Mac Pro (Late 2013) GPU (Driver) Issues

[Riwam]

I'm having this same issue with the MacPro with the D300. Ever since I got it, it's had totally random freezes, sometimes beachball, music will continue playing, but no response from the UI other than the mouse still moves. If I check the logs it says that message about the GPU and "5 continuous seconds of unreadiness." The freezes are very hard to recreate as they seem to occur randomly. Sometimes playing computer games, or sometimes just browsing the internet, or moving folders around in the finder. There's no pattern to it.

Unplugging the monitor does clear up the freeze, but the system is too slow after that and needs a restart each time.

I took it to the Apple store where they replaced both graphics cards, and it worked well for about a month. Then, it started freezing up again, about 2x per day. Took it in again, where they did a "deep restore" to factory default. Took it home, and it's doing it again. Something is seriously wrong with it!

Not sure what to do at this point, if some are reporting that 4 new macs later they are still having the issue. Is it an issue with certain types of monitors? Is there some other type of monitor where people are not having issues? If anyone is not having this problem with your mac, what is your monitor and setup? Has anyone had luck solving this issue yet? My mac has been doing this for a year!

*****
It might not be of any help but here is my experience.
My MP has D500 GPUs and I still use a 2007 Samsung 24" HD monitor connected by a Display Port (Thunderbolt identical) to a DVI adapter cable.
I have this computer since April 2014 and never noticed this freezing which causes problems to you and to many other owners of this MP model.
The assumption mentioned in a previous post in this thread that according to Apple only D500/700 GPUs are affected while D300 are not...is therefore wrong.
You have the problem in D300...while I haven't it although in my mac they are D500 (but not manufactured in the period mentioned by Apple as critical but much before).
I don't think that my rather old display might have anything to do with the problem affecting you. I just mentioned it because you asked about monitors.
Ed

 

[twomartoe]

Thanks! So your replacement MacPro is now working fine? I was worried after reading someone said they'd had their Mac replaced 4 times, brand new macs, with the issue still occurring on all of them. So I wonder if it's something relating to the way the mac is interacting with certain displays, or something. But if a new mac is solving most of these issues, then that could be hopeful...

I sent in my nmp with d300 for repair 3 weeks ago. It took around 9 days. The authorised repair people first changed the gpu and io ports. They did extensive test and the freezing problem according to them came back in 5 days, with multiple freeze that day. So this is with a change of both d300 GPU and io ports. Then they changed the CPU riser. they did a quick test and I had to have it back after 9 days because its my main work machine. So far no freezing 3weeks, since it was back. So Im guessing its a hardware thing. Credit to apple for great warrantied service. In perspective, 9 days is not alot of time to fix a problem thats unpredictable. However, since this GPU problem seems more widespread, they could have done a better job. Like maybe exchange some of the faulty d300 early on and do more debugging. So they can narrow the problem down.

 

[Riwam]

I sent in my nmp with d300 for repair 3 weeks ago. It took around 9 days. The authorised repair people first changed the gpu and io ports. They did extensive test and the freezing problem according to them came back in 5 days, with multiple freeze that day. So this is with a change of both d300 GPU and io ports. Then they changed the CPU riser. they did a quick test and I had to have it back after 9 days because its my main work machine. So far no freezing 3weeks, since it was back. So Im guessing its a hardware thing. Credit to apple for great warrantied service. In perspective, 9 days is not alot of time to fix a problem thats unpredictable. However, since this GPU problem seems more widespread, they could have done a better job. Like maybe exchange some of the faulty d300 early on and do more debugging. So they can narrow the problem down.

I am happy for you

 

[Flint Ironstag]

I sent in my nmp with d300 for repair 3 weeks ago. It took around 9 days. The authorised repair people first changed the gpu and io ports. They did extensive test and the freezing problem according to them came back in 5 days, with multiple freeze that day. So this is with a change of both d300 GPU and io ports. Then they changed the CPU riser. they did a quick test and I had to have it back after 9 days because its my main work machine. So far no freezing 3weeks, since it was back. So Im guessing its a hardware thing. Credit to apple for great warrantied service. In perspective, 9 days is not alot of time to fix a problem thats unpredictable. However, since this GPU problem seems more widespread, they could have done a better job. Like maybe exchange some of the faulty d300 early on and do more debugging. So they can narrow the problem down.

