MP 7,1 POLL: 2019 Mac Pro - Having Suspected Issues With W5700X GPU?

[choreo]

Applications freezing/crashing?
Mac Pro logging out/restarting/shutting down randomly?
Mac Pro will not sleep or wake up from sleep?
Kernel Panics?
Other anomalies where you suspect the GPU/driver implementation is the source?

 

[LeonPro]

There was a supplemental update released today. They didn't mention anything about the graphics card or issues, but wondering if they snuck it in there?

"‌macOS Catalina‌ 10.15.6 supplemental update includes bug fixes for your Mac.

- Fixes a stability issue that could occur when running virtualization apps
- Resolves an issue where an ‌iMac‌ (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) may appear washed out after waking from sleep"

 

[choreo]

There was a supplemental update released today. They didn't mention anything about the graphics card or issues, but wondering if they snuck it in there?

"‌macOS Catalina‌ 10.15.6 supplemental update includes bug fixes for your Mac.

- Fixes a stability issue that could occur when running virtualization apps
- Resolves an issue where an ‌iMac‌ (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) may appear washed out after waking from sleep"

I saw that, have not installed it yet. Apple support had me trash about 8 Extensions this morning ".kext files" that engineering said to eliminate. Still testing to see if it fixes anything (no problems yet except my external speakers no longer work that are connected to my CalDigit Optical port). The sound control panel "sees" the CalDigit Optical as a source, but the Logitech Z906 control head cannot sense a 5.1 Dolby signal?

Half of the extensions removed related to Epson and Canon printers from what I can tell

 

[TrevorR90]

I find it amazing that the 2020 Imac that was just released gets a bug fix whereas the Mac Pro has had a major bug since day one that has yet to be fixed. The sleep issues that the majority of users have...

 

[LeonPro]

I don't think Apple is able to reproduce the bug consistently because I think it's a very specific trigger between something like Adobe AI and W5700X with a certain action perhaps. I'm pretty sure there are lots of W5700X users but for other programs. And Adobe right now can't also get their act together. They're too big and too much red tape to act. They're lost and slowly sinking. And that's me talking as an Adobe CC Enterprise license user. When they're raking in money and can pay their bills, it's not an issue.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I don't think Apple is able to reproduce the bug consistently because I think it's a very specific trigger between something like Adobe AI and W5700X with a certain action perhaps. I'm pretty sure there are lots of W5700X users but for other programs. And Adobe right now can't also get their act together. They're too big and too much red tape to act. They're lost and slowly sinking. And that's me talking as an Adobe CC Enterprise license user. When they're raking in money and can pay their bills, it's not an issue.

Maybe that's what this thread could help figure out. What are the circumstances. More than half the 5700 users have no problem.

Question to the other half that do have problems, what apps do you use, or contexts where you notice the problems cropping up?

To your point, perhaps it's just a specific app/process that's causing the issue.

I wonder, has anyone video'd their machine showing what the problem looks like. Might be useful if someone sticks a cam on their screens to capture the issue.

 

[choreo]

Maybe that's what this thread could help figure out. What are the circumstances.

Question to the other half that do have problems, what apps do you use, or contexts where you notice the problems cropping up?

I wonder, has anyone video'd their machine showing what the problem looks like. Might be useful if someone sticks a cam on their screens to capture the issue.

I have listed my issues in other threads; unfortunately unless you knew it was coming, there would not even be time to grab a phone to video the crashes in my case as the machine usually logs out almost instantaneously. Of course all the video would show is a stuck cursor and an auto-logout and screen asking for password to log back in after Apple logo/progress bar.

Experiences:

• Adobe AI - usually on launch right after palettes appear if it is going to freeze/crash/restart.
• Adobe InDesign - usually on launch right after palettes appear if it is going to freeze/crash/restart.
• Adobe Acrobat Pro DC - usually on launch right after interface appears if it is going to freeze/crash/restart.

[I cannot recall any Adobe apps crashing if they survive the first minute or so]

• Dreamweaver - Unable to Cut and Paste text in Code View twice - restarting app fixed it?
• Quicktime - usually freeze/crash/restart right after launch when double-clicking a tutorial .mov thumbnail.
• Just selecting a file on the Desktop once caused freeze/crash/restart
• At least (3) times, waking from sleep first thing in the morning, greeted by login screen asking for password with a dialog that the computer shut down improperly.
• Only seen a Kernel Panic dialog once.
• Never seen a problem with Quickbooks, Quicken, Mail, Safari, Messages (which I am in extensively)

Mac Pro power light always stays on - even after all crashes/logouts - only powered off once the first day I got it.
When freezes occur, Force Quit cannot be accessed - machine just restarts.

