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Full Guide How To Reset SMC On Your Mac Easily

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In this article, you will learn what is smc, when to reset smc and how to reset smc on your mac. Almost a few generations of mac produced by apple have new features. Macbooks and iMacs manufactured before 2017 reset SMC a different way. Macbooks and iMacs manufactured on 2018 onwards comes with a T2 security chip to provide privacy and security features towards Mac users. Read on to find out how to reset smc on your mac.

How To Reset SMC On Mac - KissMyMac
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What Is SMC?

SMC in shorts refers to System Management Controller. On an Intel based Mac, SMC is in-charged of the following items:-

  • Responding to button presses for the power
  • Responding to the opening and closing of the display lid on Mac notebooks
  • Battery administration and management
  • Thermal administration and management
  • Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS)
  • Ambient light sensing
  • Keyboard backlight
  • Management of status indicator light (SIL)
  • LED battery indicator lights
  • Selecting an external (as opposed to an internal) video source for certain iMac displays

When to Reset SMC on Your Mac?

  • Your Mac’s fans are operating at high speed despite the fact that it is not under heavy load and is adequately ventilated.
  • The backlight of the keyboard behaves improperly.
  • If present, the status indicator light behaves improperly.
  • If present, battery indicator lights on Mac notebooks with a non-removable battery behave incorrectly.
  • Your Mac does not respond when the power button is pressed.
  • When you close or open the lid of your Macbook, it does not respond properly.
  • The battery is not charging correctly.
  • Your Mac unexpectedly sleeps or shuts down, and you are unable to restart it.
  • The display backlight does not respond appropriately to changes in ambient light.
  • Your MacBook or MacBook Pro’s USB-C port does not support charging.
  • External devices connected to the USB-C port on your MacBook or MacBook Pro are not recognised.
  • If present, the MagSafe power adapter’s LED does not indicate the correct charging activity.
  • Your Mac performs inexplicably slowly, despite the fact that its CPU is not experiencing an abnormally heavy load.
  • A Mac that supports target display mode does not enter or exit target display mode as expected, or it enters or exits target display mode at inopportune times.
  • The I/O port illumination on a Mac Pro (Late 2013) does not activate when the mouse is moved.

Before Doing SMC Reset On Your Mac, try these…

Try each of these steps before you reset the SMC on your mac. Test the issue after each step to see if the issue still occurs.

  1. If your Mac isn’t responding, press and hold the power button until it shuts down. You’ll lose unsaved work in any open applications. Then press the power button again to turn on your Mac.
  2. Press Command-Option*-Escape to force quit any application that’s not responding.
  3. Put your Mac to sleep by choosing Apple () menu > Sleep. Wake the computer after it’s gone to sleep.
  4. Restart your Mac by choosing Apple menu > Restart.
  5. Shut down your Mac by choosing Apple menu > Shut Down, then press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

If you’re using a Macbook that’s having power or battery issues, follow these steps:

  1. Unplug the power adapter from your Mac and the electrical outlet for several seconds, then plug it back in.
  2. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down and wait for your Mac to shut down.
  3. Remove and re-insert the battery if it’s removable.
  4. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

If the issue is persistent, you might need to reset the SMC using the steps below.

RECOMMENDED : 4 Best Ways to Backup Data On Your Mac To Prevent Data Loss

How to reset the SMC on Mac (Without Apple T2 Security Chip)

If your Macbook has the Apple T2 Security Chip, proceed to the T2 section.

Full Guide How To Reset SMC On Your Mac Easily

How to Perform SMC Reset on Intel Macbook?

To reset the SMC on a Macbook, first determine whether the battery is removable. Most older Macbooks have removable batteries. Macbooks that have non-removable batteries include MacBook Pro (Early 2009 and later), all models of MacBook Air, MacBook (Late 2009), and MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015 and later).

If your Macbook battery is not-removable:

  1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down and wait for your Mac to shut down.
  2. Press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the built-in keyboard, then press the power button at the same time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds. If you have a MacBook Pro with Touch ID, the Touch ID button is also the power button.
  3. Release all keys.
  4. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

If the Macbook battery is removable:

  1. Shut down your Mac.
  2. Remove the battery. If you need help removing the battery, contact an Apple Authorised Service Provider or Apple Retail Store.
  3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
  4. Reinstall the battery.
  5. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

How to Perform SMC Reset on Intel iMac?

If your iMac is equipped with an Apple T2 Security Chip, proceed to the T2 section.

These steps apply to iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, and Xserve.

  1. Choose Apple > Shut Down from the menu bar, and wait for your Mac to shut down.
  2. Unplug the electrical cord.
  3. Wait fifteen seconds
  4. Reconnect the power cord.
  5. Press the power button again after 5 seconds to restart your Mac.

You can shut down Intel-based Xserve computers that are unresponsive either locally or remotely. Additionally, you can press and hold the power button for five seconds.

How to Reset Macs That Have Apple T2 Security Chip?

Follow these steps for Macbook and iMac that have the Apple T2 Security Chip.

Full Guide How To Reset SMC On Your Mac Easily
Credit : iDownloadBlog

Macbooks With Apple T2 Security Chip

Try this first:

  1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down and wait for your Mac to shut down.
  2. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds.
  3. Release the power button, then wait a few seconds.
  4. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

If that doesn’t resolve the issue, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down and wait for your Mac to shut down.
  2. Press and hold the right Shift key, the left Option key, and the left Control key for 7 seconds. Your Mac might turn on and show the Apple logo on its display. Keep holding those keys while you also press and hold the power button for another 7 seconds. If your Mac turned on when you first pressed the keys, it turns off at this point.
  3. Release all three keys and the power button, then wait a few seconds.
  4. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

iMac With Apple T2 Security Chip

Try this first:

  1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down and wait for your Mac to shut down.
  2. Press and hold its power button for 10 seconds.
  3. Release the power button, then wait a few seconds.
  4. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

If that doesn’t resolve the issue, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down and wait for your Mac to shut down.
  2. Unplug the power cord.
  3. Wait 15 seconds.
  4. Plug the power cord back in.
  5. Wait 5 seconds, then press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

How to Perform SMC Reset on M1 Mac?

Apple released its first Mac with the M1 Chip in November 2020. With the new Apple system, it is impossible to reset the SMC.

There is a simple explanation for why you cannot reset SMC on M1 Macs: the M1 Macs does not have SMC (system management controller). All functions previously handled by the SMC chip are now embedded in the M1 processor, just as they are on the iPhone and iPad, which also lack a reset button.

However, you can still modify certain settings that the SMC could have handled.

For instance, you can still use the terminal tool pmset to modify settings for sleep mode and other functions previously managed by the SMC, but there is no reset function.

If your computer has a hardware problem that can typically be fixed with an SMC reset, the only known solution is to place it in DFU mode and reinstall the firmware using Apple Configurator 2 on another Mac. DFU is abbreviated as Device Firmware Update. Apple describes how to restore the firmware in this section.

Information Source : https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201295

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