There are lots of reasons why you might find that your Mac won't turn on, or your MacBook won't offset up, but you probably only want to get it working again. We'll run through the various checks and changes to brand to get your Mac to boot up to you lot can offset using it again.

Read on for some simple tips that should get your Mac working, from the obvious stuff like checking the power connection, to performing a power cycle, starting in Recovery mode, and checking the file arrangement. And if your Mac really is expressionless, we'll too tell you where to turn next.

The fixes in this article employ to virtually recent versions of macOS. The menus and interfaces may look slightly different depending on which Os yous are running, merely their functions are in essence the same. Similarly, if you have an M1 Mac in that location are some changes to the way you perform certain functions - like starting upwardly the computer in Safe manner or Recovery, we'll detail these below.

Mac won't turn on

1. Check your Mac turns on

Start, permit'due south find out if the problem is that your Mac won't start up, or that it won't turn on - those might audio similar the same thing, merely in that location's really a big divergence.

Press the Power push on your Mac. If you don't hear a startup chime, y'all don't hear whatever fan or drive noise, and there are no images, video, or visuals of any sort on your display, then your Mac isn't turning on at all. You lot're not even getting to the point where it refuses to start up.

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

i) Check your power connectedness

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

ii) Endeavour a different power cable or adapter

It may be that the fault resides with the power cable. If you've got a friend with a Mac power cablevision that fits your machine, try information technology to meet if that solves the problem. If it does, it could be a simple fix that involves finding a secondhand ability cable on eBay (although we advise 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 you recently had a ability cutting, that could exist responsible: your power adaptor could have been damaged in a power surge and y'all may need a new one.

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

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

iii) Disconnect all accessories

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

If y'all recently installed new RAM or a new hard bulldoze, make sure they are correctly installed and uniform. (If possible, reinstall the old memory or hard drive and see if that helps.)

If none of those steps work then it's time to move onto the next stage.

2. Perform a Ability Wheel

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

  • On a MacBook you need to hold downwardly the power central for ten seconds. You'll usually hear a squeak equally the Mac's power is forcibly cutting. Hopefully after waiting ten seconds and restarting, all will exist well.
  • If your Mac is a desktop you will need to unplug it and get out it unplugged for at to the lowest degree ten seconds earlier plugging information technology back in and attempting to restart.
  • For M1 Macs if y'all printing and concur the Ability button you would eventually meet Loading startup options - assuming the Mac was working properly. If pressing and holding the power button does allow you lot to access the startup options then you can run through those options below to become your Mac up and running. We discuss this below.  We also hash out how to revive your M1 Mac using a 2d Mac and the Configurator app below.

If performing a power cycle on your Mac doesn't assistance, or if pressing the Ability button on the M1 Mac doesn't open the start upward options, there are a few other simple things to try out before moving on to the more complicated steps.

iii. Bank check your display

If y'all're using a desktop Mac such equally a Mac Pro or Mac mini this could apply to you. If y'all don't take a separate display plugged in you lot can skip this footstep.

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

screen and mac mini

It is possible that your Mac does turn on, merely doesn't kicking upwardly because it can't admission the display - if that'southward the case you are most likely having trouble with the brandish hardware (rather than a broader startup issue).

If you lot call up information technology'southward a problem with your monitor, then take a look at this Apple Back up document for advice on troubleshooting a brandish. If your display isn't working the advice is to:

  1. Check the power supply to the Mac (and the power to the display if using a split up unit).
  2. Confirm that all cables are connected securely.
  3. Remove all display extenders and switches, and any other devices between the Mac and monitor.
  4. Unplug the video cable (if using a separate monitor) and plug it back in.
  5. If using more than one monitor in a 'daisy chain', unplug all monitors and test using but one.
  6. If possible, endeavour to use a dissimilar display, or a different adapter (use DVI instead of VGA, for example).
  7. Apple tree likewise advises adjusting the screen resolution in System Preferences.

4. Boot up your Mac in Safety Boot

Prophylactic Boot limits what checks and functionality your Mac focuses on during startup, and performs certain diagnostics. It'due south rare, but sometimes you can get your unhappy Mac to start up successfully with a Prophylactic Boot, and so restart it normally, and everything returns to hunky-doriness. If you want more assistance with this pace read: How to start a Mac in Safe Way.

