How often do you reboot?

[DHagan4755]

I'm sure a Big Update is coming this week (11.2) which I will do when it's out, but currently I'm at 40 days. And typically only reboot when I need to. If ever I run into any quirkiness, I just logout and log back in again, rather than reboot. This 99.99% does the trick.

A few years ago I went about a year without rebooting my late 2013 15" MacBook Pro. I had to force it off when the keyboard wouldn't respond after waking it from sleep. That was a known issue at the time that was later resolved with a software update.

 

[Leon1das]

I shut down end of day. M1 mac boots up in less than 30 seconds anyway.

If I let it sleep - there is always so many hidden settings about letting server side notifications reach Mac while its sleeping, AppStore reminds me on the updates... who cares...

I dont want my Mac to have a separate life while I am not using it...

 

[Leon1das]

As an IT Admin/Reseller, I used a cold boot to solve most problems (Pull the power cord for a couple of minutes), with laptops I would yank the battery. Not possible on some new laptops, batteries not accessible. Restarts didn't do much. Most computers motherboard and network adapters are always hot. If I have occasional problem with my Imac, I pull the plug.

Pulling out the battery?

How about just holding power button for 8sec - that effectively disconnects the power from any PC/laptop/Mac.

Then pressing again - boots the system, and depending on the system - you may get the warning that shutdown was improper...

 

[Geepaw]

I do it about monthly. I used to do every time I shut down the computer back in the day. I probably don't ever have to do it but once a month seems about right.

 

[mac23456]

I normally restart once a day. Twice if there is an update (of course) And I restart my server once every 2 weeks.

 

[quarq]

Right now a lot more often than usual. Several times a week. The issues related to Big Sur and the M1 specifically are causing me to have to reboot. Sometimes it is purely troubleshooting and wasn't strictly necessary and other times, the system became unresponsive or some other weirdness. I expect this to go to normal over the next few months.

Just curious what issues with M1 and Big Sur you are referring to..

Thanks

 

[jdb8167]

Just curious what issues with M1 and Big Sur you are referring to..

Thanks

Usually to do with external displays. I’ve also been unsuccessful at creating a USB boot drive. Sometimes watching HBOMAX in Safari, the video remains black until a reboot. There are many of these annoyances. Haven’t you encountered any?

 

[gustavopi]

I reboot to boot Windows 10 and to play games. MacOS is poor in games, specially indie. My friends do hard efforts to keep one Mac port, at list, but it's getting harder. I have myself a project that I can only publish to Android right now and I don't know how is gonna be in new M1 world.

One way to reboot less is to use VirtualBox, but I must stay in Mojave for that, Catalina is too heavy. Let's see how long I can go with Mojave...

Anyway, as I am becoming a Linux user too (just in case), I will probably have to reboot even more when I did install it in a physical partition. Not saying I won't migrate to Sur (yet), just saying Sur's demanding, hidden traffic and other stuff are pushing me away - and I love games!

 

[Hoo Doo Dude]

As another IT Admin/reseller, I'd never just keep power cycling equipment to solve problems without first finding the source of the problem. I'm always interested in expanding my knowledge and that's one of the best ways to do it. If you're having to do this frequently then there's more going on that needs investigation and resolution.

 

[quarq]

Usually to do with external displays. I’ve also been unsuccessful at creating a USB boot drive. Sometimes watching HBOMAX in Safari, the video remains black until a reboot. There are many of these annoyances. Haven’t you encountered any?

External or internal ? My internal speakers have a tendency to pop and crackle..

 

[jdb8167]

External or internal ? My internal speakers have a tendency to pop and crackle..

You mean the video problem? It seems to happen on both the internal display and when connected to a 4K display. The last time it happened I deliberately put the clamshell mode MBA to sleep and then tried the internal display disconnected from my USB-C dock and the video was still black with only sound.

I haven't had any problems with audio but there are many reports here that it is a general problem. I hope it is software and fixable. The second release candidate for 11.2 just came out so maybe that fixes a bunch of issues.

 

[jacg]

I'm rebooting this M1 MBA a lot more than any Mac I have owned. Mostly to make Mail.app work (it stops updating smart mail boxes after a day or so). And skimming in FCPX is so inconsistent I sometimes reboot to see if that will help (not sure it does though).

 

[Allyance]

Pulling out the battery?

How about just holding power button for 8sec - that effectively disconnects the power from any PC/laptop/Mac.

