MacBook Pro Late 2013 retina randomly freezing

Question

Hi there,
I recently purchased a pretty tricked out MacBook Pro 15" Retina from the refurbished store. Totally stoked to have it, and I was really enjoying the machine.
However, I've been having these random lockups about once a day which is the only real fly in the ointment (but a pretty big one, my MacBook Air late 2013 or prior Microsoft Surface Pro were very dependable machines).
Here's some extra details about my system
Mavericks: 10.9.4
SMC version: 2.19f7
Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,3
Boot ROM version: MBP112.0138.B07
As far as I can tell, I'm on the latest available versions of everything (not including betas).
I have also performed the GeekBench Stress Test, an SSD stress test, a GPU stress test all of which the machine passed with flying colors. I have reset the SMC/NVRAM etc, performed the built in Hardware check with nothing but positive results (no issues found). There's no panics in the console log. Here's an excerpt from my latest freeze, which doesn't seem to have anything in common with prior freezes.
2014-09-09 3:32:52.064 PM sandboxd[474]: ([473]) CVMCompiler(473) deny mach-lookup com.apple.distributed_notifications@Uv3
2014-09-09 3:33:42.967 PM Adobe Photoshop CC 2014[369]: clip: empty path.
2014-09-09 3:33:42.968 PM Adobe Photoshop CC 2014[369]: clip: empty path.
2014-09-09 3:34:32.826 PM Adobe Photoshop CC 2014[369]: clip: empty path.
2014-09-09 3:34:32.827 PM Adobe Photoshop CC 2014[369]: clip: empty path.
2014-09-09 3:34:52.352 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.adobe.fpsaud[478]) Job failed to exec(3). Setting up event to tell us when to try again: 2: No such file or directory
2014-09-09 3:34:52.352 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.adobe.fpsaud[478]) Job failed to exec(3) for weird reason: 2
2014-09-09 3:34:52.790 PM quicklookd[471]: [QL] _QLServerGetThumbnail: can't convert path to url
2014-09-09 3:34:52.790 PM Finder[171]: CreateWithFileInfo failed to create URL with FSRef, falling back to blank icon.
2014-09-09 3:34:52.811 PM quicklookd[471]: [QL] _QLServerGetThumbnail: can't convert path to url
2014-09-09 3:34:53.882 PM com.apple.IconServicesAgent[230]: main Failed to composit image for binding VariantBinding [0x369] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x547] - extension: png, UTI: public.png, fileType: PNGf.
2014-09-09 3:34:53.883 PM quicklookd[471]: Warning: Cache image returned by the server has size range covering all valid image sizes. Binding: VariantBinding [0xa03] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x903] - extension: png, UTI: public.png, fileType: PNGf request size:128 scale: 1
2014-09-09 3:34:58.138 PM WindowServer[110]: disable_update_timeout: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Firefox" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
2014-09-09 3:34:58.191 PM WindowServer[110]: common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Firefox" after 1.05 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)
2014-09-09 3:36:25.609 PM apsd[98]: Unrecognized leaf certificate
***This is where I did a hard reset after giving the machine time to possibly recover, with no discernible change***
2014-09-09 3:44:42.000 PM bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1410302682 0
I'm still within the return window, however, I can't identify a specific hardware issue. I also have found that other individuals using MacBook Pros suffering from similar issues have had their machines & logic boards replaced with no improvement which leads me to believe the issue is in OSX or the EFI.
Any advice, tips or anything I might be missing is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hey Linc Davis,
It was not a hardware issue. I use a lot of refurbished hardware (iPhone 5, this MacBook Pro), and there's no discernible difference in dependability between refurbished and new. Apple's Refurbishment processes are stringent. I would like it if they were clearer about their refurbished warranty. I have purchased several Apple computers new, some of which displayed hardware faults out of the box (Late 2008 15" MacBook Pro), some of which didn't. Some issues only showed after some use (iBook G4).
Solution: I completely formatted the SSD and used the recovery partition to download a fresh copy of Mavericks from Apple. I then recovered my important data from a Time Machine backup, and re-installed the latest versions of my applications straight from the vendors. I did not do a "Migrate from backup" or anything like that, I treated it as an entirely fresh install. I believe migration from backups was the core of my issue.
Since then, I have not had a single freeze and the machine is more performant than before. My console is also a lot tidier. It's likely the install that came on the computer was faulty, Migration Assistant broke something, or some other bug appeared in the interim.
I'm very happy I don't need to waste time with a lengthy & tiresome replacement process. I hope this helps anyone else suffering from this issue.