High Sierra constantly freezing

I have a Macbook Air 2014 that I updated from Yosemite to High Sierra 10.13.6 just recently, but now the laptop freezes multiple times per day

I wonder if it's about having only 4GB RAM? But it used to run perfectly fine on Yosemite.

Here are the things that I've tried:

- Upgrade software/Chrome
- Reset NVRAM & SMC
- Run in Safe Mode (In which Chrome completely glitches. I've tried to cut down my number of extensions, but even a simple Google search doesn't show. Safari is fine.)
- Usually culprits are Chrome and Simplenote (which does a lot of automatic syncing)
-Got below average results with Etrecheck.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Try downloading and running the macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Combo Update installer:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1970?locale=en_CA




- Patrick
======

pm-r said:

Try downloading and running the macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Combo Update installer:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1970?locale=en_CA




- Patrick
======

Click to expand...

And that's an excellent suggestion, RippleIllusion. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, the upgrade gets corrupted, whatever. Downloading the Combo is sound advice. It overwrites your OS, data is safe (But no harm in having a backup beforehand).

Please post back.

And, a very warm welcome to our Forums.

Ian

I have a Macbook Air 2014 that I updated from Yosemite to High Sierra 10.13.6 just recently, but now the laptop freezes multiple times per day

Click to expand...

Welcome to our forums.

Please post your Etrecheck results. Just copy and paste them in your next reply. That will give us a chance to maybe see what might be causing the freezing. Freezing can be caused by many things but it's usually a hardware problem. Bad memory, SSD failing, etc.

pm-r said:

Try downloading and running the macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Combo Update installer.

Click to expand...

IWT said:

And that's an excellent suggestion, RippleIllusion. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, the upgrade gets corrupted, whatever. Downloading the Combo is sound advice. It overwrites your OS, data is safe (But no harm in having a backup beforehand).

Click to expand...

chscag said:

Welcome to our forums. Please post your Etrecheck results.

Click to expand...

Thank you all for the warm welcomes. I have taken your advice and installed the Combo; hopefully this improves things.

Just ran the Etrecheck again and this is what I got:

EtreCheck version: 4.3.6 (4D041)
Report generated: 2018-08-06 19:29:03
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 6:00
Performance: Below Average

Problem: Beachballing
Description: Freezing

Major Issues:
Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.

Minor Issues:
These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

High battery cycle count - Your battery may be losing capacity.
Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.
Unsigned files - There are unsigned software file installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.
Low performance - EtreCheck report took over 5 minutes to run. This is unusual.
32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.

Hardware Information:
MacBook Air (13-inch, 2013 - 2014)
MacBook Air Model: MacBookAir6,2
1 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-4260U) CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM - Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600 ok
BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600 ok
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 972

Video Information:
Intel HD Graphics 5000 - VRAM: 1536 MB
Color LCD 1440 x 900

Drives:
disk0 - APPLE SSD SM0256F 251.00 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)
Internal PCI 5.0 GT/s x2 Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 250.79 GB
disk1s1 - Macintosh HD (APFS) 250.79 GB (199.71 GB used)
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] 250.79 GB (39 MB used)
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] 250.79 GB (519 MB used)
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] 250.79 GB (2.15 GB used)

Mounted Volumes:
disk1s1 - Macintosh HD 250.79 GB (48.24 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /
Encrypted

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] 250.79 GB (48.24 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /private/var/vm

Network:
Interface en0: Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
One IPv4 address
Interface Bluetooth-Modem: Bluetooth DUN 3
Interface en3: iPhone
Interface en2: Bluetooth PAN

System Software:
macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G65)
Time since boot: About 3 hours
System Load: 3.98 (1 min ago) 3.71 (5 min ago) 2.95 (15 min ago)

Security:
System Status
Gatekeeper Mac App Store
System Integrity Protection Enabled