  • To enter Safety Mode on an Intel-powered Mac: Start your Mac upward while holding down the Shift primal. Rubber Kicking can have a while to start (if it does piece of work at all).
  • To enter Prophylactic Mode on an M1-powered Mac: Press and go along to concord the power button until you encounter the startup options appear on the screen. Cull the startup deejay. Now press and hold Shift and then click Continue in Safe Manner. Then release the Shift key. Yous will run into the words Rubber Style in carte at the top right of your screen.
  • To get more feedback near what'south happening, you could first up an Intel-powered Mac while holding down Shift, Command and V: that enters both Safety Boot and something called Verbose Mode, which spits out some messages about what Safe Boot is actually trying to do as it goes.

At present yous are in safe fashion we volition discuss how to use Safe Way to gear up your Mac start up issues.

While you lot are Safe Fashion the interface will look very slightly unlike, with blocks of color rather than transparency. The biggest giveaway is the Dock at the bottom of the screen, such as in the image below, for instance.

Safe Mode Mac

Once in Safe Mode you may exist able to run certain checks (we'll run through these below) and brand changes that could fix your Mac. For example you lot could reinstall macOS or update other software.

If you discover you can get-go upward in Safe Mode it is probable that the event is related to one of your startup items, in which instance you should get to: Organization Preferences > Users & Groups and remove all the items (click on -). You could use trial and error to work out which startup detail is causing the problem.

5. Reset the PRAM / NVRAM

In the PowerPC days, nosotros talked about resetting the PRAM. On Intel Macs, the term is resetting the NVRAM. The NVRAM in M1 Macs is reset automatically, but there is a way to reset NVRAM on the M1 Mac - we discuss that here: How to reset NVRAM on an M1 or Intel Mac.

The name refers to special retentiveness sections on your Mac that shop data that persists fifty-fifty when the Mac is shut off, such equally book settings and screen resolution.

Resetting that data isn't harmful, but quite bluntly it's also rarely genuinely useful. Merely it can't hurt.

You might need to grow an extra finger or 2 for this one, or have a friend help you out. Here'southward how to reset the PRAM/NVRAM on your Intel-powered Mac:

  1. Hold downward all of these keys: Control, Pick (Alt), P and R, and turn on the Mac (it'southward the same keys to reset the PRAM).
  2. Go along holding the keys down until you hear the Mac restart again.
  3. Heed for a second reboot, and and so release the keys.

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

In some cases, after performing this stride, your Mac will restart usually. In other cases, you lot might instead see a progress bar on startup. If the progress bar fills upwardly and then the Mac starts upwardly, you're probably proficient to go. In some cases nosotros've seen, nevertheless, the Mac shuts down at effectually the halfway point in the progress bar.

half-dozen. Reset the SMC

In some situations, you may need to reset your Mac'due south SMC (System Management Controller). This is largely a last-ditch attempt to set the current version of macOS earlier attempting to recover the data and moving on to reinstalling the Os.

SMC is absent-minded from the M1 Mac and so yous can't reset it. Still you tin can alter the settings that the SMC used to look after. Nosotros discuss how to do this hither: How to reset a Mac'south SMC.

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

On a Mac laptop:

  1. Shut downwardly the MacBook.
  2. Unplug and then reconnect the ability cable.
  3. Printing Shift + Ctrl + Pick/Alt keys and the power button at the same time.
  4. Now release all those keys and the power push at the aforementioned time.
  5. You may run into the light on the power cablevision flicker.
  6. Restart your MacBook.

On a Mac desktop:

  1. Close down the Mac.
  2. Unplug information technology.
  3. Press the power push button for 5 seconds.
  4. Plug the Mac back in.
  5. Plough on your Mac.

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

vii. Run Disk Utility in Recovery Mode

If your Mac is booting but the operating organization isn't loading up, you may have a corrupted drive. Luckily it is possible to fix this in Recovery Mode. We have a detailed tutorial on using Recovery Mode here, only nosotros'll run thorough the basics below.

Yet again, accessing Recovery Manner is a picayune dissimilar on an M1 Mac (read about All the new ways of doing things on M1 Macs).

The start step is to run Deejay Utility. On a Mac running Mountain King of beasts or later, which will be the vast bulk of Macs, you lot can run Disk Utility past booting into Recovery Mode.

  • On an Intel Mac y'all demand to make sure the Mac is turned off. If it'due south not responsive because it'southward stuck on a grey, blue or white screen, only hold down the Mac'southward power push button for several seconds until it gives up and shuts off. (Hither's what to practice to set up a Bluish Screen of Death on a Mac.) Concord downward the Control and R keys, and ability the Mac support again. Keep pressing Cmd + R while your Mac is booting up until you lot see the Apple logo.
  • On an M1 Mac press and hold the Ability button until the Mac starts up and somewhen shows the start up options. Select Options > Continue to enter Recovery.