9 days. Glad you are able to live with that. Unacceptable for a professional machine with professional support, to me. Dell, HP, or Lenovo would have same day service in Houston if I reported it early enough in the day. Next morning by 9am at the latest.

 

[twomartoe]

9 days. Glad you are able to live with that. Unacceptable for a professional machine with professional support, to me. Dell, HP, or Lenovo would have same day service in Houston if I reported it early enough in the day. Next morning by 9am at the latest.

Yea. I wasnt happy with that. I planned it such that the repair takes place when I'm overseas. They also couldnt offer a temp machine to work on. But, I have not heard of anyone that has a Dell, hp, worse of all Lenovo, get service like this. Apple in my view still get top marks for service, even if this NMP debacle tarnish their reputation for reliable computers.

 

[Riwam]

9 days. Glad you are able to live with that. Unacceptable for a professional machine with professional support, to me. Dell, HP, or Lenovo would have same day service in Houston if I reported it early enough in the day. Next morning by 9am at the latest.

Good that there are still people satisfied with those Windows assembling companies.
Interesting however that those brands mentioned sell less and less of their "professional" Windows assembled computers from year to year while Apple managed not only to keep but even to increase their computer sales.
9 days for an highly sophisticated computer like the MP 6.1 and a problem not easy to detect since happens in unpredictable situations is in my opinion entirely reasonable.
I myself have always made good experiences with Apple service and in many countries in the world Apple ranks on the top of customers satisfaction polls.
Whoever can be happy with Dell, HP or Lenovo machines truly does not need neither a MacPro nor any other Apple computer.
[doublepost=1459633347][/doublepost]

Yea. I wasnt happy with that. I planned it such that the repair takes place when I'm overseas. They also couldnt offer a temp machine to work on. But, I have not heard of anyone that has a Dell, hp, worse of all Lenovo, get service like this. Apple in my view still get top marks for service, even if this NMP debacle tarnish their reputation for reliable computers.

I entirely agree with you.
However if one looks around not only to computers but to many other high technology products like flat TVs, cars and many others, the word "debacle" is somehow out of place.
Flat modern TVs of well known manufacturers who secretly report to the commercial TV channels the degree of acceptance of the viewers to their ads, or cars that disguise their extremely high pollution motors with special cheating hidden software to quote just 2 recent well known samples among many, are certainly more serious problems than a certain number of faulty graphic cards, (just some and certainly not all of them) which are replaced free of charge by Apple.

 

[twomartoe]

I entirely agree with you.
However if one looks around not only to computers but to many other high technology products like flat TVs, cars and many others, the word "debacle" is somehow out of place.
Flat modern TVs of well known manufacturers who secretly report to the commercial TV channels the degree of acceptance of the viewers to their ads, or cars that disguise their extremely high pollution motors with special cheating hidden software to quote just 2 recent well known samples among many, are certainly more serious problems than a certain number of faulty graphic cards, (just some and certainly not all of them) which are replaced free of charge by Apple.

Yea, I might be over emphasising my displeasure of using this new mac pro this last year. I guess apple had more issues with the macbook pro gpu not too long ago. However , I did call up apple service a year ago and even escalated to an Apple engineer. Nothing came out of that, just sending them my console logs. In hindsight should have pursued that problem long ago and not wait till now.

 

[Riwam]

Yea, I might be over emphasising my displeasure of using this new mac pro this last year. I guess apple had more issues with the macbook pro gpu not too long ago. However , I did call up apple service a year ago and even escalated to an Apple engineer. Nothing came out of that, just sending them my console logs. In hindsight should have pursued that problem long ago and not wait till now.

I assume that within Apple, like in other huge company, one can be more or less lucky with the tech one gets in touch.
Some know more than others and some make greater efforts thsn others.
My most astounding experienceI ever lived regarding Apple happened in 2011.
I had bought a very expensive MacPro 1.1 at end 2007 from the largest agreed Apple dealer in Basel, Switzetland, with an extended 3 years of warranty from them! not Apple care!!!, which was a big mistake.
The MP 1.1 had countless problems, probably (I cannot prove it) partly caused by the "repairs" that reseller did.
That company proved not be reliable, not to say entirely dishonest, of course not the techs but the manager.
After the 3 years warranty were long finished and the computer was stll a mess (I could not honestly sell it to someone else without feeling I was a thief), I was in dispair.
Not knowing what to do, I wrote a letter to an entirely unknown person in some high level position of Apple Switzerland with all my detailed terrible experience. I had nothing to lose...

