How-To Geek
Troubleshoot Your Mac With These Hidden Startup Options
Troubleshooting a Mac is different from troubleshooting a PC, but not all that different. Use your Mac’s built-in startup options to test your hardware, boot in safe mode, reinstall Mac OS X, and perform other system tasks.
To access one of these tools, you’ll first have to shut down or restart your Mac. You’ll then have to press and hold the appropriate key or key combination before the gray startup screen appears. Press the keys right after the startup sound plays.
Startup Manager
To boot from a specific device, press and hold the Option key while booting your Mac. You’ll see the Startup Manager appear. From here, you can choose to boot from different connected hard drives, USB flash drives, network locations, and other boot devices.
To skip the Startup Manager and boot straight from a removable device — for example, a CD, DVD, or USB drive — instead of its internal drive, press and hold C. To boot directly from the network with Netbook, press and hold N instead.
Apple Diagnostics / Hardware Test
Apple Diagnostics tests your Mac’s hardware to ensure it’s working properly. On Macs released before June 2013, Apple Hardware Test (AHT) will appear instead of Apple Diagnostics.
To access this tool, press and hold the D key while booting your Mac. Select your language and your Mac will automatically test its hardware and inform you if anything is wrong.
Safe Boot / Safe Mode
Macs offer a Safe Mode, also known as Safe Boot. When you boot in Safe Mode, your Mac will check its startup volume, only load necessary kernel extensions, and disable third-party fonts and startup options. It’s like Safe Mode on Windows — it won’t load third-party hardware drivers or startup programs, so you can use this mode to fix problems if your Mac isn’t working or booting properly.
To load your Mac in Safe Mode, press and hold the Shift key while it boots. You can stop holding the Shift key when you see an Apple logo and progress bar. To leave Safe Mode, just reboot your Mac without holding the Shift key.
Single-User Mode
In single-user mode, you’ll be presented with a text-mode terminal you can use to enter commands you might need to troubleshoot problems. This works like Linux’s single-user mode — rather than getting multi-user operating system, you boot directly to a root shell.
Press Command + S to boot into single-user mode. To leave this mode, type reboot at the prompt and press Enter.
Verbose Mode
In verbose mode, you’ll see normally hidden messages appear on your screen. If your Mac is freezing, especially during the boot process, the messages here can help you identify and get help with the problem.
Press Command + V to boot into verbose mode. You’ll see the terminal messages appear during the startup process. If everything goes properly, your Mac will boot to its normal desktop.
Recovery Mode
Recovery Mode provides various graphical tools for working with your Mac. From here, you can reinstall Mac OS X, restore your computer from a Time Machine backup, or use the Disk Utility to repair, wipe, and partition your Mac’s internal disks.
Press Command + R to access Recovery Mode. If necessary, you’ll be asked to connect to a network so your Mac can download the appropriate recovery software. You can then choose your language and use the graphical tools here.
One of the nice things about a Mac is that this is all built-in. You don’t even have to download a Mac OS X installer — if necessary, your Mac will download the OS X installation files for you when you choose to reinstall the operating system. Better yet, it will download the most recent version of Mac OS X so you won’t have to spend hours installing patches and service packs, as you do on Windows.
Image Credit: danieljordahl on Flickr
Thanks for that... this kind of stuff really ought to come in some sort of printed book that is shipped with the equipment.
(Seriously: the IBM PC had a manual thicker than an Oxford dictionary... and the Mac, a machine 100 times more complex, comes with nothing but a safety warning pamphlet.)
The Apple Hardware Test function, where you can boot up with the D key held down, is only for fairly new Macs that originally shipped with OS X 10.7.x installed. Older Macs have the AHT on the Applications Install Disc 2. Even older Macs have it on Mac OS X Install Disc 1. See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US You will read also that Apple recommends you disconnect your external hard drives, printers and scanners first.
No. The sentence is:
Troubleshooting a Mac is different from troubleshooting another PC
No, "IBM PC" was a trademark invented by IBM to describe their DOS-based computer, the IBM PC. This later evolved to apply to all DOS and Windows based computers. The term "PC Compatible" later came to be shortened to just "PC."