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

  1. Once your Mac starts in Recovery Style you lot will gain admission to Utilities. Click on the Disk Utility option. macOS Utilities
  2. Locate your Mac's drive - probably Macintosh HD, select it.
  3. Click Offset Aid. First Aid Mac
  4. If there are errors with your disk, Disk Utility should find them and will either repair them automatically, or will ask if you would similar to repair them. Click Repair Disk if this is the case.

In Recovery Manner you lot tin can also do the following:

  • Restore from a Time Machine backup.
  • Get help online.
  • Install or reinstall macOS (nosotros discuss this beneath).

8. Revive a M1 Mac

If you take an M1 Mac and you withal oasis't been able to revive it, the next option to try is to utilize a second Mac running Apple's Configurator 2 to update the firmware.

You lot will demand a second Mac, a USB to USB cable, a spider web connection and Apple tree's Configurator ii software.

  1. Connect the two Macs with a USB-C to USB-C or USB-C to USB-A cable.
  2. Open Configurator ii software on the working Mac.
  3. At present on the non-working Mac press and hold the power button while too pressing the following key combination: Right shift, Left Choice/Alt, Left Control. You lot will need someone to help y'all unless yous have gigantic hands because you likewise need to be pressing the Power Button at the same time.
  4. After virtually 10 seconds allow get of the keys, but continue pressing the Power button. Hopefully the M1 Mac will announced in the Configurator app on your 2d Mac past this indicate (the M1 Mac still won't show whatsoever screen activity though).

The procedure is a little different for the M1 Mac mini.

  1. In this case you need to unplug it and expect for most 10 seconds.
  2. Printing and hold the power button.
  3. Plug it in again, while still property the power push button.
  4. Release the power push button.

How to use 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 you want to revive.
  2. Click on Actions > Advanced.
  3. Select Revive Device.
  4. This will revive the firmware on the M1 Mac.

ix. Bank check the file system

This step is really kind of fun - at least when it's not your Mac that'southward under the conditions. It's fun because it feels so geeky.

Before you become too excited though, this isn't an option for M1 Macs.

  1. Close the Mac off, and commencement information technology up over again while holding Cmd + S to launch in Single User Fashion. You 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 done scrolling past. Then type fsck -fy and hitting Render. And expect. Peradventure for several long minutes.
  3. Somewhen, after five unlike checks that take varying amounts of time, y'all should get to 1 of two letters: "The volume [your Mac's name] appears to be OK" or "FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED."
  4. If you encounter the first message, type reboot and printing Return.
  5. If you see the latter bulletin, yous need to run fsck -fy all over again. Y'all can retype the control and hit Return, or press the Upwards pointer in one case and then press Return.

If this doesn't work, and your Mac nevertheless doesn't start up, then movement on to the side by side footstep.

10. Use Target deejay way to copy files

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

If you're non sweating at the moment, and are confident in your Time Machine or other backup solution, then skip to Footstep 11 below. Merely if you lot wish y'all'd backed upward your Mac then now is the fourth dimension to see what y'all can salvage from the machine.

For this, you lot'll need a 2nd Mac. If you haven't got one and so enquire a friend. Follow these steps to use Target Deejay Way:

  1. Connect both Macs together using an Apple Thunderbolt cable (£39 from Apple). If yous have an older Mac this aforementioned process works with FireWire cables.
  2. Switch off your Mac.
  3. Beginning up your Mac while holding down the T push on the keyboard.
  4. Keep holding the T button down equally y'all hear the startup chime and proceed it pressed until the Thunderbolt icon appears on your screen.

This places your Mac in Target disk mode. In Target Disk mode your Mac acts similar an external drive. You should now hopefully see the hard drive for your faulty Mac on your 2nd Mac'due south Finder.

You lot should be able to grab the files y'all need from your unresponsive Mac, or fifty-fifty clone the entire hard drive to another external drive.

Plug in Mac

11. Reinstall macOS

This is pretty drastic, but if you have tried everything else, then reinstalling the operating system could remove the issue that is stopping the Mac from starting properly.

Remember macOS Recovery from the pace above? You can use information technology to reinstall macOS too.

  1. Boot into Recovery style every bit above (hold the Control and R keys while you start up, or press and hold the power push 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 information on wiping a Mac and reinstalling macOS.

12. Make a Genius Bar appointment

If you've made it this far and your Mac nevertheless doesn't piece of work, you'll need to accept it to an Apple Genius Bar to see if they can assist you fix it (or suit for a repair nether warranty). Hopefully you have got plenty data from your Mac and 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?