Macbook Pro 16 inch freeze issue (automatic graphics switching)

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

I've just got my new machine last Friday and I've been experiencing an annoying issue where the mac seems to "freeze" for split-second and resumes working normally when I'm scrolling on Firefox / Chrome and as a full time iOS Developer this is very clear on the development IDE (Xcode / Simulator) the simulator freezes for an entire second and resumes working again. I've gone through all the steps with Apple Phone Support PRAM Reset / NVRAM Reset / OS Reinstall etc and nothing works -They have rescheduled a call with me this morning- the only option to fix this is if I disable the automatic graphics switching option and make it so that it only uses the dedicated graphics card which is ridiculous.
Does anyone face similar issue ?

 

[1196403]

Seems like chrome as a lot of issues on the new MBP

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

Seems like chrome as a lot of issues on the new MBP

It's not only Chrome, It's everything basically micro-stutters if you have automatic graphic switching on.

 

[maxsquared]

Mmm, I thought mine is because of google file stream and there is a fix supposedly coming out for that from google.

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

Mmm, I thought mine is because of google file stream and there is a fix supposedly coming out for that from google.

Nope, everything micro-stutters.

 

[junkw]

there is two threads discussing that, if you look in your Console.app you will see problems with Intel Accelerator
[automerge]1577285766[/automerge]

MBP16: IntelAccelerator prodding blockFenceInterrupt

I'm getting random 2-5 second hangs in Finder and Chrome, which seem to correspond with these messages in Console: "fault 15:10:31.499686-0800 kernel void IOAccelFenceMachine::fence_timeout(IOTimerEventSource *): IntelAccelerator prodding blockFenceInterrupt" Tons of these messages...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Chronos___]

oh that would make much sense. My MacBook sometimes freezes when I switch from an app to (lets say) safari. The cursors stops moving for a few secs.
I noticed, that this problem only occurs when I use the Macbook without an external monitor. This makes sense because when using an external monitor, the 5500M graphics cards is ALWAYS active, no matter which program you use.

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

oh that would make much sense. My MacBook sometimes freezes when I switch from an app to (lets say) safari. The cursors stops moving for a few secs.
I noticed, that this problem only occurs when I use the Macbook without an external monitor. This makes sense because when using an external monitor, the 5500M graphics cards is ALWAYS active, no matter which program you use.

Yes exactly, the issue never occurs when you are using an external monitor because you are always using the external gpu. So you are basically having the same micro-stutters, right ?

 

[Chronos___]

Yes exactly, the issue never occurs when you are using an external monitor because you are always using the external gpu. So you are basically having the same micro-stutters, right ?

Yes, I'm now at my parents using my MacBook and I'm really annoyed. The lags only appear when switching between applications. I never really noticed it, because when I'm in university, I mostly use programs which aren't demanding on graphical power. The programs I use at home are - but there I always have an external monitor connected.

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

Yes, I'm now at my parents using my MacBook and I'm really annoyed. The lags only appear when switching between applications. I never really noticed it, because when I'm in university, I mostly use programs which aren't demanding on graphical power. The programs I use at home are - but there I always have an external monitor connected.

This is ridiculous when you pay 3.5k for a machine and it can't run properly.

 

[Chronos___]

This is ridiculous when you pay 3.5k for a machine and it can't run properly.

It actually were more like 4k and yes, its really stupid. My old 2013 Retina MacBook Pro only had an integrated gpu and was much quieter (at least when working at home without much power needed) than my new nearly maxed out 16" - since it turns on the powerful GPU when connecting to a monitor - even when I only work with word or pdfs... I turned my refresh rate down from 144hz to 100hz because the constant small fan noise was really annoying.

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

It actually were more like 4k and yes, its really stupid. My old 2013 Retina MacBook Pro only had an integrated gpu and was much quieter (at least when working at home without much power needed) than my new nearly maxed out 16" - since it turns on the powerful GPU when connecting to a monitor - even when I only work with word or pdfs... I turned my refresh rate down from 144hz to 100hz because the constant small fan noise was really annoying.

I had the macbook pro 2016 which was a complete disaster, Flex Gate, Butterfly Keyboard, Tinted Screen and with all of this I never had a single micro stutter, I feel like I "downgraded" not upgraded honestly.

 

[azr79]

Can conform I have the exact same issue, whenever the macbook tries to auto swtich the gpu, the is micro freezes, very ****ing annoying.

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

Can conform I have the exact same issue, whenever the macbook tries to auto swtich the gpu, the is micro freezes, very ****ing annoying.

I have no idea what they are smoking honestly but anyways I'm trying to raise a concern with the Engineering Team, I've had numerous phone calls with the Apple Support and ended up with sending FOUR different videos showing the issue because they were "unable to determine the issue from the logs" it's ridiculous when "simple" app switching from one thing to another causes the entire mac to micro-stutter. Apple never fails to amuse me with their stupid failures in each new model.

