Why does MatlabR2023b frequently crashes when generating figures

-I am using latest matlab model with latest Macbook Air (software up-to-date)

-Codes can correctly generate figures (using plot function), but when I try to close the graph it stops responding

-Exact same codes have been succesfully generating graph last year with R2022a model, on an older mac

-Have tried deleting and re-downloading matlab and did not work.

-Have tried restarting (Matlab and Laptop), did not work

Would be very grateful for any advice on what to do.

(For specific academic reasons I cannot upload code here.)

[Devon]

Couple of clarifying questions about the issue:

1. Is there a crash report from MATLAB?
2. Is it the exact same release of MATLAB?
3. Do you have the RAM and system information for the machines? You might be hitting memory limitations based on the hardware

If you don't get an answer here and you have a valid MATLAB license, you can contact MATLAB support for someone to help troubleshot this issue https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

-Codes can correctly generate figures (using plot function), but when I try to close the graph it stops responding

Don't close the graphs ;-)

Seriously, though: this is a known problem for MacOS Monteray and Sonoma on Apple Silicon, that if you use the window decorations to close a window that you run into problems. The work-around is to delete() the figure window. Or see the workaround at https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1808195-matlab-r2022a-freezes-on-macos-monterey-12-5-1-when-closing-a-figure#answer_1324680

Answer 2

[Steven Lord]

Searching the Bug Reports for release R2023b for "crash" in the MATLAB product I find seven hits, but none of them seem like they're that close a match for the behavior you described unless you're using an unsupported JRE or a screen event occurs.

Since you say your software is up-to-date, are you using Sonoma? If so see if your crash log files look like the one in this Answers post.

If none of the descriptions in the Bug Reports of what causes the bug to manifest match your configuration or workflow, and you're not using Sonoma, please contact Technical Support directly using this link and send them the crash log files.

Answer 3

[Image Analyst]

1. Does it actually crash MATLAB itself and you get an operating system error something like "MATLAB has encountered a fatal error and must close" and then either right then, or the next time you start MATLAB, it asks you to submit a crash log?
2. OR, does MATLAB keep running but your program crashed (threw an error)?
3. OR, does it just appear to hang and nothing changes on the screen anymore? If it's hung in your program, then it could be you're in an infinite loop, or you're doing something really time consuming, or else you're asking it to plot millions of things and it's taking so long to render them all.

How long does it take to run on the other computer where it works?

[Shuqi]

Hi, thank you for your answer—-nothing appears on screen that says error, but matlab stops responding (the figure itself is fine and I can add titles etc, but if I close it it stops responding and I cannot force-quit the programme or close the tab or do anything except to force-quit matlab). When I run the same codes on other laptop it is instantaneous and responds well. The codes are very simple and so is the figure. But new matlab on new laptop stops responding after I generate any figure and try to close them.

Answer 4

[Paola]

I am having some related problem. I can no longer print figures or successfully use exportgraphics, which I routinely did up until two months ago (same code, same kind of data, same Matlab version -- also R2023b). Something probably changed on my os's end (whether an update or something that broke, I can't tell). It's a 1-year old MacBook Pro with Apple M2 Max, Sonoma 14.0.

savefig works just fine. When I try to save a figure as pdf, 90% of the times Matlab freezes and all I can do is force-quit it (a report is sent to Apple when I restart). Occasionally the saving goes through, which is puzzling. I do not know how to debug or solve this....

[Image Analyst]

If you do what it says in the FAQ, it should solve the freezing/hanging problem.

https://matlab.fandom.com/wiki/FAQ#After_installation,_MATLAB_crashes_or_gives_an_error_message_when_I_try_to_run_MATLAB.