Macbook pro 13" retina early 2015 (A1502) freezes

Question

Macbook pro 13" retina early 2015 (A1502) freezes

Hi All,

I have a Macbook pro 13" retina early 2015 (A1502) that freezes randomly, sometimes after just a very few minutes working. The mouse pointer or anything moving on the screen just freezes, sound stops playing and, most of the times after ~20/30 secs it just turns off. After turning it on again no crash report is presented.

I've tried everything! SMC and NVRAM reset, reinstalling the OS several times (the original or the latest versions), running the apple diagnostics (nothing wrong came out), etc. Most of the times it even crashes after the installation when running the setup wizard is several points of the process.

On the other hand, when installing the OS or in the recovery modes it can be on for hours and never freezes. Apparently it also doesn't freeze in safe mode.

Somehow I feel like it's something related with the GPU but I'm not sure but I would like to have any logs to back that up. I was not able to find any pointing to this or any other issue until now.

I've been trying to fix this for months now... no success. Any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Daniel Antunes

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Jan 27, 2023 1:49 PM

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Answer 1

HWTech

Level 9

67,226 points

Jan 27, 2023 4:29 PM in response to danielantunes

The macOS installer is a much more limited environment than booting even into Safe Mode. The fact that Safe Mode seems to work Ok indicates some third party software is the source of the problem, or you may be correct that it may be GPU related since Safe Mode utilizes a much more basic GPU driver. If it is a GPU issue, then it means the Logic Board is bad (also indicates a bad CPU because the laptop uses the Intel GPU integrated into the CPU).

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Answer 2

Jan 28, 2023 8:21 AM in response to HWTech

I'm pretty sure that it's not related with 3rd party software. If that was the case why would it freeze during the setup wizard after installing the OS or after reinstalling a fresh OS before installing anything else?

I understand that, if it is a GPU issue, I will have to replace the Logic Board. I just would like to be sure of that before making the investment.

I was hoping that someone could help with any clue to provide any evidence that it's in fact the GPU. Where to get GPU logs or if there is any way of unload the GPU drivers or use the same as in safe mode but in regular mode.

Thanks for your help.

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Macbook pro 13" retina early 2015 (A1502) freezes

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