Servi
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Q: Sleep of Doom - light flash w/ beep every 10 seconds?

Macbook Pro 7,1 (13" Mid 2010) Yosemite 10.10.5

 

After laptop has been left awake (but not when put to sleep manually), it is later found to be asleep with abrupt light flashes and beeps every 10 seconds, instead of increasing and decreasing in the light's intensity as is normal when asleep.

 

PRAM and SMC resets are of no effect.  This began a week ago.  Previous updates were several days prior.

 

The only other info is that this seems to require several hours of inactivity before it goes into this sleep-of-doom (usually in the middle of the night).  Powering down by the on/off switch is the only alternative.

 

Battery health is at 85%, 36 cycles.

500GB HDD is optimized, defragged and without bad blocks.

Memory Clean 6.0 (FIPLAB) is active.

TechTool Pro 7 RAM "Memory Test" results in 100% Pass for the 2x 4GB sticks.

 

Externally there's a 2nd 1080p and USB powered expander, 2x small 2.5HDDs and 2x 2TB 2.5HDD (partitioned), with Time Machine and a CCC MacHD clone.

 

Thank you.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), 7,1

Posted on Nov 21, 2015 11:16 AM

by my ginger,Apple recommended
my ginger my ginger
Level 4 (2,472 points)
A:

Hi. Beep tone are meant to tell you there is a problem. the type and number of beeps indicate the problem.https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202768

Posted on Nov 21, 2015 2:18 PM

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Q: Sleep of Doom - light flash w/ beep every 10 seconds?

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  • by my ginger,Apple recommended

    my ginger my ginger Nov 21, 2015 2:18 PM in response to Servi
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Nov 21, 2015 2:18 PM in response to Servi

    Hi. Beep tone are meant to tell you there is a problem. the type and number of beeps indicate the problem.https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202768

  • by Servi,

    Servi Servi Nov 21, 2015 2:49 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Notebooks
    Nov 21, 2015 2:49 PM in response to my ginger

    "my ginger" - thank you for your reply.

     

    I appreciate this issue short beeps which repeat every 10 seconds indicates a problem.  This particular problem, this sleep of doom, happens after hours of inactivity, as described initially, and from which the only option is to hard-kill the power.  The link posted above advises solely on beeps that occur during start-up.  Searching a Forum query of "beeps during sleep?" returns a "no knowledge" response.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Nov 21, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Servi
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Nov 21, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Servi

    Hi. If in the energy saver you have put hard disk to sleep checked also ,this is almost like a shut down without actually doing so. That is why I included the link. try this. Next time you let it go to sleep turn off or unplug the external devises and see if you get the same thing. If they are turned on the ram is trying to access all of the peripherals while restarting the hard drive.

  • by Servi,

    Servi Servi Nov 21, 2015 4:08 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Notebooks
    Nov 21, 2015 4:08 PM in response to my ginger

    Thanks again for your reply.  Firstly, yes, hard drive are "ticked" to sleep whenever possible, but this does not affect the MacHD System Drive.

     

    Your link to the support.apple page for start-up beeps lists "one beep every 5 seconds", which is the closest to this issue posted, indicating there is no RAM installed.

     

    This leaves the question - What changed one week ago, "something", which has previously been without issue, ever?

     

    "Memory Clean" will not activate once laptop has gone to sleep (even though it has been set to auto-clean RAM is less than 50MB remains free).

    CCC History Log of the scheduled 4AM backup of the MacHD shows it gets delayed until I hard-kill and reboot.

    Drives will not try to awake once laptop has gone to sleep (even TM, setup for daily late afternoon backups).

     

    The (locked-up) sleep-of-doom and 10-second-gapped beeps w/ flashing light indicate something, but even Apple's database is lacking.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Nov 21, 2015 4:21 PM in response to Servi
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Nov 21, 2015 4:21 PM in response to Servi

    Hi. How much ram do you have installed. Your Macbook Pro will run on 8 gigs of ram. You could try removing and reseating the ram. Or even remove one stick then after trying that do the other one. Sometimes Tech Tool pro does not pick up a failing ram module. My thought is that in waking from sleep it is trying to start to many apps and it gets hung. All apps open to random memory with some having to use virtual memory off the hard drive. But if the hard drive is in sleep mode , it has to wake up first.

  • by Servi,

    Servi Servi Nov 21, 2015 4:59 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Notebooks
    Nov 21, 2015 4:59 PM in response to my ginger

    " TechTool Pro 7 RAM "Memory Test" results in 100% Pass for the 2x 4GB sticks. "

     

    " Sometimes Tech Tool pro does not pick up a failing ram module. "  I do not believe the RAM would have any occasion to fail during self-sleep.

     

    The issue -

    AFTER the laptop has gone to sleep by way of it's own "Energy Saver" setting, and

    AFTER about some 4-6-8 hours later (I am always sound asleep), it goes into another STATE -

    an (as of yet) unknown state - the "sleep of doom" - which once occurring, cannot be altered (will not wake up),

    and includes simultaneous beeps and light flashes,

    which continue unceasingly until I get out of bed and hard-kill the power off button, such being the only possible option.

