1 of the reasons many of us use a Mac is that near of the fourth dimension, to coin a well-worn phrase, it just works. We don't have to spend hours dealing with driver updates, fixing issues caused by bloatware, or trying to go rid of viruses.

Occasionally, nevertheless, fifty-fifty on a Mac, things do go wrong. In this characteristic we explain the best ways to diagnose what the problem is and we share the best fixes for some of the most common problems.

In this article we look at the following, click on the link to jump to that section:

  • How to fix a Mac that won't plow on
  • How to fix a Mac that won't start up
  • How to fix a Mac with a flashing question marking
  • What to exercise if yous see a grey screen at startup
  • What to practice if you run across a blue screen at startup
  • How to repair a disk with Disk Utility
  • How to repair your boot disk/startup disk with Deejay Utility
  • How to repair disc permissions
  • How to fix a Mac that won't shut down
  • How to fix a frozen Mac
  • What to practice if yous meet the Spinning Beach ball
  • What to do if your Mac is running slowly
  • What to do if a USB port isn't working
  • What to do if your WiFi is tedious or non working
  • What to practice if your Bluetooth isn't working
  • What to exercise if your MacBook is non charging
  • What to do if your Mac is running out of power too quickly
  • What to do when your Macs fans are too loud and your Mac is overheating.
  • We have a separate article virtually graphics bug with the 2020 iMac.

How to find out what'southward wrong with your Mac

Sometimes information technology's not immediately obvious what the issue is that is causing your Mac to misbehave and then you will likely have to run through a number of steps to isolate what is causing the problem. These steps will depend on whether your Mac is even switching on, of course, and we expect at how to prepare a Mac that won't starting time up next.

The bank check list of things to look out for when diagnosing the problem are as follows:

1. Note errors

Are you seeing an error message? If you are, write it down (or if it'southward easier take a photo using your iPhone, or screenshot). Nosotros have this article including Common Mac mistake messages so cheque to meet if it is covered at that place, or you lot could do a quick search in Google to see if anyone else is seeing the same error and if they fixed information technology.

2. Say when

Annotation when the problem started. Was it just subsequently you had installed a new programme or added a slice of kit? Had you recently performed a software update?

3. Check software

Speaking of software, is your software up to engagement? Check that you are running the most recent version of MacOS, it might be that yous have encountered a known issue that has been fixed.

iv. Check peripherals

Establish if a particular peripheral is causing the issue: unplug everything that's plugged into your Mac and see if that solves the result.

5. Check disk space

See how much deejay space you take bachelor. Become to Most This Mac > Storage. Nosotros'd ever advise that you lot have 10% of the total disk infinite gratis. If you need to costless up some infinite read this: How to brand space on your Mac.

6. Cheque Activeness Monitor

This volition show you lot if something is hogging memory or CPU. Go to Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor (or click cmd+space and beginning typing Activity Monitor). Click on Memory to meet if there is something hogging memory. Then click CPU to encounter if something is hogging the CPU. Nosotros look in more item at memory sus scrofa issues and how to fix them with Activeness Monitor below.

7. Run Disk Utility

Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility (or click cmd+space and offset typing Deejay Utility) to come across if there is an result with your disk. Read about How to use Deejay Utility here. Note that Disk Utility had a chip of a makeover in Mac Os X El Capitan and some of the processes inverse.

eight. Kickoff in Safe Mode

Yous may besides exist able to diagnose problems with your Mac if you start in Safe Fashion. When yous start up in Safe Mode your Mac will not load startup items and some software. The mode besides performs a check of your startup disk so information technology should be able to warning yous to problems. Read about starting your Mac in Safe Mode here.

After shutting downwards your Mac wait 10 seconds and then press the power push button. As soon as your Mac starts (you may hear a start up chime) press and keep holding the Shift central. In one case you come across the Apple tree logo you tin stop pressing Shift.

