Macbook Pro 16 inch freeze issue (automatic graphics switching)

[jpallarest]

10.5.4 release does not fix the issue.

 

[dmitriymbp16inch]

I have the same freezes. Does anyone know it is software or hardware problem?
4 releases past - no changes, its strange for apple...
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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 ?

have you found solution?

 

[MrGunnyPT]

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

..sigh..

Also the hiccup issues on heavy images websites is annoying such as Reddit and ImgUr

 

[Hiredgoon6]

I have a base model 16" and also experience micro stutters lasting 0.5-1 seconds. Cursor would lag and jump around. Thought I was going nuts.

 

[kytosai]

I have same issue.

It was really annoying to get this error. I must disable automatic graphic switching to fix it !

So in the end this error is caused by hardware or software ?

 

[franksvalli]

Can confirm. Still happening for me on 10.15.4 as well. Has been happening since day one while on the iGPU only, and seemingly randomly.

 

[Chavishnu]

I also got these micro lags (mouse pointer stops for a fraction of a second) which is EXTREMELY annoying!

Disabling graphics card switching fully avoids this problem but it can't be a solution for a 3000€ Macbook!

Has someone talked to apple about this? I really hope that there's a solution soon!

 

[sdp77]

I also got these micro lags (mouse pointer stops for a fraction of a second) which is EXTREMELY annoying!

Disabling graphics card switching fully avoids this problem but it can't be a solution for a 3000€ Macbook!

Has someone talked to apple about this? I really hope that there's a solution soon!

Have you talked to Apple?

 

[Todd Murphy]

Same issue here. Went to an apple store two months ago and they reverted me back to Mojave. They've never seen the issue before. The automatic graphics switching toggle doesn't even help me. Reset my MacBook Pro multiple times and nothing ever works. I am so fed up at this point idk what to do. I need Xcode and I cannot use the old version on Mojave. A very odd point of interest: this does not happen in safe mode. When I called apple support before my appointment, they blamed it on some software that I had because if it did not happen in safe mode, it "had to be some software". My MacBook is unusable for coding and any sort of video watching.

 

[ksk6794]

I also have this problem with my MacBook Pro 16 " space gray!
Apple replaced my logic board a second time, I still have a problem with freezing on the latest version of Catalina 10.15.4.

These are just random video freezes when working with Intel UDH Graphics. There is not a single step to reproduce the problem with a 100% probability. Yes, it seems that the problem does not occur when working in safe mode. And this is also not a problem with any third-party software, because it happens with a standard software set.
There are no external devices connected!
Third-party graphics tests (Geekbench etc..) do not reveal any specific errors!
The Console also does not have any specific errors.

I was forced to buy a new MacBook 16" silver with the same configuration - it works flawlessly!
My wife's computer also does not have a similar problem!

I am very disappointed, I spent $ 3k for a computer that I haven’t been able to use normally for 4 months!
I am now more concerned with the question: will it be possible to resolve the issue before the end of warranty service?

My first service center refused to repair it because "Diagnostics did not identify problems."
But they saw the problem! What is going on?!

Is Apple really unaware of the problem or is it a deliberate avoidance of responsibility?

 

[Hiredgoon6]

Can confirm that the micro stutters occur after fresh install with complete wipe. Nothing installed except stock software on 10.15.4 and cursor still freezes. Disabling gfx switching and running on AMD card resolves problem immediately.

 

[Hiredgoon6]

Yeah, forcing it to use the dedicated gpu fixes the micro stutters. But, even with the AMD card, don't you feel like some animations aren't quite smooth?

Could you try opening this Safari popup and letting me know how you see the animation working? In my case, my old MacBook Pro from 2017 works a lot better than my new MacBook even when it's using the dedicated AMD gpu.

Animations were smooth for me on AMD card. Definitely smoother than intel graphics (seems choppier). Maybe your screen has bad ghosting? I read the 16" screens were known to have more ghosting than the 15" (notebookcheck).

 

[Pixelman1985]

I also got these micro lags (mouse pointer stops for a fraction of a second) which is EXTREMELY annoying!

Disabling graphics card switching fully avoids this problem but it can't be a solution for a 3000€ Macbook!

