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Safari Hanging

T

Tissue Paper

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 18, 2012
176
6
Hi,

This suddenly happened today. Whenever I try to quit Safari, it shows me the wheel and it just hangs like that forever. I need to force-quit in order to stop this. I tried everything. I cleaned my computer with CleanMyMac 3. I rebooted. I updated the computer with the latest security updates. Nothing works.

Any ideas?
 
It could be anything, really. But try:
• Removing any/all Safari Extensions
• Clearing the Safari Cache

You could also try creating another user account and logging-in to that one to see if the problem persists in a new account. If it does, then it's likely that it's either a hardware problem, or an OS system issue. If the problem goes away, then you know it's a fixable problem related to your account (pref corruption).

You could try downloading Onyx (free) and running all the maintenance utilities if you don't know how to do them manually. That may also help.

The last thought I have is that it could be a network connection problem... but this sort of problem is hard to diagnose in a web forum such as this.
 
Export your bookmarks from Safari -- delete the ~/Library/Safari folder. Open Safari again.

the ~ indicates your Home folder

Passwords? Your problem having them elsewhere. Because Safari is reset.
 
I'll try... Something weird happened just now as well. I was watching a video through Safari and I received a message that says something about 'system running out of application memory' or the application running out of memory. Don't remember :/ Safari froze again and had to reboot. Not really sure why this is happening.
 
Tissue Paper said:
I'll try... Something weird happened just now as well. I was watching a video through Safari and I received a message that says something about 'system running out of application memory' or the application running out of memory. Don't remember :/ Safari froze again and had to reboot. Not really sure why this is happening.
Click to expand...

Keep Activity Monitor open when you use Safari in the future, and keep an eye on the Memory tab. Does it go ballistic?
 
Tissue Paper said:
What constitutes 'going ballistic' so I know?
Click to expand...

Well, depends how much you have open in Safari. Unless you're running something big like a Creative Cloud app, I'd say if any app goes above 1.5GB take a screen shot. That's not exactly ballistic level, but it's something to keep an eye on. Also just generally keep an eye on the pressure thing. I personally prefer it not going further than 2/3rds the way to the top.
 
I see... I'll do that, thanks...
Very strange though because I was playing a simple video and nothing else was running (no other tabs) and it's something I've done millions of times with no issues.
 
Tissue Paper said:
Very strange though because I was playing a simple video and nothing else was running (no other tabs) and it's something I've done millions of times with no issues.
Click to expand...

More of a reason to investigate. Running low on RAM without doing particularly much is a peculiar thing to happen. Send a screenshot if you find anything. (cmd+shift+3)
 
So I checked the Activity Monitor, so far nothing out of the ordinary... (I think). CPU for Safari (more or less around) 100.7, CPU Time 1:22:59, Threads 27, Idle Wake Ups 5... Memory for Safari 6.98GB so far, Compressed Memory 0, Threads 23... etc. Energy 100.6, Avg Energy Impact 102.31...etc. Disk 280 MB, 64.0 MB read...etc.

I still can't shut down Safari without hanging :( I tried what you suggested with the CMD Shift 3, still hangs.

The weird part though is that I noticed my history stopped registering sites visited. This is very weird. I tried looking up something I browsed and the history folder is completely blank. The url bar also cannot remember previously visited sites even when I visited them 1 minute ago.

I'm thinking something happened when I used CleanMyMac 3. Also right now, the CleanMyMac 3 app is telling me I only have 2.57GB memory left out of 16. I can't figure out what is eating up all this memory! Nothing is running except Safari.

I usually clean my computer with CleanMyMac once a week over the weekend. This cleaning usually consists of:
System junk (removing temporary files to are up space), removes unused binaries and localizations, getting rid of various broken items and leftovers, removing supporting data from photos, removing local copies of mail attachments, remove unused iOS data from Mac iTunes. I've been doing this for years with no issues. I also feel it speeds up my computer.

Then once a month I use also CleanMyMac to do Maintenance such as:
Running Maintenance Scripts (rotate system logs, remove temporary items, flush DNS cache, speed up Mail by reindexing the envelope database, rebuild launch services database, reindex Spotlight, Repair Disk Permissions (repairs broken file and folder permissions), and Verify Startup Disk.

The only thing I did this time is I also did the Privacy Maintenance which removes my browsing history along with traces of online/offline activity but my new history should be there by now and it's not.

Either something happened while I used CleanMyMac (although I find it weird cuz I've been using it for years) OR I did a system update on the same day this crap started happening. The update was for the OS through the App Store.

Can't think of anything else :/
 
UDPATE: I left the computer idle and then came back and the memory went up even further than 7GB, right now these are the stats:

3.png
1.png
2.png
 
Tissue Paper said:
UDPATE: I left the computer idle and then came back and the memory went up even further than 7GB, right now these are the stats:

View attachment 681859 View attachment 681858 View attachment 681860
Click to expand...

You definitely have a problem with Safari that's for sure. CPU usage by Safari, should not be around 100. That's eating an entire core on your system. And 13 gigs of RAM just for Safari is ludicrous. Would you try using Safari for a while with a guest account on the computer, and see if the issue is persistent? If it is, it's sort of a deeper issue - if it isn't, it's a preference issue that we can probably fix by deleting the right file, and having macOS replace it
 
Casperes, I think I solved it. I found another thread on here with a couple of people having the same issue. Some guy said he deleted Safari and after the OS replaced it, it fixed the problem for him. That somehow worked.

I went into the Go menu, while pressing OPTIONS and it triggers the Library menu. In there, I dragged the Safari folder into the trash. Then clicked on the Safari icon in the dock to open a new one. I exported my Bookmarks just in case. I can quit Safari without hanging now and History is recording my browsing. Hope this helps anyone else that might have the same issue.

It's weird, maybe it's a Safari glitch.
 
Tissue Paper said:
I went into the Go menu, while pressing OPTIONS and it triggers the Library menu. In there, I dragged the Safari folder into the trash. Then clicked on the Safari icon in the dock to open a new one. I exported my Bookmarks just in case. I can quit Safari without hanging now and History is recording my browsing. Hope this helps anyone else that might have the same issue.
Click to expand...

It's a preferences issue. I've had the same issue with the Sytem Preferences app once. This would've been my next suggestion, had you reported back that Safari worked on a guest profile :). Glad you've gotten it fixed - let me know if the problem reveals itself not to have been solved anyway though.

Cheers!
 
casperes1996 said:
It's a preferences issue. I've had the same issue with the Sytem Preferences app once. This would've been my next suggestion, had you reported back that Safari worked on a guest profile :). Glad you've gotten it fixed - let me know if the problem reveals itself not to have been solved anyway though.

Cheers!
Click to expand...


Really? You mean it's a problem from Preference? The preference with all the computer settings?

Thank you very much! Will do :)
 
Tissue Paper said:
Really? You mean it's a problem from Preference? The preference with all the computer settings?
Click to expand...


Each app can have its own preferences files and in your case, Safari had corrupted preferences. No other app should be affected, and these issues are always only problematic for a single user and not the entire machine.
 
casperes1996 said:
Each app can have its own preferences files and in your case, Safari had corrupted preferences. No other app should be affected, and these issues are always only problematic for a single user and not the entire machine.
Click to expand...

Got you... thank you very much for trying to help. Really appreciate it.
 
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