macbook hangs completely from time to time

[AW10]

I have an early 2013 Macbook Pro that hangs completely from time to time. It seems to be when I click a link in a browser and more often than not I think the new page might need the shockwave flash plug-in. It seems to happen with both Chrome and Firefox. The symptoms are that the clock stops, no key inputs are accepted and I can still move the pointer but the system is otherwise unresponsive. I can close the lid but the laptop doesn't go to sleep. I've never tried waiting more than a minute or so - pressing and holding the power button seems to be the only solution. The laptop will then restart without issue and I can reload the browser tabs and click on the previously problematic link without issue. There's plenty of free disk space and all updates are applied. I'm running Yosemite 10.10.2. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[Vaud]

I've had a few lockups recently.

Try checking disk permissions.

[AW10]

Repaired the disc permissions with Disk Utility and quite a few corrections were made. Things were stable for 48 hours and then another freeze. When I go into the console log there are loads of entries after the time of the freeze which read:

28/02/2015 07:28:09.169 DumpGPURestart[1905]: com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.crashreporter.writereport.gpuRestart
com.apple.message.signature: Kernel
com.apple.message.signature2: UNBUNDLED ||| kernel ((null))
com.apple.message.signature3: UNKNOWN
com.apple.message.result: noop
com.apple.message.summarize: YES
SenderMachUUID: BC718E33-A1AD-3923-AC1F-39C5E18F2330

Interesting to note that one of the permissions repaired by the disk utility 2 days ago was for gpuRestart:

2015-02-26 07:39:33 -0700: Group differs on “private/var/db/GPURestartReporter”; should be 0; group is 80.
2015-02-26 07:39:33 -0700: Permissions differ on “private/var/db/GPURestartReporter”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are drwxrwx--- .
2015-02-26 07:39:33 -0700: Repaired “private/var/db/GPURestartReporter”
2015-02-26 07:39:33 -0700: User differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; user is 244.
2015-02-26 07:39:33 -0700: Group differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; group is 244.
2015-02-26 07:39:33 -0700: Repaired “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”


So I ran the disk utility again today to repair the permissions after the latest freeze and it made the 2 same repairs:
2015-02-28 07:53:40 -0700: Group differs on “private/var/db/GPURestartReporter”; should be 0; group is 80.
2015-02-28 07:53:40 -0700: Permissions differ on “private/var/db/GPURestartReporter”; should be drwxr-xr-x ; they are drwxrwx--- .
2015-02-28 07:53:40 -0700: Repaired “private/var/db/GPURestartReporter”
2015-02-28 07:53:40 -0700: User differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; user is 244.
2015-02-28 07:53:40 -0700: Group differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; group is 244.
2015-02-28 07:53:40 -0700: Repaired “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”

Neither of these are listed as one that can bi ignored according to http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203172

So not sure what to make of all this?

[marshalla]

I'd hazard that you've got some bad blocks on the drive that are showing signs of bitrot.

[AW10]

I ran Apple's HW diagnostics and they give an error of "4HDD/11/40000000:SATA"

But then I read https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203648 and it seems to be a false error?

[marshalla]

AW10 said:

I ran Apple's HW diagnostics and they give an error of "4HDD/11/40000000:SATA"

But then I read https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203648 and it seems to be a false error?

Read it again - there's a specific condition associated with the false error.

[ZesPak]

Best excuse to have an SSD installed if you haven't already?

[AW10]

marshalla said:

Read it again - there's a specific condition associated with the false error.

You must mean the looping the test sequence? It does state "The alert is erroneous and *generally* takes multiple loops..." (emphasis mine)

I have read about issues with graphic card switching under Yosemite - see http://www.macissues.com/2014/11/04/transparency-a... The article talks about odd flashes when the computer swaps between graphics processors. I do see this from time to time. A user also comments that his system freezes. I have disabled the GPU switching - will see if that has any effect.

It is a 512GB SSD drive. Disk util reports no errors when run either from within the OS or when the MBPr is booted in recovery mode.