Macs can freeze for a variety of reasons, but if you recently installed new RAM on the computer, you may want to run a memory test to verify that it’s not bad RAM. Regardless of which Mac you have, the Mac should now boot as usual. The iMac power button is located on the lower corner at the back of the computer, it shows the familiar power logo, but you can usually find it just by feeling around too.

Press and hold the button on the back of the computer until the Mac turns off, wait a few seconds, and then press the button again to initiate system start.

Unlike laptops, desktop Macs don’t have a power button on the keyboard, instead the power button is a physical button located on the back of the Mac. The procedure is otherwise the same as above.

Wait a few seconds then hit the Power button again to boot the Macįorce Restarting MacBooks with SuperDrives & Physical Power Buttonsįor the older MacBook and MacBook Pro models which carry an eject key and a SuperDrive, the Power button is located on the upper right corner of the open Mac.

Hold down the Power button on the keyboard until the MacBook shuts down completely, this may take 5 seconds or so.

If the Mac has a power button on the keyboard, like all modern MacBook laptops do, this is how you forcibly reboot it: Forcibly Rebooting a MacBook Air & Retina MacBook Pro Again, this is only needed in extreme situations where a Mac is completely frozen with all possible interaction and input devices frozen and unresponsive. In both instances, a force reboot is basically forcing the Mac to shut down, then starting as usual. This works nearly the same on any modern Mac, with the difference being whether the Mac has a physical power button on the back of the machine or if it’s like the MacBook line, where the power button is on the keyboard. How to Force Restart Any Frozen Mac with the Power Button

With a truly frozen computer, you’ll actually be forcing it to shut down and then booting it again, as the traditional power shortcuts don’t work and aren’t registered.

Intervening is best done by forcibly restarting the frozen Mac, and that’s exactly what we’re going to cover here.

My imac keeps freezing up