iMac won't wake up from sleep using keyboard or mouse

This might sound obvious, but a lot of people buy Macs to keep things simple, this all sounds very complicated!

Is anyone else noticing this issue when their iPad is docked? Everything works normally unless the iPad is connected

Add my wife's iMac to the list. Will follow up after doing some of the troubleshooting ideas in this thread.

Took my iMac in for repair. Turns out to be a bad backlight board. This is a frequent problem with new iMacs according to the technician. So far, after 2 days no issues with screen backlighting not turning on after sleep.

Add me to the list as well. Brand new 21.5" imac that only occasionally wakes up from sleep properly by using the keyboard to wake it up. Using the power button to put it button to send it back to sleep and then using the power to wake it up, works most every time. I haven't even had the thing a week. Started noticing sleep problem on day 2. headed to Apple Store tomorrow.

Mine hasn't done it in a long time, a few weeks or so.
I don't know what is different, but this morning it wouldn't wake up.
Some people have said they can see the screen is on, but the backlight isn't or something- this is not the case with mine. Nothing happens at all. Almost as if it were off.

This is the first Mac I've had that has had issues.
The first issue I had was with iDVD. After hours of talking with AppleCare I decided to re-install iDVD- and it fixed it. What a pain in the butt.

I'm having the same problem too. My computer goes to sleep and I can't wake it up with my wireless keyboard or mouse. I try using the power button and I end up having to unplug the power strip from the wall!

I got my iMAC 27" in November, and just this week the "no wake up" syndrome started. At first I though we had had a power failure, so I touched the power button. Viola!! it came on and did NOT go through all the start up screens. In other words, the power button is now acting as my wake up button. It has happened several times now, and touching the power button wakes it up every time.

I have Apple Care, so I am going to go through the help desk now, but found this post to be very interesting and to know that I am not alone.

Only other observation was the periodically the Shift light on the keyboard would not light up?? Right after that, my problem started.

I had stopped forcing sleep and hadn't suffered from this for a few weeks... but back again this evening.. Mac won't wake from sleep with bluetooth keyboard or mouse!! Plugged in a USB mouse in the hope this may work... but the light did not turn on.. basically no power is going to the USB device. So, the Mac is not simply sleeping but actually appears to be turned off. However, it would not turn on simply by pressing the power button. Had to hold the button 5 secs for a reset, and then press again to turn on the Mac.. looks like the crash has been recorded in the log.. but then even the crash exception handler is failing!

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14/02/2011 21:38:49 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.netauth.sysagent[22448]) Exited with exit code: 255
14/02/2011 22:05:53 com.apple.launchd[1] * launchd[1] has started up. *
14/02/2011 22:06:20 com.apple.WindowServer[69] Mon Feb 14 22:06:20 arick77s-iMac.local WindowServer[69] <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
14/02/2011 22:06:30 com.apple.UserEventAgent-LoginWindow[85] ALF error: cannot find useragent 1102
14/02/2011 22:06:30 com.apple.UserEventAgent-LoginWindow[85] plugin.UserEventAgentFactory: called with typeID=FC86416D-6164-2070-726F-70735C216EC0
14/02/2011 22:06:30 com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[97] (com.apple.ReportCrash) Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self
14/02/2011 22:06:31 com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[97] (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist[120]) Exited with exit code: 1

I'm facing the same problem with my iMac I just got several weeks ago. I leave the iMac in the office overnight. When I come back in the morning, I can't wake it up with my bluetooth keyboard or mouse. But it seems like it's turned on but the screen display is black. I eventually hit the power button for several seconds to shut it off, and then turn it on again. What a pain. I'm guessing if I leave the screen saver on always, then it would work. But I don't want to waste all that energy. Has anybody figured this out?

Based on the number of posts, it appears to still be outstanding. I had this problem when I got my 27" iMac a couple months ago. I either scared it by swearing at it or one of the settings I made (see below) have cured it. At any rate, it has not happened to me since the last time I made these settings, so maybe it has been cured - for me. Here are my settings:

Screen Saver turns on at 30 minutes
Computer goes to sleep in 3 hours
Display sleeps at 45 minutes

Got another update, sorta. It happened again today. Instead of turning it off with the power button, I tried using the keyboard to use the computer, blindly. I couldn't get too far. I was able to turn the volume up and down and I could hear the clicky noises it makes. So it was definitely awake and functioning. Nothing on the screen, not at all. I managed to get it to sleep, and wake it back up, thinking maybe that'd kick the screen back on. Didn't work.

Had to reboot. I know this doesn't solve anything- but it shows that my computer does in fact wake up, but the screen doesn't turn on at all. This is very disappointing to have a 2 thousand dollar Mac and have a problem like this.

Mattd313: I'm struggling with exactly the same issue here.. with a bright light I'm actually able to see what is going on in the screen.. (is a bit tricky to see, but works in a 45 degree angle).. Might be the backlit panel (or the controller for that) that is buggy. I'm loaded with work so didn't see a chance to bring it in for repair yet.

i have a similar problem the computer wont reboot with out holding power button in the problem only occurs intermitterly , also loose bluetooth connection . Has anyone any suggestion the cause of this fault.

I tried to see if the screen is active, but backlight is off (sounds like what you're talking about) but even with a flashlight up to it and at all angles I can't see anything.

I noticed sometimes I'd come in and the computer would be awake, so I turned off wake for network access. That should stop it from waking up, and I'm hoping that it falling back asleep on its own is the problem, not me putting it to sleep. Probably a long shot- but I'd rather try everything before bringing that beast of a machine up to the Genius bar to solve an intermittent problem they won't be able to reproduce.