Unsigned Files:
Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.qihoo.360safe.daemon.plist
Executable: /Library/Application Support/Qihoo/360Safe/360SafeDaemon.app/Contents/MacOS/360SafeDaemon -daemon '/Library/Application Support/Qihoo/360Safe/'
Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK
Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist
Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater -bgcheck
Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK
Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist
Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool
Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK
Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist
Executable: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/SwitchBoard/SwitchBoard.app/Contents/MacOS/launch.switchboard
Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK
Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/PT.updd.plist
Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/PT.updd
Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK
Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist
Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper
Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

32-bit Applications:
46 32-bit apps

Kernel Extensions:
/Library/Application Support/Hotspot Shield
[Not Loaded] tun10.9.kext (AnchorFree Inc., 1.1.1 - SDK 10.8)

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/scep/PlugIns/kext
[Loaded] scep_kac_64_106.kext (4.5.27 - SDK 10.6)

/System/Library/Extensions
[Not Loaded] jawbone.kext (1.1.2 - SDK 10.7)

System Launch Agents:
[Not Loaded] 9 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 165 Apple tasks
[Running] 53 Apple tasks
[Killed] 66 Apple tasks
[Other] One Apple task

System Launch Daemons:
[Not Loaded] 37 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 178 Apple tasks
[Running] 70 Apple tasks
[Killed] 51 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:
[Loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-07-04)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? ffb65062 - installed 2017-01-21)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? cf530050 - installed 2017-12-19)
[Other] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a23d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-06-05)

Launch Daemons:
[Loaded] com.microsoft.OneDriveUpdaterDaemon.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-07-04)
[Loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-06-05)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-07-04)
[Running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (? f00845ea - installed 2017-01-21)
[Running] com.microsoft.scep_daemon.plist (ESET, spol. s r.o. - installed 2016-09-27)
[Not Loaded] org.eyebeam.SelfControl.plist (? 515a74db - installed 2018-06-06)
[Loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (? 68cad67 - installed 2015-03-13)
[Running] PT.updd.plist (? 0 - installed 2017-07-20)
[Loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-06-01)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e - installed 2010-08-25)
[Loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (? e3fefdd2 - installed 2017-12-19)
[Loaded] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-06-05)
[Loaded] com.cyberghostsrl.CyberghostPrivilegedHelper.plist (Cyberghost SRL - installed 2017-06-17)
[Running] com.adobe.agmservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Running] com.qihoo.360safe.daemon.plist (? 502cf200 - installed 2018-07-05)
[Loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-06-13)
[Loaded] com.anchorfree.ajaxserver.plist (? b7821fb8 - installed 2013-11-08)
[Running] BESAgentDaemon.plist (International Business Machines Corp.(Tivoli) - installed 2018-04-03)

User Launch Agents:
[Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-17)
[Other] org.getlantern.plist (? 0 - installed 2017-06-09)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Loaded] com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist (BitTorrent, Inc - installed 2016-03-17)

User Login Items:
360SafeTray Application (? - installed 2018-05-28)
(/Library/Application Support/Qihoo/360Safe/360SafeTray.app)
Android File Transfer Agent Application (? - installed 2012-10-15)
(~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer/Android File Transfer Agent.app)
Google Chrome Application (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-30)
(/Applications/Google Chrome.app)
Flux Application (Michael Herf - installed 2018-04-25)
(/Applications/Flux.app)
AdobeResourceSynchronizer Application (? - installed 2006-10-24)
(/Applications/Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional/Adobe Acrobat Professional.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)
com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist MachInit (?)
(/etc/mach_init_per_user.d/com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist)

Internet Plug-ins:
AdobeAAMDetect: (installed 2017-01-21)
FlashPlayer-10.6: (installed 2018-06-15)
QuickTime Plugin: (installed 2018-08-06)
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: (installed 2018-07-11)
AdobePDFViewer: (installed 2018-07-11)
Flash Player: (installed 2018-06-15)
SharePointBrowserPlugin: (installed 2016-05-06)
PepperFlashPlayer: (installed 2017-11-04)
JavaAppletPlugin: (installed 2018-07-21)

Safari Extensions:
360WebShield.safariextz - Qihoo, Inc. - http://www.360.cn/ (installed 2015-10-14)

3rd Party Preference Panes:
Flash Player (installed 2018-06-01)
FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE) (installed 2014-10-19)
Java (installed 2018-02-16)

Time Machine:
Time Machine Not Configured!

