Sleeping MBP overheating over night

[Rod]

Just recently my wife's MBP 2011 running Sierra has been very hot in the morning when she wakes it up. I quickly cools after a few minutes of running. At night she simply closes the lid as per her normal practice and the screen goes off as can bee seen by the lid Apple icon.
I have checked CCC to ensure it is not set to wake for backup and none of the other apps she runs seem to have that option/function.
How can I check what may be running to cause this or is it more likely to be a functional issue related to sleep initiated by closing the lid?

 

[chscag]

Make sure "put the hard drive to sleep" is checked off. Sounds like when she closes the lid, the display sleeps but the hard drive is still spinning causing heat.

 

[Rod]

Thanks, I did check that but I have further reduced the time to 1Hr. Do you think there would be any benefit in resetting the SMC?

 

[chscag]

Resetting the SMC can't do any harm but I think if you took care of the hard drive spin down and sleep problem, the machine will sleep without overheating.

 

[pigoo3]

At night she simply closes the lid as per her normal practice and the screen goes off as can bee seen by the lid Apple icon.

My wife does the same thing. I prefer to use the "Sleep" command when I'm done using the computer (either during the day or for the night). This is because I actually don't close the lid when I'm thru.

If the SMC Reset does not help (I would have suggested it as well like chscag did). As an experiment...have your wife actually select the "Sleep" command from the Apple drop down menu before closing the display. See if this makes any difference in the morning.

Another thought is. Open Activity Monitor...and see if you can identify any "strange" process's going on (apps that you don't recognise). A "rogue" or unwanted app may be preventing the computer from going into sleep mode.

- Nick

 

[Rod]

Well I've made a few changes and checked a few things as suggested with no clear cause apparent yet but I will see what happens tonight an get back. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions.?

 

[Rod]

Sorry about the delay but after my efforts to right the problem my wife foiled me by switching her laptop off. My fault, I should have stressed to her that we needed to try it out that night to see if the few things I had done had any effect.
So last night she closed the lid and this morning the temp was 85deg according to the Menu Meters menu bar display.
This was the circumstance that alerted us to a problem in the first instance.
So I have tried resetting SMC and NVRAM.
I have changed the Energy Saver settings to sleep and turn off HD after one minute, both on AC power and battery
I have disconnected her backup EHD just in case.
I have tried putting the device to sleep manually.
I also tried sending an email to the device with the lid closed and the email audible notification on and sure enough it receives the email and the notification sounds.
At no time during the above tests does the System Indicator Light go into the pulse mode as it should.
So I think we can say that the HD (SSD) is not going to sleep at any time either manually or as a result of closing the lid or power saver settings.
I have run OnyX and DU First Aid no joy.
Any ideas?

 

[pigoo3]

I have tried putting the device to sleep manually.

When the computer is manually put the computer to sleep (by selecting "sleep" from the Apple drop down menu)...what exactly happens (or doesn't happen)?

And I'm assuming that the MBP's display is NOT being closed when this is done. Since closing the lid during this process may "mess up" the experiment....

Thanks,

- Nick

 

[chscag]

When I first installed Sierra, I had a problem with sleeping my iMac in that the hard drive would not spin down as it had done before but the display would sleep. It annoyed me but the iMac ran cool regardless. However, after doing about 5 SMC resets the silly thing began to work again as it should. The HDD spins down now as it did before. Why it decided to work after so many SMC resets, I don't know. I believe that Sierra may have had something to do with it but can't prove it.

As to your wife's machine, keep trying the SMC resets to see if it finally takes. I'm assuming that her SSD is the original one and not a replacement?

 

[Rod]

Just on spec I thought I would check via terminal to see if any processes were running that might be causing a problem so entered pmset -g assertions and the result was:



What the heck is IODisplayWrangler?
Is this the cause of the problem?
If so what can I do about this? It comes up in a number of searches but no apparent solutions.