I cannot rule out that the root cause may be some Time Machine files that migrated over that the Mac Pro does not like or possible font issues (although Font Doctor shows everything perfect). The Time Machine backup I used to migrate to the new Mac Pro on day-one came off my 2015 MacBook Pro which was running the exact same version of Catalina as what came installed on the Mac Pro.The MacBook has never had a crash of any kind - ever - and has been running Catalina since it came out with all the same apps.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I have listed my issues in other threads; unfortunately unless you knew it was coming, there would not even be time to grab a phone to video the crashes in my case as the machine usually logs out almost instantaneously. Of course all the video would show is a stuck cursor and an auto-logout and screen asking for password to log back in after Apple logo/progress bar.

Experiences:

• Adobe AI - usually on launch right after palettes appear if it is going to freeze/crash/restart.
• Adobe InDesign - usually on launch right after palettes appear if it is going to freeze/crash/restart.
• Adobe Acrobat Pro DC - usually on launch right after interface appears if it is going to freeze/crash/restart.

[I cannot recall any Adobe apps crashing if they survive the first minute or so]

• Dreamweaver - Unable to Cut and Paste text in Code View twice - restarting app fixed it?
• Quicktime - usually freeze/crash/restart right after launch when double-clicking a tutorial .mov thumbnail.
• Just selecting a file on the Desktop once caused freeze/crash/restart
• At least (3) times, waking from sleep first thing in the morning, greeted by login screen asking for password with a dialog that the computer shut down improperly.
• Only seen a Kernel Panic dialog once.
• Never seen a problem with Quickbooks, Quicken, Mail, Safari, Messages (which I am in extensively)

Mac Pro power light always stays on - even after all crashes/logouts - only powered off once the first day I got it.
When freezes occur, Force Quit cannot be accessed - machine just restarts.

I cannot rule out that the root cause may be some Time Machine files that migrated over that the Mac Pro does not like or possible font issues (although Font Doctor shows everything perfect). The Time Machine backup I used to migrate to the new Mac Pro on day-one came off my 2015 MacBook Pro which was running the exact same version of Catalina as what came installed on the Mac Pro.The MacBook has never had a crash of any kind - ever - and has been running Catalina since it came out with all the same apps.

Ah sorry, I thought it might show some artifacts. So yea, I guess just what the context of the crash is, apps running, tasks attempted. Maybe a pattern emerges. So your list above is great!

 

[choreo]

Ah sorry, I thought it might show some artifacts. So yea, I guess just what the context of the crash is, apps running, tasks attempted. Maybe a pattern emerges. So your list above is great!

I have never experienced any screen "artifacts" on my (3) monitors.

 

[crogers9]

I have had 3 different machines all with an issue where thr Mac Pro would not wake from sleep and then would crash, I am just in the process of sending the 3rd one back.

The error when restarting is

PowerPlay Failed Resume. TTL Error Message: .
"@/AppleInternal/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/GPUDriversAMD/GPUDriversAMD-3.10.15/Common/IONDRV/ATI/AMDUniversalFramebuffer/

 

[ondioline]

That one can be 'fixed' by using the 'prevent computer from sleeping' option. It happens on the 16" MBP too, the Navi drivers are just crap across the board.

 

[crogers9]

That’s not a fox for anything

That one can be 'fixed' by using the 'prevent computer from sleeping' option. It happens on the 16" MBP too, the Navi drivers are just crap across the board.

thats not a fix for anything!

 

[th0masp]

That one can be 'fixed' by using the 'prevent computer from sleeping' option. It happens on the 16" MBP too, the Navi drivers are just crap across the board.

Wow that would be horrible on a laptop - no sleep, really?

 

[LeonPro]

Isn't the 5500M also a Navi? If so, I'm not having any sleep issues with my MBP.

 

[choreo]

One thing I finally did to hopefully eliminate some possible issues I have been having (we will see), is I trashed EVERYTHING I could find "Adobe" on my machine yesterday and ran the Adobe Cleaner Tool to remove CC and all Adobe Apps. Have spent 10 hours so far reinstalling and just trying to reconfigure apps that I had. There was definitely "some" things that migrated from my Time Machine backup that the Mac Pro just did not like (that seem to work fine on my laptop). I have been dreading a "full" reinstall of Adobe apps for years because of all the custom settings, 3rd party plugins & extensions, over 100 websites in DW to reconfigure, workspaces, etc. Acrobat and Lightroom Classic definitely did not migrate properly I can see already.

 

[OkiRun]

One thing I finally did to hopefully eliminate some possible issues I have been having (we will see), is I trashed EVERYTHING I could find "Adobe" on my machine yesterday and ran the Adobe Cleaner Tool to remove CC and all Adobe Apps. Have spent 10 hours so far reinstalling and just trying to reconfigure apps that I had. There was definitely "some" things that migrated from my Time Machine backup that the Mac Pro just did not like (that seem to work fine on my laptop). I have been dreading a "full" reinstall of Adobe apps for years because of all the custom settings, 3rd party plugins & extensions, over 100 websites in DW to reconfigure, workspaces, etc. Acrobat and Lightroom Classic definitely did not migrate properly I can see already.

