Before we get our hands dirty, here’s a word of warning. If you’re wondering how to reboot a MacBook Pro, bear in mind it’s the last resort when all other methods to unfreeze your Mac had failed. Don’t try it too often as it may harm your system. No question, your Mac can handle rapid power losses and your hardware most likely won’t be hurt. What’s at risk though, is your data because each time you force reboot a Mac it affects the consistency of the file system. Now that you’ve been warned, let’s go.
If your Mac successfully starts up in Safe Boot mode, try restarting your Mac again in normal mode. If your Mac starts and makes it to the login screen or the desktop, then verify that your startup drive is working correctly. Chances are the drive has some issues that need to be repaired. Step 6: Reinstall the third-party Apps on your Mac and copy the user data from the backup you have just created. Part 3: How to prevent Mac from restarting. Unexpected restarts of Mac could be quite annoying, Thus it's necessary to learn how to prevent the problem from happening. When all unnecessary components are disconnected, restart the Mac, and then press and hold down the D key while the computer restarts. Apple Diagnostics launches automatically - follow the on-screen instructions to proceed and a list with the problem detected will be displayed.
Symptoms your frozen Mac needs a force restart
- When you reach the Apps & Data screen, you will see two options “Restore from iCloud Backup” and “Restore from Mac or PC”, select one and tap Continue. If you select the “Restore from Mac or PC option, you will need to connect your device to your computer with your USB cable.
- By default, at startup The Mac opens those applications that were open when it was shut down or restarted. This feature is designed to help users with ease of access and recover or continue with whatever they were doing by quickly reloading the apps that were loaded before the system rebooted or crashed.
- Applications are not responding
- Pointer is not responsive
- Loud fan noise
- The screen goes black
- Mac unable to restart
Can you move the cursor? If yes, try this
Before you force restart a Mac, it’s always recommended to first try a software solution.
Go to the Apple menu
Choose Restart
Click Restart in the menu that appears
Choose Restart
Click Restart in the menu that appears
Two ways to force restart a Mac
The simplest method: hold down the Power button till your Mac shuts down. Press the button again to restart it.
Mac Restart Problem
If your Mac hangs for good and the pointer is inactive:
Hold down Control + Command while pressing the Power button.
Hold down Control + Command while pressing the Power button.
This is an alternative key combination to force restart a Mac. By the way, if you are on an iMac, the Power button is found on the back of your Mac. Voila!
Is Shut Down any different from Restart?
The difference between Shut Down and Restart is quite self-explanatory. When you perform a restart, your Mac will turn on again loading its previously active apps. As for shut down, your Mac won’t start until you press the Power button again. Interestingly, all new Macs have an automatic reboot feature built-in. So even if you sit and do nothing, your frozen Mac would eventually reboot by itself, though it takes a bit of patience.
How to force shut down a frozen Mac
If you need to force shut down a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, all you need is again to press a Power button on your Mac’s keyboard.
Press and hold Power button for 2 seconds
Choose Restart, Sleep or Shut Down in the menu that appears
Choose Restart, Sleep or Shut Down in the menu that appears
If you don’t want to reload the baggage of your previously opened apps, tick off “Reopen windows when logging back in”. We do recommend you to deselect this option when your Mac is slow in order to lighten the weight on your RAM.
If your Mac won’t shut down:
Press and hold Power button for about 6 seconds
Hold the button until the Mac shuts down.
Hold the button until the Mac shuts down.
Needless to say that when you force restart a Mac all your unsaved projects may be lost. It’s unfair, we know.
Why does my Mac keep freezing?
The obvious explanation is your Mac lacks memory. Or to put another way, there are too many active processes running on your Mac. First off, go to Activity Monitor to check your memory usage.
Go to Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor
Click the Memory tab Foscam vms app mac download.
Click the Memory tab Foscam vms app mac download.
Mac show all open apps on iphone 11. Now, look into how heavily your Memory is loaded. Quit apps that eat up too much memory for no reason. While this may work as a temporary solution, it doesn’t stop your Mac from freezing up again. You can either force reboot your Mac each time or opt for a radical solution. Below are a few more ideas you can try.
More ways to fix a frozen Mac
Restart your Mac in the Diagnostics mode
Shut down your Mac and reboot while pressing D key. Within the menu that appears, launch the Apple Diagnostics tool. This will check your Mac’s drive for errors. From then, follow the prompts to finish the diagnostics.
Restart A Mac Computer
Clean up your Mac
Remove old unused apps, system junk, and pervasive browser extensions. For this purpose, try running CleanMyMac application on your Mac.
It’s quite effective in removing all junk from your Mac and has a number of helpful utilities, like RAM free up or app uninstaller. Download it for free here .
Reinstall your macOS
This is the most radical of all methods, that’s why it’s so effective.
Check out how to clean install macOS Sierra
Instructions for macOS High Sierra
How to clean install macOS Mojave
Instructions for macOS High Sierra
How to clean install macOS Mojave
How to clean install macOS Catalina
Hope this guide has helped you. Before you force shut down this article, feel free to share it, using the social buttons below. Cheers!
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So, you think your Mac is flawless and free of issues? Think again. As with other computers, it may experience problems.
And just recently, numerous users have reported instances where their Macs always restart while on sleep mode. Simply said, when they put their Mac to sleep, after a few minutes or hours, the system will just wake up on its own.
But no, this isn’t some sort of sorcery or black magic. It’s not even a doing of an elemental or an out-of-this-world being. It’s simply an issue with Macs. A number of solutions have been suggested already. We’ll discuss more of them below. But before we proceed to possible solutions, allow us to share with you some causes why your Mac always restarts on sleep mode.