Although I had not bought it from Apple but from a resellet, Apple took my terrible MacPro 1.1back and freely replaced it by the then most modern MacPro 5.1, delivered to my home and without asking any money.
I don't know of ANY other company in the world capable of such a noble gesture towards a dispaired owner of one of their products which was not even bought directly from them!
Since then I swear for Apple service and aleays buy for a new product Apple Care
They are not perfect and nothing humsn, neither products nor people will ever be, but their sense of responsibility is an extraordinary one
Ed

 

[Hitchkunt]

After upgrading my late 2013 Mac Pro (purchased July 2014) from Mavericks to El Capitan, I have experienced the following error multiple times while watching video. "WindowServer[183]: GPU Driver appears to be hung (over 5 continuous seconds of unreadiness)"

I have a two display set up and my 2nd display is a Samsung TV connected via HDMI to the HDMI port on my Mac. All instances have occurred while watching video (either media from a hard drive or streamed in a browser) in full screen mode.

When the video freezes the audio still plays and I can move my mouse cursor but no buttons are responsive (nor is the keyboard). The cursor doesn't beach ball.

After reading some forum posts I discovered that powering off my displays regains control of my machine but the system seems sluggish so I reboot.

My system is the 6 core with 12gb RAM and the D300s. My computer ran perfectly on Mavericks and I only started experiencing these video freezes since "upgrading" to El Capitan. As such, I am quite certain it's an OSX issue.

I am desperate for a solution but am skeptical of the hardware fix.

 

[chama98]

After upgrading my late 2013 Mac Pro (purchased July 2014) from Mavericks to El Capitan, I have experienced the following error multiple times while watching video. "WindowServer[183]: GPU Driver appears to be hung (over 5 continuous seconds of unreadiness)"

I have a two display set up and my 2nd display is a Samsung TV connected via HDMI to the HDMI port on my Mac. All instances have occurred while watching video (either media from a hard drive or streamed in a browser) in full screen mode.

When the video freezes the audio still plays and I can move my mouse cursor but no buttons are responsive (nor is the keyboard). The cursor doesn't beach ball.

After reading some forum posts I discovered that powering off my displays regains control of my machine but the system seems sluggish so I reboot.

My system is the 6 core with 12gb RAM and the D300s. My computer ran perfectly on Mavericks and I only started experiencing these video freezes since "upgrading" to El Capitan. As such, I am quite certain it's an OSX issue.

I am desperate for a solution but am skeptical of the hardware fix.

What I did was I removed Adobe products. Like Adobe air, Adobe indesign and acrobat. Adobe air for example and in my opinion is buggy.

So far (touch wood) things have been ok.

 

[Hitchkunt]

What I did was I removed Adobe products. Like Adobe air, Adobe indesign and acrobat. Adobe air for example and in my opinion is buggy.

So far (touch wood) things have been ok.

I do have Adobe CS products installed.

Also, I forgot to mention that in settings "displays have separate spaces" is currently unchecked. I don't know if it will make a difference but I will try the other setting and see if the problem persists.

 

[chama98]

I do have Adobe CS products installed.

Also, I forgot to mention that in settings "displays have separate spaces" is currently unchecked. I don't know if it will make a difference but I will try the other setting and see if the problem persists.

If I was you. I would uninstall Adobe and test for a couple of days. I would be interested to see if it is Adobe products.

 

[flyingfoxuk]

If I was you. I would uninstall Adobe and test for a couple of days. I would be interested to see if it is Adobe products.

I had to remove the full Adobe Suite from an iMac last month - the machine was totally unusable with it in place - not a problem since!

 

[Riwam]

After upgrading my late 2013 Mac Pro (purchased July 2014) from Mavericks to El Capitan, I have experienced the following error multiple times while watching video. "WindowServer[183]: GPU Driver appears to be hung (over 5 continuous seconds of unreadiness)"

I have a two display set up and my 2nd display is a Samsung TV connected via HDMI to the HDMI port on my Mac. All instances have occurred while watching video (either media from a hard drive or streamed in a browser) in full screen mode.

When the video freezes the audio still plays and I can move my mouse cursor but no buttons are responsive (nor is the keyboard). The cursor doesn't beach ball.

After reading some forum posts I discovered that powering off my displays regains control of my machine but the system seems sluggish so I reboot.