 

[Viamusic10000]

I’m having this too, have till Thursday to decide if I want to return it. Any suggestions? This is a deal breaker if it doesn’t get fixed but if it does it’s great

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

I’m having this too, have till Thursday to decide if I want to return it. Any suggestions? This is a deal breaker if it doesn’t get fixed but if it does it’s great

Honestly I think it'll be there for a while until they acknowledge it and fix it via software patch (hopefully, just like they fixed the speakers popping sounds) or open a hardware recall program just like all of Apple's previous disasters.

 

[Viamusic10000]

Honestly I think it'll be there for a while until they acknowledge it and fix it via software patch (hopefully, just like they fixed the speakers popping sounds) or open a hardware recall program just like all of Apple's previous disasters.

No they actually didn’t fix it they just switched the format of the external speakers in the audio midi settings via update to 48Khz. If you switch it back to 44Khz it pops just like normal. So idk if they will fix this or not I have till Thursday to decide. It will be a pain in the ass to switch eco systems

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

No they actually didn’t fix it they just switched the format of the external speakers in the audio midi settings via update to 48Khz. If you switch it back to 44Khz it pops just like normal. So idk if they will fix this or not I have till Thursday to decide. It will be a pain in the ass to switch eco systems

Wow, that's really stupid but I think the iGPU issue is probably more of poor driver optimization rather than faulty hardware. If you can live with the dGPU then go for it and stay away from that garbage built in iGPU until the issue is resolved if not return it back. My issue that I can't go back to the stupid ****ing butterfly keyboard ever, this thing has failed like four times in my old 2016 macbook so I either go back to 2015 models (which is pretty much obsolete at this point) or stick to this one until it's resolved (if it's ever resolved anyway) it's not much of choice for me because it's my main source of income / work.

 

[Squark]

Just as an fyi, I downloaded gfxCardStatus and set the gpu to dedicated only and I don't get the freezing anymore. Annoying way to fix the issue, but it works.

 

[azr79]

Just as an fyi, I downloaded gfxCardStatus and set the gpu to dedicated only and I don't get the freezing anymore. Annoying way to fix the issue, but it works.

you just cut your battery life in half... that's not an acceptable solution

 

[Squark]

you just cut your battery life in half... that's not an acceptable solution

Its acceptable to me, because I use it on a charger 95% of the time. I'd rather keep it on the dedicated gpu whilst I do dev work rather than wait 1-2 minutes for a freeze to resolve itself.

 

[Mark Baker]

Something interesting I've observed (but would love for someone else to confirm) is how some apps exhibit laggy scrolling when on the iGPU (UHD 630), but at increasing levels of lag in correlation to the level of display scaling. For instance, in Firefox this is very noticeable to me. If I set scaling to the middle setting (1536x960), scrolling is pretty fluid. Increase it one notch to 1792x1120 and scrolling becomes slightly less fluid and micro-stutters. Take it up to 2048x1280 (where I normally operate) and lag/stutter is very evident.

However, at 2048x1280 the same websites where lag/stutter is visible in Firefox are quite smooth when scrolling the same site in Safari. Interesting.

Here's the kicker... using EasyRes.app, if I set my display to the native resolution (wow!!! ?) of 3072x1920x60hz, everything magically becomes smooth as butter on the iGPU. Firefox scrolling lag/stutter is no more.

So my thinking presently is that Apple's scaling algorithms/drivers for the UHD 630 iGPU are not yet fully optimized for the additional pixels of the 16" screen over prior generations. This would explain why native resolution (meaning no scaling) is so smooth.

Interested to hear others' thoughts on this and if you see different observations that me. Thanks!

 

[meirithekid]

same issue, Macbook pro 16" (i7, 5300m, 32gb) screen keeps freezing, anywhere from a few seconds to full-on frozen, requiring a hard shutdown-restart.
Happens on all Catalina versions. been formatted a couple of times already, vram/smc reset, all that stuff. sometimes it's fine for a few days, sometimes it happens a few times a day. no pattern.
sent it to be repaired, came back 10 days later after 'they found nothing wrong with it' and on the third day of using it froze several times..

disabling graphic switching does make it stop, but battery life is less than half. not a real solution for a 3000$ machine.

 

[ratex]

I'm also experiencing micro stutter when typing (Chrome, Android Studio, Firefox, ...) on my non-BTO i7 MBP.
This is really annoying and unacceptable for a machine this expensive.

 

[jpallarest]

Newest MacOS 10.15.4 Beta 5 does not fix this issue. iGPU use makes the GUI freeze temporarily at random.

..sigh..