IMac will not shut down or restart using the apple menu

I have an iMac running 10.7.3 that will not shut down or restart using the apple menu. The only way to get this machine to shut down is to hold down the on/off button on the back of the computer. This has been a problem for quite some time and may have started with Lion, but I’m not sure. Any help is appreciated.

Hi...
Before you shut down, make sure you "quit" all open applications. Applications are running if you see the small blue reflection under the app's name in your Dock.
If necessary, you can force quit apps... several ways to do this. One, from your Apple menu > Force Quit or using the Activity Monitor located in /Applications/Utilities.
If it's not a question of open applications, try Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Similar Messages

IMac will not shut down or restart

Only a "hard" shut down works (holding the main power button for 5 seconds). I don't think that action does my directory any good! This started when my automatic software update launched and had an unsuccessful installation of QuickTime 7.6.2, and Safari 4 public Beta. I removed Safari and used Firefox to get Safari 3.2.x. I was then able to install QT 7.6.2 after several attempts.
But, my machine will not shut down! Any suggestions? Thank you.

HI Kenny,
Try resetting the SMC. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543
If that doesn't help, try resetting the PRAM/NVRAM.
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Your computer’s PRAM and the NVRAM are reset to the default values.
Make sure your important data is backed up just in case.
Carolyn

MacBook will not Shut Down or Restart

My MacBook will not shut down or restart from the apple menu, nor from any other dialog box that pops up, after an update, for instance. The only way I can turn it off/restart is by using the power button. I have tried archiving and installing OS X, but I am still having this problem. Does anybody know how to fix this?

Hi Henry,
Help here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319
Second, make sure you have all your updates. Click the Apple logo in the Menu then click Software Updates.
Reset PRAM by holding option-command-P-R keys down during startup until you hear the chime at least three or four times.
Resetting the PRAM is a standard procedure for the problem you are experiencing.
Also, run Disk Utility and Repair Disk Permissions. DU is located here:
Applications/Utilities. Launch DU, select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, then click Repair Disk Permissions. Quit DU and reboot.
If you need further assistance, please post back.
Carolyn

My iMac will not shut down cause it says my mail is open but it is not and i cannot open it from the bottom of the screen don't know what to do

my imac will not shut down cause it says my mail is open but it is not and i cannot open my mail from the bottom of the screen

Hi there, go in to the utilites of you applications folder and find "Mail" then go stop processes.
If you cannot find Mail then open mail up and follow the process as above.
Thanks an Appple Certified Mac Technician Trainee

My macbook air will not shut down or restart

my macbook air will not shut down or restart, but it will go to sleep. what can i do to fix this ?

correction its a macbook pro

My phone froze and will not shut down when I updated the iphone

my phone froze and will not shut down when I updated the iphone with the new software
<Re-Titled By Host>

Hi there bebe_meza,
You may find the troubleshooting steps in the article below helpful.
iOS: Not responding or does not turn on
-Griff W.

MacBook Pro 2013 will not shut down without restarting.

I got a macbook pro a month ago and it will not shut down without pressing down on the power button. Using the normal Shut down options only restarts the computer. I have done all the disk utility repairs, installed new mountain lion, reset the PRAM several times, and ran software repair from doing the shutdown hold D. I also checked to see if the PRAM is good, and it is Ok in systems utilities. It will also restart when i have not touched the computer for 10 or so minutes and will go to locked user log in.
I really don't know what else to do. If you need more details let me know. Any advice?
Thanks

Thanks!
I tried this and discovered something new. I noticed that if the computer is charging while shutdown, the computer will still restart. However, if the computer is charging and you shutdown, then unplug the charger, it will remain off. It will also resume normal shut down and sleep if you shut down while unplugged, now. An idea why it will still restard while plugged in though? If not i very much appreciate your help so far!

Ibook will not shut down or restart

my g3 will not restart or shut off when prompted from the finder menu. it will turn off when i hold down the power button for ten seconds as recommended. i tried resetting the PMU but still no luck.please help!

I suspect that it might be software related... That could be isolated by booting from the install CD and see if the shutdown from it works. Also, I had a ibook that had the bad video memory problem that still ran fine otherwise, so I have made it a headless compute engine... so I do not have a window to click on shutdown.... therefore I use the admin user account and the terminal to issue the system command halt
given the prompt just type halt
halt
that should work for you as well and lead to a graceful shutdown.
At least you would know if it is software or hardware
JWC / accesstospace

G5 will not shut down or restart.