Top Processes by CPU:
Process (count) Source % of CPU Location
WindowServer Apple 10
kernel_task Apple 3
BESAgent International Business Machines Corp.(Tivoli) 2
configd Apple 2
Hotspot Shield Mac App Store 1

Top Processes by Memory:
Process (count) Source RAM usage Location
Google Chrome Helper (25) Google, Inc. 1.49 GB
kernel_task Apple 585 MB
mdworker (12) Apple 147 MB
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 135 MB
soagent (2) Apple 60 MB

Top Processes by Network Use:
Process Source Input Output Location
mDNSResponder Apple 100 MB 2 MB
netbiosd Apple 247 KB 25 KB
apsd Apple 14 KB 15 KB
CalendarAgent Apple 19 KB 5 KB
Simplenote Mac App Store 9 KB 2 KB

Top Processes by Energy Use:
Process (count) Source Energy (0-100) Location
Google Chrome Helper (25) Google, Inc. 9
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 6
WindowServer Apple 5
configd Apple 1
hidd Apple 1

Virtual Memory Information:
Available RAM 741 MB
Free RAM 47 MB
Used RAM 3.28 GB
Cached files 694 MB
Swap Used 644 MB

Software Installs (past 30 days):
Name Version Install Date
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (18.011.20055) 18.011.20055 2018-07-11
Monosnap 3.4.16 2018-07-16
iTunes 12.8 2018-07-17
OverDrive Media Console 1.2 2018-07-20
Simplenote 1.3.6 2018-07-22
Adobe Digital Editions 4.5.8 4.5.8.0 2018-07-30
Gatekeeper Configuration Data 149 2018-07-31

Clean up:
~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.getlantern.plist
/Applications/Lantern.app/Contents/MacOS/lantern
Executable not found

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):
2018-08-01 13:32:29 timetrack.io.app Crash
/Volumes/V****E/t**************p
fatal error: unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value


End of report

Thanks for posting the Etrecheck report.

One thing that I did notice is that you're running low on disk space and you have lots of stuff launching to memory. You might also note that Etrecheck itself states that it took an unusual long time to run (over 5 minutes).

Nothing specifically points to why the system is freezing but it could be the SSD itself that is at fault. Have you done a Disk Utility First Aid check yet? I'm not sure that would show up anything but might be worthwhile to do anyway. Boot to recovery and run First Aid on your Macintosh HD.

You might want to also try booting to safe mode and run that way for a while to see if the freezing occurs there also. Safe mode will stop all those extra programs you have that are launching and only run the necessary Apple stuff that's needed. It also kills the sound - that's normal.

chscag said:

Thanks for posting the Etrecheck report.

One thing that I did notice is that you're running low on disk space and you have lots of stuff launching to memory. You might also note that Etrecheck itself states that it took an unusual long time to run (over 5 minutes).

Nothing specifically points to why the system is freezing but it could be the SSD itself that is at fault. Have you done a Disk Utility First Aid check yet? I'm not sure that would show up anything but might be worthwhile to do anyway. Boot to recovery and run First Aid on your Macintosh HD.

You might want to also try booting to safe mode and run that way for a while to see if the freezing occurs there also. Safe mode will stop all those extra programs you have that are launching and only run the necessary Apple stuff that's needed. It also kills the sound - that's normal.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the feedback. Do you happen to know how to identify and clean some of the processes that launch to memory?
The Disk Utility First Aid check was successful, but when I booted in Safe Mode, Chrome was glitching all of the time, even with a simple Google search. Safari was fine.

Have you ever used OnyX, https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html? We recommend using it as often as you see fit. Also, only use the "Automation" tab default set of cleaning tools.

chrome don't run correctly in safe mode so that may be why its glitching for you.


run the software ferrarr said to use and see if it helps

4GB ram isn't the end of the world
and will run fine especially on OSX as it barely consumes any memory / ram

let us know how you get on.

ferrarr said:

Have you ever used OnyX, https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html? We recommend using it as often as you see fit. Also, only use the "Automation" tab default set of cleaning tools.

