Won't shut down, restart or log out

Running 10.4.10 on G4. Will shut down apps but does not do anything further. Also, screen saver hot corners don't work. Don't know if that is connected to the shut down, etc. problem.
Looked at HD, lib, startupitems folder but it is empty. Eliminated startup items thru sys prefs but no help there either.
Recently installed ITunes 7.3.2 and security update.
Maybe time for an iMac ??

Just adding another voice to the chorus. Since upgrading to Mountain Lion my computer will not sleep. The cursor freezes when I try to invoke sleep but the computer and monitor remain on. The cursor unfreezes when I tap the spacebar the way I would normally do to wake from sleep. Fortunately, shutdown, restart and logout function normally, so I guess I should count my blessings. This isn't my only problem with Mountain Lion, but I didn't want to muddy the waters on this thread with other issues.
Dual quad-core MacPro3,1

Similar Messages

Mountain Lion won't sleep, shut down, restart, or log out.

Hi All,
After Mountain Lion my 2010 iMac 27" won't sleep, shut down, restart, or log out.
Basically most functionalities of clicking the apple icon are disabled - "About this Mac" doesn't work either.
Please help!
Before Apple fixes this, is there another way of putting my Mac to sleep or shut down?

Just adding another voice to the chorus. Since upgrading to Mountain Lion my computer will not sleep. The cursor freezes when I try to invoke sleep but the computer and monitor remain on. The cursor unfreezes when I tap the spacebar the way I would normally do to wake from sleep. Fortunately, shutdown, restart and logout function normally, so I guess I should count my blessings. This isn't my only problem with Mountain Lion, but I didn't want to muddy the waters on this thread with other issues.
Dual quad-core MacPro3,1

Cannot shut down restart or log out

Hi,
My new macbook pro cannot shut down restart or log out. When click shut down restart or log out. it does NOTHING. no screen comes out, no window telling me that an application is stopping the shut down, just nothing. After I try several times to shut down, I can continue using my macbook normally as if I didnt try to shut down at all. What should I do? What is wrong?

What happens when you press the power button? It should bring up a dialog box asking if you want to Restart, Sleep, Cancel, or Shutdown.
Also, try it from the terminal prompt. The Terminal application is in the Utilities folder. The Utilities folder is in the Applications folder.
Once you've launched Terminal, type:
sudo shutdown -r now
Enter your login password when prompted.
This should initiate a reboot.

Macbook Pro will not shut down/restart/sleep/log out after Mountain Lion update

Dear all,
I upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion yesterday and since then I have encountered a few issues:
- The only way I can shut down my computer is to hold down the power button or entering commands in terminals. The commands under the Apple menu do not work at all. No window opens when I click on it.
- The about this mac, force to quit, sleep, shut down and restart button, log out do not work.
- When I restart my computer, it takes 3-4 minutes to log into the account (it used to be less than 1 minute, I have an SSD).
I have tried all of these solutions to solve the problem:
- I created another user account and I do not encounter the same problems. It logs in quickly, can shut down etc.
- I have repaired the disk and the disk authorisations using disk utility
- I have cleaned up all caches and did maintenance using OnyX
- I have cleaned up all ACL using terminal
- I have never installed Kapersky (this was the cause of the problem for some people in the past)
I am starting to be a bit short on ideas. All I know is that there is a problem with my user account. I do not want to do a clean install as I have quite a lot of work stored on this user account and preferences that took me ages to set up. If I have to start fresh I will but I would rather avoid this extreme solution.
Has anyone else experienced such an issue? If yes, how did you solve it?
Thank you very much

Had the same problem and this worked for me:
Try deleting following two items:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.db
Make sure you take a screenshot of your current dock since deleting these files will reset your dock to default.
Now open terminal and do a sudo reboot w/ your password.
This solved the problem for me.