9. Start in Recovery Mode

When Apple introduced Os 10 Lion in 2010 information technology made some changes to the way that Recovery Mode works. If y'all are running an older version of MacOS the method volition be slightly different (merely we imagine that in that location aren't many people left using that version now). Since Lion, when MacOS is installed on a Mac a Recovery HD volume is created on your Showtime Up bulldoze. This volume (which is ordinarily subconscious) tin be used to boot from if y'all need to do things like repair the startup disk, reinstall MacOS and more.

To restart in the Recovery HD you just need to printing and hold cmd+R when yous first up your Mac and keep belongings those keys until the Apple tree logo appears. It tin take a while to finish booting up. One time it has you will see a desktop with a window containing Utilities open.

Once you have run though these steps you should have a clearer thought about the nature of your issue. Read on to find out how to fix it.

How to prepare Mac start upwards bug

How to fix a Mac that won't plough on

At that place are a number of reasons why your Mac might not turn on. Before yous call your IT guy practise make sure information technology's plugged in.

If once you lot accept checked that it is plugged in, made certain that there is power going to the screen, and that the brightness on the screen is turned up, y'all can follow these How to prepare a Mac that won't turn on tips to ready the problem.

How to fix a Mac that won't commencement up

A Mac that won't kickoff up is a footling different to a Mac that won't plow on. When a Mac won't start up it volition oft display something on the screen, or you will hear something inside whuring away.

Yous may see a flashing question marking or simply a blueish or grey screen. We look at both of those occurrences below. We likewise talk over fixes for a Mac that won't outset upwards here.

How to gear up a Mac with a flashing question mark

If you started up your Mac and were greeted with a folder with a question marking in the centre information technology might mean that your Mac's disk has failed. Merely before you panic, there may be another explanation, and you may exist able to fix it.

That folder with a question mark inside indicates that your Mac tin't notice the startup disk and therefore can't boot. Fixing this issue will involve putting your Mac into Recovery Mode and choosing the correct startup deejay (which is likely to be your Macintosh HD, unless you want to boot from an external drive).

Even so if you aren't seeing your startup disk, or y'all can't select it, information technology may If it's necessary to repair your disk. To practice so you tin use Deejay Utility - Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility (or click cmd+space and start typing Disk Utility).

If you lot follow the tips in this article: How to set up a Mac with a flashing question marking you will hopefully exist able to assist your Mac find, or fix, the startup disk.

What to do if you lot see a grey screen at startup

A blank grayness screen may indicate that in that location is a problem with a firmware update. A grey screen with an Apple logo in the middle may suggest that there is a problem with some software.

In the former case you lot need to ensure that your Mac firmware is upward to date and that should exist a simple example of checking that you are running the latest version of MacOS.

To actually start up your Mac and then that you can check this y'all need to start in Rubber Mode (and having done and then you lot may find that if your Mac is restarted it starts up fine the side by side fourth dimension). Nosotros draw how to start upwardly in Rubber Mode below.

Once you accept started in Safe Way you tin can find out if your MacOS software is up to engagement past opening the App Store app and clicking Updates.

If that doesn't solve the problem you may demand to repair your startup disk or disk permissions using Disk Utility. We draw how to do that beneath.

What to practise if you see a bluish screen at startup

If you come across a bluish screen, or a blue screen with a spinning beachball this may indicate that in that location is a problem with your software or a startup detail.

You will need to beginning your Mac in Safe Mode. If despite calculation your user proper name and countersign the Mac still doesn't outset upwardly you lot may demand to check your login items. We depict how to practise this higher up.

If your Mac won't kickoff up in Prophylactic Mode you may need to repair your startup disk or disk permissions using Deejay Utility, the methods for both are described below.

We have an article on what to do to ready a Blue Screen of Death on a Mac hither.

Repairing disks and running First Aid

How to repair a disk with Disk Utility

Deejay Utility had a bit of a makeover in Os Ten El Capitan and as a result the manner that you repair a disk has inverse slightly. The steps yous need to take volition depend on the version of MacOS y'all are running. Nosotros're going to assume you lot are running a version that is newer than El Capitan since that version of Mac Os Ten launched in September 2015.