Spec: PowerMac G5 1.8DP with 3GB RAM, 1TB disk, OS 10.5.8.
I've had this problem before, but always solved it by using either Repair Disk Permissions, Disk Warrior or Cocktail cleaning all caches and corrupt pref.files. But it won't help this time. Have to shut down manually. I thought it might be the HD, so this is swapped with a new WD Caviar Black 1TB - system cloned from the former sys.disk using CarbonCopyCloner 3.3.4. Got two systemdisk (to keep one system SUPERCLEAN for ProTools HD DAW), and the CLEAN system shut down or restart the normal way. So it seem to be 100% software related. Any tips? Thanks.

Create a new User go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> "+" (make it an admin acct) and test the apps in this new account, if they work the problem is isolated to your User and not systemwide.
If the issue is limited to your user account try starting up Safe Mode (It will take more time to startup in Safe Mode because it runs a directory check.)
If your apps functions correctly that way, go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Items, and remove them. Boot normally and test. If not go to/Users/yourname/Library/Contextual Menu Items and move whatever is there to the desktop. Then do the same with /Library/Contextual Menu Items. Lastly, try moving/Users/yourname/Library/Fonts to your desktop and restarting.
Log out/in or restart, if that sorts it start putting items back one at a time until you find the culprit.
If the issue is systemwide then, you may be able to repair this with the The 10.6.4 Combo Update This is a fuller install, as opposed to an incremental "delta" update so it should overwrite any files that are damaged or missing. It does not matter if you have applied it before.
Remember to Verify Disk before update and repair permissions after update from /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.
-mj

My iBook G4 will not shut down or restart without force

I have huge issues with my 20 month old iBook. For the last two months it has been acting completely out of character.
The issue that's frying my head completely is the fact it won't shut down or restart by itself. I always have to hold the power button until it dies. When I start it up again, the screen is at minimum brightness every time, and I don't know why that would happen.
Not only that, but every program freezes at the one time at least 4 times a week (I use this thing every day). And, when one program stops responding, even force quitting doesn't close it, I have to force the whole system to shut down and restart to be able to use the program again.
I have never had any problems with this machine until two months ago. In fact, I had been boasting to my friends for the prior year and a half about how it had never crashed on me. Why is it starting now, and going all the way?
Would it have anything to do with a wireless router? Or an external hard drive? Right before all this crap started happening, I bought myself an external 80Gb hard drive because I was struggling to find space on this 27Gb internal hard drive. I was always running on 1-2Gb, and now I'm running on 8-9Gb of space. Around the same time, a housemate of mine talked me into sharing my internet connection with him via a wireless router. The router was connected to my iBook, and caused some speed problems, not with the internet but with my system. That project was abandoned after about a week because the housemate was never able to keep an online connection. And since then, my laptop's been screwed up.
I'd like to know reasons for why it's going screwey, and if I have to fork out stupid money to fix something that's supposed to be still working.

correction its a macbook pro

MacPro will not shut down or restart

My three weeks old MacPro has never shut down or restarted. It stops on the blue screen and needs to be crash started.
I have repaired permissions, used TechTools for maintenance and have all software up to date.
Sleep functions are OK.
A question: should I have the hard disks spin down when possible in the system preferences?

I first went in the System Preferences under the Apple menu. There in Accounts - Login items there is a list of applications or files, which can be removed by pressing the MINUS button. I was quite reluctant to delete these, and indeed 1) it didn't help, and 2) I had to reinstall them afterwards, since e.g. Extensis Suitcase Fusion (a font utility) needs to be loaded at startup. For some items you can do that from a dialog which pops up if you click on the item in the dock, for others you may have to reinstall the application. So do this last - after the next step I describe - and if you do, take a screenshot first so you know what was in - I did that, and it helped.
The real culprit was one of the items in (Main disk)/Library/StartupItems
I had there files called
comapcpcpestart, Parallels, ParallelsTransporter, Portfolio NetPublish Server
which I removed and didn't reinstall - the APC display software provided by the APC company isn't really needed if you have standard mac APC cards, since it's already there, and the others I didn't use.
With this, the problem went away. If I needed the above, I would reinstall them one by one to check.
Please leave me a note if that works,
Good luck,
Adrian
PS By the way of sleep, the wonderful freeware called Sleep Display works and the only good screensaving on LCD displays: turning the backlight off so it doesn't dim so much over time.
One of my former twin 23 in monitors had the backlight replaced after 3 years, and became noticeably brighter than the other one.

My macbook will not shut down or restart or anything

I have tried to reset the SMC settings NO go
I have tried to repair all disks on my comp No go
I mean come on, this is a mac and it doesnt simply shut down?
Many people seem to be having problems with a simple task.
When I press shut down or restart it gets rid of all icons but it leaves the mouse arrow and the background image
PLEASE this is annoying me! I love you long time!

