Macs are generally known for their performance and efficiency, but there are instances when technical glitches can cause the macOS to crash. Such crashes are more common in Intel-based Macs than in Apple Silicon-based variants.
When these crashes become frequent, you need to promptly address and resolve the underlying issue or else you may lose critical data on your system. The following guide will discuss why these crashes happen and how to fix them.
Why Does My Mac Keep Crashing?
When your Mac crashes, it may display the following message: “Your computer was restarted because of a problem.” Macs typically freeze when they run into trouble, prompting a restart to resolve the issue.
However, a crash during startup indicates a more severe issue, potentially causing your system to shut down completely. There can be various causes behind this issue, such as:
- Hardware incompatibility
- macOS updates
- Software issues
- Low space on the startup disk
- Inadequate RAM for handling multiple apps
- Inadequate CPU for handling processor-intensive tasks
How to Read the Crash Report on Mac?
Click the Report button to get the details about the crash. Additionally, you can access the report in Console by navigating to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Console. Click Crash Reports on the left, and you will find files with .ips extension along with the crash date.
This report describes the application or process that crashed, the exact time the crash occurred, the exception type that caused the crash, and a chronological list of processes leading up to it.
How to Fix a Frequently Crashing Mac?
First read the crash report to understand the cause behind the crash. If your Mac crashes when running a specific app, check its compatibility with your macOS, or consider uninstalling it.
Crashes also occur if you overload your Mac with processor-intensive tasks; opt for less resource-heavy alternatives to fix this. If the issue persists, follow the troubleshooting procedures below:
Solution 1: Update the macOS
Start by checking for available macOS updates. Apple releases regular updates to fix bugs, which could also resolve the crashing issue. Here’s how to check for macOS updates:
Step 1: Go to System Settings.
Step 2: Select General > Software Update.
Step 3: Look for any available update and install it on your system.
Solution 2: Run Apple Diagnostics
Sometimes, a hardware issue can cause your Mac to crash. You can use the built-in utility, Apple diagnostics, to check if a hardware component is faulty and proceed to fix it. However, the procedure to run this tool varies according to your chip type.
For Apple Silicon-based Mac:
Step 1: Press and hold the power button on your Mac as it starts up.
Step 2: Release the power button when the Startup Options appear.
Step 3: Press and hold the Command + D key to run the Diagnostics.
For Intel-based Mac:
Step 1: Turn on your Mac, press and hold the D key on your keyboard as your system starts up.
Step 2: Release when you see a progress bar or when you’re asked to select a language.
After completion, restart your Mac to see if the issue is resolved.
Solution 3: Boot into Safe Mode
A crash is often triggered by an app or when you upgrade to the latest macOS. You can restart your Mac in safe mode to effectively troubleshoot such issues. Safe Mode loads only the important kernel extensions, verifies the startup disk, and repairs directory issues. It also prevents login items from launching automatically, deletes cache files, and disables user-installed fonts. Here’s the rundown:
For Apple Silicon-based Mac:
Step 1: Restart your Mac.
Step 2: Press and hold the power button until startup options appear.
Step 3: Select a volume.
Step 4: Press and hold down the Shift key.
Step 5: Click Continue in Safe Mode. The system will restart automatically to boot in Safe Mode.
For Intel-based Mac:
Step 1: Restart you Mac and hold down the Shift key as it boots.
Step 2: Release the Shift key when login window appears. Your device will now boot in Safe Mode.
If your Mac operates without any issue in Safe Mode, initiate a normal boot. If it crashes again, you need to clear login items as they could be the reason behind the crash. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Go to System Settings > General > Login Items.
Step 2: Delete the Login items by clicking the (–) button.
Solution 4: Run First Aid
The First Aid feature in Disk Utility enables you to check your startup disk for errors and fix them. But for this, you first need to boot your Mac in recovery mode. Here’s how:
For Apple Silicon-based Mac:
Step 1: Shut down your Mac.
Step 2: Hold Mac’s Power button until the startup options appear on your screen.
Step 3: Click on Options and then Continue to proceed.
Step 4: Enter administrator credentials and follow the on-screen instructions to proceed.
For Intel-based Mac:
Step 1: Restart your computer and hold down the Option + CMD + R keys until you hear the startup noise or see the Apple logo appear.
Step 2: Release the keys at this point.
After booting in safe mode, you’re now ready to run the First Aid utility on your Mac. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Open Disk Utility.
Step 2: Select your startup disk and click First Aid.
Solution 5: Reset NVRAM
Resetting the NVRAM can fix any startup issues and prevent your Mac from crashing. To reset NVRAM, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Restart Mac.
Step 2: Press and hold Command + Option + P + R keys until you see the Apple logo.
Step 3: Release the keys once you hear the second chime.
This will reset the NVRAM and hopefully fix the crashing issue on your Mac.
Solution 6: Reset SMC
The System Management Controller, or SMC, is responsible for power-related functions on Mac. Thus, resetting it might fix the crashing issue on your Mac. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Restart your Mac.
Step 2: Press and hold the Shift + Option + Control + R keys simultaneously until the Apple logo appears.
This will reset the SMC and hopefully fix the crashing issue on your Mac.
Solution 7: Reinstall macOS
If the crashing issue persists, the last option is to reinstall macOS. To perform the reinstallation task, do the following:
Step 1: Boot your Mac in Recovery Mode, as explained above.
Step 2: Navigate to macOS Utility > Reinstall macOS > Continue and follow the on-screen prompts to proceed.
Once the reinstallation process is over, you should not face any issues.
Frequent macOS Crash May Lead to Data Loss
Hard drives and SSDs are vulnerable to frequent crashes. The storage drive may fail partially or die without warning. Further, file system errors and kernel problems may lead to data loss and turn the storage drive inaccessible.
The default solution is to boot Mac safely into Recovery Mode and restore your latest backup using Time Machine. However, if you do not have a Time Machine backup, a Mac data recovery software is a must to recover the lost data.
How to Recover Data from a Crashing Mac?
Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac is a reliable DIY tool for recovering data from system crashes, formatting, partition loss, drive errors, and more. The software offers data recovery support for various storage devices, including HDD, USB Flash Drive, Fusion Drive, Time Machine, and Encrypted Storage Media.
It offers a simple and straightforward method to recover lost data from a frequently crashing Mac storage drive.
Conclusion
You can use the default macOS features, such as running Apple diagnostics or First Aid to successfully troubleshoot the crashing issue on your Mac. Additionally, try booting in safe mode or resetting the SMC and NVRAM to resolve the problem.
If you’re still unable to identify or fix the root cause of the Mac crash, reinstall the macOS and use Time Machine backup to restore your data. However, if you lose data on your Mac storage drive before or during troubleshooting, and don’t have a Time Machine backup, use a data recovery software for Mac to recover your data effectively.
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