If your computer really is frozen and really isn’t coming back, a firm and prolonged push on the power button is the key for just about any computer out there. Laptop or desktop, Windows or macOS, push and hold the power button and within a few seconds your computer should switch off. Wait a couple of minutes at least before tapping the power button again and turning your machine back on.
With any luck, your computer problems are now over and you can carry on with the rest of the day. If your OS doesn’t appear, or the computer doesn’t respond to the press of the power button at all, some more detective work is required. A faulty power supply or battery is the most likely explanation if you get no response at all to the push of the power button—no whirring, no lights, no nothing. The idea is to try and establish whether your computer is actually getting power, or if the power isn’t registering.
Faulty or dislodged components can stop your computer from starting normally: The CPU, the RAM, the hard drive, the motherboard. There’s no getting around the fact that some trial and error is required here: Run a web search for the symptoms you’re seeing and the type of computer you’ve got (on another device, obviously). Is the display cable still attached,
Did you recently change something on your computer, There is plenty of information available online you can refer to—iFixit has an excellent guide to troubleshooting a motherboard, though motherboard failures are thankfully pretty rare. But sometimes hardware isn’t the issue. Provided the problem isn’t related to the machine powering on it’s always important to double check the software before troubleshooting the hardware. That’s because software faults and corruptions are (usually) relatively easy to fix and software issues can be quickly ruled out.
Both Windows and macOS are now built with a lot of self-repairing safety nets in place, as well as basic modes of operation you can use if the operating system isn’t working normally. The special stripped-down, low maintenance Safe Mode for Windows is still here, but it’s hidden away. If you get dumped back to the Automatic Repair screen a second time, hit Advanced options then Startup Settings, then Restart.
Hit 4 or F4 on the next screen to go into Safe Mode. We can’t give you specific instructions about what to do in Safe Mode, but undoing recent changes to your system is a good start, and you can at least make sure your important data is backed up safe.
As a last resort, you can always reset your PC from Safe Mode: From Windows Settings choose Update & Security and Recovery, then click Get started under Reset this PC. You’ll be given the choice of keeping your data or wiping everything from disk and starting again from scratch—if your computer won’t start up after that, you’re most likely looking at a hardware fault of some kind. R and tap the power button to get into the recovery console.
The Disk Utility option is a good starting point. It scans the attached drives for errors and applies fixes where possible. You can also restore your computer using a Time Machine backup from the same screen. The macOS Safe Mode works a lot like the Windows version and can be accessed by holding down Shift right after tapping the power button to start up your Mac.
Again, focus on rolling back recent hardware and software changes, or at least making sure you’ve backed up your data somewhere else. As with Windows, you can do a full software reset, which should solve most boot up problems that aren’t hardware-related. Choose Reinstall macOS from the Recovery Mode screen we mentioned earlier to wipe your local drives and set up macOS again on your device, as good as new.
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