08-27-2006, 08:34 PM

Here's a fact:

1. You can put a MacBook to sleep via the Apple menu, closing the lid or keeping it inactive for a certain amount of time.

Here's my situation:

1. I can put my MacBook to sleep via the Apple menu. I then need to press a key from the keyboard to wake it. That works.
2. I can put my MacBook to sleep by closing the lid. I then need to open it again to wake it. That works.

Now here's the problem. The thing won't go to sleep by itself.

I've only noticed this recently. I used to be able to leave it inactive for a short while, the screen saver would kick in, later the screen would turn off and then it would go to sleep. How do I know? The white sleep light blinks and I have to press a key to wake it.

What happens now? I leave it inactive, the screen saver comes up, then the screen goes black with the sleep light on but it is solid. As far as I know, it's still running full power, just that the screen is off. How do I know? I can wake it by moving a mouse or the trackpad, it's simply not sleeping. The hard drive is still spinning. I don't hear it "waking up" as it would normally.

This is rather annoying because it uses a lot more power than it would had it been in sleep mode.

Now, I know resetting the PMU would probably fix this but I would like to know if it has something to do with the system preferences before I do that.

Here is the energy saving profile I use in the attachment.

04-27-2007, 09:49 PM

Hi.
I have this problem also.

My macbook does't go into sleep mode by itself.

Does anyone know why and how do I fix it?

Thank you,

Pacman

05-08-2007, 01:13 PM

BUMP, this just recently started happening to me. Macbook does not go to sleep upon lid closure, you just hear the Fan and DVD drive cycle on and off over and over.

Tried resetting the PRAM, repairing permissions, ect. Maybe this has something to do with the bluetooth not working anymore.

04-24-2008, 02:59 AM

The same thing happened to me, I'm going to the store I'll let you guys know what happens...

08-20-2008, 02:37 AM

Has anyone ever found a reason or fix for this problem? I'm having the same problem.

I tried pretty much everything. It HAS to be some sort of process or something.

Is there an way to programmatically monitor the sleep timer, to see, when it gets reset? Not even by what, just when, maybe that gives an indication to what it might be.

I would really like to fix that, without having to reinstall the entire system.

10-08-2008, 12:22 AM

Before I noticed your post, I started a thread on the same subject (that search engine didn't bring up your thread at all). I have a brand new 17" MBP that I got about 6 weeks ago. The screensaver and sleep options were working just fine via the System Preferences timer UNTIL a couple of days ago. I can get them to work with Hot Keys but that's not how I roll. I'm used to my computers going to sleep based on the timer. My 2004 iBook still does it on Tiger along with my 24" iMac on Leopard.

This is really strange. Has anyone come up with a reason for this? I'm going to call Apple support tomorrow to find out what's going on. I've had Macs for almost 2 decades and for most of that time I've used the timer for my screensaver and sleep option. I'm worried because it can be our screensavers today and our hard drive tomorrow!

Originally Posted by bLiSSvibe

Here's a fact:

1. You can put a MacBook to sleep via the Apple menu, closing the lid or keeping it inactive for a certain amount of time.

Here's my situation:

1. I can put my MacBook to sleep via the Apple menu. I then need to press a key from the keyboard to wake it. That works.
2. I can put my MacBook to sleep by closing the lid. I then need to open it again to wake it. That works.

Now here's the problem. The thing won't go to sleep by itself.

I've only noticed this recently. I used to be able to leave it inactive for a short while, the screen saver would kick in, later the screen would turn off and then it would go to sleep. How do I know? The white sleep light blinks and I have to press a key to wake it.

What happens now? I leave it inactive, the screen saver comes up, then the screen goes black with the sleep light on but it is solid. As far as I know, it's still running full power, just that the screen is off. How do I know? I can wake it by moving a mouse or the trackpad, it's simply not sleeping. The hard drive is still spinning. I don't hear it "waking up" as it would normally.

This is rather annoying because it uses a lot more power than it would had it been in sleep mode.

Now, I know resetting the PMU would probably fix this but I would like to know if it has something to do with the system preferences before I do that.

Here is the energy saving profile I use in the attachment.

10-27-2008, 08:45 PM

I too am having this problem... has anyone been able to figure out what the answer is to rectify this?

Cheers,

Karl

10-27-2008, 09:15 PM

Usually, when that happens, you need to reset the PMU/SMC depending on the model. I'll post a link when I get to my Mac. (on my iPhone now)
I just recently had the same problem on my iMac and it solved it.

10-27-2008, 09:19 PM

Resetting the SMC...

Apple Portables: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

10-28-2008, 10:05 AM

Haven't tried the SMC yet, but I have found that leaving FireFox open will cause the MB to not sleep with the lid open. When I close FF, it sleeps just fine when I walk away for a while. Anything else can be open, just not FF. Maybe that is the problem for some of you?

10-28-2008, 08:55 PM

Is this a MacBook Pro or just a MacBook?

I noticed at the top of the Energy Saver dialog box that there are 2 selections that my 2.4GHz MacBook doesn't have:

- Settings For: <drop menu>
- Optimization For: <drop menu>

I've seen shots of this preference dialog before, but it's always referencing the MacBook Pro.

Just curious.

05-10-2010, 08:57 PM

Guys forget SMC, it would not help.

That what worked for me after all other methods failed: go to your Console (Applications->Utilities-Console)

Most likely you will find there some runaway process that keeps doing something every 10 seconds or so. In my case it was a launch script from a removed application that tried to start every 10 seconds and failed. Just find your and google how to get rid of the *******.

01-11-2011, 12:55 PM

Thanks to Kizzmansky I no longer have this problem. After checking the console it was obvious that an old program I had deleted months ago was running a process every 5 seconds and not letting my poor macbook sleep. Fortunately this program (1password) has detailed instructions for fully deleting it on the website.