Any alternative way to reset SMC and PRAM?

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soren_parth Author

Level 1

0 points

Any alternative way to reset SMC and PRAM?

Hi.

I own a MBP early 2011 with pre-installed OS X Lion(10.7.5). It works fine except the following problems:

1. No apple chime at startup

2. Low volume that sometimes fluctuates to normal (in MIDI setup the master line is minimum and grayed out)

3. Delays in sleep when closing the lid

4. Not recognising the Ethernet cables for internet connection (normal wifi connection, also recognizes the ethernet cable when attached to another computer)

5. I also feel that the Fan works more than usual

So taken all these together I'm almost sure there is SMC and PRAM problems. I tried the keyboard shortcuts for reseting SMC but nothing happens. Also for PRAM reset I hear no chime but it keeps rebooting until I release the keys(seems to reset but no chime). I booted in safe mode and the same situation.

I even reinstalled the OS X using built-in recovery HD but didn't help.

Once I ran these commands in terminal ( I assume it does the safe boot manually) : sudo nvram boot-arys="-x" and then the same command with " ". When I restarted I had the chime for one or two restarts and normal voice (didnt check ethernet or sleep behaviour). But after I watched something the volume went low again and after that all the same problems. And I was not able to reproduce this solution again.

NO APPLE STORE OR AUTHORIZED REPAIR CENTER OR MAC GENIUS AROUND. So please save the go to apple repair solutions and let's see if there is something that can be managed in another way.

First of all is there any way to reset SMC and PRAM working on 2011 models other that the classical work? ( I read that removing RAMs won't work anymore)

And any help would be appreciated on the proplem!

Thanks in advance

Soren

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jan 9, 2014 2:25 AM

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Answer 1

LowLuster

Level 6

12,105 points

Jan 9, 2014 2:43 AM in response to soren_parth

There is no alternative. The SMC and PRAM are reset by those keyboard keys being held down as described in the Apple KB articles.

your system could be loaded with dust so try to blow it out or take the bottom off and do a thorough cleaning of the fans and heat sinks fins.

The delay in going to sleep mode? How do you know that? When you close the lid does the little white light on the front right come on then go off then back on every feww seconds? If it does then it is going to sleep. Just because when you open the lid again it comes right back to life, wakes up, and doesn't ask for a password that is per a setting to not ask for one for X amount of time after it goes to sleep.

The statup chime volume is controlled by the sound volume set in OS X. If the speaker volume is turned all the way down, while you are in OS X, you won't hear the startup chime. Try setting the normal speaker volume to the Max and reboot. Do you now hear the chime?

Some Mac's won't switch from WiFi to the Ethernet cable connection when you first plug it in or at all. Just another bug in OS X (There are many). With the Ethernet cable connected open System Preferences. Network Applet and does it show that the Ethernet is connected, show a Green Dot? If not try another cable. Just because the cable works in another computer doesn't mean it will work with all computers.

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Answer 2

soren_parth Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 9, 2014 6:31 AM in response to LowLuster

Thanks for the comments.
I will try cleaning the fans and stuff but I'm not sure it would help.
About the delay in sleep it's obvious that it takes a while to go to sleep ! both when I close the lid (sometimes even the fan is working when the lid is closed) and also when I put it to sleep manually from apple menue. Sometimes I close the lid and reopen it and it will go to sleep after some seconds ( I'm sure it goes to sleep by some delay about 20 seconds maybe!)
About the start-up volume yes I know it depends on the system volume. My volume is all the way up and still no startup volume. I assume it's the result of the same problem with my volume that is somehow odd and low. As I described once it worked after a safeboot command but again went wrong.
About the Ethernet cable, it's not dependent to WiFi, although I used to be able to connect both wifi and Ethernet in the past. The problem is it will not recognize the cable in Network setting (Red light) although the cable is connected and works fine with other devices. Once I had the problem that the cable would go plugged and unplugged continuously (Red, gree, red , ...) and it wouldn't obtain an IP address. After I changed the speed in setting,hardware to 10 it worked. But afterwards it does not recognoze the cables even when the setting is set to automatic.

It is very likely that most of the problems are related to SMC setting.

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