Then pressing again - boots the system, and depending on the system - you may get the warning that shutdown was improper...

I worked on many PC's and Windows laptops and I found the fastest, surefire way to clear a lot of problems was a COLD boot. Pop the battery in a laptop, all of 10 seconds max after I tried the power button!!

 

[gustavopi]

I'm rebooting this M1 MBA a lot more than any Mac I have owned. Mostly to make Mail.app work (it stops updating smart mail boxes after a day or so). And skimming in FCPX is so inconsistent I sometimes reboot to see if that will help (not sure it does though).

Every new Mac I bought have to be rebooted more often or just freeze. This always happens to me. With time, it become more stable. By logic, should be the opposite, I don't know why this happens...

 

[fmacmac]

M1 Mini - only when there is a power outage (rare case but has happened).
M1 MBP - never gets rebooted

 

[Mistborn15]

only when forced, like when there is a new update

 

[trash eighty]

I only tend to reboot my Macs for OS updates, and then i don't always install updates (if there doesn't look like anything interesting in it). I think my old 2012 Macbook went about 18 months between reboots once.

 

[dmccloud]

I only reboot when needed, so maybe once every other week (depending on when a new developer preview of Mac OS drops).

Pulling out the battery?

How about just holding power button for 8sec - that effectively disconnects the power from any PC/laptop/Mac.

Then pressing again - boots the system, and depending on the system - you may get the warning that shutdown was improper...

This is the way for fixing a computer with a broken power status. Holding the power button down like that serves as a reset of the power circuitry in the computer, and works on desktops, all-in-ones, and laptops. You also rarely get that "improperly shut down" warning unless the computer was stuck in a fully powered status prior to the reset.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

The energy use from the M1 is very, very small. There is really no reason not to leave it running. If I am away from the house and note that bad weather is coming or has arrived unexpectedly, I remote in to my M1 and Mac mini and turn off the machines, even though I have a APC backup. I also have Little Snitch 5 running and I can also check security when I am away, if I feel a need.

Other benefits of keeping the M1 on and the screen open is that I don't have to worry about fingerprint smudge from opening and closing the lid every day. I also don't have to worry about keyboard marks on the screen.

I'm not lucky enough unfortunately to have the space to leave the MBA open on a desk and just leave it
It's currently turn off, close lid, and put away on a shelf for me


Questions Guys,


Q1) Can I leave the M1 MBA on, no power cable plugged in, and simply leave on the shelf for a day or two, until the battery goes down enough to warrant a charge?


Q2) Same question as the above - But this time with the M1 MBA in Airplane mode? (The missus has us turn off all the Wifi in the house overnight.)


Q3) Does the MBA just go into hibernation mode almost in Airplane mode, and the battery lasts for ages?


Hope you can advise

Regards
Martin

 

[Apple_Robert]

There is no Airplane mode with Macs. That applies to phones.

You can turn off Wifi on the Mac at night with the lid closed. Unless you have a lot of apps open when you close the lid, you should barely see any battery drain overnight.

A lot of people on the forum put their Macs to sleep, instead of just turning the screen off. I prefer the latter, as I see no need to manually put the Mac to sleep.

 

[anshuvorty]

There is no way for me to provide evidence, but as I have been using this M1 MBA since it was released in Nov, I did notice that I have restart the computer to make the internet work correctly from time to time. It seems that when the laptop enters deep sleep state or is kept idle with the lid closed for an extended period of time and then it resumes from sleep, the DNS service stops working.

When this happens, I always keep trying to disable and enable WiFi, but it doesn't fix it. The only fix I have found is to restart the laptop and the network issues vanish....

Very odd...

 

[Marty_Macfly]

There is no Airplane mode with Macs. That applies to phones.

You can turn off Wifi on the Mac at night with the lid closed. Unless you have a lot of apps open when you close the lid, you should barely see any battery drain overnight.

A lot of people on the forum put their Macs to sleep, instead of just turning the screen off. I prefer the latter, as I see no need to manually put the Mac to sleep.

Ahhh....

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8054273

So its got to be manually turn off WIFI and bluetooth to do this. No Phone connectivity so not need to turn that off.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Ahhh....

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8054273

So its got to be manually turn off WIFI and bluetooth to do this. No Phone connectivity so not need to turn that off.

I see no point in turning off BT, as that doesn't travel farther than 30 feet from the device. Either turn off Wifi until the morning, or completely tun off the Mac. That way you have no worries and the missus will be happy either way.