![Restart a mac computer Restart a mac computer](/uploads/1/3/3/8/133867929/794759347.png)
Why Macs or Mac Minis Always Restart on Sleep Mode
If you have discovered that your Mac suddenly woke up from sleep mode even without interaction, just relax. Again, it’s not a ghost. Rather, it has something to do with your system settings.
When you put your Mac on sleep mode, it will then power down but stay on standby. This means that even if the majority of your Mac’s components are shut off, including the processor and storage drives, the memory will continue running so that it can quickly wake up and pick up where you have left off.
Although the sleep mode is great to use when you don’t want to shut down your Mac, but want to save power, oftentimes it is rather pointless and futile as it could trigger errors and problems.
How to Set Up Your Mac’s Sleep Mode
First off, why is there a sleep mode? Is it a mandatory function? Of course, it’s not. But it is quite handy for Mac owners who frequently use their devices and don’t want to completely turn them off every time.
To set up your Mac’s sleep mode, you simply have to follow these steps:
- Click on the Apple menu.
- Select System Preferences.
- Choose Energy Saver.
- Set the amount of time the screen should wait before it falls asleep.
- Keep your Mac from automatically going to sleep by clicking on the Prevent computer from sleeping automatically option.
- Restart your Mac.
5 Easy Fixes for Mac Restarting Issues When on Sleep Mode
You don’t have to dwell so much thinking whether or not you should put your Mac on sleep mode. It’s an issue that has many quick fixes.
If you encounter Mac restarting problems while it’s on sleep mode, here are some solutions to try:
Fix #1: Unplug the USB Devices.
Among the biggest culprits of Mac restarting problems are USB devices that you have currently plugged in, such as keyboards, mouse, or headsets. So, to check if they are actually causing the problem, follow these steps:
Restart Computer Command
- First, set your Mac’s automatic sleep mode to the shortest possible setting. To do it, go to System Preferences and select Energy Saver.
- Move the slider next to the Computer Sleep section all the way to the right.
- Now, unplug all the USB devices connected to your Mac.
- Wait for your Mac to go to sleep mode on its own.
- If it does not wake up from sleep, then you have figured out the problem. It’s probably one of the USB devices that is causing the issue.
- Plug the USB devices back to your Mac one-by-one to figure out which particular device is causing the problem.
In case you are wondering why a USB device is considered a culprit, well, the answer is simple. It is possible that one key on your keyboard or one button of your mouse is malfunctioning. It might be sending that information to your Mac; hence it cannot go to deep sleep.
Fix #2: Check Your Network Activity.
If your Mac is currently connected to the Internet, it is possible that it will wake up from sleep because there is some on-going internet activity or other crucial network processes.
This is likely to happen if your Mac is connected to a network drive or a server. Whenever a network drive is active, it could trigger your Mac to wake up. This is also the case for Printer, File, or iTunes sharing.
To prevent these things from happening, do the following:
- Go to System Preferences.
- Select Energy Saver.
- Untick the box next to the Wake for Network Access option.
- From now on, any outside network or internet activity will no longer cause your Mac to wake up.
Fix #3: Reset Your Mac’s SMC.
Network activities and faulty USB devices are two common reasons why your Mac wakes up from sleep mode. But if they remain unfixed at this point, we suggest that you try to reset the System Management Controller (SMC).
The SMC controls your Mac’s power manager. It stores all the options and settings for your Mac when it sleeps. When it becomes corrupted, it can trigger random wake-ups.
To fix problems with your Mac’s SMC, you can just reset it. Here’s how you do it:
- Put your Mac to sleep.
- Wake it up after a few seconds.
- Restart your Mac.
- Wait for it to completely boot up.
- Shut it down again.
If you are using a MacBook, here’s how you reset the SMC.
- Make sure your MacBook is plugged into a power source.
- Press the Control, Option, and Shift keys while pressing the Power button. Hold them for three seconds.
- Release all the buttons together.
- Switch on your Mac.
Fix #4: Delete Unnecessary Files.
Oftentimes, your Mac wakes up from sleep mode because of unnecessary or junk files that are messing with your system processes. To ensure they don’t interfere with important processes, make it a habit to delete files you don’t need.
However, identifying unnecessary or junk files may be confusing at times. Thus, we recommend that you use a third-party Mac repair tool. With a reliable Mac repair tool, you can ensure no junk files will ever take up valuable system space and affect your Mac’s important system processes.
Fix #5: Seek Help from a Certified Apple Technician.
If all else fails, your last resort is to take your Mac to the nearest Apple Store. Let any of the technicians check your Mac for any serious hardware or software problems and have them all repaired. Don’t worry, because these repairs won’t cost a lot, especially if your Mac is still on warranty.
Did we also mention that this solution is highly recommended if you are in doubt with your technical skills?
Conclusion
You really don’t need to be scared when your Mac keeps restarting while it’s on sleep mode. Sleep-wake problems like this are common among Mac devices. All you have to do is to try any of the suggested fixes above and you should be alright.
Let us know which of the solutions above worked for you. Comment on your thoughts and experiences below.
If you’re running into errors and your system is suspiciously slow, your computer needs some maintenance work. Download Outbyte PC Repair for Windows, Outbyte Antivirus for Windows, or Outbyte MacRepair for macOS to resolve common computer performance issues. Fix computer troubles by downloading the compatible tool for your device.
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