This one's got me beat. My Mac mini 1.83 crashed earlier today, and while it will turn on, it promptly turns itself off again while still at the grey Apple logo. Normally I'd boot from the DVD to ...

A minor puzzle arrived from a reader who was trying to choose his boot drive by holding down the Option key at startup. OS X has a variety of keyboard combinations you can press to invoke different ...

While users may never want to have to rely on them, it's comforting to know that PCs running modern operating systems have fail-safes and recovery modes that can help get the system back up and ...

When Apple Computer Inc. introduced Open Firmware with the first G3 Macintosh computers, it was big news because it allowed Apple to easily modify system information previously stored in ROM. This ...

The following post was originally published in Chapter 11 of our new book, Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better. You can have both a Mac and a PC on a single ...

Topher, an avid Mac user for the past 15 years, has been a contributing author to MacFixIt since the spring of 2008. One of his passions is troubleshooting Mac problems and making the best use of Macs ...

Safe mode is an important troubleshooting tool. It boots the OS in such a way that it uses the bare minimum files and apps to start and run. This can help you isolate issues, figure out where problems ...

The iconic Mac startup sound has evolved over the years, but it is a distinctive part of being a Mac user. Sometimes, though, you just want to boot your Mac up silently. You can keep it from sounding ...

Apple Silicon Macs will introduce a new system for accessing macOS recovery and security options at startup, Apple explained at a WWDC session on Wednesday. The new Startup UI on ‌Apple Silicon‌ ...

A fast, refreshed, and completely awesome Mac is within your reach, but Mountain Lion isn't the way to get there. One great alternative that will breathe new life into your Mac hardware (regardless of ...

Apple has provided a support document that details how MacBooks can be stopped from booting up whenever the lid is opened. It is likewise possible to stop MacBooks from booting up when connected to ...

Apple has done away with the traditional startup chime on its new MacBook Pro lineup because the machines automatically power on when the lid is opened. Pingie.com was first to note the removal of the ...