08-03-2010, 09:31 AM

Not a desperate question, but I've been wondering.

Lets imagine that I click post on this thread, and then my mouse goes unresponsive. I now have lost my mouse, so I want to reboot... How could I do this on the iMac without holding the power button?

In windows, I could hit the windows button on the keyboard, have the start menu come up, and navigate with the arrows on the keyboard...

But how would I get to the 'apple' symbol, top left, (without a mouse) to do this on a mac?

I hope this makes sense, but its been puzzling me for a day or so...

08-03-2010, 10:13 AM

Pressing this combination control + ⌘ + ⏏ (control + command + eject) will make your iMac restart.

08-03-2010, 10:22 AM

If you enable Full Keyboard access, then you can just press the power button and use tab to navigate to the restart button.

Or, still having full keyboard access enabled, press ctrl+f2 to get the apple menu.

08-03-2010, 02:36 PM

Thanks guys. Good to know, just incase

08-03-2010, 05:27 PM

You could also just press the power button, let go, and select restart from the window that appears. Of course you will probably need full keyboard access in order to do this. Just another option to think about.

08-04-2010, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by Chef_eam

Pressing this combination control + ⌘ + ⏏ (control + command + eject) will make your iMac restart.

NonononoNO!!

Force-restarting your mac is about the second-worst thing you can do to it, sure to cause directory damage and other problems.

Unresponsive apps should be dealt with by pressing ⌘ + option + escape and then force-quitting the unresponsive app (which will helpfully be highlighted in red).

If the app in question ISN'T in red, that's Mac speak for "my aren't we impatient? Give me another minute or two to resolve this myself, dearie ..."

08-04-2010, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by chas_m

NonononoNO!!

Force-restarting your mac is about the second-worst thing you can do to it, sure to cause directory damage and other problems.

Unresponsive apps should be dealt with by pressing ⌘ + option + escape and then force-quitting the unresponsive app (which will helpfully be highlighted in red).

If the app in question ISN'T in red, that's Mac speak for "my aren't we impatient? Give me another minute or two to resolve this myself, dearie ..."

Yeah, but Im talking about my mouse being unresponsive. Wanting to re-boot to reconnect it. Not an app hanging.

08-04-2010, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by Chas_m

NonononoNO!!

Force-restarting your mac is about the second-worst thing you can do to it, sure to cause directory damage and other problems.

Don't you force restart a Mac by holding down the power button till it dies?

Control-Command-Eject
Quits all applications (after giving you a chance to save changes to open documents) and restarts the computer.
Apple Support - Keyboard shortcuts for Shut down, restart, and sleep

08-04-2010, 09:15 PM

Originally Posted by TGITC

Yeah, but Im talking about my mouse being unresponsive. Wanting to re-boot to reconnect it. Not an app hanging.

In that case, why would you have to reboot your system to reconnect a mouse? Which mouse are you using? I've never had anything like that happen to me on OS X with either the Magic or Mighty Mouse unless the battery died. Even then all I had to do was put some new AAs in them and click the mouse button. Bam! Problem solved. Mouse reconnects without rebooting the whole system.

08-05-2010, 05:43 AM

Originally Posted by TGITC

Yeah, but Im talking about my mouse being unresponsive. Wanting to re-boot to reconnect it. Not an app hanging.

Please see "my my aren't we impatient?"

Even if your mouse is having an unresolvable problem (which I have to tell you after 25 years of being a tech would be a new one to me), force-restarting the Mac will still do a lot of directory damage and is never -- let me repeat that, NEVER -- recommended. It's VERY MUCH a last-resort sort of thing because of the risk of data loss and directory damage.

Is this a wired or wireless mouse? If the former, just toss it and get a new mouse, as a wired mouse should NEVER have this problem.

If wireless, then I again refer you back to the advice to just wait a bit. It will resolve itself generally, UNLESS:

1. The batteries are dead
2. You have channel interference from another wireless device.

How about some details on the mouse? Maybe that would help.

The bottom line here is that mindless rebooting to solve issues is a Windows Thing. Actually identifying and fixing the underlying problem is a Mac Thing.

08-05-2010, 12:58 PM

To reply to Both J.Fo and Chas_M

Yeah, your right, I should have been more specific. Since having my (new) iMac with Magic mouse for just over a month and a half, I have had two occasions where I 'lost' the mouse.

These were both battery related - ie the mouse 'said' it needed new batteries, and I replaced them. Each time, there was NO WAY to get the mouse responding again, until I re-booted, via holding down the power button.

Yes, it DID seem 'inelegant' but try as I might, clicking the mouse, as J.Fo suggests, & also holding down the mouse button for a short period of time... It would NOT reconnect my mouse - As I assumed with my limited knowledge (and my first out of the box experience) that it would...

But it didn't.

So I was looking for a more elegant solution than holding down the power button at the back. I now know it is not a good idea - Thanks Chas - and I wont do it anymore.

So, I now have my own solution. Next time the mouse says it wants a battery change, I will switch off the mac correctly, do the change, and start it up. That way it will work.

I guess I shouldn't have to do it that way - But hey... Its no BIG problem. & despite me using the mouse a LOT more than the keyboard... Its not like its gonna happen every other day... So all is cool.

08-05-2010, 05:35 PM

All I have done when the Mouse has needed new batteries in the past was to insert two new batteries, switch it on, click it and wait for a few seconds. Then gently move the mouse side to side until the cursor moved then it's normal business from there on in. I have never had to do a reboot or restart.

08-05-2010, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by Gandalph

All I have done when the Mouse has needed new batteries in the past was to insert two new batteries, switch it on, click it and wait for a few seconds. Then gently move the mouse side to side until the cursor moved then it's normal business from there on in. I have never had to do a reboot or restart.

Yeah, thats what I thought would happen... But for some reason or other, it doesn't auto reconnect, no matter what I do... I've tried

08-06-2010, 07:22 AM

Are you also using a wireless network?

Bluetooth and 802.11b/g (stupidly) use exactly the same spectrum (2.4GHz) and thus my comment about channel interference. It's rare but I've seen that happen.

Try changing the channel of your wireless network and see if that makes a difference.