There are different ways of doing this depending on what kind of Mac you have and how old it isĪnd if that doesn't work either, you are probably screwed. Eventually there should be a third chime, and then you can just boot normally.ĭepending on what problem you are trying to fix, if resetting the PRAM doesn't help, then you might want to also try resetting the System Management Controller. don't let go until you hear that second chime or this won't work. If you have no video, it can seem like nothing is happening, but be patient. That's four keys: the command key, the option key, the letter P, and the letter R. Immediately press and hold the following keys: command + option + P + R. and once you press those keys keep them all pressed until you hear a second chime. The steps needed to reset the parameter RAM are the same, regardless of whether your Mac uses NVRAM or PRAM.
What you need to do is try to boot up the Mac and as soon as you hear the chime sound press Command+Option+P+R if you have an Apple keyboard, or press Windows+Alt+P+R on a Windows keyboard. You will lose some settings but that's a small price to pay for having a working computer again. If you are having the same problem I was having, you may need to reset your Mac's PRAM. and it's pretty damn hard to do anything on a computer when you can't see anything. The Mac will get into the reboot sequence again with a beep, notifying that the PRAM has been reset. While the reboot sequence continues, these keys should be pressed down altogether Command, Option, P and R. It would make the chime sound when I tried to restart it, so I knew it was still alive, but I couldn't see anything. Put into easier words, these are the steps a Mac user needs to do to reset the PRAM: Reboot the Macintosh. After trying to reboot there was no video at all, just a black screen with a white box. If you want to use these function keys for standard keyboard shortcuts, you must use the fn key, located in the lower-left corner of the keyboard. reset PRAM: command-option-V : verbose boot show the Unixy text goodness at boot time.
I was having some trouble with my Mac Mini after doing a firmware update. The Taking Screenshots in Mac OS X article includes keyboard shortcuts related to taking screenshots.