Mac Users Reporting Widespread System Freezes With OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 Update

A large number of MacBook Pro owners running OS X El Capitan are reporting widespread system freezes since installing the 10.11.4 update to Apple's Mac OS.

Hundreds of MacRumors forum members have been posting to a dedicated thread to discuss the issue, which spans 20 pages at the time of writing. The problem appears to be concentrated on 13-inch Retina MacBook Pros (Early 2015) running 10.11.4. Users report that their system becomes totally unresponsive at seemingly random times, with no way to regain access to their Mac other than to force a hard reboot.

macbook_pros_2015
The issue was initially reported by MacRumors forum member Antonnn on March 25, four days after Apple released what is the third update to the Mac OS. In Antonnn's case, the freezes have been occurring "about once a week", first when browsing in Safari, but then also during the use of other Mac apps, including Adobe Photoshop and several third-party browsers. The freeze seems to affect not only the screen and mouse cursor but also the Mac's Force Touch trackpad, which completely loses feedback.

Many other users have since reported similar freezes after updating to 10.11.4, with some 15-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2015) owners also experiencing issues. One potential cause has been identified from crash logs as a system framework or an Intel Graphics driver bug. The issue is also being reported after installing Safari Technology Preview Version 1 and OS X 10.11.5 Public Beta 1.

Video by MacRumors forum member appleofmy"i" experiencing the freeze issue.

Apple Support is apparently aware of the issue but have so far offered no concrete solution. Meanwhile, some users have resorted to downgrading their system to 10.11.3 by restoring from a Time Machine backup or performing a clean install.

We'll update this post throughout the day as we learn more.

Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Top Rated Comments

niun Avatar
104 months ago
Thank god windows users don't make videos of windows crashes, youtube would collapse.
REAAAAALY?

1 crash since windows 10.
1 crash at least every other week with El Cap.

So tired of this....
Score: 84 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Col4bin Avatar
104 months ago
Apple Engineer: Sir, OSX 10.11.4 is freezing up. Let's focus R&D efforts to fix.

Apple Executive: Er well... let's focus on making a rose colored car instead!
Score: 61 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FieldingMellish Avatar
104 months ago
Apple's losing it. Maybe stop building campuses, working on cars, fiddling with the stupid watch, and just concentrate on the one thing that built Apple from the ground up: Stable Mac Hardware and Software.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Marshall73 Avatar
104 months ago
Thank god windows users don't make videos of windows crashes, youtube would collapse.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sofila Avatar
104 months ago
Thank god windows users don't make videos of windows crashes, youtube would collapse.
Yes, or because we're in 2016. You're stuck in the past and probably late to the party. Anyway, it's a OSX and Apple problem, hopely it will be fixed. Can't understand how bashing Windows could be helpful for those affected
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
testcard Avatar
104 months ago
Apple Engineer: Sir, OSX 10.11.4 is freezing up. Let's focus R&D efforts to fix.

Apple Executive: Er well... let's focus on making a rose colored car instead!
Apple Engineer: Er...OK. What about investing in a Chinese ride-sharing company in the meantime?
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....