How do I tell if 2013 iMac is sleeping?

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I have a new 2013 iMac 27". I understand the difference between display sleep and computer sleep.

Is there any way to tell if the computer is sleeping as opposed to just the display sleeping?

Also, I have a late 2012 mac mini. On the mini, under energy save, there are separate slider controls for display sleep and computer sleep.

On the iMac there is only a slider for display sleep, none for computer sleep. Both are running 10.8.5. Why the difference?
 

pigoo3

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Is there any way to tell if the computer is sleeping as opposed to just the display sleeping?

There should be a pulsing white light when the computer is asleep.

- Nick
 
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The same is available under System Preferences for the iMac under OS X.8.5. Computer sleep and Display sleep. And that pulsing light is on the rear of your iMac.
 

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Interesting Harry, they moved it to the rear? I know for sure my late 2007 iMac does not have a white pulsing light anymore in front.
 
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Wake it up and ask it if it was ??

Sorry couldnt refuse that one ;P
 
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The iMacs have a pulsating white light when in sleep mode? Mine (model prior to the super slim iMacs) definitely does not. That Apple logo in the back is dead.
 

chscag

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A pulsing white light in the back of an iMac? Which one Harry? My 2011 iMac does not have one and I don't believe the newer ones do either. I just put mine to sleep, turned off the lights and looked.... nada.
 

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I'm flabbergasted to hear that newer iMac's no longer have a sleep light!!!:(

I did some research...and it seems the "trick" folks now use to know if their iMac is asleep or not is to push down the "caps-lock" button on the keyboard. If the iMac is awake...the caps lock will be green...if the iMac is asleep...the caps lock light will not be illuminated.

- Nick
 
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Oops too early and no java first answer. Thinking back on my beloved Mac Pro about the flashing light and not the iMac.
 
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Put your ear to the top of the iMac - they are quiet, but there is a difference between running and sleeping.
 
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Thanks for all the information.

When I woke it up and asked if it was asleep, it just growled at me :)

1. There is no light anywhere on my 2013 iMac 27".
2. The CapsLock trick works. I push CapsLock on my Apple Keyboard and the green led on CapsLock comes on. I manually sleep the machine and the green led goes out. This is useful to figure out what is happening. However, it's not particularly useful generally for me since I always disable the CapsLock function and have it be another Control key. (I'm old and learned on an IBM PCAT keyboard--best keyboard ever.) Also, one has to remember to push the CapsLock key to turn the light on to see it go out . . .
3. Also, for Harryb: My mac mini and my 2013 iMac are both running 10.8.5. However, the Energy Saver preference in System Settings are different as show in the attachment. I don't understand nor like this feature.

What I am trying to do is stop the machine from sleeping during the day (it runs Plex Server, if it sleeps, Plex Server isn't available), but have it sleep overnight. I ticked the box in Energy Saver to "Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off". Then I used the scheduling function to schedule sleep at 11:00 pm and to wake at 6:00am. My hope was that it would not sleep during the day, but the schedule would override the not sleep and put it to sleep at 11:00pm and wake it up at 6:00am.

After doing this, pmset shows the following:

Terrys-iMac:Desktop tbrown$ pmset -g
Active Profiles:
AC Power -1*
Currently in use:
standby 1
powerbutton 1
womp 1
halfdim 1
hibernatefile /var/vm/sleepimage
autorestart 0
networkoversleep 0
disksleep 10
sleep 0 (sleep prevented by )
autopoweroffdelay 14400
hibernatemode 0
autopoweroff 1
ttyskeepawake 1
displaysleep 15
standbydelay 10800
Terrys-iMac:Desktop tbrown$ pmset -g sched
Repeating power events:
wakepoweron at 6:00AM every day
sleep at 11:00PM every day

Seems right. However, it went to sleep overnight, but didn't wake up when I tried to use Plex at 7:00AM. I had to manually wake it with the keyboard.

Now that I know how to tell if it is sleeping, I'll verify that it doesn't sleep during the day.

Any ideas?

Screen Shot 2013-10-13 at 7.16.33 AM.png
 
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I tried this, but my ears detect no difference. Perhaps the fusion drive makes it a bit quieter?

Could be. My 2011 iMac has the stock HDD. Sorry!
 

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