Mac Pro (Late 2013) GPU Issues

[Becharax]

Could someone narrow it down to whether it's a software or hardware issue ?? It's really frustrating ... I mean if it can be solved in future OSX releases then fine or else what ?

[strangepumpkin]

Originally Posted by DJ Bechara

Could someone narrow it down to whether it's a software or hardware issue ?? It's really frustrating ... I mean if it can be solved in future OSX releases then fine or else what ?

I'm in the process of doing just that. I've been contacting Apple tech support for a few months trying to narrow down the issue. They're finally taking my claim seriously.

While I've been waiting for them, I've been conducting my own experiments.

I've done clean installs of sierra 10.12.1 and 10.12.4, and now Ive moved back to Yosemite 10.10.5, which has proven to be much more stable than sierra. However, I'm still having issues.

Tech support keeps relying on the hardware tests, which keep coming back with zero issues, so I ran a different experiment. I cloned my mac pro's operating system drive, installed it into my MacBook Pro and ran the exact same setup with the exact same peripherals plugged in. I had no issues while running off the MacBook Pro. That seemed to help convince Apple techs that I'm not imagining things.

I'll keep you up to date as things progress.

[Becharax]

Ok Please let me know what happens ... I am sure this clone thing has nothing to do with it because it's a software related "Mac Pro" issue probably the graphic driver or so ...

[Becharax]

btw .... 10.12.4 seems stable to me so far ... and in pro tools only the faders sliders look jumpy and sliding ... besides all seem ok

[strangepumpkin]

Originally Posted by DJ Bechara

Ok Please let me know what happens ... I am sure this clone thing has nothing to do with it because it's a software related "Mac Pro" issue probably the graphic driver or so ...

The clone experiment was used to illustrate to Apple that the third party software (namely Pro Tools) was not necessarily the culprit.

[Becharax]

Well Yea sometimes I run Logic Pro X and I get the freeze or sometimes nothing of those two ....

[Becharax]

Anyway .... Update me please when you have info from apple

[Becharax]

Originally Posted by strangepumpkin

The clone experiment was used to illustrate to Apple that the third party software (namely Pro Tools) was not necessarily the culprit.

any update ??!

[strangepumpkin]

I've been waiting to hear back from Apple's engineers for almost a month. Just spoke to my assigned apple rep and they were unable to give me any news. They recommended, again, that I take my mac to an Apple Store and have them look at it. He DID say that it's very likely a graphics card issue but can't say for sure.

Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of a few projects and can't afford to be without my main computer for 3-5 days (even with its issues) so I'm waiting until July to drop it off when there's more downtime.

[fsrenduro]

I had a quad core trash can that I was having this issue with for almost a year before I did anything. Took me several go arounds over the phone and finally at the Apple Store to get it resolved.

I shot several pieces of video to show the behavior when it would freeze up but continue playing audio. This was great evidence for the techs.

Of course it was always that they couldn't reproduce it and it was an OS error or Avid error or bad RAM or anything else.

How I ultimately proved it was by buying a refurbed quad core trash can. I used a clone of the system drive on an external USB 3 SSD and ran it on the bad trash can until it froze and shot video of the freeze. I did this for about a week to gather my info. Then I swapped the RAM from the bad trash can to the new trash can and ran it for a couple of weeks. No freezes. At this point there was nothing to eliminate except that it was the computer itself. They started replacing one GPU at a time and I would get it back, retest it and still get freezes. Went back to Apple Store.

I did this until a third fix didn't solve the problem. At that point they just gave me a new trash can.

I ended up selling one of them for a slight loss but was never without my work computer and now I haven't had a freeze on the new computer in almost a year.


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