iMac 27 retina will not stay awake after monitor goes off

[remltr]

The iMac goes into sleep mode immediately after the display turns off.

Have the check box checked to prevent that in energy saver.

This started a few weeks ago under Yosemite with no known cause. I have since upgraded to El Capitan with a continuation of the issue.

I see a lot of these kinds of posts on the Apple discussions without any resolution. Was hoping someone here would have an answer.

 

[chscag]

Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) to see if that helps.

 

[remltr]

Tried the SMC reset with no change. Followed that up with pram/nvram and also no change.

Thanks for the suggestion chscag

 

[chscag]

The SMC reset most of the time will cure that. I'm not sure, however, if that works the same with the newer retina machines. You might want to give Apple a call (if you purchased Apple Care, otherwise you have 90 days of free telephone assistance) and see what they say about the problem. I know lugging a 27" iMac to the Apple Store is no fun.

 

[remltr]

I took a drastic measure this weekend since I had some time to kill. I erased the drive and reinstalled yosemite and then el capitan. Before migrating from the tm backup I tested the sleep issue and it worked like it should have. Display turned off and disk drive stayed awake. After the migration then it went back to display off and disk drive went to sleep. To me that means that there is a setting or file that migrated that is effecting this energy setting. Darned if I know what it could be though. Maybe that will give one of you smarter folks a clue that will help me.

 

[pm-r]

Hmmm…??? I think I'd try doing a cold boot into Safe Boot Mode and see if the trouble stops.

If so, it must be some third party thing — the problem is finding out which one.

Not trying to be a smart ***…

 

[Slydude]

Have you checked the relevant settings in the Energy Saver preferences? It sounds like one of the settings there got "borked". Notice the use of highly technical jargon there?

 

[pm-r]

Hmmm…???? Slydude,

I thought the proper official highly technical jargon word for such things was "fubared". Or is that a past past participle of something already "fubar"???…???

 

[Slydude]

That works too.

 

[remltr]

Hmmm…??? I think I'd try doing a cold boot into Safe Boot Mode and see if the trouble stops.

If so, it must be some third party thing — the problem is finding out which one.

Not trying to be a smart ***…

Tried the cold boot, no change. Thanks for the suggestion, keep 'em coming.

 

[remltr]

Have you checked the relevant settings in the Energy Saver preferences? It sounds like one of the settings there got "borked". Notice the use of highly technical jargon there?

Other than confirming that the correct boxes are checked, I am not sure what else to do in that dialog box. I am open to all ideas. BTW it will not wake for network access either.

 

[pm-r]

Tried the cold boot, no change. Thanks for the suggestion, keep 'em coming.

Just confirming that you also tried using Safe Boot Mode???

Other than confirming that the correct boxes are checked, I am not sure what else to do in that dialog box. I am open to all ideas. BTW it will not wake for network access either.

Try the old trick of changing the various settings to something you DON'T WANT, save, then set them as you DO WANT, save. That should reset and force the preferences plist to update itself. And hopefully correctly and start working properly.

 

[remltr]

Just confirming that you also tried using Safe Boot Mode???





Try the old trick of changing the various settings to something you DON'T WANT, save, then set them as you DO WANT, save. That should reset and force the preferences plist to update itself. And hopefully correctly and start working properly.

Safe boot was showing in red in the upper right of the screen.

Tried the reverse psychology to no avail. But there is no save option. Just make the settings and close the dialog box. I am missing a save button?

Any chance deleting the plist will have an effect? If so, where would I locate that specific file?

 

[pm-r]

What you did should work and we don't have much other choice when Apple doesn't provide a "Save" button.

Unfortunately, the various problems with wake/sleep seems to still be with some Mac users and has been for some time, and I assume there wasn't any improvement when in Safe Boot Mode. So the problem could still be with Apple's hardware or software.

As for the associated files, maybe these are still involved, but not too sure:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/resetenergysaverprefs.html

 

[remltr]

What you did should work and we don't have much other choice when Apple doesn't provide a "Save" button.

Unfortunately, the various problems with wake/sleep seems to still be with some Mac users and has been for some time, and I assume there wasn't any improvement when in Safe Boot Mode. So the problem could still be with Apple's hardware or software.

As for the associated files, maybe these are still involved, but not too sure:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/resetenergysaverprefs.html

I deleted both of the files recommended. It didn't effect my desired result.

It did however effect the time to turn the display off. I have been using 1 minute for testing purposes. Previously it was taking 1:45 to turn off. After deletion and resetting to 1 minute, it turned off in 1 minute.

So I am going to delete and reset my energy settings again and then restart with pram held down and see if it takes.

I am plumb out of other ideas other than dragging this to the apple store.

 

[remltr]

So I am going to delete and reset my energy settings again and then restart with pram held down and see if it takes.

Didn't work.

 

[remltr]

Under security and privacy I found the check box for "require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins" was checked.

Unchecked and now it is working as I want.

Display off must be equal to screen saver.

Thanks for your help.

Sorry for putting you through all this for a simple check box issue.

 

[chas_m]

If you have no set screensaver, then the display will simply go black as the screen saver. Since that saves the screen.

Congrats on sleuthing down the solution!

 

[pm-r]

I deleted both of the files recommended. It didn't effect my desired result.
… … …
I am plumb out of other ideas other than dragging this to the apple store.

I'm just reading about El Cap/n's Energy Saver preferences (I don't have it installed) and thinking as I have my evening red wine, and my brain wondered when I read this:
"Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off

Prevents the computer from going to sleep when the display sleeps."

OK, so my questions is — so how do you know or how are you checking that your iMac is NOT staying awake after monitor goes off.

Sure going to be hard to see of tell with a black screen I'd say…

Now, where did I put my large glass of red wine…???? That would be a REAL problem…

 

[pm-r]

Under security and privacy I found the check box for "require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins" was checked.

Unchecked and now it is working as I want.

Display off must be equal to screen saver.

Thanks for your help.

Sorry for putting you through all this for a simple check box issue.

Phew!! Good to know and I should have skipped getting my evening wine.