Sleepy Laptop

[Procrastinus]

I have acquired a MacBook Pro 9,2 mid 2012 (A1278) running High Sierra and in very good cosmetic condition, but with a problem – it will not start regularly. Press the power button and absolutely nothing happens most of the time. If it does decide to boot (usually after a prolonged rest!) everything runs as it should – keyboard, trackpad,camera, etc.

I have run all the keyboard combinations for NVRAM et al and been through the Apple list of disconnecting various cables whilst shorting the power pads. External keyboards don't help either. I have even removed the logic board to check for liquid spill and subsequent corrosion – nothing, it is spotless. Battery usage was in the 300's last time I looked and I have tried booting with power cable only. I did notice that the battery has been replaced at some time. I have also replaced the HDD cable as this can be a problem with this model.

But I am starting to see a pattern in my sleepy laptop - it needs a good nights sleep!

So first thing in the morning, it starts fine and runs as it should (CPU temp steady at around 45C). Restart works normally, but shut it down and that is it for the rest of the day!!

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

 

[ferrarr]

Did you try starting in safe mode?

 

[Procrastinus]

Yes I have. And it rebooted back into normal mode as it should after. I am sure the problem is hardware related, but I cannot imagine what component(s) can fail, even if partially, to give this 'morning only - one shot' start up problem. It is most puzzling especially as all systems function properly when it does decide to power up.

 

[ferrarr]

What do you mean? Safe mode boot, boots into Safe Mode. Then you test to see if the issue still appears.

Then you restart back to normal macOS. Did you do this, or did it just boot to normal macOS?

 

[Procrastinus]

For the first start, I booted to Safe Mode. All went as it should and I used Restart to get back to normal again. No problems. The Restart option has always worked.
It is only when I select Shut Down that will it all for the day.
It is such a delightful little machine that it would be a shame to just scrap it.

 

[ferrarr]

One more things to try. EtreCheck, EtreCheck. Download, install and then run it, make sure you give it full access to get the complete results. You shouldn't need the Pro version, but there is a free trial.

And the battery might be expanding or warping. You can test with straight edge along the bottom of the keyboard, and above the trackpad.

Also get CoconutBattery, coconutBattery 4 - by coconut-flavour.com, if you don't already have it.

 

[MacInWin]

"Doc, it hurts when I do this."
"Don't do that"

Ok, old and bad joke, but why shut the machine down? Leave it attached to the power supply, leave it running, just put it to sleep. From your description, it should then wake up when you ask for it and be useful to you. Just boot it about once a week to refresh the cache storage.

 

[Procrastinus]

Good morning, ferrarr.
Here is the EtreCheck report you asked for. Some of the items seem to be OCLP inspired, but I cannot see any major problems. My HDD is 64GB which is fine as I do not store much on the drive. The battery is perfectly flat. Will post with coconutbattery 4 soon








EtreCheck Report
EtreCheckPro version: 6.8.9 (68074)


Report generated: 2025-04-17 09:22:39


Download EtreCheckPro from https://etrecheck.com


Runtime: 4:23




Performance: Good

Problem: Other problem


Description:


MacBook Pro 9,2 mid 2012 will not start again after shutdown unless a


considerable time has passed. Restart is no problem


Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.


No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.


System Integrity Protection disabled - System Integrity Protection is disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.


Low disk space - This computer is running critically low on free hard drive space.


Apple security disabled - Apple security software is disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.


Obsolete hardware - This computer may be considered obsolete.


Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement.


SSD too slow - SSD is showing poor performance.


Heavy network usage - This computer has recently restarted and has high network usage.


Kernel boot arguments - This computer has custom kernel boot arguments.


Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
Status: Obsolete
MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro9,2
2.5 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-3210M) CPU: 2-core
8 GB RAM - At maximum
BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600
BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 330

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB
Color LCD 1152 x 720

Drives:

disk0 - M4-CT064M4SSD2 64.02 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)
Internal SATA 6 Gigabit Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 [APFS Container] 63.81 GB
disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 63.81 GB (Shared by 6 volumes)
disk1s1 - O**** - Data (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (8.06 GB used)
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (270 MB used)
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (1.12 GB used)
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (1.07 GB used)
disk1s5 (APFS) [APFS Container] (16.04 GB used)
disk1s5s1 - O**2 (APFS) [APFS Snapshot] (16.04 GB used)
disk1s6 - Update (APFS) (750 KB used)

Mounted Volumes:

disk1s1 - O**** - Data [APFS Virtual drive]
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data
Used: 8.06 GB
Shared values
Size: 63.81 GB
Free: 37.15 GB
Available: 37.20 GB

disk1s2 - Preboot [APFS Preboot]
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Preboot
Used: 270 MB
Shared values
Size: 63.81 GB
Free: 37.15 GB

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM]
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/VM
Used: 1.07 GB
Shared values
Size: 63.81 GB
Free: 37.15 GB

disk1s5 [APFS Container]
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Update/mnt1
Used: 16.04 GB
Shared values
Size: 63.81 GB
Free: 37.15 GB

disk1s5s1 - O**2 [APFS Snapshot]
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /
Read-only: Yes
Used: 16.04 GB
Shared values
Size: 63.81 GB
Free: 37.15 GB
Available: 37.20 GB

disk1s6 - Update
Filesystem: APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Update
Used: 750 KB
Shared values
Size: 63.81 GB
Free: 37.15 GB

USB:

USB 2.0 bus
hub_device
hub_device
Apple Inc. - Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Computer, Inc. - IR Receiver
Apple Inc. - BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. - Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB 2.0 bus
hub_device
Apple Inc. - FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

USB 3.0 bus
PixArt - USB Optical Mouse

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet
Interface en1: Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

System Software:

macOS Monterey 12.7.4 (21H1123)
Installed 2025-04-15
Time since boot: Less than an hour
Boot args: keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 -lilubetaall ipc_control_port_options=0 -nokcmismatchpanic amfi=0x80

Security:

Gatekeeper: App Store and identified developers


System Integrity Protection: unknown (Custom Configuration)



Antivirus software: None!


System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded] 38 Apple tasks


[Loaded] 197 Apple tasks


[Running] 146 Apple tasks


[Other] One Apple task


System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] 17 Apple tasks


[Loaded] 198 Apple tasks


[Running] 142 Apple tasks


Launch Daemons:

[Running] com.crystalidea.macsfancontrol.smcwrite.plist (Ilya Parniuk - installed 2025-04-15)


Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.crystalidea.macsfancontrol.smcwrite


[Loaded] com.dortania.opencore-legacy-patcher.macos-update.plist (Mykola Grymalyuk - installed 2025-04-15)


Command: /Library/Application Support/Dortania/OpenCore-Patcher.app/Contents/MacOS/OpenCore-Patcher --prepare_for_update


Launch Agents:

[Loaded] com.dortania.opencore-legacy-patcher.auto-patch.plist (Mykola Grymalyuk - installed 2024-12-11)


Command: /Library/Application Support/Dortania/OpenCore-Patcher.app/Contents/MacOS/OpenCore-Patcher --auto_patch


User Login Items:

[Running] Macs Fan Control (Ilya Parniuk - installed 2025-04-15)
Application
/Applications/Macs Fan Control.app

Applications:

416 Apple apps
14 3rd party apps
2 x86-only apps
No unsigned apps

Backup:

Time Machine Not Configured!