Simply put, a PC is a computer designed to run a Microsoft desktop OS. The Mac is designed to run MacOS. Yes, you can run MacOS on a PC (with some hacking), but does that make my Lenovo, my Dell, or my home built computer a Mac?
A Mac isn't a PC, any more than a Canon photocopier is a Xerox. It started out as a brand name that came to mean a specific niche in the desktop computing market. The Mac is a single-user desktop computer, but it's not a "PC."
Sooo a computer running Linux computer isn't a PC? huh?
No simply put, it's any computer that is design to be handled by one person.
You're right, a Canon photocopier isn't a xerox, but both are photocopiers.
A mac doesn't become a mac because of OSX and any other computer doesn't become a PC because of windows. Its hppen when you pakage a computer and a person oriented OS on it, in contrast to severs for example which can have the same hardware but usually isn't meant for direct UI contact.
Get your head straight and stop slandering these kind of lies around.
If it is an Intel-based computer running a derivative of the IBM PC Architecture, it's a PC. If it's an ARM system, an RS-6000, a Motorola 68000, or some other architecture, then it's not a PC.
As I said, the term is a Metonymy: the only computer that can legitimately use the term "PC" Is IBM's Personal Computer line, which ended with the PC-AT. (After that, IBM called them the PS/2.) Calling all single-user computers "Personal Computers" is correct, as the term was in use before IBM Introduced the model 5150. However, a "PC" is not just a Personal Computer. A PC is an IBM Compatible Personal Computer, distinct from from other computing platforms, such as Mac OS, PowerPC, Amiga, Atari, Commodore, CP/M, or other platforms that were common when real IBM PC's could still be purchased.
When you are referring to desktop computers in general, using the term "PC" may be acceptable, but when making a statement like "Do you prefer Mac or PC?" PC clearly refers to a Windows-based computer descended from IBM PC architecture.
If you don't believe me, I ask you to answer this question: What part did John Jodgman play in the Apple ads? Was it "Windows"? Was it "Intel BIOS Architecture Computer?"
It was PC.
So in its own advertising, Apple Computers clearly states that the Mac is not a PC.
Go ahead and try to call Mac a PC if you want... but you're not longer arguing with me. You're arguing with Apple itself.
it kind of sounds to me like he's got a valid point. what is a linux computer if not a pc? and you can load linux onto an arm arcihitecture as well as intel. what may have been historically accurate is not neccessarily the case now.
The term "PC" has been the accepted term to mean "IBM PC compatible computer" for a long time. Yes, it also has the more general connotation of "single user computer" depending on the context. However, when making the comparison "Mac and PC," PC clearly means Not-Mac.
Again, Apple uses the word PC to mean "Not Mac". So "correcting" someone to say a Mac is "another PC" is going against Apple's own vocabulary.
And if we're going to go further down that rabbit hole... is a tablet a PC? Is a Raspberry Pi a PC? What about Chromebooks? Is my cell phone a PC?
If there one thing apple does better than consumer electronics; it's marketing. What your thinking of, is years and years of misleading advertisment's. In marketing, a strong way to market a product is by presenting it's Unique Selling Point(s)(USP). And what did apple do when they wanted to launch the MAC?.. They made up some USP's to stand out, instead of actually giving the mac's a USP.And the whole IBM argument is mute, because all mac's run the exact same intel CPU's windows pc's use.
Enough people consider PC to mean "Windows PC" that to come in here and correct someone's usage of the term is not just rude but incorrect.
Steam's compatibility page for a game available on Mac and Windows:![]()
EA's video game list:![]()
Two of the largest sellers of computer games in the world use "PC" to mean "Windows-based computer."
Language is defined by its common usage, and the computer industry in general uses the term "PC" to refer to Windows computers.
Apple uses the term "PC" to refer to Windows computers. Why do you insist that the term for Apple computers is "PC", when Apple themselves believes otherwise?
I am neutral here. This just about ends the discussion IMO.
Because it's a f**king greedy marking move by one of the greediest companies in the world, to manipulate dumb consumers to think its unique... the only thing that's different, is the shape of the pc's, and that god-awful OS they use.
And if you can't understand that, i guess i know which target group you fall into....