Has someone talked to apple about this? I really hope that there's a solution soon!

same here

 

[Pixelman1985]

I also got these micro lags (mouse pointer stops for a fraction of a second) which is EXTREMELY annoying!

Disabling graphics card switching fully avoids this problem but it can't be a solution for a 3000€ Macbook!

Has someone talked to apple about this? I really hope that there's a solution soon!

same here with the mouse pointer lags... with the previous version was worse, now its a little bit better but it must be fixed asap!
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I got some mouse lags for now... actually I got these lags from the day one but now are less. I got some keyboard delays (not always its 1 in 1000 times) I think its a software issue not hardware.. I read that lots of users got lots of issues
!

 

[jpallarest]

This issue still happening here with latest 10.15.5 beta.

 

[MrGimper]

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!

Hasn't the relationship between scaling and lag been around since the retina displays? Don't apple say that changing the scaling can result in performance issues? I have my screen on 1680x1050 via QuickRes and have zero issues. But then again I didn't at the native resolution (which nowadays isn't a 2:1 mapping).
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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.

I've had 2x 16" running 10.15.3, 10.15.4, 10.15.5 b3 and now b4 and not experienced anything like this. I've also not experienced any GPU panics from sleep either.

 

[mitchpp]

I also have this problem with my MacBook Pro 16 " space gray!
Apple replaced my logic board a second time, I still have a problem with freezing on the latest version of Catalina 10.15.4.

These are just random video freezes when working with Intel UDH Graphics. There is not a single step to reproduce the problem with a 100% probability. Yes, it seems that the problem does not occur when working in safe mode. And this is also not a problem with any third-party software, because it happens with a standard software set.
There are no external devices connected!
Third-party graphics tests (Geekbench etc..) do not reveal any specific errors!
The Console also does not have any specific errors.

I was forced to buy a new MacBook 16" silver with the same configuration - it works flawlessly!
My wife's computer also does not have a similar problem!

I am very disappointed, I spent $ 3k for a computer that I haven’t been able to use normally for 4 months!
I am now more concerned with the question: will it be possible to resolve the issue before the end of warranty service?

My first service center refused to repair it because "Diagnostics did not identify problems."
But they saw the problem! What is going on?!

Is Apple really unaware of the problem or is it a deliberate avoidance of responsibility?

So you bought a new 16" macbook? And that one is working perfect? Than it seems that it's just a specific number of macbook that have the problem. I'm also experiencing the same problems as described on this forum. Do you guys think there is a possibility that I can switch my macbook? I still have almost a year of warranty left.

 

[Madhatter32]

Is there no MUX switch on the MBP? Seems like an oversight if not.

 

[yindrameansu]

same here guys. I have talked to friends working at Apple Support and they know nothing about that issue. I start to think that it's me who is too picky, but common, if we MBP 16 users are not picky, who is?

My machine is 2-days-old. No back-up, fresh start. For example, I experience lagging when rapidly resizing windows with Brave Browser (not happening in Safari). It's a minor issue, but it doesn't happen with my MBP 2012 :S

 

[Darek Litawor]

I’ve bought my MBP16 few days ago and have the same stuttering issues. I’ve read some threads online about this problem but I still cannot determine is this software or hardware bound. I’m really close to returning this machine, but I’m still hesitant because I’ll have to go back to dual core MBP13.

 

[Grohowiak]

Interesting thread.
I got my refurbished base last week and have about 12 hours in Xcode + Chrome Video playback + some notes apps running at the same time and haven't experienced any of those things at least not to a point where it would bother me.
I will definitely take a closer look today afternoon as I'm still within return period.

*****EDIT

So I gave it a good test side by side with my 2019 iMac and oddly enough in several instances now that I started to look closely they both have those occasional stutters / micro stutters haha.

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

This is still unresolved.
The iGPU is really ****ed up.

 

[jpallarest]

This is unacceptable for a machine this expensive.

 

[junkifan]

Got mine last week. 16 inch, base config. Thought I was going insane until I found this thread. Sigh.

Fyi this still hasn't been fixed in 10.15.5.

 

[Hiredgoon6]

Can confirm, 10.15.5 did not fix