Q: Unable to stop MBP from sleeping when lid closed
Hi guys
First time poster here. This problem has been driving me crazy for some time but there is no way I can get my 15" late 2011 MBP to stay awake with the lid closed.
I have tried the popular apps (NoSleep, Insomniax etc) also running from Terminal: pmset -noidle, caffeinate, but every time the same result; moment the lid is closed the machine goes to sleep.
All the Energy Saver preferences are maxed out and I even tried enabling Internet Sharing, which is supposed never to sleep as long as the machine is plugged in, but even that does not stop it.
Also tried resetting NVRAM, SMC to no avail.
I see most people have the opposite problem but I really would love to get this fixed and figure out what is going on. As long as the lid stays open it remains awake forever, it's definitely not overheating, just cannot figure it out all. By the way currently running Yosemite 10.10.5
All suggestions welcome - thanks in advance!
MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)
Posted on Nov 6, 2015 5:19 AM
So I found the perfect solution. And it is hardware, not software, based.
http://www.newertech.com/products/cblmdpheadb.php
It was originally developed for the Mac Mini, to improve graphics acceleration when an external monitor is not fitted by tricking the machine into thinking that a monitor is indeed present. And I guessed that it would offer a similar behaviour for those of us wishing to run our MacBooks with the lid closed.
And it seems I was right.
If you plug it into a MacBook Pro it will trick the machine into thinking a monitor is attached and allow it to keep running with the lid closed (clamshell mode).
This has been a challenge for years as OSX does not support this and a number of third-party solutions (InsomniaX, NoSleep) have tried to achieve this but with little success and neither support El Capitan.
The only way to keep a MacBook running with the lid closed is to have an external display attached and is fully supported by Apple:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201834
So I ordered this adapter and it works perfectly, the MBP immediately detected a "second screen" and kept on running when the lid was closed (I use it as my media server and access it from my other machines using VNC).
It even supports daisy chaining so in fact my external Thunderbolt HDD is connected to the MacBook Pro's Minidisplay Port and the Headless mac Video Accelerator is in turn connected to the HDD.
There is of course a theoretical risk of the machine overheating so should be left to the user's own risk but it's a chance I am personally willing to take.
Any else wishing to try this will do so at their own risk and I cannot be held responsible for any damage that may arise. You have been warned
Posted on Jan 8, 2016 5:06 AM