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Hi,
since I've some problems concerning the luminosity sensor of my MacBook Pro I need to reset the SMC. What's the procedure to do so on MacBooks with TouchBar? (All I've found on the Internet requires to press the power button which is not present on models with TouchBar).
MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15
This article has multiple procedures. select the one you need.
How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support
when keys are called out, they are referenced by location -- the keys with the same labels, but on the other side of the keyboard, are not wired-in and will not do the job.
on a MacBook Pro with Touch-Bar, the power button is a deep press of the touch-ID sensor.
.
This article has multiple procedures. select the one you need.
How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support
when keys are called out, they are referenced by location -- the keys with the same labels, but on the other side of the keyboard, are not wired-in and will not do the job.
on a MacBook Pro with Touch-Bar, the power button is a deep press of the touch-ID sensor.
.
I've gotten temporary fixes of the Touch ID problems by doing what it says immediately following "Before resetting the SMC, try these steps:..." on that page.
>>>
<<<
It's less quicker, less drastic than SMC Reset, and just may fix your problem.
Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:
John Rose6 wrote:
I've gotten temporary fixes of the Touch ID problems by doing what it says immediately following "Before resetting the SMC, try these steps:..." on that page.
>>>
Shut down your Mac1. .
2. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds, then release the button.
3. Wait a few seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.
<<<
It's less quicker, less drastic than SMC Reset, and just may fix your problem.
Au contraire, that is EXACTLY the primary SMC Reset procedure from that article for a MacBook Pro with T2 chip.
Not according to Apple.
Lengthy direct quote coming, from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295 :
<<< start quote <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Reset SMC on computers that have the T2 chip
If your Mac has the Apple T2 Security Chip, follow these steps.
Notebook computers with the T2 chip
Before resetting the SMC, try these steps:
[ So that procedure by itself does not reset the SMC. - JR ]
If the issue persists, follow these steps to reset the SMC: [which describes a different procedure. The OP may indeed need to do this to solve his luminosity sensor issue. - JR]
on the left side of your keyboard
on the left side of your keyboard
on the right side of your keyboard
Desktop computers with the T2 chip
>>> end quote >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Forum software has messed up the sequence of numbers in the ordered list, but the content is otherwise the same.
I am also assuming that all "MacBook Pro" models are a subset of "Notebook computers", which I think is a safe bet.
Are you suggesting that Apple's documentation is incorrect?
John Rose6 wrote:
I've gotten temporary fixes of the Touch ID problems by doing what it says immediately following "Before resetting the SMC, try these steps:..." on that page.
>>>
Shut down your Mac1. .
2. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds, then release the button.
3. Wait a few seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.
<<<
It's less quicker, less drastic than SMC Reset, and just may fix your problem.
Au contraire, that is EXACTLY the primary SMC Reset procedure from that article for a MacBook Pro with T2 chip.
Apple documentation is written and extensively reviewed by mathematical thinkers. Ambiguity almost never makes it into the final documents. One can NEVER read things into those documents that are not stated explicitly.
As the article states, the three step procedure we have been discussing says it Resets the SMC and it DOES reset the SMC.
[ So that procedure by itself does not reset the SMC. - JR ]
^-- your statement directly above is such a reading-between-the-lines, and is false.
the article state that if that 3-step method did not work for you, there is another -- and lays out the more complicated procedure, which ALSO does an SMC reset.
Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:
the article state that if that 3-step method did not work for you, there is another -- and lays out the more complicated procedure, which ALSO does an SMC reset.
If there is a possibility that the "more complicated procedure" may work when the three-step one did not, then clearly it is a different procedure.
"As the article states, the three step procedure we have been discussing says it Resets the SMC and it DOES reset the SMC."
If it really does, then why bother with documenting the more complicated procedure? At best, you can argue that it does a partial reset.
Other than your interpretation of that document, do you know of any way of determining if the SMC has been reset *** a result of the three-step procedure?
Maybe a different authoritative document? (not, say comments on Reddit)
Something like logs that may be viewed in the Console app, or flags in System Profiler?
If the three-step procedure does clear up a particular issue, it does not necessarily mean that it has performed an SMC reset. It only means that it appears to have fixed something that an SMC reset can also fix.
Q. "Help - My MacBook won't wake up when I open the lid"
A. "Try an SMC reset."
"Hey, that worked. Thanks!"
or
Q. "Help - My MacBook won't wake up when I open the lid"
A. "Is the battery charged up? Plug it in and charge it up"
"Hey, that worked. Thanks!"
Do you see where Im going with that?
"the article state that if that 3-step method did not work for you, there is another -- and lays out the more complicated procedure, which ... does an SMC reset."
Fixed that for ya.
John Rose6 wrote:
...
"As the article states, the three step procedure we have been discussing says it Resets the SMC and it DOES reset the SMC."
If it really does, then why bother with documenting the more complicated procedure?
...
Because some part of your computer may be broken, or you would never be looking into this in the first place. You may have a flaky power button for example.
Guacamo wrote:
Okk, thank you. Does this procedure have "collateral effects"?
No. you can do it all day long and it doesn't hurt anything.
On desktop computers, the procedure drops the power applied to the main chips back to Zero volts, and then the automatic resets built into each chip just make them "start from scratch".
On a battery-powered computer, there needs to be a more complex process to do essentially the same thing.
The reason we call it SMC Reset is that the System Management Controller, a micro-controller that assists with power and clock management as well as cooling and low-level (slow) I/O is also Reset.
Okk, thank you. Does this procedure have "collateral effects"?
Great, thank you for your help.
Resetting SMC on MackBook Pro w TouchBar
