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Mac Pro (Late 2013) GPU (Driver) Issues

What do you think is the source of the graphics issues on Mac Pro (Late 2013) ?

  • Hardware

    Votes: 69 53.1%

  • Software

    Votes: 28 21.5%

  • Hardware & Software

    Votes: 32 24.6%

  • Other

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Total voters
    130
B

bax2003

Cancelled
Original poster
Dec 25, 2011
947
203
Rigorous my back side !

Successful ASD test -> box -> customer

They do not have a way to produce issue on all problematic Mac Pros, also they do not have time to test every machine in case it has more complicated problem, because for some percantage of MPs, GPU is not the only culprit. So machine goes to custemer.....and the rest is very well described in this topic.
 
Last edited:
P

Pardo83

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2015
44
5
Wow, I missed this thread and I wish I read it before I purchase a damn 2013 MacPro :(
6-Cores with D300 and random freezing with the spinning wheel with audio that keeps playing.

Sometimes I can unlock the freeze by plugging off and in again the hdmi cable of my monitor, sometimes not. When this works, I have to restart the mac anyway since the system becomes so slow, but at least I avoid the brute shut down.

It's currently out for repair and I hope they can fix it. Even if I doubt they can, according to this thread :eek:

Feeling very bad, since I bought it to get the jobs done faster and now I cannot even work at all. I had to set my old slow (yet reliable) PC back.

Mac Pro + Thunderbolt Ssd dock + 4 Sandisk Extreme Pro Ssd + Apple wireless Keyboard + Thunderbolt cables + Extra Ram ... I have invested 6000 Eur in a top machine and this is the result. I'm shocked
 
koyoot

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
5,939
1,853
Pardo83 said:
Wow, I missed this thread and I wish I read it before I purchase a damn 2013 MacPro :(
6-Cores with D300 and random freezing with the spinning wheel with audio that keeps playing.

Sometimes I can unlock the freeze by plugging off and in again the hdmi cable of my monitor, sometimes not. When this works, I have to restart the mac anyway since the system becomes so slow, but at least I avoid the brute shut down.

It's currently out for repair and I hope they can fix it. Even if I doubt they can, according to this thread :eek:

Feeling very bad, since I bought it to get the jobs done faster and now I cannot even work at all. I had to set my old slow (yet reliable) PC back.

Mac Pro + Thunderbolt Ssd dock + 4 Sandisk Extreme Pro Ssd + Apple wireless Keyboard + Thunderbolt cables + Extra Ram ... I have invested 6000 Eur in a top machine and this is the result. I'm shocked
Click to expand...
You know what? You have exactly the same type of hang outs as... My already sold MBP mid 2012.

Which tells the hangouts have more to do with software, than hardware.
 
P

Pardo83

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2015
44
5
koyoot said:
You know what? You have exactly the same type of hang outs as... My already sold MBP mid 2012.

Which tells the hangouts have more to do with software, than hardware.
Click to expand...


...and if I read the upcoming OS X 10.12 new wonderful features:

  • Siri integration
  • Auto unlocking w/ Apple Watch
  • Apple Pay for web
  • Revamped Apple Music app
It really makes me want to self slap me for having spent my money on this company.

The name "Pro" doesn't belong to them anymore.
 
F

filmak

macrumors 65816
Jun 21, 2012
1,418
777
between earth and heaven
Pardo83 said:
Wow, I missed this thread and I wish I read it before I purchase a damn 2013 MacPro :(
6-Cores with D300 and random freezing with the spinning wheel with audio that keeps playing.

Sometimes I can unlock the freeze by plugging off and in again the hdmi cable of my monitor, sometimes not. When this works, I have to restart the mac anyway since the system becomes so slow, but at least I avoid the brute shut down.

It's currently out for repair and I hope they can fix it. Even if I doubt they can, according to this thread :eek:

Feeling very bad, since I bought it to get the jobs done faster and now I cannot even work at all. I had to set my old slow (yet reliable) PC back.

Mac Pro + Thunderbolt Ssd dock + 4 Sandisk Extreme Pro Ssd + Apple wireless Keyboard + Thunderbolt cables + Extra Ram ... I have invested 6000 Eur in a top machine and this is the result. I'm shocked
Click to expand...
Do you have 10.10 or 10.11 installed?
 
P

Pardo83

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2015
44
5
filmak said:
Can you give a try to 10.11.5?

If there is something broken, software related, it may fix it...
Click to expand...

I didn't update to 10.11.5 since I've read on another thread that it increased the freezes for some users. I also think that they're probably updating it now at the genius bar and doing test with that OS version installed.
 
koyoot

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
5,939
1,853
Well if one software update increases the freezes then it is rather software problem than hardware. So replacing the GPUs is more like... Completely pointless.
 
P

Pardo83

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2015
44
5
I'm not a computer geek (hell that's why I went and bought a mac pro instead of configuring a pc myself) so the more I read about it and the more I get confused.
The messages I get when I look into Console app after the freezes are something like "GPU restart" or "GPU hang", so it might be hardware or the way an OS handles that hardware.
Anyway I'm looking forward to hear what they will say about my mac o_O
 
koyoot

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
5,939
1,853
Typical driver failure. It does not affect only Mac Pro's, remember. It is much more related to the way OS handles the display signal, that it causes crashes(Display signal from GPUs is done through Thunderbolt controller).

Strange thing is that this behaviour started with Thunderbolt controller added to Apple computers.

On the other hand... Very often people with displays connected through HDMI also are reporting these bugs.

It is completely non reproducible.
 
