Frequent beachball due to WindowServer (PB4)

I am seeing the same thing with my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)

I am puzzled. The problem did not start with installing the latest beta. But started only today.

I was having the same issue -- spinning beachball every 30 seconds or so and same send_datagram_available_ping message in the Console -- but it only happened when I had Safari running.

I tried uninstalling all Safari extensions (Ghostery and ublock), but that didn't help. The only thing that seemed to help (at least a little) was the following:

1. I opened Keychain Access

2. I clicked Certificates in the bottom-left pane (Category)

3. I noticed little blue + symbols on the small icons for the certificates for my wifi network***

4. I double-clicked those icons and clicked the arrow to expand the Trust submenu

5. The first option (When using this certificate🙂 was set to "custom." I changed it to "use system defaults"

6. I then closed the window and entered my password for the changes to take effect

*** Note that I have no idea what I'm talking about with "certificates for my wifi network. I only know the certificates had names similar to the wifi signal I was using at work.

This hasn't completely stopped the stalling, but it has greatly reduced its frequency. I now get a stall every 5-15 minutes instead of a couple times each minute.

Experiencing same symptoms here since updating to latest 10.11 Beta (15A243d) on my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013). Safari as main browser.

As far as I can see, it happens whether or not the browser is running.

I noticed something.

It seems to happen when I am at a shared workspace.

It never seems to happen when on my home network.

Could be a coincidence.

I have exactly the same problem (13" rMBP 2015).

I can confirm it's not a coincidence. Using enterprise Wi-Fi at work (many APs around sharing the same SSID) seems to be connected to beachball freezes. They stop (or are short enough to pass unnoticed) after turning the Wi-Fi off.

I also didn't notice any freezes at home or in a cafe.

I'm also having this issue, although I've noticed it's intermittant. Usually I've noticed that if I leave my laptop alone for an hour or two it will go away.

That said though, it is interesting that I am on litterally the exact same model MBP as you. Is anyone else here on a Mid 2014 15 inch Retina Macbook Pro (2.2GHz i7, Iris Pro, 16GB RAM)?

Experiencing exactly the same thing on a 2015 12" MacBook, generally while Safari is running. The WiFi network isn't a certificate-secured, or Enterprise one, it's just a standard WPA2 Personal.

Haven't noticed a pattern yet (e.g. it froze while typing this line)

Came here looking for an answer to the same problem.

[Minor sidebar: I am on 10.11 beta (15A243d). I call this "public beta 3". Apple released beta 1, a supplemental beta update, beta 2, and then beta 3. I believe many sites are incorrectly labelling this "beta 4". If you go to the App Store app and look at the installed updates list, it shows "Version 3". Does anyone actually see "Version 4"? I do not and no updates are available.]

I was intrigued by those who made reference to enterprise WiFi as I was also suspecting something on the wireless side before I found this thread. However, on that point I had switched from our WPA2 secured Wifi to non-secured from the same location and saw no change in behavior. My thought was to change to an ethernet connection to bypass WiFi, however, I don't have a USB to ethernet adapter for this Air. (Anyone else tried this?)

I am not seeing any of the ping errors that Keybuk was seeing, I suspect that is unrelated. I am getting a spindump paired with every watchdog error log, like:

8/11/15 1:38:55.708 PM spindump[415]: Saved userspace_watchdog_timeout.spin report for WindowServer version ??? (???) to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/WindowServer_2015-08-11-133855_Brians-MacBook-Air.userspace_watchdog_timeout.spin

8/11/15 1:38:55.712 PM watchdogd[348]: [watchdog_daemon] @(__wd_service_report_unresponsive_block_invoke) - spindump gathered for (com.apple.WindowServer) at (/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/WindowServer_2015-08-11-133855_Brians-MacBook-Air.userspace_watchdog_timeout.spin)

Each spindump report starts with:

Command: WindowServer

Path: /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Resources/WindowServer

Version: ??? (???)

Parent: launchd [1]

PID: 181

Event: service progress watchdog

Duration: 1.00s

Steps: 10 (100ms sampling interval)

Hardware model: MacBookAir6,1

Active cpus: 4

Does anyone know if there is a way to submit these reports back to the development team?

Wow, moments after my post I saw yours. I don't know how you picked up on this, bravo! But this is absolutely on point. More specifically, disabling the Ambient light compensation option, which I also just discovered is a new setting under El Capitan, elimates the pinwheels immediately. Watching the logs, I went from a spin dump every 1-3 minutes to none for over 20 minutes.

I had to laugh to (and at) myself because all of this came about as I sat in a training room at work in front of windows, convincing myself the problem was somehow wireless related. 😁

Now how to file that bug report with Apple...

I saw this as well. My MacBook Pro never reported that I got PB4. I decided to roll back because of teh beach ball, however. This time it showed PB3 and then an update to PB4 available. Previously a command line dev tools update was the latest shown in my list (It ran prior to PB3 during the roolback). I also have an older MacBook Air that did report PB4, but it was a fresh install through all betas from Yosemite. I think PB4 just has several issues.

I can confirm. After disabling this, the beachballing stopped.

Thanks! This has resolved the issue for me.