the problem".
Theres nothing wrong with the hardware.
There's nothing wrong with the OS install.

You know this because the problem doesn't occur if you boot in safe mode.
Booting in safe mode means you are by-passing all 3rd-party extensions, etc.

There IS "something wrong" with something in your account.
Something "non-Apple" that you have added is causing the problem.

You have to find out what it is.
Click to expand...

Like I said, it's a fresh install, I didn't add anything. 2mins ago, I just reinstalled Mojave, and I got the same issue with a new account. I tried to create another account anyway. The computer froze even before I logged in. It can freeze even when no user is logged. =/ =/

Premal212 said:
I had this fault some time ago, it was due to the backlight on my keyboard, when the backlight went out, and I turn moved the mouse or something it caused a few second lag. To solve this, I just left my keyboard light on all the time.

I was fuming when this was happening for the first time, I too thought about a robotic arm, or at least a programme that would move my mouse a few pixels every second.

Hopefully this works.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the default settings are already like your screenshot =/

alex.houston said:
I thought they would do diagnostic for free at the Apple store. And then, when they tell you what needs to be replaced and the cost, you can choose if you will pay them to do the repair. E.g. see this:
"will genius bar do a free diagnostics on a macbook pro out of warranty"
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8081174
Click to expand...
Ok good to know!
 
Last edited:
If the problem doesn't happen when booting into Safe Mode, then that warrants some digging into.


Below are Apple's kexts that Safe Mode doesn't load when I boot up my Macbook:

AppleFIVRDriver.kext
AppleHDA.kext
AppleHDAController.kext
AppleHDAHardwareConfigDriver.kext
AppleHV.kext
AppleIntelHD4000Graphics.kext (2012 rMBP, yours will probably be AppleIntelHD5000Graphics.kext instead)
AppleIntelSlowAdaptiveClocking.kext
AppleMikeyDriver.kext
AppleMikeyHIDDriver.kext
AppleOSXWatchdog.kext
ApplePlatformEnabler.kext
AppleSSE.kext
AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapter.kext
AppleThunderboltEDMSink.kext
AppleThunderboltIP.kext
AppleUpstreamUserClient.kext
AudioAUUC.kext
DspFuncLib.kext
IOAudioFamily.kext
IOBluetoothSerialManager.kext
IOHDAFamily.kext
IOSerialFamily.kext
IOSlowAdaptiveClockingFamily.kext
IOUserEthernet.kext
Libm.kext
OSvKernDSPLib.kext
pmtelemetry.kext
vecLib.kext

What I'd try if I were you is boot into safe mode, and take a snapshot of the all the kexts it loads (about this mac->system report->software->extensions), restart, and log in without safe mode and take a snapshot of all kexts loaded and compare the two. You'll end up with a list similar to the one above. Please note that I'm running Sierra 10.12.6

At this point, if SIP isn't disabled then it's better to disable it before proceeding.

What you'll want do next is go to /System/Library/Extensions and move those kexts to another folder, and then start terminal and type in

sudo kextcache -i /

in order to rebuild kext cache and then restart the machine. If the system boots up without a problem, then one (or more) of those kext files is the culprit and that would give you an idea about which corresponding hardware part it communicates with which might be problematic.

Now copy back each of those kexts, one at a time, to the kext extensions folder, and enter the command above via Terminal and restart. Repeat this process until the problem reappears.

Once you've identified the problematic kexts, you can temporarily remove the kext(s) in question and restore the rest, in order to have a temporarily functioning laptop. You can then research some more about what the kext exactly does so you can understand why it's causing your mac trouble and which hardware part it's controlling which might be defective.


What you do next is up to you. Take it to Apple, or a local shop, or try to fix it yourself, or do nothing at all. Good luck.
 
nerowolfe19 said:
Or when running another OS like Windows or Linux?
Click to expand...

I tried to boot to linux with an Live USB, fedora then ubuntu. It worked on my other laptop but not on the macbook =/. The screen was just black but I could hear the sounds when I was increasing the volume. It looks like a video issue.
 
siriru said:
I tried to boot to linux with an Live USB, fedora then ubuntu. It worked on my other laptop but not on the macbook =/. The screen was just black but I could hear the sounds when I was increasing the volume. It looks like a video issue.
Click to expand...

I have exactly the same problem. late 2013 13" MPB...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8556527

The problem appeared immediately after I updated to High Sierra from Yosemite.
You figured out what was it?
 
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