• Reset SMC of a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro Retina, or MacBook Pro’s with an internal non-removable battery

    This is how to reset SMC on most modern Mac laptops, none of which have a removable battery:

    1. Shutdown your MacBook Air / MacBook Pro
    2. Connect the power adapter to the Mac
    3. On the MacBook / Pro’s keyboard, hold down the Shift+Control+Option keys and the Power button at the same time
    4. Release all keys and the power button at the same time – the little light on the MagSafe adapter may change colors briefly to indicate the SMC has reset
    5. Boot your Mac as usual

    Here’s the key sequence to hold down:

    123456

    Do keep in mind that by resetting the SMC you will lose power specific settings, like the time it takes to sleep a Mac and other customizations to power settings. No big deal, but if you have made many changes to your hardware behavior you will want to adjust stuff like sleep behavior again.

    The boot time after resetting a machines SMC can be a bit longer than usual, that is normal.

    Reset SMC of an iMac, Mac Pro, Mac Mini

    Resetting SMC is different for non-portable Macs, but it’s still easy enough and the problems it addresses are the same. On any desktop Mac, here is how you reset the System Management Controller:

    1. Shut down your Mac
    2. Disconnect the power cord
    3. Press and hold the Mac’s power button for 5 seconds
    4. Release the button.
    5. Reattach the power cables and boot the Mac as usual