MacBook Pro will not sleep (by command or shutting the lid) or shut down.

Question

MacBook Pro will not sleep (by command or shutting the lid) or shut down.

An interesting problem. I have a MacBook Pro that when you put it to sleep it immediately wakes back up, also if you ask it to shut down it immediately restarts.

So far I have tried:
Repaired the permissions with Disk Utility - no change.
Repaired the Hard Drive with Disk Utility - no change.
Created a new user - no change.
Ran the Hardware test disk, which reported no problems.
Started from a new System on an external disk - no change.
Booted into Windows via bootcamp, when you shutdown Windows it immediately reboots into the selected startup system, whether Mac or Windows.
Reset the Power Management Unit - no change.
Reset the PRAM - no change.

When the MacBook is running it works fine and has no glitches.
If you shut down the MacBook Pro and then quickly remove the battery before it restarts, leave for ten seconds or so you can put in the battery and it will not spontaneously start, but after you have started it, you cannot shut it down or sleep it!

Has anyone got any other ideas or tests I can do before I have to resort to the Apple Store Geniuses?

Thanks

Core Duo MacBook Pro 1.83, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Nov 25, 2008 6:56 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Mac-Medic

Level 6

17,301 points

Nov 26, 2008 9:28 PM in response to nigelradestock

Try trashing these 3 .plist preferences and reboot. Reset your Energy Saver preferences.

HD > Library > Preferences > SystemConfiguration > com.apple.AutoWake.plist & com.apple.PowerManagement.plist

User > Library > Preferences > com.apple.systemuiserver.plist

Also, look at your system logs in your Console application and see what is causing the "wake event." It could be hardware-related. Do you have any external devices attached, such as a mouse or hub? I've seen Bluetooth problems with wireless BT mice.

Dave M.
MacOSG Founder/Ambassador  An Apple User Group  iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
Creator of 'Mac611 - Mobile Mac Support' (designed exclusively for an iPhone/iPod touch)

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Answer 2

Dec 2, 2008 12:58 AM in response to Mac-Medic

Hello, thanks for the suggestions. I have looked at the System Logs and they show nothing unusual before, during and after the sleep event. Trashing the prefs made no difference. There is nothing extra connected to the USB ports according to the System Profiler.

I believe the problem is hardware related because when booted into Windows via bootcamp and you tell it to shutdown it restarts back into Windows. There is no connection to OS X in this case.

I have decided to dismantle the MacBook Pro and give it a good clean out as I think there is some dust/dirt causing the trigger to restart.

More on this intriguing problem on this Isle of Wight Mac User Group forum:

http://iowaug.org.uk/Forum/index.php?topic=59.0

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