Not able to do a PRAM reset

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Level 1

8 points

Not able to do a PRAM reset

I tried to do a PRAM reset on my 2021 iMac. I followed the recommended steps as follows:

Restart iMac and press Command, Options, P and R keys simultaneously before the gray screen appears.

It did not work even after multiple tries.

I believe this is because the 2021 iMac uses a wireless keyboard and the keyboard takes more than 8 seconds before it is detected by the iMac. By that time it wll be too late for the keys to activate the PRAM reset.

Does anyone has this same problem? How did you solve it?

Thank you so much.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jun 23, 2023 6:51 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

dialabrain

Level 10

124,655 points

Jun 23, 2023 7:22 PM in response to djeremy

FWIW, a 2021 iMac uses an Apple Silicon CPU and there's no PRAM/NVRAM to reset.

"The steps to reset NVRAM don't apply to Mac computers with Apple silicon, and aren't needed on those computers."

From: Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Johnb-one

Level 6

9,180 points

Jun 23, 2023 7:23 PM in response to djeremy

Hi, djeremy, yes, you’re correct in that wireless keyboards are iffy/ troublesome for startup/troubleshooting, so, for that, use a USB wired keyboard( pretty much any usb wired keyboard will work) but, I think you have an M1/M2 iMac, aka Apple Silicon iMac, in which case you can’t reset the PRAM at all.. you can start up in Safe mode, do Internet Recovery, and a few other things, but you can’t do that

cheers,

John B

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

124,655 points

Jun 23, 2023 7:28 PM in response to Johnb-one

Johnb-one wrote:

Hi, djeremy, yes, you’re correct in that wireless keyboards are iffy/ troublesome for startup/troubleshooting, so, for that, use a USB wired keyboard…

Just a comment, when you plug in the charging cable to the most recent Magic Keyboards, they act as a USB keyboard. So there's no need for a separate wired keyboard.

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