Your Computer Has Restarted Because Of A Problem Mac

About unexpected restarts

Rarely, your Mac might experience a software or hardware issue that requires it to restart. When it starts up again, you might see a message that your computer was restarted because of a problem.

An accessory or peripheral device that you are using on your Mac can cause the looping restart error. The fix for this is quite simple; switch off the Mac and then disconnect all peripherals on your computer, such as printers, fax machines, mobile devices, etc., and then restart your computer. Press and hold the D key while you restart the computer. For Apple silicon-based Macs: Restart your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button as your Mac starts up. Release the button when startup options appear. Press Command (⌘)-D on your keyboard. Apple Diagnostics would launch automatically and test your hardware condition.

Unexpected restarts are usually caused by software installed on your Mac, or by devices connected to your Mac. If the issue causes your Mac to restart every time it attempts to start up, your Mac might eventually shut down. Use the steps below to check the software and hardware on your Mac.

Check your software

If the issue is caused by software on your Mac, one of these steps might help:

• Install all available software updates.
• If your Mac suspects that a particular app caused the restart, it might ask whether you would like to move the app to the Trash. Click Move to Trash, then contact the software developer to see if a software update is available.
• Use safe mode to try to isolate the cause of the issue.
• Reinstall macOS. If the issue continues after reinstalling macOS, check your hardware.

Check your hardware

Learn how to check your connected devices and other hardware.

Check peripheral devices first

If you don't have any devices attached to your Mac, skip to the next section.

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Disconnect all peripheral devices, such as hard drives or printers. If you have a desktop Mac, make sure that only a display, keyboard, and mouse or trackpad are connected.
3. Turn on your Mac.
4. Use your Mac for the amount of time that it would usually take for an unexpected restart to occur.
5. If an unexpected restart occurs, follow the steps to check the internal RAM and third-party hardware.
6. If an unexpected restart doesn't occur, turn off the Mac and connect one peripheral device at a time until an unexpected restart occurs.

Check RAM and third-party hardware

Certain models of Mac computers have removable memory (RAM). If you recently installed memory or a hard disk (or SSD), make sure that it's compatible and installed correctly. If possible, remove it and test with the original memory or disk.

Learn more

• If you continue to experience unexpected restarts, contact Apple Support.
• If your Mac is frequently restarting unexpectedly, it's important to determine the exact steps that lead up to the issue. The next time that your Mac restarts unexpectedly, record the date and time it occurs. These questions might help you diagnose the problem:
  • Was the computer starting up, shutting down, or performing a particular task when the unexpected restart happened?
  • Is the computer restart random, or does it happen every time you do a certain task?
  • Does the restart happen when a specific external device is connected to your Mac or to a specific port?
• Learn what to do if your Mac doesn't turn on or start up.
• Learn about the screens you see when your Mac starts up.

One of the scariest things any Mac user can experience is kernel panic: that moment when you are staring at a darkened display wondering what to do next. The answer is quite simple: don't panic – your machine did that for you already.

What Is Kernel Panic?

If you see a darkened display with the message 'You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button until it turns off' or your Mac becomes unresponsive, spontaneously restarts, and then displays a message that the computer restarted because of a problem, it's a clear sign that the OS X or macOS kernel detected an unrecoverable error. It's termed as ‘unrecoverable' because the heart of the operating system, the kernel, can't handle whatever the problem is and loses control.

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In this situation, the kernel pushes the panic button – in fact, it runs the panic function code – doing what it can to protect the system. In doing this it collects some data on the current condition of the processors, the running processes, and it either displays a warning message prompting a shutdown (OS X Lion or earlier) or just restarts the system. Unfortunately, everything you were working on is gone if you couldn't save it before the kernel panic.

With OS X Mountain Lion, Apple changed the design of the panic function so that it restarts the Mac first and then displays the following message: 'Your computer restarted because of a problem. Press a key or wait a few seconds to continue starting up.'

What Causes Kernel Panic?

In most cases, kernel panic is not caused by the Mac itself but by faulty software or hardware. It is recommended that you always run the latest software, because that will help eliminate the likelihood of kernel panic occurring.

Still, if the machine panics like this again, it's certainly time to start troubleshooting, so first investigate what is causing the error. Unfortunately, discovering recurring kernel panics is a bit harder with older versions of OS X because you need to have the same conditions in place to identify the root cause. That changed with OS X Mountain Lion: now your operating system saves a log of which apps and background processes were running at the time of the kernel panic and, upon restart, offers to launch all the apps and processes that were running before the error.

How to Fix Kernel Panic

As mentioned above, kernel panic is caused by problems with either software or hardware, so the first step is to identify which it is that is responsible.

After the system has restarted, the operating system gives the option to report the problem to Apple so the company can investigate the incident, but the report is a good resource for you to check whether it is a software or hardware issue, too. Locate the term ‘machine check' in the Problem Details and System Configuration field of this report, here it may indicate whether it was a hardware-related issue.

If for some reason the dialog box was dismissed, the log can be found within the Console app at this location: Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports.

If the issue is related to software, OS X Mavericks will help you correct it by offering to disable the faulty app. It will display a dialog box informing you about the problem caused by whichever application it was and ask you whether you want to move this app to Trash.

The 'More Info' option here will display more details and possible workarounds to solve the issue, while the 'Ignore' button will keep the app intact. Clicking on the 'Move to Trash' button will display another prompt informing you that a restart is needed to solve the problem.

These are just the basic steps that the operating system offers to fix kernel panic, and in most cases this will be sufficient. Recurring kernel panic, however, is a different animal entirely, and dealing with it requires some advanced knowledge, so it may be best to ask for help from an Apple Authorized Service Provider or a Genius at an Apple Store. Before doing that, however, check out our guide on how to isolate the problem to a hardware or software issue, and the steps to take to fix the problem.

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