The Mac SMC reset is great. It’s basically Apple’s digital duck tape for your Mac laptop. You will need to do a SMC reset if your Mac is exhibiting these symptoms in this post list below.
Table of Contents
Fans
- The fans speed up and remain at high speed, even under normal usage.
Lights
- If there is a back light, the keyboard back light does not illuminate correctly.
- If there is a Status Indicator Light, the SIL does not illuminate correctly.
- If there is a battery indicator light, the battery indicator does not illuminate correctly (laptops that use non-removable batteries).
- If there is an ambient light change feature, the back light display doesn’t correctly respond to the ambient light changes.
Power
- The MagSafe power adapter LED doesn’t show the correct activity. (source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964)
- The power button is not responsive.
- The laptop does not respond properly when opening or closing the lid.
- The computer sleeps or shuts down unexpectedly.
- The battery does not appear to be charging.
Sound
- No sound from internal speakers.
- No audio devices in sound preferences.
Input Devices
- USB devices stop working.
SMC Reset Instructions
Removable Battery | Non-Removable Battery |
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Additional Fixes
Another thing to try is to make sure you have updates installed.
- Open app store.
- Click Updates on toolbar.
- Click on update or update all for available updates.
- Restart laptop.
What is SMC?
The system management controller is hardware on the motherboard that controls a few core functions.
The SMC can potentially control all kinds of functions, depending on the model you’re rocking.
Update: I found a pretty good resource on this topic. To see a good list of what the SMC controls, head over to Lifewire.