How to reset SMC on MacBook Air and MacBook Pro


In some cases, you need to reset SMC of your Macbook Air or Mac computers. Here you will learn how to reset SMC on MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. MacBook Air is the most slimmer and lighter Intel based notebook that has impressive computing performance and very comfortable for all business and home use. Sometime, the notebook or your Mac computer behaves strangely and produce some hardware error messages on startup or becomes unresponsive.



SMC i.e. System Management Controller is an internal subsystem of Mac computers. This is a chip on the logic board that controls all power flow in your system. Reset of SMC requires when you encounter unusual system behavior like:

  • black screen on startup
  • computer's fan speed running high even in normal use
  • failure to turn on system
  • failure to recognize attached devices
  • incorrectly appearance of keyboard backlight
  • The computer unexpectedly sleeps or shuts down
  • The computer becomes unresponsive with power button

Such system behavior often lead to critical problem of data loss or data inaccessible. If your system experience black screen on startup or has startup problem then reset of SMC may help to troubleshoot the problem otherwise you may need to go for repair or reinstall of Mac OSX. Before you know how to reset SMC on MacBook Air or Mac computers, you can try these steps in case your system is not responding:

  1. Force Quit any application (Press Command + Option + Escape)
  2. Restart your Mac (Apple menu → Restart)
  3. Force shutdown (Press the power button for 10 seconds)

If your Mac computer exhibits problems like not starting up, not displaying video, sleep issues, fan noise issues and so forth then reseting the SMC can help to resolve such issues.


How to reset SMC on MacBook Air:

  1. Shut down the computer
  2. If MagSafe power adapter is connected, disconnect it from the computer
  3. Remove the battery
  4. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds
  5. Release the power button
  6. Reconnect the battery and MagSafe power adapter with the notebook
  7. Now press the power button to turn on the computer

If resetting SMC MacBook Pro or MacBook Air couldn't troubleshoot the startup or other relevant issues then there may be problem with the Mac OS. In this case, you will need to repair or reinstall the operating system that may lead to data loss. If you have important data saved in your MacBook then you can recover the lost data with the help of Mac data recovery software. The software easily recovers missing/lost data even from corrupted or formatted Mac volumes.


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