A truly bizarre hiccup

[dizmonk]

I need some advice for this forum. I had a M1 14 MBP for about a year and I just bought a m2 MBA 15. With both computers, something very strange (but not problematic) constantly happens. I mostly use them for basic writing, surfing, nothing intensive. In the morning after working on them for say 30-45 minutes or so, for two-three seconds everything stops and quickly goes to dark. No apps shut down. The screen very briefly goes to dark and then everything returns to normal. The audio (Apple Music stops) mid-track but then when I manually start the song, it's fine.

My MBP did it almost every day, sometimes a few times a day. The Air is doing it also but from what I guess it's only once a day. Both were 16gb/1Tb models in excellent condition and were regularly updated.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice? It's just really annoying.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I have not experienced that on any MacBook. The fact that it is happening for you on two computers suggest it is caused by a particular piece of software you had installed on both. Any chance it always happens when you are using a particular app? Otherwise you could try looking in Console just after it has happened, but can be very difficult to find anything there when you don't know what you are looking for.

Presumably the 15" M2 MBA is within Applecare so I would take it up with Apple as it is clearly unacceptable.

 

[hg.wells]

How did you setup both Macs? Were they setup as new or did you restore from a backup?

 

[dizmonk]

How did you setup both Macs? Were they setup as new or did you restore from a backup?

They were both set up as new.

 

[chown33]

The question that arises for me is: what's the same between the two computers?

Two things that come to mind, other than installed software, are:
1. peripherals
2. network

If you have the same peripherals, including any input devices, hubs, display, printers, etc. that were used in both cases, please list them. If any of those devices had driver or utility software associated with them please list that. I'd count the AC power adapter as a peripheral, because it does communicate with the computer.

If the network is the same in a particular location, then that might be contributing. Did you use both computers in a single location when this happens, or does it "go dark" in widely different locations, such as at home, at work, or in a public library. Were you using Wifi or something else?

 

[dmccloud]

Given that this has happened on two different models, the issue is most like related to your configuration. I could see three possible causes:

- external monitor
- external dock (if connecting a monitor through it)
- software

I have never seen a Mac exhibit the behavior that was described. I have seen Windows machines do something similar when the graphics drivers were being updated or if those drivers were corrupt.

 

[Isamilis]

I need some advice for this forum. I had a M1 14 MBP for about a year and I just bought a m2 MBA 15. With both computers, something very strange (but not problematic) constantly happens. I mostly use them for basic writing, surfing, nothing intensive. In the morning after working on them for say 30-45 minutes or so, for two-three seconds everything stops and quickly goes to dark. No apps shut down. The screen very briefly goes to dark and then everything returns to normal. The audio (Apple Music stops) mid-track but then when I manually start the song, it's fine.

My MBP did it almost every day, sometimes a few times a day. The Air is doing it also but from what I guess it's only once a day. Both were 16gb/1Tb models in excellent condition and were regularly updated.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice? It's just really annoying.

It seems, you have installed the same software or setup same hardware that make that happened. I would try setup as new one of them, with no hardware setup (printers, etc) and limited and commonly used apps (ie, only install office365 latest version). Try for few days to see if the issues still happens.

 

[dizmonk]

Given that this has happened on two different models, the issue is most like related to your configuration. I could see three possible causes:

- external monitor
- external dock (if connecting a monitor through it)
- software

I have never seen a Mac exhibit the behavior that was described. I have seen Windows machines do something similar when the graphics drivers were being updated or if those drivers were corrupt.

Never used either laptop with an external monitor or dock. I'm wondering if it might be the VPNs I'm using on public wifi networks, even though I tried different VPN programs.....

 

[meson]

This might be a silly question since you have set both up as new, but I’m not sure how much comes in terms of system settings when activating an AppleID and iCloud settings.

Any chance that you have a Hot Corner set up to make the display/laptop go to sleep? You might be accidentally triggering it if you forgot that you have one set. Check the Display and Dock pane in system settings to be sure.

 

[sehnsucht77]

I need some advice for this forum. I had a M1 14 MBP for about a year and I just bought a m2 MBA 15. With both computers, something very strange (but not problematic) constantly happens. I mostly use them for basic writing, surfing, nothing intensive. In the morning after working on them for say 30-45 minutes or so, for two-three seconds everything stops and quickly goes to dark. No apps shut down. The screen very briefly goes to dark and then everything returns to normal. The audio (Apple Music stops) mid-track but then when I manually start the song, it's fine.

My MBP did it almost every day, sometimes a few times a day. The Air is doing it also but from what I guess it's only once a day. Both were 16gb/1Tb models in excellent condition and were regularly updated.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice? It's just really annoying.

I am seeing the same thing on a Mac Studio running Ventura 13.5

 

[dizmonk]

I am seeing the same thing on a Mac Studio running Ventura 13.5

That's so bizarre. How long has it been happening?

 

[sehnsucht77]

That's so bizarre. How long has it been happening?

since 13.5 came out and my Mac Studio automatically updated. I never saw this happen when I first received the Mac Studio using the stock OS, only after it updated. tried different cables, monitors etc - I still see the issue.

 

[GaryPDX]

I need some advice for this forum. I had a M1 14 MBP for about a year and I just bought a m2 MBA 15. With both computers, something very strange (but not problematic) constantly happens. I mostly use them for basic writing, surfing, nothing intensive. In the morning after working on them for say 30-45 minutes or so, for two-three seconds everything stops and quickly goes to dark. No apps shut down. The screen very briefly goes to dark and then everything returns to normal. The audio (Apple Music stops) mid-track but then when I manually start the song, it's fine.

My MBP did it almost every day, sometimes a few times a day. The Air is doing it also but from what I guess it's only once a day. Both were 16gb/1Tb models in excellent condition and were regularly updated.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice? It's just really annoying.

I'd guess that your console logs on both machines may show something interesting at the exact moment of interest. Sounds like you have some piece of code running on both machines doing the dirty to yaz.