RC Logr 20200605 083345

Friday, 5 Jun, 2020

I updated MacOS to 10.15.5 yesterday via the combo updater (i.e. the non-delta updater), and my Mac was immediately crash-y, with several freezes in a row. And here I was expecting stability! 🥴

At any rate, I dug out the notes and did an NVRAM / PRAM and SMC reset. TL;DR: that fixed it. (Though admittedly it might just be voodoo-magick thinking)

NVRAM stores settings like your sound volume, display resolution or timezone. Reset it like this:

• Shut down your Mac
• Turn it on, while holding ⌥ + ⌘ + P + R.
• On newer Macs (with the T2 chip) wait until the logo appears and disappears twice, then release. On older macs, wait until the second startup sound and then release.
• Check system preferences for changed settings related to sound volume, startup disk, display resolution or time zone.

SMC or System Management Controller controls the power, fans and thermal management, battery, USB, indicators, lid opening and closing and so on. Reset it per Apple Instructions and here’s an subset example for a newish Mac notebook with a T2 chip:

• Shut down your Mac
• Press Left⌃ + Left⌥ + Right⇧, and the Mac turns on.
• Hold the 3 keys for 7 sec, then hold down the power button as well. Your Mac will turn off.
• Hold the 4 keys for another 7 sec, then release.
• Wait 10 sec, then power on.

These took a few minutes but, I have not had a crash since I did it.