Macbook refuses to shut down, restart or log out! :(

Hi,
Ive been having the troubles of not being able to turn off, restart or log out my Macbook after not shutting it down for a while ( like 1 or 2 weeks just kept putting it to sleep when it is not in use ). When I tried to shut down or restart it, the top bar and everything else went off leaving ma dock behind, it then just froze and kept saying that it cant shut down due to some random application have failed to quit! (e.g most usually firefox and Finder) eventhough i have already quit all my applications!
Does anybody know what the problem is? Is this usual if you dont shut down your macbook for a couple of weeks? Please advice!
Thank you very much,

Hi
Holding down the power button for about 10 seconds will force the macbook to turn off. This is only recommended as an emergency measure.
When you restart, I recommend you download either Onyx or Leopard Cache Cleaner and use it to step through the various maintenance activities it offers, including deleting all stored cache files.
You should perform this maintenance once a month or so (although you don't need to routinely clear out the cache files).
Bob

My macbook pro won't shut down, restart or log off

it's a month old. was behaving fine until about a week ago when it wouldn't shut down because itunes kept restarting itself whenever i quit. realised it was because of my alarm clock widget, which i've now removed. so the itunes is sorted, BUT, my mac still won't shut down.
what can i do? someone told me to download onyx but i haven't a clue what to do with it?

Don't upgrade to Snow Leopard in the hope that it will eliminate any preexisting problems on your MBP — it almost certainly won't, and you may have other problems as well (e.g., incompatible applications and startup items). Solve the problem first, then perform the upgrade.
If you Safe Boot the computer, will it shut down normally afterward? If so, disable all third-party startup items (System Preferences > Accounts > select your account and click the Startup Items tab), boot normally, and test again. If you can still shut down normally, one of the startup items is at fault. Re-enable them one at a time, testing after each addition, until you determine which one is causing the problem.
There are also applications that can run in the background and don't show up in the Force Quit dialog box — but they do appear in Activity Monitor when you instruct it to list Active Processes. Some can interfere with shutdown by refusing to quit when the Shut Down command is given. If the suggestion in the preceding paragraph yields no progress, let us know what processes are active on your computer when no applications are shown in the Force Quit dialog box.

Since downloading Lion on my Mac Pro I can not shut down, restart, or log out on my computer;

I tried both the Apple menu and the keyboard shortcuts and nothing happens when i do both of them. I can not do a software update now because of this

Bat signal? What's that?
Mike, try resetting the Power Management Unit (PMU). Read the linked article, then scroll down to find the instructions for resetting the PMU on your model, then do this:
1. If the computer is on, turn it off.
2. Reset the power manager by simultaneously pressing and then releasing Shift-Control-Option-Power on the keyboard. Do not press the fn (Function) key while using this combination of keystrokes.
3. Wait 5 seconds.
4. Press the Power button to restart the computer.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

Cannot shut down, restart, or log off iMac

I have an iMac with OS 10.5.2. I use the Virus Barrier virus protection program and have not had any problems with it. However, immediately after installing the latest Virus Barrier update, my computer began acting strangely.
Most importantly, since that time I have not been able to shut down, restart, or log off my computer. When I try to take any of these actions, I get the standard message box asking, for example, "Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?" I click on "Shut down" and the desktop icons and the menu bar disappear but then nothing at all happens. Sometimes, after a while, I may get a message saying that the action "timed out." I then click on the Finder icon on the dock, and the desktop icons and menu bar reappear. I've tried force-quitting the Finder, but that did not work. Even if I manually shut off the power, when I turn it back on, the desktop immediately appears without the usual beep and without going through the normal startup procedures. It seems that even when I turn off the power manually, the computer itself does not actually shut down.
Additionally, my screen saver no longer works. Although I have it set to come on automatically, it never does.
I contacted Virus Barrier support which advised me to uninstall the program. I did, but that did not help the problem. I've tried "Repair Disk Permissions" in the Disk Utility application, but that did not help either.
Apart from the above, I still seem to be able to use the programs on my computer with no problem.
Does anyone have any idea what is causing this problem and what I can do about it?
Thank you.

DO NOT JUST PULL THE PLUG! Press and hold the power button until it shuts down fully. This can take several seconds. Once you are sure the fans are off, click the mouse a couple of times to make sure there is no response, then you can pull the plug, to be sure.
I suggest that you then start up in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key as soon as you hear the chime. The OS should start in the normal fashion, except you will see a Safe Boot legend.
Once you've logged in, bin the Finder .plist as suggest, and I'm make sure that all the Virus Barrier files are well and truly gone as well. Don't forget to check /Library/StartupItems and ~/Library/StartupItems. Once you reboot, things should be back to normal.
As suggested, AV programs are pretty much a waste of CPU on a Mac. If you really must have one, I recommend ClamXAV. Apart from anything else, it's free.

