Mac Studio won't boot, light blinks once

Question

Mac Studio won't boot, light blinks once

My M2 Max Mac Studio has been shutting down of late when left asleep. Two days ago, when I tried to turn it back on, it would not boot. The light would blink, but nothing would happen. I kept trying, and eventually it booted, not sure why. I entered Recovery, tested the discs and there didn't appear to be any problem there. The system could not do a recovery from my Time Machine backup so I opted to reinstall the OS (15.3.1). That took a long, long time but eventually worked and the computer restarted, all was well, data intact.

However, I shut it down at the end of the day and the next morning it would not boot. All it would do was blink its power light when I pressed it. There was no life in it at all. I left it overnight, and this morning it booted. Again I tested the drives. There were a number of errors relating to resource forks, all related to Time Machine. As the Time Machine drive was not connected at the time, it felt safe to ignore these for now. Other than that the disks looked fine. I once again reinstalled the OS. Once again, this has worked, and it is fully operational. I'm typing this message on the Mac Studio.

But... what happens next? Are there any tests I can run which might reveal the cause of the problem?

I don't know if the machine will boot again after a shutdown. It is clearly not reliable and something is wrong somewhere.

I've searched online and there are two possible hardware fixes: replace the motherboard, which doesn't seem to work for most people; or replace the PSU (power supply unit), which does work for some. All of that is anecdotal, of course.

Are there tests that I can run to find out what is causing this power / boot issue?

The machine is out of warranty, by the way. It's barely 18 months old, but replacing the motherboard would be very expensive. It's probably not worth doing and better to save the money for an M4 Mac Studio, or even a Mac Mini.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Mac Studio, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 17, 2025 02:36 AM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

147,990 points

Feb 17, 2025 10:38 PM in response to Simon Townley

Please. uninstall ProtonVPN OpenVPN, there is a reasonably good chance this is the source of the problems. Please locate the developers uninstall instructions and follow to the letter. Then restart the computer in Safe Mode, run a fresh EtreCheck report and analyze it to see if ProtonVPN is 100% gone. Then restart normally and test.

Mac OS does not require nor does it benefit in ANY way by installing any of the following types of third party apps:

Antivirus
Cleaning
Security
VPN
Maintenance

Adding these types of apps have the exact opposite effects users want, they make Mac OS slow, unstable, appear buggy....in short much like. you are experiencing.

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Answer 2

Feb 17, 2025 05:27 AM in response to Simon Townley

I'll try again to attach the report. It's an "additional text" document.

As regards the TM drive, I've tried to boot repeatedly with it attached and without. I've tried disconnecting everything except mice and keyboards, and I've tried with two different monitors. When it's dead, it's dead. Then it comes back to life for no apparent reason. The TM drive is quite new, a Crucial 2TB SSD. I doubt that is the issue.

Etrecheck

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Answer 3

tbirdvet

Level 6

16,691 points

Feb 17, 2025 05:17 AM in response to Simon Townley

I see no attached report. However, two items.

Do not use the sleep function, it only cause all kinds of issues. Just have the display turn off after a set time. Also, test your mac without the TM drive connected. If there is an issue with the TM drive it may cause booting issues. If ok with the external drive not attached then I would erase the external and start your TM over or get a new drive and save the older drive just in case a file is needed.

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Answer 4

tbirdvet

Level 6

16,691 points

Feb 17, 2025 10:02 AM in response to Simon Townley

That is why I stated just start a new drive but since you have this issue with it off then must be something else. Do you have your Mac plugged directly to wall or through something else? Try another outlet. Possible power cord issue?

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Answer 5

Feb 17, 2025 11:19 PM in response to tbirdvet

I have tried changing the outlet but that had no effect. The power cord appears to be in perfect condition. And, of course, some kind of power is reaching the machine, as it is able to 'blink' even though it won't boot. Unless, of course, the Mac Studio has some kind of battery within it which could be providing reserve power? I can remember often having to change batteries in my LC Mac back in the 1990s, and even on my G4 Power Mac. But I thought those days were long gone.

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Answer 6

Feb 18, 2025 02:03 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks for your advice. I have deleted ProtonVPN, though not yet done the restart. (I'm doing as much as possible without restarting in case it won't boot.)

I'd be interested to know why you identified ProtonVPN specifically as the likely cause of the problem. Does it have a history of causing these kinds of issues?

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Answer 7

Feb 25, 2025 09:00 AM in response to Simon Townley

you also appear to have NORD VPN installed.

VPN:

A virtual private network, or VPN, is a private connection over the Internet from a device to a specific network. VPN technology is widely used in corporate environments. If you need to be "present" on an institutional network, a VPN is a great tool for accomplishing this. it is generally issued and controlled by the institution.

Almost all other uses are a SCAM. There is generally no need for you to have a private connection to a VPN vendor's Network, except to make it easier for them to harvest your data to sell. There is NO security advantage whatsoever in using a VPN. Your connections are already encrypted in most cases.

If VPN vendors just stopped there, it would be bad. But many of these packages also insist on scanning all your files, non-stop, -- nominally looking for viruses, but who knows for sure what data they are harvesting. Their non-stop file reading punishes your computer's performance in the process.

Some also break into your other secure connections so they can be FIRST to examine your data, often leaving your Mac MORE vulnerable to attack.

https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29

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Answer 8

Feb 25, 2025 09:04 AM in response to Simon Townley

The power inlet on this Mac reminds me of the power inlet on older Mac Pro machines that had more Surface Area than a standard IEC connection.

If you have not done so already, I suggest you remove the power cord from the computer, and JAM it back into its socket quite forcefully. See if that make a better connection and more reliable starting.

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Answer 9

Feb 17, 2025 03:53 AM in response to Simon Townley

Etrecheck report attached. No major problems found.

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Answer 10

Feb 17, 2025 05:29 AM in response to tbirdvet

Thank you for trying to help, but honestly, at this point advice to erase all my Time Machine backups seems like utter insanity.

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Mac Studio won't boot, light blinks once

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