You might have better luck getting answers if you post in one of the Mac forums. You posted in the Using a Second Generation Nano with Windows forum.

My iMac Will Not Shut Down

I have a 27" iMac running 10.9.5. When I try to shut down at night it will almost always go to a grey screen and then stay there forever or at least until I press and hold the power button to shut it down. If I log out of my account the computer shuts down just fine and if I am booted into 10.6 everything works fine as well. I do have a Thunderbolt external drive enclosure with 4 drives in it, as well as a USB color calibrator. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Step 1
For this step, the title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
          SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
In the top right corner of the Console window, there's a search box labeled Filter. Initially the words "String Matching" are shown in that box. Enter "BOOT_TIME" (without the quotes.)
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Note the timestamps of the BOOT_TIME log messages, which refer to the times when the system was started. Now clear the search box and scroll back in the log to the last boot time when you had the problem. Select the messages logged before the boot, during the time something abnormal was happening. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
For example, if the system was unresponsive or was failing to shut down for three minutes before you forced a restart, post the messages timestamped within three minutes before the boot time, not after. Please include the BOOT_TIME message at the end of the log extract—not at the beginning.
If there are long runs of repeated messages, please post only one example of each. Don’t post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Step 2
In the Console window, select
          DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION ▹ System Diagnostic Reports
(not Diagnostic and Usage Messages) from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
There is a disclosure triangle to the left of the list item. If the triangle is pointing to the right, click it so that it points down. You'll see a list of reports. A crash report has a name that begins with the name of the crashed process and ends in ".crash". A panic report has a name that begins with "Kernel" and ends in ".panic". A shutdown stall report has a name that ends in ".shutdownstall". Select the most recent of each, if any. The contents of the report will appear on the right. Use copy and paste to post the entire contents—the text, not a screenshot. It's possible that none of these reports exists.
I know the report is long, maybe several hundred lines. Please post all of it anyway.
If you don't see any reports listed, but you know there was a crash or panic, you may have chosen Diagnostic and Usage Messages from the log list. Choose DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION instead.
In the interest of privacy, I suggest that, before posting, you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if it’s present (it may not be.)
Please don’t post other kinds of diagnostic report—they're very long and rarely helpful.

My iPad just randomly stopped having sound and will not shut down only restart.

my iPad just stopped have sound. Only works with ear-buds. Also, now when I power it down or even force it, will only restart & will not stay shut off. I have done the whole mute/lock thing, did a reset & even backed it up & restored it. Anybody have any suggestions?? thanks!

Try this - Reset the iPad by holding down on the Sleep and Home buttons at the same time for about 10-15 seconds until the Apple Logo appears - ignore the red slider - let go of the buttons. (This is equivalent to rebooting your computer.)
Check your settings. The iPads have a small switch on the right edge. It can be used as a rotation lock to keep the screen from automatically reorienting itself as you move around, but you need to have the tablet’s settings configured properly. That same switch, right above the volume buttons, can also be set to function instead as a mute button to silence certain types of audio.
If the switch is set to work as a mute button, you can change its purpose to “screen-rotation lock” by tapping the Settings icon on the home screen. On the Settings screen, tap General on the left side, and on the right side of the screen flick down to “Use Side Switch to.” Tap to select Lock Rotation or Mute to set the button’s function. Even if you set the side switch for your preferred use, you can still mute the Mini or lock the screen. Just double-click the Home button, and when the panel of apps appears along the bottom edge of the screen, flick the row from left to right with your finger. Tap the icon on the far left side of the row to either lock the iPad’s screen or mute the iPad’s alerts, notifications and sound effects. Music, podcasts and video are not muted unless you turn the volume all the way down.
iPhone: Can't hear through the receiver or speakers
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1630http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1630
http://www.atreks.com/app-no-sound-on-ipad-4-%E2%80%93-what-to-do/http://www.atreks.com/app-no-sound-on-ipad-4-%E2%80%93-what-to-do/
To solve some sound problems, just follow these simple steps
1. Go to Settings
2. Tap on General
3. Tap on Reset
4. Tap on Reset All Settings
 Cheers, Tom

IMac does not shut down or restart

My Intel iMac running OS10.7.5 does not restart or shut down using the Finder command. I must do the process by using the powwr button which I know is not the correct way.

Please carefully read and follow Apple's instructions for Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup located at:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570

IMac will not shut down or restart using the apple menu

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for