Macbook Pro Won't Shut Down, Restart, or Logout after using Onyx.

Hi,
Earlier this week I found that my macbook wouldn't shutdown, restart, or logout from the finder menu (or any other menu, such as Onyx or Software Update). The only way I could get it to restart was through Terminal. I tried every solution, but nothing would fix it. After backing everything up, and doing a clean reinstall, everything was fine. Then, when I used Onyx, I tried to install the Archives Preference pane and the Processor Preference pane. The window just sort of hung there not responding - and finally I had to force quit Onyx. Now my system is back to not shutting down, restarting, or being able to log out again. The good thing is that I think I've isolated the problem. The bad thing is that I have no idea how to fix it. I tried uninstalling Onyx, but that did nothing. I've used Onyx regularly and have never had any issues, and I can't seem to find anyone else with this problem.
Can anyone help? I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for this topic. If there is a better forum for it, let me know and I can repost.
Another problem that I'm having is when I open iTunes, the dock icon comes up for about a second and crashes. I tried completely reinstalling iTunes, but that hasn't worked. Perhaps I missed something? BTW - everything else is operating just fine (i.e. Quicktime, etc.)

HI and Welcome to Apple Discussions...
Run Disk Utility from your Mac install disc.
Insert your install disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
*(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)*
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
When you are finished with DU, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Manager.
Select your start up disk and click Restart
While you have the Disk Utility window open, look at the bottom of the window. Where you see Capacity and Available. *Make sure there is always 10% to 15% free disk space*
If you cannot boot from your install disc, try booting in Safe Mode
You do not need Onyx, especially not good for Snow Leoaprd. You can run cron tasks from the iStat Pro widget available here.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/istatpro.html
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

My Macbook Pro won't shut down/force quit/log off...

I've been having a problem turning my macbook pro off for about a week now. It won't shut down, force quit or log off. I've tried holding the power button down as well, with no luck. It won't even go to the sign in screen ....
I'm not sure what the problem could be because I haven't done anything different lately... no new software, websites, etc.. Nothing came up with my Avast full system scan either.
Help please! Thanks in advance.
-Jessica

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support

PowerBook won't shut down, restarts instead

Hello,
I've read dozens of post about shut down issues with the older PowerBooks, but I can't seem to find any tips for how to deal with my issue. Here's what's going on:
PowerBook G4 500Mhz, Airport Card, 512MB Ram. Nothing connected via USB or Firewire.
When selecting "shut down" from the Apple menu, the computer restarts instead. I can't shut the computer down!
Here's what I've tried so far:
- Wiped disk clean, reinstalled OS 10.4.9. Created new user.
- Removed Kingston 256MB Ram chip and restarted.
- Removed battery and restarted
- Repaired disk permissions
- Reset PRAM
Any help would be appreciated, since I can't sell this computer if it won't shut down.

If verify disk didn't show any problems, then repairing the disk may not change anything. Still, it would be good to have your system discs available for troubleshooting. Apple will allow you to make a safety copy of your discs, so if you want to leave the originals in a safe place and make copies to carry around with you, Apple allows you to do that.
Do you have a bootable clone? If so, you could boot from it and then repair your boot drive should you need to. Just an alternative if you don't have your discs with you.
Maybe I'm not clear on just what's happening. Does your computer completely shut down and then start up again, just as if you had hit restart? Or does it fail to completely shut down? If the latter, I am wondering if you have some process or open window that is aborting the shutdown process. You might want to check in Activity Monitor and see if there might be some hung up process. Be sure to select "All Processes" at the top.
Good luck!

