In that location are lots of reasons why you might discover that your Mac won't turn on, or your MacBook won't get-go up, simply you probably just want to get information technology working again. We'll run through the diverse checks and changes to make to get your Mac to boot upward to you tin can start using information technology once more.

Read on for some simple tips that should get your Mac working, from the obvious stuff like checking the power connexion, to performing a power wheel, starting in Recovery way, and checking the file system. And if your Mac actually is dead, nosotros'll too tell you where to turn next.

The fixes in this article utilize to most recent versions of macOS. The menus and interfaces may look slightly different depending on which OS you are running, only their functions are in essence the same. Similarly, if you accept an M1 Mac at that place are some changes to the way you perform certain functions - like starting up the computer in Rubber way or Recovery, we'll particular these beneath.

Mac won't turn on

ane. Check your Mac turns on

First, permit'southward find out if the problem is that your Mac won't start up, or that it won't turn on - those might sound similar the same thing, but there'south actually a big difference.

Press the Power button on your Mac. If you don't hear a startup chime, you don't hear any fan or drive racket, and at that place are no images, video, or visuals of any sort on your display, and so your Mac isn't turning on at all. You lot're non even getting to the betoken where it refuses to commencement upwards.

A Mac that doesn't plough on calls for a different approach to 1 that doesn't start upward. If your calculator doesn't turn on then you need to exercise the following:

i) Check your power connexion

Don't be the cliché: check that the power is on and the Mac is plugged in correctly. Or if it'south a laptop, be sure that the battery isn't dead - and if it needs charging give it a while to attempt to charge before concluding that it isn't going to work. If your MacBook won't charge read this.

2) Try a different power cable or adapter

It may be that the error resides with the power cablevision. If you've got a friend with a Mac power cablevision that fits your machine, try it to meet if that solves the problem. If it does, information technology could be a simple set that involves finding a secondhand power cablevision on eBay (although we propose against buying third-party power cables that aren't made by Apple, as they are much more likely to be faulty and possibly dangerous).

If y'all recently had a power cut, that could exist responsible: your power adaptor could have been damaged in a ability surge and you may need a new one.

Finally, information technology'southward possible that the cable is loose, and pulling it out and plugging it in again will solve the problem. But we doubt it will be that easy.

Apple tree sells various cables for charging Apple tree Macs and laptops. You should notice the 1 you demand here: Apple power adaptors. Also read: Which MacBook charger do I need?

iii) Disconnect all accessories

Unplug all the accessories (such as printers and USB hubs) fastened to your Mac. It could be that one of your peripherals is causing problems with the startup sequence.

If you recently installed new RAM or a new hard drive, make certain they are correctly installed and compatible. (If possible, reinstall the old memory or hard drive and encounter if that helps.)

If none of those steps piece of work then it's time to motion onto the next phase.

2. Perform a Power Wheel

If you aren't hearing whatsoever signs of life, you lot could perform a power cycle, which involves forcing your Mac to restart after killing the power to it.

  • On a MacBook you need to concord down the power key for x seconds. Y'all'll ordinarily hear a squeak equally the Mac's power is forcibly cut. Hopefully later waiting x seconds and restarting, all volition be well.
  • If your Mac is a desktop y'all will demand to unplug information technology and leave information technology unplugged for at least 10 seconds before plugging it back in and attempting to restart.
  • For M1 Macs if you printing and hold the Ability button you would eventually see Loading startup options - assuming the Mac was working properly. If pressing and belongings the power button does allow you to access the startup options then yous can run through those options below to get your Mac up and running. We hash out this beneath.  We besides talk over how to revive your M1 Mac using a second Mac and the Configurator app beneath.

If performing a power cycle on your Mac doesn't help, or if pressing the Ability button on the M1 Mac doesn't open the start up options, in that location are a few other uncomplicated things to try out before moving on to the more than complicated steps.

three. Check your brandish

If you're using a desktop Mac such as a Mac Pro or Mac mini this could apply to you. If you lot don't have a carve up brandish plugged in you can skip this pace.