  1. Open Disk Utility (in Applications > Utilities, or cmd+space Disk Utility).
  2. Select the volume you wish to run Outset Assistance on. This could be a external hard bulldoze (if information technology'due south your own Mac difficult bulldoze yous will demand to jump to the side by side section).
  3. Click on First Help.
  4. Click Run. This volition start the verification and repair process.
  5. When Disk Utility has run information technology'south checks you lot will see a drop-down sheet showing the status. You lot tin can click on the triangle at the bottom to see more data.
  6. If no errors were plant you will see a greenish tick at the superlative of the drib-downwards sheet.
  7. If there were errors Deejay Utility will attempt to repair them. (In older versions you had to manually choose Repair Deejay).

If Disk Utility is unable to repair the drive, or it believes that the deejay is about to fail it will warn you. Should this be the case you lot should support your information before information technology'south likewise tardily. Read this article on backing upwards your Mac.

How to repair your boot disk/startup deejay with Disk Utility

Y'all can run Start Aid on your startup drive as above, simply if Disk Utility finds whatever errors information technology won't endeavour to gear up them.

If you are wishing to repair your Mac'southward startup drive (the boot volume) you won't be able to as Disk Utility can't repair the mounted book (the one that everything is running from). In older versions of Disk Utility you will run across that the Repair Deejay option is greyed out.

In this case you demand to start up in Recovery Fashion and repair the disk from at that place. This fashion things tin run from the Recovery HD volume that was created when MacOS was installed. (Note if you lot have a Fusion Drive things are even more complex).

  1. To start in Recovery Way printing cmd+R when you start up your Mac.
  2. Once your Mac has booted up you volition see a Utilities screen. Cull Disk Utility.
  3. Select the disk you wish to repair from the menu and clink on First Aid. As above Disk Utility volition run its checks and try and repair if it tin can.

The repair process may take a while.

How to repair disc permissions

When Apple tree released El Capitan in 2015 it removed the ability to repairing deejay permissions.

The removal of the characteristic probably indicates that repairing permissions was i of those solutions given that didn't really do a whole lot of practiced.

It is yet possible to repair permissions using Final, merely we won't go into that here, following Apple tree's lead and assuming that it won't do any skillful and might actually cause more problems.

How to fix shut down problems and unresponsive Macs

How to gear up a Mac that won't shut down

If your Mac isn't shutting down information technology may exist still closing apps in the groundwork, the communication here is to be patient, sometimes information technology can take a while to close apps if data needs to exist saved.

Even so, in that location may be an issue with an apps that is stopping your Mac from being able to close. Expect in the Dock to come across if there is a bouncing app icon, that would indicate that something needs attending. Maybe information technology's just Pages or Word asking whether yous want to save a file.

You may need to Force Quit if something is causing a hold upwards and can't be fixed - beware you may lose some information though. Nosotros take advice on Forcefulness Quitting here.

If y'all tin't Force Quit, press and hold the power push until the Mac switches off.

Annotation that when you restart y'all Mac information technology may ask you if y'all want to reopen all the apps that you had open previously. Nosotros'd suggest that yous say no to this option but in case something you had open up causes the same problem again if information technology reopens.

How to fix a frozen Mac

If your problem is that your Mac has frozen in the centre of a task, or an app has become unresponsive, it is possible to Force Quit it past right clicking/control clicking on its icon in the Dock and choosing Force Quit.

Alternatively you can Force Quit an app past pressing Command+Alt+Escape at the aforementioned time.

You can also press command+ctl+eject on your Mac laptop to force reboot. Or hold downward the power push button to accomplish the same affair.

Exist aware that if y'all have to Force Quit or reboot your Mac you may lose some data. If you have a Time Automobile back up you may be able to recover the engagement from that. Here'due south how: How to employ Time Machine to recover data.

Nosotros also take an in-depth guide that explains how to fix a frozen Mac here.

What to do if you encounter the Spinning Beach Ball

The colourful ball that graces your screen whenever your Mac is struggling has a few names, Apple calls it the spinning await curser, simply we like to phone call it the spinning beach ball.

