Finger Yoga
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 1.09.07The practicing and performance of arcane Macintosh keyboard commands while booting, often in an attempt to solve some grievous system error. The procedure can involve any combination of three to sixteen keys, and requires extraordinary dexterity, nimbleness, and a complete lack of bones.
Well, I’ve gotten a second Macbook. One of them has to go (to be sold on eBay, perhaps?), but for now I’m enjoying the hilarity of twin macbooks. They’re so cute sitting next to each other on the desk! Sadly, this also means I’ve quickly become acquainted with the various idiosyncrasies of the Macbook line.
Don’t get me wrong, I love macs. They make me happy. But they’re still computers… and as such, are susceptible to possession by evil spirits. In the past two weeks I’ve diagnosed (and somehow fixed) random restarts and shutdowns, sleeping and waking crashes, flickering video displays, backlight blackouts, and dead mouse buttons. Actually, it’s not as hard as it sounds; all you’ve got to do is run Apple’s Software Update from the preference panel. The latest OS and firmware versions should set everything straight. If not, well… finger yoga time.
Resetting the system management controller — Shut down the computer and remove both battery and power cable. Press and hold power button for 5 seconds. Re-insert battery and power cable to start working again with a fresh set of system settings. Since the SMC controls power, shutdown, and startup, this can help solve erroneous activity.
Resetting the PRAM — Holding Command-Option-P-R while booting (press and hold just as soon as the mac boot sound plays) will reset PRAM and NVRAM. There will be some audio beeps, then the computer will restart (let go of the keys, though, you don’t want to cause a reboot loop… that’s just silly). While I haven’t needed to try this yet, it should have a similar effect to resetting the SMC; by resetting system defaults, you can clear out damaged settings and corrupted preferences.
Somehow, everything is fixed and running nicely. As of now, I have two very happy little macbooks… awh, they’re so cute… yesh they arrrr…
mediaboxAdvanced
I recently came across instructions for using Open Firmware (the macintosh bios, so to speak). Press and hold Command-Option-O-F while booting to bring up the Open Firmware command line, then type in the following commands (pressing return after each one):
reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all
The last command will reboot the computer, hopefully fixing any troubles you might be having with system settings. Visit kernelthread.com and apple.com for more information on Open Firmware, or reference this handy compendium of other keyboard shortcuts.