Macbook Pro 2015: Cursor/screen freezes after login, runs only in safe mode

Question

my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) Big Sur 11.2.2 freezes regularly after login. I can only run it in safe mode. I had the problem before the update to Big Sur, I updated it hoping it would fix it, but I still have the same issue.

Things I tried:

Things I already tried:

-Etrecheck: all good -Reboot in recovery and repair disk. -Reset the SMC, the PRAM/NVRAM -Went through all the tips in this article (but go to an expensive mac store) -Uninstalled a bunch of old apps

I have some crash reports mentioning WindowServer, I used Ulbow to check the log relative to those 2 minutes in which the crash took place. It seems like every time it crashes I have a Windowserver crash report (see below)

My suspect is that I have an issue with GPU.

Any suggestion on how to determine if it is my GPU being faulty (maybe just dusty and old) or some software conflict? How to determine the problem? I have a full back up from time machine on an external drive in case I need to format, but I was hoping to make a couple of tests first. How to move on?

Thanks in advance for your precious help.

Here some failures in the log in the minute where Console is signalling a crash of WindowServer

Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.loginwindow.500.4294967295): entering bootstrap mode
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.imklaunchagent): This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.coreservices.UASharedPasteboardProgressUI): Unknown key for Boolean: DrainMessagesAfterFailedInit
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.UserEventAgent-LoginWindow): This service is defined to be constantly running and is inherently inefficient.
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.loginwindow.500.4294967295): com.apple.universalaccessd (lint): The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.loginwindow.500.4294967295): com.apple.VoiceOver (lint): The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.loginwindow.500.4294967295): com.apple.accessibility.AXVisualSupportAgent (lint): The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.loginwindow.500.4294967295): com.apple.AskPermissionUI (lint): UserName is not supported for non-System services.
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.loginwindow.500.4294967295): com.apple.AssistiveControl (lint): The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.loginwindow.500.4294967295): com.apple.DwellControl (lint): The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.loginwindow.500.4294967295): com.apple.universalaccesscontrol (lint): The HideUntilCheckIn property is an architectural performance issue. Please transition away from it.
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd): Unknown key for Boolean: DrainMessagesAfterFailedInit
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.loginwindow.500.4294967295): exiting bootstrap mode
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd[391]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by useractivityd[391]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent[433]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAg[433]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.CloudDocs.MobileDocumentsFileProvider[455]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by com.apple.CloudDocs.MobileDocume[455]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.corespotlightd[490]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by corespotlightd[490]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.followupd[497]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by followupd[497]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro WindowServer[498]: DEPRECATED USE in libdispatch client: dispatch source activated with no event handler set; set a breakpoint on _dispatch_bug_deprecated to debug
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.Dock.agent[340]): Service exited with abnormal code: 1
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ScreenTimeAgent[477]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by ScreenTimeAgent[477]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.ContextStoreAgent[397]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by ContextStoreAgent[397]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.CryptoTokenKit.ahp.agent[437]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by ctkahp[437]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.parsec-fbf[443]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.remindd[414]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.amp.mediasharingd[399]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.appstoreagent[489]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.CloudDocsDaemon.container-metadata-extractor[479]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.storedownloadd[486]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.askpermissiond[405]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.networkserviceproxy[470]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.amsaccountsd[415]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.CalendarNotification.CalNCService[494]): Service exited due to SIGTERM | sent by launchd[1]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.akd[376]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by akd[376]
Mar  8 16:18:01 danieles-MacBook-Pro mdsync[509]: objc[509]: Class MDSPathFilter is implemented in both /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Versions/A/Metadata and /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Versions/A/Support/mdsync. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.

Answer 1

If this occurs after login it sounds like you have a login item that is causing the problem. Go to System Preferences/User & Groups. Click on the Login Items tab and see if there are any new Login Items. If not, start removing login items until you find the one that is causing your crash. See image below. Be sure to unlock the panel to save any changes.