The ball appears when your Mac is trying to do to many things at once. Or more than accurately, when an application can't handle all the things it is supposed to do, the embankment brawl will beginning to spin. It'southward a little flake similar it's saying information technology'due south a little bit busy with something right now and volition get dorsum to you. Perhaps it is hinting that y'all might like to go and throw a ball around in the garden for a bit.

Usually the beach ball only appears on screen for a few seconds. When it doesn't many refer to the Spinning Beach Ball of Decease (kind of like the Blue Screen of Expiry on a Windows PC, but not nearly equally fatal). Should you lot be seeing the beachball for longer than you'd like check the CPU and RAM sections of Activeness Monitor to see if in that location is a pig (more on Action Monitor in the adjacent section).

Another reason you may see the beachball is if you are running out of space on your Mac. As we said in a higher place, we always recommend that you accept 10% of your total deejay space gratuitous. If you lot are getting to the point where space is at a premium and then it can slow downwards your Mac because there is less space for bandy files.

It may be that an application or process is causing the trouble. Have a wait in Activity Monitor to run across if anything is being particularly greedy. You can quit the awarding or procedure there. (Only as we said earlier, it information technology'due south a Root procedure, don't touch it).

One app that frequently calls up the beachball is Safari. If you see the beachball when you lot are surfing the spider web information technology may be that the webpage you are browsing is problematic. It'south proper name may well announced when you wait at Activity Monitor, if if does then close that web page.

Mac functioning issues

Mac running slowly

If your Mac is running slowly don't download a programme that claims information technology volition speed up your Mac, the get-go matter you need to do is to try and observe out what is causing the slowdown. Follow these steps to observe out.

At that place are a couple of things you tin can wait at in Activity Monitor. Open Activity Monitor (in Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor, or past clicking cmd+space and typing Activity Monitor).

There are v different tabs along the peak: CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk and Network.

To find out if something is hogging the ability or memory click on Retention.

The resulting window displays a list of all processes running on your Mac, as well as a graph of memory usage. If it's green, all is good with your arrangement (although you may still benefit from closing a few memory hogs so read on).

If it's amber or scarlet, MacOS is having trouble managing memory and could be the reason that your Mac is running slowly. This could be due to a memory-hogging application. To find out which apps or processes are misbehaving, organise the list by memory usage (arrow pointing downward), and you lot can identify the culprit.

Make certain you ignore processes that have "root" listed as the user column, and focus on applications running from your user business relationship. Don't quit 'root' processes.

If an application is using more memory than other applications y'all can close information technology past selecting the app and closing it from its menu, or by clicking on it in Activity Monitor and then clicking on the 10 icon at the top left of the menu.

In the block at the bottom of the table you can cheque how much memory (RAM) you lot have and how much retentiveness is existence used. If the reason your Mac is struggling is because you lot don't have enough RAM available yous can upgrade your RAM - find out how here: How to upgrade a Mac.

An app may also exist causing issues if it is hogging a lot of CPU.

Click on the CPU tab and you lot'll see information similar to that in the Memory tab. The graph at the lesser shows user (in blue) and organization (in red) CPU usage.

If yous see an application which is using a meaning chunk of CPU cycles, quit it and you should notice a functioning improvement in your Mac.

If a root procedure appears to exist hogging the CPU, don't simply quit it, it's unremarkably a symptom of another problem. Google the procedure proper noun and find out what information technology does. I regular culprit is 'kernel_task.' It represents MacOS's kernel and handles lots of depression-level tasks. If it'southward using more a few % of processor cycles, it could be that you've installed a arrangement extension, or other software that accesses the organisation, which is causing a conflict.

Some users have reported that the MacBook Air, when the ambient temperature is very hot, runs very slowly and this shows up as 'kernel_task' hogging CPU cycles. In that instance the only sensible solution is to move it somewhere cooler.

We besides have this article offering a few more tips on how to speed upwardly a wearisome Mac. And we have this tutorial on how to defrag a Mac (and why it's not necessary).

WiFi is slow or not working

If you are having problems with WiFi, with your connection to the internet dropping or disconnecting at random, or simply not working at all, there are a few steps to take to attempt and solve information technology.

