What is the benefit of resetting the PRAM, NVRAM, and SMC on your Apple Mac?

When your Mac starts to act up you normally follow the routine of restarting it hoping that the issues will have sorted themselves out.

There are a few additional procedures that can be of help by resetting the PRAM, NVRAM, and SMC.

NVRAM/PRAM and their function?

The P in PRAM stands for “parameter” and the RAM stands for “random access memory”.

It refers to a small amount of memory that stores information the Mac needs before loading the operating system.

When your Mac does not start up correctly or exhibits some odd behavior you can press a key sequence and reset the PRAM returning it to factory values.

NV in NVRAM stands for “non-volatile” and the RAM stands for “random access memory”.

It serves the same purpose as PRAM but instead of storing more pieces of information, now only has a few:

– your selected startup disk,

– speaker volume,

– screen resolution,

– time zone and

– details of last kernel panic if your Mac crashed recently.

SMC or System Management Controller.

This is another component that deals with:

– power management,

– temperature monitoring and fan control,

– status lights,

– keyboard backlights.

Problems that can be experienced when SMC becomes confused.

–  excessive fan noise,

–  slow performance,

–  apps taking forever to launch,

–  batteries not charging properly and a few more.

Resetting the SMC to factory default may resolve these issues.

Finally, although Apple says you should not reset the SMC without trying other options there is no mention of the negative consequences of resetting the SMC.

Although neither of these procedures is a magic cure they can solve a number of problems and are worth trying.