You could have a problem with the display y'all take plugged in, rather than the Mac itself. Have a listen to your Mac to see if it'south making any sounds during boot-up.

screen and mac mini

It is possible that your Mac does turn on, but doesn't boot upwards because it can't access the display - if that'south the example you are most likely having trouble with the display hardware (rather than a broader startup issue).

If y'all think it's a problem with your monitor, and then take a look at this Apple Support document for advice on troubleshooting a display. If your display isn't working the advice is to:

  1. Bank check the ability supply to the Mac (and the power to the display if using a separate unit).
  2. Confirm that all cables are continued securely.
  3. Remove all display extenders and switches, and whatsoever other devices between the Mac and monitor.
  4. Unplug the video cablevision (if using a separate monitor) and plug information technology back in.
  5. If using more than than ane monitor in a 'daisy chain', unplug all monitors and test using just i.
  6. If possible, try to use a unlike display, or a different adapter (use DVI instead of VGA, for example).
  7. Apple tree besides advises adjusting the screen resolution in System Preferences.

four. Kick up your Mac in Safe Boot

Safe Boot limits what checks and functionality your Mac focuses on during startup, and performs certain diagnostics. Information technology's rare, simply sometimes you can get your unhappy Mac to start up successfully with a Prophylactic Boot, and then restart it unremarkably, and everything returns to hunky-doriness. If you want more assist with this step read: How to beginning a Mac in Safe Style.

  • To enter Safe Mode on an Intel-powered Mac: Start your Mac up while property downward the Shift fundamental. Safe Boot can have a while to showtime (if it does work at all).
  • To enter Safe Mode on an M1-powered Mac: Printing and proceed to concord the power button until you encounter the startup options appear on the screen. Choose the startup deejay. At present press and hold Shift and then click Continue in Condom Mode. And so release the Shift fundamental. You will see the words Safe Mode in menu at the height right of your screen.
  • To get more than feedback about what's happening, yous could start up an Intel-powered Mac while holding down Shift, Command and 5: that enters both Safe Kicking and something called Verbose Mode, which spits out some letters about what Safe Kicking is actually trying to do as it goes.

Now you are in safety mode nosotros will discuss how to use Prophylactic Mode to fix your Mac outset upward bug.

While you are Safe Mode the interface will look very slightly different, with blocks of colour rather than transparency. The biggest giveaway is the Dock at the bottom of the screen, such as in the image below, for example.

Safe Mode Mac

One time in Prophylactic Mode y'all may be able to run certain checks (nosotros'll run through these beneath) and make changes that could set your Mac. For example you could reinstall macOS or update other software.

If y'all find y'all can start upward in Safety Mode it is likely that the issue is related to one of your startup items, in which instance you should go to: System Preferences > Users & Groups and remove all the items (click on -). Y'all could use trial and fault to piece of work out which startup particular is causing the problem.

5. Reset the PRAM / NVRAM

In the PowerPC days, we talked nearly resetting the PRAM. On Intel Macs, the term is resetting the NVRAM. The NVRAM in M1 Macs is reset automatically, but in that location is a mode to reset NVRAM on the M1 Mac - we discuss that hither: How to reset NVRAM on an M1 or Intel Mac.

The name refers to special memory sections on your Mac that store data that persists even when the Mac is shut off, such as volume settings and screen resolution.

Resetting that information isn't harmful, simply quite frankly it's also rarely genuinely useful. Only it can't hurt.

You might need to abound an actress finger or two for this one, or take a friend help you out. Here's how to reset the PRAM/NVRAM on your Intel-powered Mac:

  1. Hold down all of these keys: Control, Choice (Alt), P and R, and turn on the Mac (it's the same keys to reset the PRAM).
  2. Keep holding the keys down until you hear the Mac restart once again.
  3. Listen for a second reboot, then release the keys.

On M1 Mac resetting the NVRAM means using Terminal, the method is discussed in the commodity linked higher up.

