The Mac, like any other electronic device, can suffer from problems. One of the most annoying is the fact that the computer is blocked or frozen preventing it from being used. In this article we show you how you can solve this problem in an easy way.
Close apps that are not responding
Your Mac may be locked up initially by a specific application. Sometimes when an app is being used it can become unresponsive due to a failure in a thread that has entered a loop. In these cases the blockage can lead to the feeling that the entire equipment is freezing. In these situations it is difficult to close the application in question in a normal way, so it must be forced to close. To do this, you simply have to follow the following steps:
- Press the Option + Command + Escape key combination.
- In the ‘Force close’ window select the blocked application.
- Click on ‘Force close’ in the lower left corner of the window.
At the moment the operating system will stop executing the app that is giving the error. But in some cases the Mac may become totally frozen without the possibility of closing the conflict application. In these cases you will simply have to restart the Mac by pressing the Control + Option + Command + Start button. Obviously, if you have installed an untrustworthy application that is causing these failures, we recommend that you uninstall it as it may not be fully compatible with the operating system or it may be a malicious program.
Reset PRAM / NVRAM
In some cases the Mac can crash quite frequently even though it is just started without running any applications. In these cases it is advisable to reestablish the NVRAM. This part of the hardware stores basic information on the operation of the equipment where it can be accessed very quickly. On some occasions, it can end up failing having some type of process that is not executing in a correct way. That is why from Apple they allow users to reset the PRAM or NVRAM in a simple way. To do this, you must perform the following steps:
- Shut down the Mac.
- When you press the home button, you instantly press the option + command + P + R keys.
- Hold them down for 20 seconds until it reboots once.
The process may vary if you have a T2 security chip, you can release the keys as soon as the Apple logo disappears from the screen.
Start in safe mode
When a Mac has an unknown error that cannot be resolved with a simple reboot, Safe Mode should be started. In this way, only the basic functions of the computer are executed, deactivating the initial execution of different apps and processes. That is why with the safe mode you can find the problems that can give the problems and help you to perform different tasks. In some cases you may have the application that is causing the computer to crash but you cannot uninstall it in normal mode. In safe mode you can do it without any problem.
If it is the case that in safe mode the Mac works perfectly without being blocked but when it starts normally it freezes again, it is that the problem is present in some of the applications that are executed at startup or in the network configuration Wifi. In this situation, you should review all the installations you have done and discard any app that you have recently installed and that is not trusted. To enter safe mode you must follow the following steps:
- Shut down the Mac.
- When starting, hold down the shift key.
- When the login window appears, release the shift key.
- If you have hard drive encryption enabled, you will have to log in twice.
MacOS reset
In the latter case, to solve this problem you will have to erase the entire operating system and start from scratch. In this way you guarantee that the failure in the configuration or the application that has come into conflict disappears. If it is not a hardware error, this operation should solve the underlying problem. The only drawback is that all the files that you do not have stored in a cloud or on an external storage unit will be deleted, since it is recommended not to restore a backup copy when the computer is formatted to avoid having the files again conflict in the HDD.
To perform this format you simply have to press the Command + R keys as soon as the computer starts up. In the system utilities window, you must delete all the files on your hard drive in the disk utilities section, and then reinstall macOS.
Go to Apple
In the event that none of these solutions has worked, it is time to consider the possibility that it is a problem with some component of the hardware such as the RAM or the CPU. In this situation, you should go to an Apple Store or any authorized store for a thorough diagnosis to be carried out and a replacement can be made of the part of the hardware that is failing. If you can’t go to a physical Apple Store, you can always resort to sending the equipment via courier.