Macbook Pro quits downloading when i close lid

...many people want this functionality, it's unfortunate that it was not considered in the design functionality.

It was considered, obviously. Apple made a deliberate decision that the machine would sleep when its display was closed, to protect itself against the all-too-common dimwit user who would, if it remained awake when closed, be certain sooner or later to toss it into a bag or backpack without any air circulation and incinerate it. Imagine all the crybabies who would then be here in these forums berating Apple for selling them a computer that could do that to itself. Apple gave that scenario a moment's thought, and sensibly opted to prevent it.

Now along come the makers of InsomniaX with their product designed to short-circuit your MBP's anti-dimwit protection. Fine — go ahead and use it if you're never a dimwit. Me, I get tired sometimes. I'm perfectly capable of making stupid mistakes somewhere between 0% and 20% of any given week, and so is almost everyone else I know or have ever heard of. Maybe you're not; more power to you. But if you decide to use InsomniaX and for whatever reason you do toast your MBP, do us all a favor: accept that it was your mistake, not Apple's, and don't come crying here about it.

Hi Josh,

I'm not aware of a way to keep the MBP awake when you close the lid. It's designed to go to sleep when the lid is closed, which of course terminates all network connections and processing.

If you have an external keyboard, you may be able to wake it up again after you close it. If you plug in the keyboard and close the lid, then press any key on the keyboard it might wake up. I don't know for sure whether you must have an external monitor plugged in for this to occur or not. It's called "Clamshell mode".

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131

--Travis

if you use your laptop as a portable desktop, always keeping it on a power supply, than overheating during travel, etc isn't an issue. lots of people just want to close the lid and let all of their tasks run - like turning the monitor off completely - what you'd do with a desktop while leaving the tower on. many people want this functionality, it's unfortunate that it was not considered in the design functionality.

bsbeamer, I used to agree with you but I soon found out that the PC runs far too hot with the screen closed so I put it on sleep/standby anyway. I think Apple have just ensured that their hardware will not run in to these problems.

You can always tell the screen to turn off after 5 minutes.

"When I have things downloading (torrents) and I close my lid...whether its plugged in or running on battery..."

I can't help you there, but I got a similar issue. My USB mouse doesn't work anymore when I unplug it from the computer. When I plug it back in it works again. How can I keep using it while it's unplugged?

Thanks!

yes, assuming your energy settings are to never put the computer to sleep (When I'm doing this I manually turn the monitor off (hold f1 til it goes off, f2 to bring it back)

To use a MBP in clamshell mode, you must have an external display, keyboard, mouse, and the AC adapter connected.

One word: INSOMNIAX

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/22211

Jorge Lomeli
Monterrey, Mexico

InsomniaX is a BAD idea. It can cause disastrous heat problems and wreck your MBP. Don't use it.

Honestly...why would you need to close the lid unless you are going somewhere?


typically when I'm at home, my lid is always open, screensaver active, or even just set your screen to dim after 5 minutes and it shuts off the screen not the computer itself.

Laptops are made to sleep the system when the lid is closed. when someone closes the lid, typically they are getting ready to move it, so the system prepares accordingly. this is completely normal behavior for all laptops!

I know that with older mac laptops, you could connect an external monitor and usb keyboard and power up the machine from the keyboard and use it with the lid closed and an external monitor only (doesnt use the built in LCD) but I havent tried using it with the new macbook pro's.

I'd NOT suggest any program that stops the laptop from sleeping. I could be bad news if you just pick up your laptop and take it with you while it was fully functional and not sleeping. Damage to the hard disk/optical disk and internal workings can occur.

unfortunately, F1 & F2 doesn't turn the screen off and on, just adjusts light brightness from 0%-100%

even at 0%, the screen is still "on"