Incredibly Random Complete System Freeze (UD5H, i7, GTX 670)

[klif]

then I found an app called "Freeze Fix" and from yesterday morning I didn't have any freezes (after the fix the system was running more than 15 hours + 5 hours today). I hope my problem is solved... I'll update again soon.

Care to link to this "Freeze Fix"?

 

[skroutz999]

Sure! I don't have freezes anymore thx to this app.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CPJxhvas1M

In the description there are a few download links.
Don't forget to set your Mac to run it automatically every time you boot into your OSX.

 

[klif]

Sure! I don't have freezes anymore thx to this app.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CPJxhvas1M

In the description there are a few download links.
Don't forget to set your Mac to run it automatically every time you boot into your OSX.

Hmmm Mavericks says it's a classic app and won't execute it, not supported anymore.

Don't know exactly what it does so a bit suspect of trying to run it as a login item.

 

[skroutz999]

I don't know either what this little program does.. but at least it worked for me.
If you search it in the forum you can find a few ppl who are using it with success and other without.

Here is an example:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/112749-mavericks-fermi-freeze.html

Update: Freezes came back but they aren't so often as before.. I don't know if this program helps a little..
Details here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/general-h...eezing-but-not-freezing-odd-4.html#post729027

 

[mdjake]

I have a Z77-DS3H mobo which freezes randomly under ML 10.8.5.
I suspect the Multibeast network driver (Atheros - Shailua's ALXEthernet 1.0.2) according to this thread

Can someone tell me about an alternative network driver? I can't find it under the link seajack0 provided.

 

[Robertc89]

Hello, i have the same problem....many random freezes

i3 - 2100
ga h61m-s2-b3
gtx 660
8gb ram

Most of the time i get this error in the console, i don;t know if it's related, probably not because sometimes i don't get it.



I also use the atheros driver, i will try to delete it and see if it freezes without the driver.

LE: the reason for the freezes was the atheros driver from multi beast, it uses a different driver so i uninstalled and installed another one which works perfect, it's mandatory to uninstall the one from the multi beast by going to s/l/e/ionetworkingfamily.kext/contents/plugins - delete the alx atheros kext then install the
The 1.2.3 driver from http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/283086-updated-atheros-ar8131325152-driver-for-107108/ (just copy the .kext) to s/l/e and run kext utility - restart.

 

[mdjake]

Ah, thank you! After your post finally I've found this:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/network/87698-ga-z77-ds3h-system-freeze-file-transfers.html

I've built a hack according to a previous Tonymac Buyers Guide. I've set up the BIOS according to the recommended settings. I've used the latest MultiBeast. The rig was always stable under MS Win, but was randomly freezing under OS X.

First I thought the freezes were graphics related because my card was a 4GB and not the recommended 2GB.
I went through the following troubleshooting:

Looked at the logs. Nothing there. Just the BOOT after the hard reset.
Tried 10.9, then 10.8.5. Still freezing.
Tried different system definitions. Still freezing.
Fixed the AGPM.kext first for my GTX670. Still freezing.
Fixed CUDA, fixed OpenCL. Still freezing.
Tried the freezefix.app. Still freezing.
Fixed the power management for my 3570K then. Still freezing.
Disconnected every non-essential peripherials. Still freezing.
Almost gave up.

I use a NAS (AFP/SMB) and I use Timemachine, so my network traffic is usually quite active. And seems like Shailua's Atheros driver has a memory leak under heavy network transfers. Who thought about that?

I've replaced it with the recompiled AtherosL1cEthernet 1.2.3 which can be found in the thread I linked on the top of this post.

1. I fully removed the MultiBeast-patched IONetworkingFamily.kext from S/L/E with the Shailua Atheros driver in it.
2. I copied back the original IONetworkingFamily.kext (from the Mountain Lion disk image) to S/L/E.
3. Fixed permissions, cleared system-caches (important, without this the Shailua driver persisted although I deleted it).
4. Rebooted and installed the recompiled AtherosL1cEthernet 1.2.3 driver with KextBeast.
5. Repaired permissions and rebooted again.
6. And no freezes until now.

Thank you all!

 

[skroutz999]

Congratulations mdjake!
Unfortunately I have try most of what you did also but no luck…
Yesterday I installed 10.8.5 on another hdd and still the freezes are here…
The console in my case gives me the same message every time the system freezes:
localhost kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!

As it seems my problem is related to my gpu and to this conclusion also helped that before i buy the gpu with the same system and onboard graphics (intel hd4600) i didn't have any freezes..
Still searching for a solution..

 

[short]

Ok, so I have a solution (at least for my system).
If you experience freezes in Unix-based operating systems and BSODs in Windows, upgrading your BIOS to the latest beta (currently F8k) might do the trick.
I read something about how haswell processors are really picky when it comes to memory voltage, which caused stability issues on GA-Z87X boards.
Try it yourself and report back, you can find the beta BIOS here.

 

[NovaM]

It's been eluded to a number of times, but a 100% fix is to disable the second network card in BIOS. Within BIOS there is no option to disable the Intel network connection, disabling the LAN #1 disables the Atheros connection. Do that, and the system runs like butter.

I had a "few" hangs on 10.8.x, but downgraded from 10.9.x because of the CONSTANT freezes.

I finally got fed up, and started reading. Thank you to everyone that suggested this was a driver issue. It is!

if you NEED 2 network interfaces, I'm sorry, you'll have to dig further.

I'm just confirming that disabling the Atheros NIC in BIOS seems to COMPLETELY fix the problem.

(Note, I could replicate the crash any time I want, as simply streaming anything to my Apple TV caused the crash. I will however go further and say, it's something VERY inherent to Apple network communications. As I could use it without issue if I streamed to my Apple TV via Plex, but if I used the native Apple TV streaming from iTunes, it would crash about 30 seconds into any VIDEO, and I stress video, as Audio has no issues)