As I said earlier, Adobe CC did not migrate successfully via Time Machine to my 7,1. I'm not surprised that it has happened to others.

 

[choreo]

Deleted

 

[goMac]

Are people with problems connecting displays directly to the card or the IO board? I moved my display to the IO board and so far things have been much better with wake issues.

 

[choreo]

I have (3) 27" NEC monitors connected to three of the four TB3 connectors on the GPU (that is the main reason I upgraded to the 5700). The occasional logout during sleep is a minor nuisance, the freezes/restarts when launching apps is getting old.

 

[mattspace]

I have (3) 27" NEC monitors connected to three of the four TB3 connectors on the GPU (that is the main reason I upgraded to the 5700). The occasional logout during sleep is a minor nuisance, the freezes/restarts when launching apps is getting old.

I have to admit that for all we might mock Apple, it's pretty disappointing to see the new "professional workstation" using all-Apple-supplied hardware, and "professional graphics software" from Adobe, seems a lot less stable than the Frankensteined patchwork 4,1 / 5,1 monsters many of us are using.

 

[choreo]

I have to admit that for all we might mock Apple, it's pretty disappointing to see the new "professional workstation" using all-Apple-supplied hardware, and "professional graphics software" from Adobe, seems a lot less stable than the Frankensteined patchwork 4,1 / 5,1 monsters many of us are using.

Especially when my old 2015 MacBook Pro runs the same Adobe software on the same Catalina OS at 1/4 the price with no issues!

 

[DFP1989]

I have to admit that for all we might mock Apple, it's pretty disappointing to see the new "professional workstation" using all-Apple-supplied hardware, and "professional graphics software" from Adobe, seems a lot less stable than the Frankensteined patchwork 4,1 / 5,1 monsters many of us are using.

Agreed.

My previous workstation was an i7 8700K Hackintosh I built in late 2017 with an RX580 and 16GB RAM. My 15-inch 2016 MBP played backup and for editing on the road.

In the 2.5 years it was my main machine, I upgraded the GPU to a 5700XT, doubled the RAM to 32GB and went through High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina (urgh).

I decided to go for the Mac Pro for both the potential performance (that I don't feel I'm seeing) and the stability of a real Mac (honestly isn't much better).

I picked up a cheap 12-core 5,1 to use as a server that should be getting delivered this week, I'm honestly tempted to throw some of my current work at it to see how it fares paired with an RX580.

 

[daveedjackson]

Maybe that's what this thread could help figure out. What are the circumstances. More than half the 5700 users have no problem.

Question to the other half that do have problems, what apps do you use, or contexts where you notice the problems cropping up?

To your point, perhaps it's just a specific app/process that's causing the issue.

I wonder, has anyone video'd their machine showing what the problem looks like. Might be useful if someone sticks a cam on their screens to capture the issue.

Not sure this is true. What is likely is that most people are not putting the system to sleep or they have the vega. I have nothing but issues. Not tied to adobe but actually it’s anything that remotely leans on the GPU. Although sometimes it can be something as basic as opening mail which cause the panic.
For me I can turn the system on and use it in all apps for the entire day. But let’s say I let it sleep over lunch. Guaranteed when I return. It can be 5 minutes or 15 but after that sleep I will instantly see a panic and whole system crash and restart.

your idea of filming it, seems pointless. What is there to see apart from the system becoming unresponsive and crashing. I have serveral videos of the issue. I sent them to Apple. When it was sticking, and becoming unresponsive.

 

[choreo]

Not sure this is true. What is likely is that most people are not putting the system to sleep or they have the vega. I have nothing but issues. Not tied to adobe but actually it’s anything that remotely leans on the GPU. Although sometimes it can be something as basic as opening mail which cause the panic.
For me I can turn the system on and use it in all apps for the entire day. But let’s say I let it sleep over lunch. Guaranteed when I return. It can be 5 minutes or 15 but after that sleep I will instantly see a panic and whole system crash and restart.

I have to admit I "always" have my displays set to sleep as I refuse to cook all my relatively expensive displays as a trade-off. So I cannot confirm that never sleeping is the workaround. Today I had a new crash circumstance (for me). For the first time I had a crash in Safari. I was reading a page on this forum and when I went to scroll, the speakers started making a rhythmic sizzling sound for about 15 cycles one-second apart, then the Mac restarted. Usually I just have crashes soon after launch of certain Adobe apps, but Safari is an Apple app. First time I ever had a speaker sound as a warning!

 

[richinaus]

Wow that would be horrible on a laptop - no sleep, really?

Yep, w5700 on a 16”mbp constant issues with sleep etc.
It’s in the cupboard now........ I found most of the time life was simply easier without the card than with it.

I really struggle with the fact that this exists on the Mac Pro at all.
And the sole reason I wasted $1200 on the GPU in the first place was that I, in my stupidity, imagined Apple would nail the drivers and support for the card when it came out for the Mac pro. Obviously not.