Macbook pro won't shut down, restart or logout and finder cannot open

I installed an update and restarted my Macbook Pro. After it restarted, I opened iTunes and it lagged everything so I couldn't doing anything for like 2 hours. Then finally I was able to close iTunes through command-option-esc. And everytime I open iTunes it just continues to lag again and so I would have to keep doing command-option-esc. I thought a way to fix this was to restart my Macbook Pro again, but this time it wouldn't restart. It would close everything, remove everything that was on desktop, and only the Dock would just remain. I've also tired shutting it down and logging out, but the same thing would happen. Everything on the Dock would open except for Finder. Don't know about iTunes though. I don't want to open that just in case it lags my Macbbok Pro again.
So can anyone help me? Give me any advice on how to fix this problem, without losing all of my files?

The advice depends upon which OS you are running. Well the advice is the same the procedure is different.

MacBook Pro won't shut down - restarts instead

I have to say, this is one of the strangest issues I have ever seen on a computer, ever. I just recently (5 days ago) received my new, and first, Mac, a 15" MacBook Pro, and have not heavily used it since - I've been very slowly organizing my files to transfer over. After the 10.5.8 update, though the OS seemed a bit more sluggish overall, there were no real issues.
Just today though, when trying to turn the computer off, I realized I just couldn't. Whether I select Shut Down from the Apple menu, or press the power key on the MacBook itself, the system actually does a restart instead of a shut down. I've tested this connected to power, and running off the battery, and occurs in both cases. I've repaired disk permissions, no luck. After reading around, as a last measure, I reinstalled OS X with the Archive & Install option. And still, I cannot shut down the machine.
While this never occurred under 10.5.7, I have no reason to believe that the update broke it, since it didn't happen immediately after updating (I updated the day the update was available, this occurred only today.)
What are your guys' suggestions? Is there anything I can do? Or can I only take it in to the Apple Store at this point? I already have a reservation set up, but if I could do something, that would be great, because I don't wanna have to keep this thing on for 3 days straight.
Thanks!
Message was edited by: wisewarrior

I occasionally have the same problem as the last post of yours. It won't go to sleep when I close the lid. One day I were walking with the Macbook Pro in my Oakley Flak Pack and when I sat down on the bus and took it out it was really hot! I was afraid I'd destroyed my backpack! Also, since it didn't go to sleep, I didn't have enough battery power for the bus trip! Quite annoying!
My tip to you, is to call Apple Support. If they don't have an answer to your problem, and have to ask the engineers for help, then just return it and get a new one!

MBP won't shut down, restarts instead

This problem began a month ago. Every time I shut down my notebook (either through apple, shutdown or the power button), it shuts down but immediately restarts. Any ideas? It hasn't been too pressing to fix, but I'm sure it would be better for the battery if it got shut down sometimes, especially when I don't use it for a few days.

If verify disk didn't show any problems, then repairing the disk may not change anything. Still, it would be good to have your system discs available for troubleshooting. Apple will allow you to make a safety copy of your discs, so if you want to leave the originals in a safe place and make copies to carry around with you, Apple allows you to do that.
Do you have a bootable clone? If so, you could boot from it and then repair your boot drive should you need to. Just an alternative if you don't have your discs with you.
Maybe I'm not clear on just what's happening. Does your computer completely shut down and then start up again, just as if you had hit restart? Or does it fail to completely shut down? If the latter, I am wondering if you have some process or open window that is aborting the shutdown process. You might want to check in Activity Monitor and see if there might be some hung up process. Be sure to select "All Processes" at the top.
Good luck!

Upgraded to 10.4.8-My Powerbook G4 won't shut down or restart

Upgraded this weekend from 10.3.9 to 10.4.8 and now my PowerBook G4 12" won't shut down. Nor will it restart.
It does clear the screen of the menu bar and all items on the desktop, but that is all. Desktop picture remains the same. There is no indication of any activity but it never proceeds farther than that. Shutdown and restart both act the same way.
Solutions?
I can turn off the computer using the power switch when this happens. Then I reboot by pushing the power switch again.
I've also tried repairing permissions which seems not to have changed anything.
It's quite a nuisance. Any ideas on solutions?

OK, you may have deeper problems. First, go to System Preferences/Accounts, and make a 'Test" account, with full admin privileges. Switch to that account, by logging out of the manin account (Apple Menu), and see if you still have the same symptom. If you do, and Archive and Install might be the cure.
Note: Save the combo update, to perfrom the upgrade again.

Won't shut down, restart or log out

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for