In some cases, subsequently performing this step, your Mac will restart normally. In other cases, you might instead meet a progress bar on startup. If the progress bar fills upwards and then the Mac starts upward, you're probably adept to go. In some cases we've seen, all the same, the Mac shuts down at effectually the halfway point in the progress bar.

six. Reset the SMC

In some situations, y'all may demand to reset your Mac's SMC (System Management Controller). This is largely a final-ditch endeavour to set up the current version of macOS before attempting to recover the information and moving on to reinstalling the Os.

SMC is absent from the M1 Mac so you can't reset information technology. However you can modify the settings that the SMC used to look afterwards. Nosotros discuss how to do this here: How to reset a Mac's SMC.

Here'south what to do if you want to reset the SMC (Intel Macs):

On a Mac laptop:

  1. Shut down the MacBook.
  2. Unplug and then reconnect the ability cablevision.
  3. Press Shift + Ctrl + Option/Alt keys and the power push button at the same time.
  4. At present release all those keys and the ability button at the same time.
  5. Yous may run across the low-cal on the power cable flicker.
  6. Restart your MacBook.

On a Mac desktop:

  1. Shut downward the Mac.
  2. Unplug information technology.
  3. Press the ability push button for 5 seconds.
  4. Plug the Mac back in.
  5. Plow on your Mac.

How to fix a Mac that won't turn on: Reset the SMC

seven. Run Disk Utility in Recovery Mode

If your Mac is booting but the operating organisation isn't loading up, you may have a corrupted drive. Luckily information technology is possible to gear up this in Recovery Way. We have a detailed tutorial on using Recovery Manner here, but nosotros'll run thorough the basics below.

Yet once more, accessing Recovery Way is a little dissimilar on an M1 Mac (read about All the new means of doing things on M1 Macs).

The first footstep is to run Disk Utility. On a Mac running Mountain Lion or later, which will be the vast majority of Macs, you lot can run Deejay Utility past booting into Recovery Mode.

  • On an Intel Mac you need to brand certain the Mac is turned off. If it's not responsive considering it's stuck on a grey, blue or white screen, just hold down the Mac's power button for several seconds until it gives upwardly and shuts off. (Hither's what to do to fix a Blueish Screen of Expiry on a Mac.) Concord down the Command and R keys, and power the Mac back up again. Keep pressing Cmd + R while your Mac is booting up until you run across the Apple logo.
  • On an M1 Mac press and hold the Power button until the Mac starts up and somewhen shows the showtime up options. Select Options > Continue to enter Recovery.

Now you are in Recovery mode here's what to practice:

  1. Once your Mac starts in Recovery Fashion you volition gain access to Utilities. Click on the Disk Utility choice. macOS Utilities
  2. Locate your Mac's drive - probably Macintosh Hard disk, select information technology.
  3. Click First Aid. First Aid Mac
  4. If there are errors with your disk, Disk Utility should observe them and volition either repair them automatically, or will ask if you lot would similar to repair them. Click Repair Deejay if this is the example.

In Recovery Manner yous tin can also do the post-obit:

  • Restore from a Time Machine fill-in.
  • Get assist online.
  • Install or reinstall macOS (nosotros discuss this below).

8. Revive a M1 Mac

If you have an M1 Mac and y'all nevertheless haven't been able to revive it, the adjacent choice to attempt is to employ a second Mac running Apple tree's Configurator 2 to update the firmware.

You will need a second Mac, a USB to USB cable, a web connectedness and Apple's Configurator 2 software.

  1. Connect the two Macs with a USB-C to USB-C or USB-C to USB-A cable.
  2. Open Configurator 2 software on the working Mac.
  3. Now on the non-working Mac press and hold the power button while also pressing the following key combination: Correct shift, Left Pick/Alt, Left Control. You will need someone to help yous unless you have gigantic hands because you lot as well need to be pressing the Ability Button at the aforementioned fourth dimension.
  4. After about ten seconds let get of the keys, but keep pressing the Power button. Hopefully the M1 Mac will appear in the Configurator app on your second Mac by this point (the M1 Mac all the same won't prove any screen action though).