Click to expand...

I downloaded Onyx from before but ran the maintenance check as a newbie lol. The High Sierra version only has the maintenance, utilities, files, and parameters categories; which one corresponds to automation?

jasongoldworthy said:

chrome don't run correctly in safe mode so that may be why its glitching for you.

4GB ram isn't the end of the world
and will run fine especially on OSX as it barely consumes any memory / ram

Click to expand...

I see. If not the system, I'm not sure what's slowing down my laptop...

Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items. To stop something auto-loading, highlight it and click on the minus next to the plus (+/-) at the bottom near center. Several seem out-of-date, or unneeded.
One case in point - did you install QiHoo 360 software or did it get on your Mac by accident? It's pretty controversial.
Another - Adobe Resource Sync is from 2006?

Is this a public Beta?
Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):
2018-08-01 13:32:29 timetrack.io.app Crash

gsahli said:

Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items. To stop something auto-loading, highlight it and click on the minus next to the plus (+/-) at the bottom near center. Several seem out-of-date, or unneeded.
One case in point - did you install QiHoo 360 software or did it get on your Mac by accident? It's pretty controversial.
Another - Adobe Resource Sync is from 2006?

Is this a public Beta?
Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):
2018-08-01 13:32:29 timetrack.io.app Crash

Click to expand...

I did install 360 protection before; thank you for the reminder, I should change to another antivirus software.
And I'll check the Adobe files. Timetrack is indeed a beta I downloaded.
Wondering if I should do a complete and thorough clean of my files/apps. Could it possibly be my storage that is affecting computer performance? I'm just quite confused, since Yosemite seemed to work fine.

Forgive me for saying this RippleIlusion, but:

1. The 360 software is produced by a Chinese company of uncertain ethics and should certainly be uninstalled.

2. Please don’t replace it with anything. There are no viruses in the wild which affect Macs and plenty of AV software which at best slows the Mac and at worst can do all sorts of harm.

3. Yes I think it would be a good time to review all the software on your Mac. Is it essential. Is it safe. Where does it originate from - country etc. And best to avoid beta versions. And a review of your files would do harm either.

I promise my motive in advising this approach is in your best interests. My intention is not to meddle in your affairs it to follow up your own ideas.

Ian

IWT said:

2. Please don’t replace it with anything. There are no viruses in the wild which affect Macs and plenty of AV software which at best slows the Mac and at worst can do all sorts of harm.

Click to expand...

I appreciate your advice and have uninstalled 360.
I've read before that it's still advised to get an antivirus although Macs are supposedly more safe, just to err on the cautionary side...

RippleIllusion said:

I appreciate your advice and have uninstalled 360.
I've read before that it's still advised to get an antivirus although Macs are supposedly more safe, just to err on the cautionary side...

Click to expand...

Just to support what Ian has been stating and a bit of caution from your statement —

I've read before that it's still advised to get an antivirus

Click to expand...

… don't forget that most of the places providing such a statement are also in the business of selling you the software.

Just saying…


- Patrick
======

What, exactly, would antivirus protect you from getting? There are NO viruses for Mac out there, so the AV cannot protect you from anything. When there IS a virus for Macs, the AV companies will have to react to that, and maybe then it might make some sense. But not now.

What, exactly, would antivirus protect you from getting?

Click to expand...

One very small but critical situation I can think of was when a friend was working for a local university and included a pdf file as an attachment she had downloaded that contained a Windows Trogan back in her Power PC days. She was in deep do doo for including an infected file.
We thought it was up to the receiver (Windows user) to protect themselves from any infected file.

Anyway, that was what seems to have been eons ago, and I would help things have changed,





- Patrick
======

Patrick, I used the think it was my responsibility to cleanse emails I received of viruses for Windows. That way, if I forwarded them to someone else, it arrived virus free. Then I decided that if the recipient didn't want viruses, the recipient should get an AV for *their* system. And I stopped using AV. It should be up to the receiver to protect themselves. Any company/institution/organization/person who doesn't do that is just inviting problems.