IOS software

oursdor wrote:

Nice try, but the newer Mac laptops no longer have power buttons - it is all software controlled. All the Safe Mode discussion relies on the apple icon drop down menu working, which on my problem, it doesn't work.

Mac has had a software-controlled power button for many years. The long-press of the button is a lower-level request into the hardware; into the firmware, below the software.

If that long press is not honored, then the Mac is headed for a repair.

BDAqua has linked to the power-button support article.

Finding the pesky button can sometimes be less than obvious too, such as the button location on the back surface if the lower left corner of the recent few iMac models. That one stumped me, and several other folks.

If you have an Apple icon in the upper left of your display, then you are running macOS or OS X on a Mac, and not iOS on an iPad or an iPhone device.

If the whole macOS or OS X environment is wedged, hold the power button for ~five seconds to force a power-down, and then reboot.

If the normal reboot doesn't work, try rebooting into Safe Mode as a test, and see if that works any better.

If there have been add-on cleaning apps, or add-on anti-malware or add-on anti-virus, remove that per the vendors' instructions, reboot, and try again.

If you do not have a current and complete backup, boot Recovery, and use Disk Utility to get a snapshot of your environment copied to an external storage device. This copy on the off chance that there's a hardware problem here (older hardware test, newer diagnostics). If there is a potential for a hardware problem, attempting recovery or repair and the blizzard of I/O that usually entails can potentially reduce what data might otherwise be recovered.

Mac notebooks

On MacBook Pro models from 2016 and newer, Touch ID (power button) is on the right side of the Touch Bar at the top of the keyboard.

On MacBook Air models from 2018, Touch ID (power button) is on the right side of the function keys at the top of the keyboard.

On Mac notebooks with physical function (F1–F12) keys and power button, the power button  is a key in the top-right corner of the keyboard.

Press and hold the power button to turn off your Mac only if it isn't responding. You'll lose unsaved changes to any documents that you have open.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201150

Common culprits are add-on kernel extensions, including anti-malware and anti-virus, add-on app and system cleaners, and similar sketchy apps. Some other cases have included the problems arising from a progressing hard disk drive failure, from bad memory, or other potentially-transient hardware problems, too.

If it's iOS...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201559

If it's MacOS...

https://www.dummies.com/computers/macs/how-to-shut-down-your-mac/

OK, good luck. :)