The process is a trivial different for the M1 Mac mini.

  1. In this case you need to unplug information technology and look for almost 10 seconds.
  2. Press and hold the ability button.
  3. Plug it in again, while still holding the power button.
  4. Release the ability button.

How to apply the Configurator software to revive an M1 Mac.

  1. The M1 Mac should be showing in the Configurator software on the other Mac. Select the M1 Mac y'all want to revive.
  2. Click on Actions > Advanced.
  3. Select Revive Device.
  4. This will revive the firmware on the M1 Mac.

9. Check the file organisation

This footstep is actually kind of fun - at least when it's not your Mac that's under the atmospheric condition. It's fun because it feels and so geeky.

Before you go likewise excited though, this isn't an option for M1 Macs.

  1. Close the Mac off, and start it up once again while belongings Cmd + Southward to launch in Single User Fashion. You lot tin release the keys when the intimidating black screen with letters in white text appears.
  2. Look until the command-line prompt appears, when all the text is washed scrolling past. Then type fsck -fy and hit Return. And expect. Peradventure for several long minutes.
  3. Eventually, later v unlike checks that have varying amounts of time, y'all should get to one of two messages: "The volume [your Mac's name] appears to be OK" or "FILE Organization WAS MODIFIED."
  4. If you encounter the first bulletin, type reboot and printing Return.
  5. If you see the latter message, you need to run fsck -fy all over again. You can retype the command and hit Return, or press the Upwards arrow once so press Render.

If this doesn't work, and your Mac still doesn't showtime up, and so movement on to the adjacent step.

10. Use Target disk mode to copy files

This pace should be taken prior to reinstalling macOS and it depends on your backup situation. You do make regular backups, or at least sync of import documents, music and photos to the cloud, right?

If yous're not sweating at the moment, and are confident in your Time Machine or other backup solution, then skip to Step eleven beneath. But if you wish you'd backed up your Mac and then now is the time to run into what you tin can salvage from the machine.

For this, you'll need a second Mac. If you lot oasis't got 1 then ask a friend. Follow these steps to utilize Target Disk Style:

  1. Connect both Macs together using an Apple tree Thunderbolt cablevision (£39 from Apple tree). If yous have an older Mac this same process works with FireWire cables.
  2. Switch off your Mac.
  3. Get-go up your Mac while holding downwards the T push button on the keyboard.
  4. Keep belongings the T push down as yous hear the startup chime and proceed it pressed until the Thunderbolt icon appears on your screen.

This places your Mac in Target deejay style. In Target Disk way your Mac acts like an external drive. You should now hopefully run into the hard drive for your faulty Mac on your 2d Mac'due south Finder.

Yous should be able to grab the files you need from your unresponsive Mac, or even clone the entire hard drive to some other external drive.

Plug in Mac

eleven. Reinstall macOS

This is pretty drastic, only if you accept tried everything else, and then reinstalling the operating organization could remove the consequence that is stopping the Mac from starting properly.

Remember macOS Recovery from the pace above? You lot can use it to reinstall macOS too.

  1. Boot into Recovery mode as in a higher place (hold the Command and R keys while you kickoff upward, or printing and concord the power button if you are on an M1 Mac).
  2. Once in Recovery click to install the latest OS and follow the onscreen prompts.

Our article on resetting a Mac to manufactory settings has more than data on wiping a Mac and reinstalling macOS.

12. Make a Genius Bar appointment

If you've made it this far and your Mac still doesn't piece of work, you lot'll need to take it to an Apple tree Genius Bar to run across if they can help you fix it (or arrange for a repair under warranty). Hopefully y'all have got enough information from your Mac then as to be able to support, or continue working on a new Mac.

Wondering how many years your Mac should last for? Read: How long do Macs concluding?