Performance:

System Load: 2.98 (1 min ago) 5.86 (5 min ago) 4.23 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O usage: 8.90 MB/s
File system: 34.52 seconds
Write speed: 98 MB/s
Read speed: 397 MB/s

CPU Usage Snapshot:

Type Overall


System: 26 %


User: 15 %


Idle: 60 %


Top Processes Snapshot by CPU:

Process (count) CPU (Source - Location)


nsurlsessiond (2) 57.38 % (Apple)


kernel_task 42.23 % (Apple)


WindowServer 10.88 % (Apple)


com.apple.StreamingUnzipService.privileged 9.04 % (Apple)


mobileassetd 4.34 % (Apple)


Top Processes Snapshot by Memory:

Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location)


plugin-container (12) 736 MB (Mozilla Corporation)


EtreCheckPro 599 MB (Etresoft, Inc.)


firefox 434 MB (Mozilla Corporation)


kernel_task 205 MB (Apple)


mds_stores 139 MB (Apple)


Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use:

Process Input / Output (Source - Location)


nsurlsessiond 1.76 GB / 62 MB (Apple)


mDNSResponder 48 KB / 31 KB (Apple)


netbiosd 16 KB / 3 KB (Apple)


apsd 5 KB / 7 KB (Apple)


firefox 1 KB / 2 KB (Mozilla Corporation)


Top Processes Snapshot by Energy Use:

Process (count) Energy (0-100) (Source - Location)


nsurlsessiond (2) 24 (Apple)


WindowServer 5 (Apple)


com.apple.StreamingUnzipService.privileged 4 (Apple)


mobileassetd 2 (Apple)


mds_stores 2 (Apple)


Virtual Memory Information:

Physical RAM: 8 GB


Free RAM: 1.04 GB


Used RAM: 3.69 GB


Cached files: 3.27 GB


Available RAM: 4.31 GB


Swap Used: 0 B


Software Installs (past 60 days):

Install Date Name (Version)


2025-04-15 macOS 12.7.4 (12.7.4) - Software update


2025-04-15 AutoPkg Assets (2.2.0) - Install on demand


2025-04-16 ClassicWeather (6.1) - App Store


2025-04-16 WeatherWeather (1.1) - App Store


2025-04-16 Weatherly (4.30) - App Store


2025-04-17 XProtectPlistConfigData (5295) - Software update


2025-04-17 XProtectPlistConfigData (5274) - Software update


2025-04-17 XProtectPlistConfigData (5272) - Software update


2025-04-17 MRTConfigData (1.93) - Software update


2025-04-17 XProtectPayloads (151) - Software update


Diagnostics Information (past 60 days):



End of report

 

[Procrastinus]

Here it is:

 

[ferrarr]

Thanks. From the EtreCheck report, everything seems ok. When you ran that report, was it after a restart, or after a shut down? It might be good for you to have both for comparison? I don't know if there will be any differences to compare, but I don't think it could hurt.

 

[Procrastinus]

Just retried the EtreCheck. This time after a reboot and I have checked all and it it the same as before. So rebooting does not seem to matter. Most confusing! Perhaps it is just a 'Laptop with Attitude'

 

[ferrarr]

I agree.

 

[Rod]

As already mentioned just don't turn it off. I almost never turn my MBP off, it's always plugged into AC power except for short periods but even then I dont turn it off. International travel is the only time I turn it off, sometimes not even then.

 

[Procrastinus]

Thanks, Rod - but it would be nice to know what causes this behaviour

 

[ferrarr]

Have you tried startup without the power cord plugged into the MBP?

 

[Procrastinus]

Yes - no difference either way, and with keyboard disconnected using the power pads does not power up either!

 

[Rod]

Thanks, Rod - but it would be nice to know what causes this behaviour

Well, I take the attitude that these things either get worse, in which case the cause will become clearer or stay the same in which case it doesn't really matter. Like a rattle in the car. If you can't find it and the car seems unaffected then it will either get worse or fall off, in which case we will know what it was, or not, in which case its probably not too important. This happened with my dad's car once, eventually the exhaust tail pipe fell off and dad said, I'd been wondering what that noise was for a while." He stopped, sent me back to retrieve it and we put it back on that afternoon with new mountings.