Annoying that you cannot override ‘any key’ startup with Mac Big Sur

Question

APPLEBOBKAT Author

Level 1

24 points

Annoying that you cannot override ‘any key’ startup with Mac Big Sur

So I keep the lid of my MacBook Pro open as I have a ‘hang on’ port expander plugged into it.

So, I find the computer booting up with the the ‘brush’ of a touch of any of the keys. Even found it

’sleeping’ when I was pretty sure I used the ‘shut down’ command the night before.. I have not found any

way to turn off this annoying “feature (I think that is what Apple calls it). And, I’m guessing I’m not alone.

thoughts?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Oct 8, 2021 10:10 AM

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Answer 1

steve626

Level 6

13,791 points

Oct 8, 2021 11:56 AM in response to APPLEBOBKAT

I am wondering if your Mac is actually shutting down completely when you tell it to shut down. Sometimes if there is a hardware problem or software conflict, the Mac does not actually completely shut down even when shut down is selected. One can verify the Mac is off by pushing on the space bar or some other key other than the power button, there should be no response (e.g. it stays off) when touching any key other than the power button.

I woud test this carefully. First remove the port expander. Then shut down. Watch the shut down carefully, make sure no keys are still illuminated and the screen should be completely black. Verify it stays off when touching space bar or some other key.

If your Mac is not shutting down completely, try powering it off by holding the power button for about 10 seconds. Then try touching space bar, verify it does not come on.

If this does not work, try booting into Safe Mode and repeat shut down tests.

If you Mac insists on coming on like that it may need its hardware checked out.

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Answer 2

APPLEBOBKAT Author

Level 1

24 points

Oct 9, 2021 4:20 AM in response to steve626

thank you… I’ll give it a try later today.. The ‘system’ seems to be shutting down.. but maybe not

interesting also is that my external hard drive does not seem to shut down..only after I unplug the USB cable from the dock will it do so…on my older machine, as soon as it shut down, the external drive did as well.. really strange

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Answer 3

APPLEBOBKAT Author

Level 1

24 points

Oct 27, 2021 12:28 PM in response to dialabrain

totally out of mind now.. everything ‘looked dark’.. and know I hit ‘shut down’ before I left for several hours.. I turned off the power strip that supplies power to the computer and I immediately got a message.. on a totally dark screen, that the external drive (which was not showing any activity) was not properly ejected. I’ve now disconnected it from the computer, no external power, pulled out the port expander and shut it down. Totally black everything.. touched the ‘e’ key and it went into its start up cycle. I had heard that this is a ‘feature’ of Big Sur.. but I’m finding that it either does not totally shut down or somehow comes to life (maybe through house vibration) and then goes to ‘sleep’, which eventually brings the battery down.. which happened last week. I came in expecting an ‘off’ computer to find that it wouldn’t start up.. until I plugged it in and it showed me a

‘red’ battery symbol.. I’m totally perplexed

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