If your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro freezes up you should be able to fix the issue with a simple hard reset or force restart. You can typically fix frozen MacBook issues in just a few seconds.
If your mouse cursor still works, clicking the Apple icon in the top left corner and selecting Restart will usually unfreeze your MacBook. But if your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro freezes and you’re unable to shut it down normally, you might need to hard reset it.
A hard reset is a fast solution and it should return your computer to a normal state. Before you hard reset your MacBook, rest assured that this process won’t wipe your computer’s data, it just reboots the MacBook.
Here are the steps to fix your frozen MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.
How to Hard Reset MacBook Air or MacBook Pro
In order to force restart your MacBook, you need to know where the power button is. On newer MacBook models, the power button is the Touch ID button that’s located in the upper right-hand corner of the computer. On some newer MacBook models, you’ll find the Touch ID button on the Touch Bar’s surface. It’s the button furthest to the right.
On MacBook models with physical F1-F12 keys, it’s located in the upper right-hand corner. If you own an older MacBook with an optical drive, the key doubles as it’s also your Eject button.
If your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro stops responding, here’s how to force restart it:
- To force a restart your MacBook, you need to press and hold down the Command (⌘) button, the Control (Ctrl) key, and the power button at the same time.
- Hold these keys down until your MacBook’s screen goes blank and the computer restarts itself.
- Once your computer reboots, you’ll need to sign back into your account.
- If force restarting doesn’t help alleviate the lockups and freezes, you should try charging your MacBook for up to an hour and/or rebooting it into Diagnostics Mode to see if the issue is hardware-related.
- If you can’t find anything wrong, you’ll want to get in contact with Apple customer support.
You shouldn’t have to force restart your MacBook regularly as it can make you lose work or just make you less productive. If your MacBook is frequently locking up, you’ll want to check out our guide to fixing common macOS problems. You may even want to get in touch with Apple support.
If your MacBook is freezing up all the time, you should try updating your apps via the App Store or investigate other potential solutions. Sometimes the solution is as simple as force closing apps that are hogging resources in the background or otherwise causing your MacBook to freeze.
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