P

Pardo83

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2015
44
5
koyoot said:
Typical driver failure. It does not affect only Mac Pro's, remember. It is much more related to the way OS handles the display signal, that it causes crashes(Display signal from GPUs is done through Thunderbolt controller).

Strange thing is that this behaviour started with Thunderbolt controller added to Apple computers.

On the other hand... Very often people with displays connected through HDMI also are reporting these bugs.

It is completely non reproducible.
Click to expand...

So in your experience what could be a possible workaround? Trying a different monitor? Or just waiting for a software fix?
 
I

Idolum

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2016
91
43
Pardo83 said:
So in your experience what could be a possible workaround? Trying a different monitor? Or just waiting for a software fix?
Click to expand...

Reinstalling OS X 10.9.5 completely eliminated ALL issues that I experienced (freezes/ spinning beach ball with audio playback/ unresponsive USB devices). If your Mac Pro originally shipped with OS 10.9 you can reinstall it via the internet. You would have to create a time machine backup of your current data, completely delete the internal drive and restart your mac while pressing the option-command-r keys. The originally installed OS will be verified and installed from Apple's server.

OS X 10.11.5 avoids complete lockups but temporary freezes are still a daily appearance. OS X 10.11.6 should be better.
 
koyoot

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
5,939
1,853
Only way for getting rid of the crashes is... Installing older versions of OS. That also helped me.

There is however no reliable solution for this.
 
P

Pardo83

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2015
44
5
I wish I had 10.9, unfortunately it came with 10.11.4. Probably I just need to wait for a new update and live with freezes in the meantime.
 
Z

Zarniwoop

macrumors 65816
Aug 12, 2009
1,038
760
West coast, Finland
10.11.5 took the freezes out of my rMBP 2013.

10.11.4 was worst of the series, but 11.3 was bad too. A lot of beach ball... mostly a windowserver crash, and only when Nvidia GPU was in use. A reboot was the only solution. This problem vanished with 10.11.5
 
B

bax2003

Cancelled
Original poster
Dec 25, 2011
947
203
Pardo83 said:
I wish I had 10.9, unfortunately it came with 10.11.4. Probably I just need to wait for a new update and live with freezes in the meantime.
Click to expand...

There is nothing stopping you to make bootable Mavericks 10.9 USB and install it over 10.11.4.

Zarniwoop said:
10.11.5 took the freezes out of my rMBP 2013.

10.11.4 was worst of the series, but 11.3 was bad too. A lot of beach ball... mostly a windowserver crash, and only when Nvidia GPU was in use. A reboot was the only solution. This problem vanished with 10.11.5
Click to expand...

10.11.5 - Clean install or upgrade ?
 
I

Idolum

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2016
91
43
Pardo83 said:
Hey I didn't know this was possible, and where do I find Mavericks OS?
Click to expand...

It's only available at the Mac App store to those who purchased/installed it when it came out. Maybe you can check with Apple if the service team is willing to install it for you. Indicate that it saves you from bringing the Mac Pro back to them at a later time since it makes it easier to verify if it is a hardware or software issue.
 
AidenShaw

AidenShaw

macrumors P6
Feb 8, 2003
18,667
4,677
The Peninsula
Idolum said:
It's only available at the Mac App store to those who purchased/installed it when it came out. Maybe you can check with Apple if the service team is willing to install it for you. Indicate that it saves you from bringing the Mac Pro back to them at a later time since it makes it easier to verify if it is a hardware or software issue.
Click to expand...
I wonder if Phil has an innovative team making sure that these bugs are transferred to the new OSX for the MP7,1 - or maybe they're simply inherent in Apple OSX and no effort is needed to make sure that new systems fail in the same way.

If it's a hardware issue - one would think that Apple would change GPU vendors for the MP7,1.
 
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koyoot

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
5,939
1,853
AidenShaw said:
If it's a hardware issue - one would think that Apple would change GPU vendors for the MP7,1.
Click to expand...
Doesn't matter. The hang ups are present even when MBP is running on Intel iGPU. Hang ups can occur regardless of GPU used. Happened on mine previous laptop on both GT650M and Intel HD 4000.

Which was outrageous.
 
Z

Zarniwoop

macrumors 65816
Aug 12, 2009
1,038
760
West coast, Finland
bax2003 said:
10.11.5 - Clean install or upgrade ?
Click to expand...

10.11.4 > 10.11.5 update

For me, 10.11.4 froze my computer unexpectedly, not completely locked, but made is unusable. A mouse click had an affect after 10 to 20 seconds etc. So, if I had time, I closed all apps one by one (taking like 10 minutes) and made a reboot or I just gave it a cold boot.

And it was windowserver that caused this problem, as I mentioned earlier. Clearly a software problem related to GPU.
 
I

Idolum

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2016
91
43
Mac OS 10.11.6 is out. Has anyone tried if it addresses some of the issues? The latest beta version that I tried still had the mouse freeze for a few seconds occasionally but I did not experience any lockups requiring a reboot.
 
P

Pardo83

macrumors member
Oct 6, 2015
44
5
Mavericks 10.9.5 installed at the Genius Bar :) No freezes so far. Hopefully this solved the damn freezes
 
I

Idolum

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2016
91
43
Pardo83 said:
Mavericks 10.9.5 installed at the Genius Bar :) No freezes so far. Hopefully this solved the damn freezes
Click to expand...

Mavericks is the way to go. It would be interesting to get some feedback on 10.11.6 but I am sticking with Mavericks as well. It's a great OS.
 
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