Mac Is Frozen: Why Does MacBook Keep Freezing & How to Unfreeze It?

Mac freezes the screen, is running slowly or the system is unresponsive? This article provides a variety of solutions to help you get rid of the trouble of lag on your Mac! Even if the mouse pointer cannot move severely, you can try the following steps to restore the system.

Reasons for Mac freezing

Mac freezing can seriously affect productivity, especially when dealing with important tasks. Continuous freezing usually indicates potential problems and may be caused by:

• Software conflict or application obsolete
• Insufficient memory or storage space
• Hardware failure
• No regular update of operating system or software

How to solve Mac freezing

From quick fix to hardware problem troubleshooting, there are many ways to solve Mac freeze. Whether it is a single application stutter or overall slow operation, freezing can prompt deeper problems.

The following are some solutions to Mac freezing:

1. Forced exit from the application

Quick exit of unresponsive apps helps restore Mac control. macOS provides a simple force exit tool for handling lags or slowing down applications.

1. Save the opened work if possible.
2. Press the Command Option Esc key combination to open the "Force Exit Application" tool.
3. Select the application you want to exit and click the "Force Exit" button.
4. In the pop-up window, click "Force Exit" again.

2. Restart Mac

Restarting a Mac is usually the easiest way to speed up, but its effectiveness depends on the severity of the Mac freezing. If you cannot access any menu or even move the mouse pointer, you cannot restart. But if only a small number of applications freeze and the system can still respond to commands, it may still be possible to restart.

1. Tap the apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
2. Click "Restart".
3. Make sure to uncheck "Reopen window after login".
4. Click "Restart".

If the device continues to shut down randomly, it may indicate a deeper problem, such as software obsolete, malware threats, or device failure.

3. Forced shutdown

Force shutdown is generally not recommended. But if the Mac is completely unresponsive, there is no choice.

1. Long press the power button or the Touch ID button on the MacBook Air M1 and M2.
2. Waiting for the Mac to shut down.
3. Wait for a while before restarting your Mac.

4. Stop the background process that occupies resources

Mac has limited processing power. Too many applications or software with poor code can cause unexpected freezing of the Mac. If the background application takes too much processing power, it is recommended to use Activity Monitor to identify and turn off high CPU occupancy processes.

1. Go to "Applications" and start "Activity Monitor".
2. Find applications with high CPU usage. Double-click it after finding it.
3. Click the "Exit" button.
4. If it is invalid, repeat the above steps and select "Force Exit".

5. Delete recently installed applications

The continuous freezing may be due to application problems. Uninstalling recently installed apps may be the easiest way to go. If your Mac freezes on startup, you may need to enter safe mode first.

1. Open the "Applications" folder on your Mac and click the List View button.
2. Right-click anywhere in the top bar (including "Name", "Size", etc.) and select "Add Date".
3. This adds a new "Add Date" column. Click it to sort by the date added.
4. Right-click on the unwanted application and select Move to Trash.

6. Check disk health

If the Mac continues to freeze, it may be that the hard disk or SSD is malfunctioning, or it may be that the data is damaged. macOS Disk Utility can help check disk health.

1. Open Finder, go to "Applications > Utility", and start "Disk Utility".
2. Click the "First Aid" button.
3. Click "Run" and then click "Continue".
4. Waiting for the Disk Utility to scan the disk. If you find a problem, it will prompt you.

7. Run a virus scan

Viruses and malware can slow down the device and cause the Mac to continue to freeze. Running a virus scan can prevent Mac from freezing. If you cannot enter macOS properly due to unresponsiveness on the desktop or trackpad, try running the antivirus software in safe mode.

8. Reset the NVRAM of your Mac

Resetting NVRAM (nonvolatile random access memory) can sometimes solve Mac freeze and stuttering problems. But this method is not valid for newer Mac models that do not use Apple M1 chips and is only suitable for Intel Macs using different chips (such as M2).

1. Restart the Mac.
2. Press and hold the Cmd Opt P R key at the same time until the gray screen appears.
3. Press and hold these keys until the Mac restarts and hears the startup prompt for the second time.
4. Release all keys.

9. Reset Mac's SMC

Similar to NVRAM, resetting SMC (System Management Controller) may also solve the Mac freezing problem. Again, the M1 Mac does not have this feature, and this method is only for Intel Macs that run slow, unresponsive, or stuttering.

1. Switch off the Mac.
2. Disconnect all connections except power supply.
3. Press and hold the Shift Ctrl Opt key and power button on the left side at the same time for 10 seconds.
4. Release all keys and power buttons at the same time.
5. Restart your Mac.

10. Start Mac in Safe Mode

Starting a Mac in Safe Mode can isolate potential software conflicts, thus solving the problem of persistent freezing of Macs. Safe mode is suitable for Macs based on Intel and Apple Silicon.

(The safe mode startup steps of Intel-based Mac and Apple Silicon Mac are slightly different. The specific steps are omitted here, and the original text has been described in detail.)

11. Run Apple Diagnostics

If the application is unresponsive, you may need to have an in-depth check. Apple Diagnostics can detect potential hardware problems.

1. Close the Mac completely.
2. Start the Mac and hold the D key immediately.
3. Select your preferred language and click "Next".
4. Apple Diagnostics will run automatically to detect any hardware problems.
5. After the diagnosis is complete, the report will display any identified issue or "No Problem Found" message.

12. Contact Technical Support (The MacKeeper Premium Services mentioned in the original text are omitted here because they have little to do with the subject of the article and are of advertising)

Prevent Mac freezing

Measures such as regular updates to software, limiting the number of applications running simultaneously, monitoring high-CPU applications, regularly cleaning unnecessary files and applications, ensuring that hard disk or SSD has enough storage space, restarting your Mac regularly, regularly checking for malware or virus threats, and keeping external devices (such as trackpads and drivers) updated can effectively prevent Mac freezing.

Conclusion

I hope the above methods can help you solve the Mac freezing problem and prevent it from happening again. If the problem persists, it may involve more serious issues and may require restoring the system or seeking professional help.

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