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SMC

Explainer: System Management Controller (SMC)

On Intel Macs, resetting the SMC was a universal panacea until the T2 came along. What can we do instead with an M1 Mac?

August 28, 2021 Macs, Technology

System management and NVRAM on M1 Macs

There’s no SMC, so you can’t reset it. Although there’s still NVRAM (PRAM), that can’t be reset either: full details of both for M1 models.

January 21, 2021 Macs, Technology

Why is kernel_task eating my CPU?

Your Mac goes all sluggish, you open Activity Monitor, and there at the top of the CPU list is kernel_task, taking 100% or more. Why?

April 25, 2020 Macs, Technology

Why does my Mac keep waking up?

When you wake your laptop up in the morning, it’s clear it has been awake half the night. How to ensure it gets a proper night’s sleep.

December 14, 2019 Macs, Technology

Reset and maintain your SMC and NVRAM

How to reset them, and what they do. Includes coverage of the SMC functions in T2 chips, and how to reset them too.

November 18, 2019 Macs, Technology

Which startup mode?

Diagnostic, Recovery, Safe, Startup Manager, Verbose, reset SMC/NVRAM, firmware restore, Target Disk/Display, Single-User (SUM) in outline.

November 16, 2019 Macs, Technology

Tackling sleep and wake problems

From hardware diagnostics to pmset and resetting the SMC, all you need to know about diagnosing wake and sleep problems.

May 9, 2019 Macs, Technology

Playing with fire: dealing with slow hot Macs

What should you do with a Mac whose fans keeping coming on full blast, with high CPU loads from kernel_task, and sluggish performance?

February 25, 2019 Macs, Technology

Updated visual summary of the Mac boot process

Adds details of the sequence of screens displayed at each stage, to help diagnose boot problems.

September 17, 2018 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: Apple’s Cloud of Unknowing

How did it take Apple so long to tell users of the imminent death of Back to My Mac? And why does Apple replace fully-functional Smart Keyboards?

August 26, 2018 Macs, Technology

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