MacBook Pro - Interface seems frozen

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Hey Everyone,

This is my first post so apologies in advance if I've broken some rules

My mac is a 15" from 2012. So its about a year old.
When I login, all my previously opened applications are restored like normal, the problem is the screen or computer is acting like its frozen, except the pointer moves around the screen as normal.

I can't "COMMAND+TAB" to switch between applications, when I mouse over the dock the icons don't magnify or zoom. The dock remains static, as does the rest of the interface.

Email is downloaded automatically, again normal, complete with the notification in the top right corner - but again I click on it and nothing happens. The menus don't respond to clicks and on it goes.

Sometimes it wont even login - everything described above also applies to the login screen, where clicking on the user icons doesn't do anything - the same goes for clicking on the other screen items like Shut-down and Reboot etc. The only thing I can do is a hard shut down, by holding the power button until the computer powers down.

Then after powering on, as I said, sometimes I can login as normal - but if I can, the above applies.

Please help ..... *saddest face*
 
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2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
You probably should run the Apple Hardware Test to see what it turns up.
Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test

Try booting into Safe Mode to see if you still have the same problems. If you do, I suspect you have a hardware problem. If not, it may be a simple driver or cache corruption. Also, have you tried a different user account to see if the problems persist?

Also download Onyx and run its full suite of cleaning and maintenance tools. And take note of my signature.
Download OnyX for Mac - Maintenance and optimization tool. MacUpdate.com
 
OP
L
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Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro, 15", 8Gb Ram, 1Gb Display Memory, Intel Quad-Core i7, 120Gb Solid-State HDD
You probably should run the Apple Hardware Test to see what it turns up.
Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test

Try booting into Safe Mode to see if you still have the same problems. If you do, I suspect you have a hardware problem. If not, it may be a simple driver or cache corruption. Also, have you tried a different user account to see if the problems persist?

Also download Onyx and run its full suite of cleaning and maintenance tools. And take note of my signature.
Download OnyX for Mac - Maintenance and optimization tool. MacUpdate.com

Hey thanks for the quick reply!
Clicking on the other user icon also does nothing. There are 2 user accounts and one guest account which is disabled.
I haven't installed any security/cleaning software on this machine. I suppose I can't rule out completely the possibility of virus activity.
There is no difference when in safe mode.
Its almost like the computer is trying to process a lot of information. Imagine you have an old windows machine and you open say 7 or 8 adobe products at the same time, like photoshop, illustrator, flash etc. Sometimes when I mouse over the dock it will instantly appear magnified under the mouse pointer but it wont move with the pointer, its frozen in that position. Other times, like now, I can't even login as I mentioned. So your suggestion of logging into the other user account doesn't work.
It's looking more and more like I need to re-install the operating system?
Unfortunately your suggestions in your signature cannot be actioned because the computer simply wont respond to user interaction.
Lj
 

Raz0rEdge

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When the system DOES work properly, have you tried closing out all the applications and if you are running OS X Lion or above while shutting down, ensuring that you uncheck the option to restore all applications on startup and then power off. Power back on to a clean slate and see if it works..

Though, if you are having issues even at the login screen, the issue is not likely what you are loading after you login.

Has it done this for long? Do you remember when it started? Depending on when you got the MBP, you should be still under the 1 year AppleCare warranty, if not, and you haven't purchased the additional 2 years of coverage, I would highly recommend that you do and take it to the Apple Store and show it them if it's easily reproducible and have them help you figure out what's going on..
 
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I haven't installed any security/cleaning software on this machine. I suppose I can't rule out completely the possibility of virus activity.

That is HIGHLY unlikely.

There is no difference when in safe mode.

This alone is a pretty major clue. You likely have a hardware problem of some sort. It could even be the drive and if that's the case, reinstalling the OS would just worsen the matter. I hope you have backups!!!

If you insist on reinstalling, I would install it to an external drive and boot off that to see if that works. If a clean install does boot fine off an external drive, then make sure you first recover and secure anything important before trying to reinstall to the internal drive.

That all said, I agree with Raz0r that you really should get this thing to Apple if it's under warranty. OS X just doesn't go belly-up that easily and the likelihood of you having malware is "virtually" nonexistent. A transient hardware failure is the most likely culprit, especially since it "sometimes" works.
 
OP
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Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro, 15", 8Gb Ram, 1Gb Display Memory, Intel Quad-Core i7, 120Gb Solid-State HDD
When the system DOES work properly, have you tried closing out all the applications and if you are running OS X Lion or above while shutting down, ensuring that you uncheck the option to restore all applications on startup and then power off. Power back on to a clean slate and see if it works..

Though, if you are having issues even at the login screen, the issue is not likely what you are loading after you login.

Has it done this for long? Do you remember when it started? Depending on when you got the MBP, you should be still under the 1 year AppleCare warranty, if not, and you haven't purchased the additional 2 years of coverage, I would highly recommend that you do and take it to the Apple Store and show it them if it's easily reproducible and have them help you figure out what's going on..

Its been acting this way for around 24 hours. It was purchased in March, so haha as usual its become sick less than 4 weeks after its first birthday, just out of warranty - I didn't buy the apple care protection.

I just restarted the computer after I was in safe mode and it started up normally, I logged in and all the previously open applications were closed, it restarted into a 'clean state' as you described above. I didn't do anything that would explain this sudden recovery. The system seems to be working normally again. Oh my gosh, thanks for your advice - perhaps it fixed it somehow hahahaha.
LJ
 

Raz0rEdge

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Ahh, too bad you didn't purchase the extended warranty for 2 additional years since you can't add it on after the first year from date of purchase expires..

If it does turn out to be a hardware issue and does require a logicboard replacement, it will end up costing significantly more than the AppleCare..:)

Anyway, good that you're back in business now and hopefully it stays on its best behavior for you..
 
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I just restarted the computer after I was in safe mode and it started up normally, I logged in and all the previously open applications were closed, it restarted into a 'clean state' as you described above. I didn't do anything that would explain this sudden recovery. The system seems to be working normally again. Oh my gosh, thanks for your advice - perhaps it fixed it somehow hahahaha.
LJ

Make backups NOW and start working on diagnosing what the problem may have been before it happens again and you find yourself with an unusable system. Ignore this advice at your own peril. 'Nuff said.
 

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