Get-go past turning the WiFi on your Mac off and on again.

See if that works, if it doesn't nosotros have a collection of tips for fixing WiFi problems hither.

Bluetooth isn't working

If you are trying to use a Bluetooth accessory, like a keyboard or mouse, or if yous are trying to use a feature that requires Bluetooth, like AirDrop, you may encounter bug such as the Bluetooth Not Available error.

Get-go troubleshooting by restarting your Mac, sometimes that is all that is necessary to fix this problem.

Next turn your Mac's Bluetooth off and on once more. To do this click on the Bluetooth icon at the top correct of your Mac's the menu bar.

Try connecting your Bluetooth gadgets again.

If they won't connect, turn your Bluetooth device off and on, and endeavor connecting again.

Adjacent try moving whatsoever other Bluetooth devices abroad that might exist interfering.

If you are still experiencing issues, the next step is to remove some files from your Preferences.

Open the Finder and choose Become from the carte, then Become to Folder. Type /Library/Preferences and click Go.

Find the com.apple tree.Bluetooth.plist file and delete it.

Next go dorsum to the Finder and select Go to Folder and type ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost. This fourth dimension locate the com.apple tree.Bluetooth.xxx.plist file (annotation that after Bluetooth in that location volition be a collection of random numbers and letters).

When yous restart your Mac these files will be generated again, and will hopefully work properly!

If the issue is with the bluetooth device you might detect the post-obit useful:

  • How to set up a broken Bluetooth mouse
  • How to fix a broken Bluetooth keyboard

Power issues

MacBook not charging

If your Mac laptop isn't charging hither are a few things to try out:

Plug information technology in to a different socket just to rule out an issue with the power point.

Utilise a different power cable - run across if a friend tin can let you borrow 1. If it charges with a unlike cablevision you know that'due south the event. If you take the Mac and the cablevision to an Apple Store Apple is likely to replace the cable costless of accuse.

If your MacBook still doesn't charge, check to see if your cablevision charges another Mac laptop, at least and so you can rule out the cable being at error.

If your Mac still won't accuse at that place are a few other tricks y'all tin try before you lot take your Mac to an Apple Store for a genius to bank check.

First you could endeavour resetting the SMC of your Mac. That's the the System Management Controller. To reset the SMC, commencement you'll have to shut down your MacBook. One time information technology's off, connect the MagSafe power adapter and concur down Control, Shift, Option and the Power push for effectually four seconds, before releasing all at the same time.

After resetting the SMC, printing the Power button to start upwardly the MacBook and meet if the problem has been fixed.

If that hasn't stock-still it, then your battery may be at the finish of its life and you should take your MacBook to Apple tree for servicing.

Incidentally, if you take an old MacBook with removable batteries yous can reset the bombardment by fully removing it and re-inserting information technology. Doing so may gear up the issue - but based on the age of your machine it'due south possible that information technology's just reached the finish of its life.

Mac running out of power too quickly

If you click on the battery icon in the menu bar at the top of your Mac you can see if any apps are using significant free energy. If you are trying to clasp a picayune more bombardment life out of your Mac on an twenty-four hour period away from a power indicate then shut those apps.

For more data virtually the most power hungry apps and processes take a await at the Energy tab in Activity Monitor (which was a new addition in OS X Mavericks).

Activity Monitor shows you how much energy all open up apps are using as well as how energy usage has changed over fourth dimension. You lot can also see if any running apps are actually taking advantage of Apple's App Nap feature.

App Nap was a feature Apple introduced in Mavericks that allows inactive applications to go to sleep, reducing power usage and prolonging battery life.

Loud fans, Mac overheating

If your fans kick in there could be an issue that is causing your Mac to overheat, or yous might have a faulty fan.

In that location are various things you can do to help your Mac run cooler, including placing it on a stand, endmost the apps that are causing the processor to overwork, and apps that volition allow you to terminate the fans kicking. We have a detailed guide to what to practice when your Macs fans become likewise annoying here.

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

We have a split article where nosotros talk over everything you need to know most getting Apple tree products repaired.