My system is the 6 core with 12gb RAM and the D300s. My computer ran perfectly on Mavericks and I only started experiencing these video freezes since "upgrading" to El Capitan. As such, I am quite certain it's an OSX issue.

I am desperate for a solution but am skeptical of the hardware fix.

I respect the opinion of those advising to remove Adobe applications but it seems very strange and not logical at all.
I also have a 6 core MP end 2013 bought a few months before yours.
However I do not have the D300 GPUs you have, the only major difference.
Although besides Photoshop Elements I use very little the other Adobe CC 2015 applications, they are there. I haven't removed them. I never had any reason to do so.
I do not recall having had that freezing problem of yours in the 2 years since I received the mac, and after upgrading it from Mavericks to Yosemite and later to El Capitan.
If Adobe products might be the cause, which seems very strange, my only explanation why I never had this bug would be the different GPUs since the CPU and the age are about similar.
Did you contact Adobe?
And did you contact Apple?
I cannot believe that if Adobe products truly cause such serious problems to some Apple computers as apparently seems to be the case according to the other members who wrote you, neither Adobe nor Apple should have taken until now measures to correct this.
It does not make sense since Adobe applications are used by practically everyone with a powerful Apple computer.
In my modest opinion the only explanation could be that it is something related to your GPUs and Apple should check it and solve it. Just a theory.
However I acknowledge I am not an expert at all. I am only a simple non pro user.
Sorry if my opinion has little value and brings no help.
I am puzzled
Ed

 

[edanuff]

The biggest problem with solving the GPU issues on the nMP has been that people rationalize them as software bugs. It was never driver problems in Yosemite or El Capitan. It isn't mainstream applications like Adobe. It has been show to be time and again bad GPUs. Because these problems are intermittent, getting Apple to fix them is hard, and many users on these forums seem to be from locales where getting Apple service is difficult, plus no one wants to be without their computer for too long. This had made the idea of it being a simple software issue ("it's a bad driver") a very attractive idea. Unfortunately, this just serves to prolong the problem.

 

[Hitchkunt]

I respect the opinion of those advising to remove Adobe applications but it seems very strange and not logical at all.
I also have a 6 core MP end 2013 bought a few months before yours.
However I do not have the D300 GPUs you have, the only major difference.
Although besides Photoshop Elements I use very little the other Adobe CC 2015 applications, they are there. I haven't removed them. I never had any reason to do so.
I do not recall having had that freezing problem of yours in the 2 years since I received the mac, and after upgrading it from Mavericks to Yosemite and later to El Capitan.
If Adobe products might be the cause, which seems very strange, my only explanation why I never had this bug would be the different GPUs since the CPU and the age are about similar.
Did you contact Adobe?
And did you contact Apple?
I cannot believe that if Adobe products truly cause such serious problems to some Apple computers as apparently seems to be the case according to the other members who wrote you, neither Adobe nor Apple should have taken until now measures to correct this.
It does not make sense since Adobe applications are used by practically everyone with a powerful Apple computer.
In my modest opinion the only explanation could be that it is something related to your GPUs and Apple should check it and solve it. Just a theory.
However I acknowledge I am not an expert at all. I am only a simple non pro user.
Sorry if my opinion has little value and brings no help.
I am puzzled
Ed

I haven't contacted Apple for service yet. Sometimes video will play without incident, other times I get the GPU hang. I cannot replicate the bug. At first I thought maybe it was because of other processes running but I have been watching video without running other applications and still get the error.

It just seems strange to me for it to be a hardware issue when I never had this problem until after I upgraded to El Capitan. I skipped Yosemite and went directly to El Capitan.

I will seek out Apple's diagnosis.

 

[MacVidCards]

The computer has 3 parts. (4 if you count the Mini PSU)

If switching one out doesn't fix the problem, you keep switching till problem gone. No rocket science involved.

Apple should be able to solve issues with ease.

 

[flyingfoxuk]

Yeah - they replaced every part except the case on mine and it still didn't work - so they replaced the whole machine, then went through the whole farce again with a second machine - number 3 seems to be running ok for now, but my experience with Apple on this was far from easy

 

[Riwam]

Yeah - they replaced every part except the case on mine and it still didn't work - so they replaced the whole machine, then went through the whole farce again with a second machine - number 3 seems to be running ok for now, but my experience with Apple on this was far from easy

However not every computer company replaces, as you say, twice a computer.
I had my own bad experiences involving the local largest independent reseller of Apple.
Every time I brought them my MP 1.1 with a problem to solve, I received it in much worse condition.
I suffered 3 years bug after bug, mostly caused by irresponsible "repairs".
After their own very expensive house warranty (not Apple Care!) was long over and my MP was still a nightmare of a computer, I wrote to an unknown person at the local Apple branch telling the story of all my miseries with their reseller.
Apple exchanged my MP 1.1 for a brand new MP 5.1 free of charge although I had not bought the faulty computer from Apple but from that independent reseller.
From that day on I have great respect for Apple customer service.

