Hi, Apple friends, which is recommended to be done first: a SMC reset or a PRAM reset (I always do these two whenever there's a power outage and then do a throroug Fist Aid with an installer or the whole system crashed which has never happened with the more robust macOS Sonoma and a few version back)?
Thank you in advance.
God bless Apple users.
1 Corinthians 13
Good advice from @hcsitas ;-)
Usually I will perform the SMC Reset first, then when powering on the Mac I will then immediately do the PRAM Reset. It is the most efficient way. However, with the 2016-2020 Intel USB-C Apple laptops, things become more difficult. There have been a number of times the laptop will get into a stuck state when I do things this way....more often with the T2 laptops. In fact it can be very difficult to get the laptop to respond in any manner when it gets stuck. Usually disconnecting the charging cable for a few seconds & reconnecting it will trigger the laptop to power back on, but not always since there have been a few times where I actually had to disconnect the battery. I never encountered this behavior on any non-USB-C Apple laptop before. For the average user, it may be best to do the SMC Reset & boot the laptop, then reboot to perform the PRAM Reset if you have a 2016-2020 Intel Mac (especially the 2018-2020 models).
Many times the T2 Macs won't even allow you to hold the PRAM Reset for two chimes & will just sit until you quickly release the keys & press them again to get the second PRAM chime. The T2 Macs won't allow holding the PRAM Reset any longer than two chimes & will just boot after the second chime ignoring the key press.
FYI, it is possible to clear the PRAM using the command line in the Terminal app. This works for both Intel & M-Series Macs:
sudo nvram -c
This command will prompt you for your admin password. Nothing will appear on the screen while typing the password, so press the "Return" key to submit the password. You may see a message saying it could not clear the Computer Name and possible some other similar settings which is Ok. Afterwards you need to restart the computer in order for it to pull the default PRAM settings. FYI, if using an M-series Mac be careful using any "nvram" options to configure a variable since most online instructions will be referring to Intel Macs......setting some NVRAM variables could prevent an M-series Mac from booting, requiring booting into Recovery Mode where you would then need to clear the PRAM to be able to boot the M-series Mac normally again (remove the "sudo" part of the command when issuing it from Recovery Mode).
Good advice from @hcsitas ;-)
Usually I will perform the SMC Reset first, then when powering on the Mac I will then immediately do the PRAM Reset. It is the most efficient way. However, with the 2016-2020 Intel USB-C Apple laptops, things become more difficult. There have been a number of times the laptop will get into a stuck state when I do things this way....more often with the T2 laptops. In fact it can be very difficult to get the laptop to respond in any manner when it gets stuck. Usually disconnecting the charging cable for a few seconds & reconnecting it will trigger the laptop to power back on, but not always since there have been a few times where I actually had to disconnect the battery. I never encountered this behavior on any non-USB-C Apple laptop before. For the average user, it may be best to do the SMC Reset & boot the laptop, then reboot to perform the PRAM Reset if you have a 2016-2020 Intel Mac (especially the 2018-2020 models).
Many times the T2 Macs won't even allow you to hold the PRAM Reset for two chimes & will just sit until you quickly release the keys & press them again to get the second PRAM chime. The T2 Macs won't allow holding the PRAM Reset any longer than two chimes & will just boot after the second chime ignoring the key press.
FYI, it is possible to clear the PRAM using the command line in the Terminal app. This works for both Intel & M-Series Macs:
sudo nvram -c
This command will prompt you for your admin password. Nothing will appear on the screen while typing the password, so press the "Return" key to submit the password. You may see a message saying it could not clear the Computer Name and possible some other similar settings which is Ok. Afterwards you need to restart the computer in order for it to pull the default PRAM settings. FYI, if using an M-series Mac be careful using any "nvram" options to configure a variable since most online instructions will be referring to Intel Macs......setting some NVRAM variables could prevent an M-series Mac from booting, requiring booting into Recovery Mode where you would then need to clear the PRAM to be able to boot the M-series Mac normally again (remove the "sudo" part of the command when issuing it from Recovery Mode).
Only God knows for certain. In the meantime, thank goodness we have @HWTech SMC and NVRAM resets: why not just do the… - Apple Community - based on that, I’d say SMC.
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Which Is Recommended to Come First SMC Reset or PRAM Reset?