 

[Rod]

When the computer is manually put the computer to sleep (by selecting "sleep" from the Apple drop down menu)...what exactly happens (or doesn't happen)?

And I'm assuming that the MBP's display is NOT being closed when this is done. Since closing the lid during this process may "mess up" the experiment....

Thanks,

- Nick

Nick, I tried all of the listed tests with the lid open (and closed) that is, manually selecting sleep from the apple Menu and setting the energy saver to one minute and although the screen blacks out the SIL remains on but does not pulse as it should in sleep. I have "Wake for network activity" switched off.

 

[chscag]

What the heck is IODisplayWrangler?
Is this the cause of the problem?
If so what can I do about this? It comes up in a number of searches but no apparent solutions.

I have no idea what it is but I get the same thing when I run that command from terminal. And my iMac sleeps normally - now. (after many SMC resets)

 

[Rod]

Well am I doing this correctly?
Shut down the Mac.
Plug in the MagSafe or USB-C power adapter to a power source and to your Mac.
Using the built-in keyboard, press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the keyboard, then press the power button at the same time.
Release all keys, then press the power button again to turn on your Mac

 

[dtravis7]

Well am I doing this correctly?
Shut down the Mac.
Plug in the MagSafe or USB-C power adapter to a power source and to your Mac.
Using the built-in keyboard, press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the keyboard, then press the power button at the same time.
Release all keys, then press the power button again to turn on your Mac

That is the recommended way to reset the SMC on MBP's and Airs at least.

I had issues with the last 2 sierra Betas on my late 2011 MBP booting up to a Black Screen. You could see the mouse cursor but the rest was black. I wiped the drive and put the release of 10.12.2 fresh install and the issue is gone. I knew it was not my hardware as the latest El Captain on another partition was fine.

Your issue is very strange although in troubleshooting my issue, I saw people with MBP's complaining about sleep issues with Sierra. What version of Sierra you have installed? Is it a Beta or the 10.12.2 release?

 

[Rod]

No, I've never tested a beta on my wife's laptop (would you?) and she is currently running macOS 10.12.2 release.

 

[IWT]

I'm butting in here, but maybe as it's Christmas time, I'll be forgiven on this occasion.

Why would a Mac with an SSD (no moving parts) heat up at all?

Why does it not heat up when in normal use; but does heat up during the night - only to cool down when used?

I realise these questions are rhetorical or the problem would have been solved; but it doesn't seem to make any sense.

Suppose, at the end of the working day, you just left the Mac in normal-use mode - no shutting lid, no activating sleep etc. Does it/would it still heat up?

A potentially useful experiment because it might determine whether it is the continued usage that keeps it cool; or the lid closing/sleep actions which result in the over heating.

Ian

 

[Rod]

Well Ian, you make a good point. The answer I think lies in the fact that the SSD is till working on the apps that are still active. In my wife's case that would be Google Chrome with about 10 open tabs, including WordPress, Excel, Mail and MS Word. So the CPU is still operating and although the fan continues run my wife is in the habit of covering the whole thing with a cloth because her desk is in the bedroom and the light from the MagSafe charger and SIL bother her. This had the added advantage of keeping dust off the USB keyboard as well. So it looks like shutting it down is the only option at the moment.

 

[Csmac]

Rod,

I don't think you ever said that you disconnected everything from the MBP except power, but if you did I missed it.

I bring this up as on my 2012 MBP if I leave anything connected to the ports except for headphones it will sleep, but not suspend. With everything disconnected it will suspend after a while overnight (flashing light goes out and it takes a few seconds to come back up in the morning). I know this is not your problem, but it does show that connections do have an effect.

Cliff

 

[Rod]

Thanks Cliff, I did say I unplugged all peripheral devices but I'm not sure what you mean by "suspend" as apposed to Sleep? Are you referring to "hibernate?"

 

[Rod]

Oh, and just rereading the instuctions on another Apple site I see that the instructions for resetting SMC state you have to hold the keys for 10 sec. I dont remember any others site stating a time duration so i will try again.