Shutting down a MacBook Pro

Question

Level 1

8 points

Shutting down a MacBook Pro

How to shut down my MacBook Pro 15 inch when it will not shut down by any of the methods normally used. I have Catalina 15.1.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 23, 2023 10:19 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

141,661 points

Oct 23, 2023 2:12 PM in response to pether

Press and hold the power button for MORE than 10 seconds should do an emergency, uncontrolled power-down.

Nothing expect the power button should be needed, and if that does not work, your power button may be busted.

Reply

Answer 2

Oct 23, 2023 12:13 PM in response to pether

Rather than Control-Option-Command... try with just Control-Command-power button.

Not sure if that will make a difference but control-command is specifically mentioned in the above support doc.

Otherwise I have no more suggestions other than waiting out the battery as you suggest. 😕

EDIT - you might try this command in the Terminal app:

sudo shutdown -h now

You will be prompted to enter your login password, though when you type yours it will not be displayed. Press Enter after that.

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 23, 2023 10:33 AM in response to pether

Which model year is this?

Press and hold the power button until it shuts down.

Reply

Answer 4

pether Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 25, 2023 4:19 PM in response to D.I. Johnson

Waiting until the battery ran down did not work. It just went to sleep and never really shut off. I tried signing in as another person as my guests would and that let me put my password in and shut down just fine and restart just fine. After I restarted, everything went back to normal. It was strange. Thank you for your comments and suggestions.

Reply

Answer 5

pether Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 23, 2023 10:48 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

I have tried holding the power button and I have also tried control option, command, and power button and none of it works. It just keeps spinning and I tried to re-launch the Finder and it’s not responding.

Reply

Answer 6

pether Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 23, 2023 11:26 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

No, I have not and I have been trying both of those ways. If you have any other ideas, I would appreciate them. The only thing I can think of is waiting until the battery runs down and it shuts off and see if it will restart, but that’ll take hours.

Reply

Answer 7

pether Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 23, 2023 12:25 PM in response to D.I. Johnson

Thanks. I just tried that, too, and that didn’t work. The finder isn’t responding. I saw it keeps spinning and when I try to do the force quit to relaunch the Finder it won’t re-launch, so maybe that has something to do with why I can’t shut down. I appreciate your help, as I’ve never had this happen before.

Reply

Answer 8

pether Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 24, 2023 5:49 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks. I have tried holding the power button and I have also tried control option, command, and power button and none of it works. Now I am waiting for the battery to run out and shut down so I can see if I can restart it when I plug the power cord back in.

Reply

Answer 9

pether Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 23, 2023 10:49 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

I think my MacBook Pro is 2017 and it has Catalina.

Reply

Answer 10

pether Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 23, 2023 11:07 AM in response to D.I. Johnson

I have never even needed the control option command power button before as holding the power button has always worked for me until today. I appreciate your ideas and thank you for responding.

Reply