     

    PRAM and SMC resets are ineffective.  Thanks.

  • by my ginger,Apple recommended

    my ginger my ginger Nov 21, 2015 5:34 PM in response to Servi
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Nov 21, 2015 5:34 PM in response to Servi

    Hi. There is no fast and easy way to check this out, as you say it has to be in sleep mode for a while. It amounts to  a check list of things to try. Here is some things that apple says to try.https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204760 The reason I suggested unplugging any external devises is that it could be one of them that is causing it. If in doing this the problem goes away then you can add them back one at a time until the problem starts again. You could also go to disk utilities and repair permissions. This is something that is suggested if your mac starts acting weird.

  • by Servi,

    Servi Servi May 19, 2016 5:19 AM in response to Servi
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Notebooks
    May 19, 2016 5:19 AM in response to Servi

    Is there anyone else with an understanding of what this problem may be, please?  All of the above suggestions have proven ineffective.

     

    Even after moving to El Capitan, this problem persists.  Slowly I've removed all possible Apps that may be causing the issue without successfully identifying a culprit.  I even turned off Time Machine and CCC's clone backup independently, each for a time.  The laptop's battery shows 86% Health at 36 cycles.

     

    At any time of day or night, AFTER the computer has "fallen asleep" as per it's "Settings", randomly, sometimes every other "sleep" time for 3 or 4 occurrences, or after several consecutive "sleeps" without issue, the 'sleep of doom' occurs, resulting in single beeps every 6 seconds and no way of waking the computer up, the only option being to hard kill the power by way of a 3 second hold of the power button.

     

    Thank you for any new thoughts on this.

  • by Servi,

    Servi Servi Jun 26, 2016 8:31 AM in response to Servi
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 26, 2016 8:31 AM in response to Servi

    I recently, in attempts to isolate absolutely everything, unplugged a D-Link powered USB hub which provides access for iPhone backups/ charging and also connects 2x Seagate 2TB HDDs which include partitions for Time Machine and a CCC cloned MacintoshHD.  The "sleep of doom" was no more.  I used ClamX and Disk Utility and TechTool7 to scour each drive when re-hooked up and no issues were found.  And yet within one day, again in the middle of the night, the "sleep of doom" continued occurring.

     

    I notice that a Mac Pro we also have, that runs at all times, during sleep mode, has a system mini-bootup that apparently does a 7 second check on things and then puts the tower back to sleep.

     

    Could this be happening because it's a 7,1 Macbook Pro, or possibly a dislike of Seagate's or D-Link's?  This only began when the OS went to 10.10 and continues on 10.11.

     

    I am baffled that there are no other reports of such an issue in this Community.

  • by Servi,

    Servi Servi Jul 14, 2016 10:55 AM in response to Servi
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 14, 2016 10:55 AM in response to Servi

    July 14 update -

     

    When the TM partition on one a two external USB Seagate 2TB HDs is not mounted - no problem waking from sleep, no beeps of doom.  Even if other partitions on the same Seagate are mounted, no issues.

     

    Today, after mounting the TM partition and having TM run a full update, the computer went to sleep while I was briefly away, with TM partition still mounted.  Once I returned and tapped on the touch pad, the computer immediately entered "sleep of doom" and started beeping every 5 seconds, leaving no other option but to then hard kill the power.

     

    According to 'my ginger' Reply #1 link, Apple states that those beeps indicates a RAM issue.  There are no issues with the RAM according to TechTool, nor have there every been since this 'sleep of doom' began.

     

    Can anyone kindly decipher these apparently unrelated facts and suggest a fix please?  Presently, the work-around is to mount and then unmount the TM partition, to allow a TM cycle - and not leave the room in the interim.

     

    Many Thanks.

  • by Servi,

    Servi Servi Aug 23, 2016 2:27 PM in response to Servi
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 23, 2016 2:27 PM in response to Servi

    August 23 update -

     

    This morning, after waking, within 2 minutes the screen flashed white for 4 seconds and then went black and the beeps began every 4-5 seconds.  After re-booting, it did the same after about 15 minutes.  After re-booting, it did the same after about 30 minutes.  After re-booting, it did the same after about 2 hours, during which time it had gone to sleep on it's own and was 'space-bar-ed' awake.

     

    To have Carbon Copy Cloner do it's 'daily', the external HDDs must be plugged in after booting up and then unmounted from the desktop while still plugged in (usb).  Or else she crashes as above.

     

    If I leave the iPhone plugged in and she falls asleep, it either crashes as above or just after waking up like the opening incident above.

     

    Sometimes it will appear asleep, but won't wake up, but won't go into beep mode either, or sometimes it does go into beep mode.

     

    What does it mean if a Macbook Pro goes 'dead' (with fans still working) and begins to beep every 4-5 seconds?  There is no information about this specific beeping (as the suggested links above had no information).

     

    Please, I would greatly appreciate help on identifying what the issue is.  Thank you.