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

My sleep issue wound up being my Cerwin Vega powered monitor speakers ... had them connected through the headphone jack and figured out that they were what was causing the sleep. Every time it goes to sleep all I have to do is disconnect those speakers and everything is fine until I plug them in again. Go figure not sure what is causing that but you may want to disconnect your speakers. : )

As is buried somewhere in the 36 pages of previous posts, I had this problem and then it went away. The only connection I could make was that Microsoft Powerpoint was causing the problem.

I installed Mavericks this week, and guess what? The problem has returned! And I cannot blame it on Powerpoint since it was not running when the iMac went to sleep.

I have the iMac set to turn on the screensaver after one our, not go to sleep, and then present the login window upon "awakening." This has been my setup for years. Twice, since upgrading to Mavericks, after the screensaver has been on for several hours (I don't know if length of time is an issue), I'll return to find a black screen with a visible cursor (and you can tell the monitor is on, but only showing black plus the cursor). If I move the mouse or press a key, but I won't get the login window. I can tell the computer is receiving some input from the mouse and keyboard because I can hear the disk drive make noise as though it is trying to start up.

I have to press the Power button to manually shut off the computer and restart. Otherwise, it seems to start up and work ok. For now, I am turning off the screensaver. I guess I should save energy and allow my iMac go to sleep also.

Mekano's tip (aug 6 2010) worked for me too. (I had a firewire drive attached). Now making sure the screen saver kicks in before the computer and display goes to sleep it wakes up fine.

This may help those desperately searching for an answer.

Set-Up: Sorry folks, as sleek & beautiful as the apple keyboard and mouse are, they have never been for me. At present I run a Kinesis Advantage USB keyboard with a wide ergonomic split and a cordless logitech trackball. Two USB slots down. I run a second monitor out of the thunderbolt port using a mini display in, a Lacie Stark 1TB for Time Machine, a 500GB lacie mini hard drive for work bibs & bobs and a 2 TB Western Digital for my Itunes, Torrent & Picture libraries which are extensive. I also need to have my FitBit dongle plugged in to a USB port somewhere as well as a 30 pin connector for my Ipad 2 and a lightning for Ipad air & iphone 5. My powered USB2 7-port hub is my godsend.

My late 2013 27" Imac ( arrived Xmas Eve) kept hanging on the grey screen of death (anyone remember the PC blue screen of death from the 80s and 90s?) and I tried everything and finally worked out that my keyboard seemed to be the problem so had to unplug it from my USB hub until the login screen and then plug it in again. A clumsy work-around but better than giving up my beloved ergonomic typing experience!

And then after the 10.9.1 update I could not wake Imac from sleep using keyboard or trackball. And the power button was unresponsive. The only way to fire it up was taking the AC plug out of the back. Not even unplugging at wall worked!

Days of swearing and scouring the internet for a solution and close to taking it back to Apple!! Tried all sorts of settings changes, been all up in Terminal and Console looking for error messages or something out of place ...

Long story short ... I was on my 34th combination of plugging and unplugging peripherals and putting Imac to sleep when, on a whim and too desperate for words, I cut the AC power to the USB hub and tried the sleep cycle again.

Yep ... it worked! And it's been working for two days now. I can now wake the machine from sleep using keyboard. The powered hub was the culprit. As soon as the hub was relying solely on the Imac for juice, everything was okay and the conflict removed. AND I don't have to unplug my keyboard for restart anymore!

Worth a try for all of you having a similar problem, can't hurt to try!

I recently got a new to me 27" iMac, replacing my 20" iMac.

I cloned the 20" one with Super Duper and copied everything over to the 27".

I'm running Mavericks. And, I love the 27incher.

I, too, started having a problem with the new computer not waking from sleep with the keyboard or mouse. I use a wired KB and a Magic Mouse, same units I used on the old iMac. I was very frustrated and irritated by the sleep problem and the need to hit the power button which either booted the iMac or went to the white screen.

In looking around these and other forums I found no definitive answer to the problem.

What I did figure out was that disconnecting my recently purchased powered USB 3 hub from the computer seems to have removed the computer sleep issue. I liked this new hub because it has it's own on/off switch, which I usually left off till I needed one of the backup drives I had plugged into it. Guess I'll just have to plug it in when I need it, but, that's a small sacrifice to have my sleep problems apparently solved!

The takeaway here is that I've read about other users unplugging different peripherals and having some luck, so maybe the actual problem lies in the interface with some peripherals and the iMac. BTW, I still have a different backup drive plugged in to the iMac and have no problems. Go figure.

Bob.

USB Powered Hub was the culprit for me!

My iMac 2012 developed this problem when I installed a new powered USB hub (Hoo-Too HT-UH002). Using it unpowered (which works just as well) seems to have solved the problem

Since the last update, when my iMac goes to sleep mode it seems that the mouse or the keyboard can wake it up. I have to do a "hard reset" everytime. Anyone has this type a problem?

go into spotlight and search for the genieo program.... i found that buried in my system, had tons of issues with it. Deleted all of that mess per instructions on google on how to get rid of it and I havent had a sleep issue since.

I have the same problem with my "22 iMac. You can always press the main power button once, and it will turn on. Apple is working to fix this issue.

aidfurlong wrote:

I have the same problem with my "22 iMac. You can always press the main power button once, and it will turn on. Apple is working to fix this issue.

Note that the OP you replied to had this issue over four years ago. I know users keep trying to bring this thread back to life, but do you really thing Apple is still working on that specific problem after all this time?

i did but no response. I have a seagate External drive and even the light is kind of low. when i restart the computer then the light goes up and I hear it working. But it began doing this since the last update. Never had problems with this.

did not find the genieo program

JFlower6 wrote:

Since the last update, when my iMac goes to sleep mode it seems that the mouse or the keyboard can wake it up. I have to do a "hard reset" everytime. Anyone has this type a problem?

Please start a new topic describing your setup and issue, as you will get a lot more help from all the right people that way. Only those who are still subscribed to this conversation from four years ago are paying any attention to you, so if you didn't find your answer in these 36 pages, you are probably wasting time posting here.

My Mac is just old enough that I keep

a small battery alarm clock nearby; so

a wakeup call isn't necessary, nor is it

required I remind Mac what the time is.

He can see it, right next to the display.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

I have the same issue....

I use an iMac i3 with 4GB memory.

Build is middle of 2010.

I have NOTHING connected to it except magic mouse and wireless original keyboard.

If I let it be over night, it will not wake up the next morning.

The computer is on as it is warm and I hear a faint sound from the fan.

But it is "dead" and the only way to turn it on is by holding the powerbutton for a forced turn off and then press the power button again for it to start.

What the **** is this problem that MANY people are experiencing???

Cheers!