 

[bizzle]

The computer has 3 parts. (4 if you count the Mini PSU)

If switching one out doesn't fix the problem, you keep switching till problem gone. No rocket science involved.

Apple should be able to solve issues with ease.

I usually respect most of what you say, but come on. It has a lot more than 3 parts. I work for an AASP and these turds are a complete nightmare to diagnose. Just when you think it's fixed it acts up again.

 

[teohyc]

I actually had to double check your username to see if it's not actually me who typed that. I had exactly the same problems.

Sent it in two weeks ago and now it's back. They replaced the graphics card. On the first day, it started freezing again showing the old symptoms.

Since I have another Mac as backup, I will be bringing this Mac Pro back to Apple for as long as possible to waste enough of their money until they treat this seriously.

While I can't recreate the problem, I'll just video record every single crash.

For users who use only their Mac Pro as their main machine, it's so frustrating to have to live with the constant fear of when it will freeze and kill all your work that you haven't save.

I'm having this same issue with the MacPro with the D300. Ever since I got it, it's had totally random freezes, sometimes beachball, music will continue playing, but no response from the UI other than the mouse still moves. If I check the logs it says that message about the GPU and "5 continuous seconds of unreadiness." The freezes are very hard to recreate as they seem to occur randomly. Sometimes playing computer games, or sometimes just browsing the internet, or moving folders around in the finder. There's no pattern to it.

Unplugging the monitor does clear up the freeze, but the system is too slow after that and needs a restart each time.

I took it to the Apple store where they replaced both graphics cards, and it worked well for about a month. Then, it started freezing up again, about 2x per day. Took it in again, where they did a "deep restore" to factory default. Took it home, and it's doing it again. Something is seriously wrong with it!

Not sure what to do at this point, if some are reporting that 4 new macs later they are still having the issue. Is it an issue with certain types of monitors? Is there some other type of monitor where people are not having issues? If anyone is not having this problem with your mac, what is your monitor and setup? Has anyone had luck solving this issue yet? My mac has been doing this for a year!

 

[MMcCraryNJ]

.

 

[axantas]

Finally found in the logs where the errors get listed...every time I get a freeze related to video, it creates a "Kernel_(DateAndTime)_(NameofMachine).gpuRestart entry in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports. I'm on Yosemite, D500s, connected to an LG Ultrawide monitor.

...which is in my opinion the main problem of Yosemite. Windows in Bootcamp does that too, but it is just a glitch, the driver gets restarted and life is going on. Yosemite is dead after that incident, because it is not capable of "restarting" graphics in a proper way - whatever the cause of the incident might be.

 

[Riwam]

For users who use only their Mac Pro as their main machine, it's so frustrating to have to live with the constant fear of when it will freeze and kill all your work that you haven't save.

Sorry for your troubles.
I am beginning to think that in present days people relying on computers to make a living need not only to do constant backups of their important data.
They must even "backup" their hardware as well.
If I would use any mac for professional work I would try to have a second computer able to run the same software with the same important data if needed.
It must not be as powerful, quick and expensive. It must just be able to continue any work started with the main unit if it fails and during repair time.
I suppose that we are living complicated times in which redundancy is not only needed for data but for important hardware as well to be on the safe side.
By redundant hardware I don't only mean the computer but the printer, the scanner, the display, etc. and even phone and tablets.
I read too often of serious bugs which cannot be reproduced at will.
Those are the worst since diagnosis is extremely difficult and without finding their cause how can repair people solve any problem.
It sounds crazy but it seems the price to pay for highly sophisticated devices.
The more advanced they are, the more components might go wrong.
Ed

 

[ActionableMango]

I usually respect most of what you say, but come on. It has a lot more than 3 parts. I work for an AASP and these turds are a complete nightmare to diagnose. Just when you think it's fixed it acts up again.

I think you are missing his intended sarcasm.