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

Hello Jarreyuri,

This thread goes back nealy 4 and a half years. Why don't you write a new post; it will attract more attention because your helpers here will not want to go back over 37 pages of answers to see if their idea has previously arisen. Just a suggestion.

I have this exact same problem. Won't wake from sleep with mouse or keyboard, only with hard shut down with button and then turn back on.

Many people are experiencing this and it goes back 4+ years? Why is this still a problem???

Mid-2010 iMac 2.8GHz Intel Core i5

OSX 10.9.2

4GB 1333MHz DDR3

I recently started getting this issue too. Never happened before. Screen is completely dark, but my keyboard light is on so I know the computer is still on. Have to hard restart every time.

Mid-2010 iMac 3.2GHz Intel Core i3

OSX 10.9.2

8GB 1333MHz DDR3

Seems like we all have one thing in common. Mid-2010 model... 😐

My 21" iMac is only about 2 weeks old, and it won't wake from sleep. This is my second machine as I shipped back my first one thinking it was bad hardware but the same is happening with this one. I can deal with my wifi not reconnecting from sleep, but for me to hardboot everytime I want to use my computer is just reidiculous and it also not good for the machine.

Belive me when I say I tried everything including anOS reinstall. I'm going to call support today to see if they come up with something or this is going back and unfortunatly I may have to go back to Windows because I just can't commit to this machine.

I got mine in early 2009, so it's a different model. I so far haven't been able to get it to do anything with the power button. About to make one more try and then unplug it. I have a deadline to meet. . . .

The only thing that going back to a Windows machine will do is change frustration from having a problem to an expectation of having many. Not a solution in my view.

To effortlesszone, try pressing and holding your power button for a few seconds until you year the "click" power-off. It should definitely work. You shouldn't have to unplug the machine.

Thanks for the "few seconds." I'd held it for "several" but apparently it wanted more. I got it off, and it's booting up again.

With regard to your comment to tlovecchio about going back to Windows, I have an opinion there, too. In 2008, I switched to Macs from Windows after 27 years of non-Mac PCs, starting with CP/M and a single 5.25-inch disk drive and disks with a capacity of, if I recall correctly, 110K. Load program, remove disk, load data. Repeat. Over those 27 years, I learned to do both hardware and software maintenance and repair. I got really good. I was financially and intellectually invested in the platform. Then I ran into a series of problems where (typical of those machines) every company that *might* have been part of the source of the errors pointed at all the others. I lost a huge amount of work time. Finally, at great expense and with trepidation, I switched.

It's true that tlovecchio's machine(s) are not behaving. It's also true that my Apples have acted up a bunch of times and I even just went through two hard-drive-wipe-and-reinstalls on this machine. But wow, I do *not* want to go back to the PCs. Apple's support, though not perfect, is, in my experience, polite and effective. I can't say that about the PC world.

Well nothing has changed!! I just received my new 2014 iMac 27" with the SSD and it will go to sleep and require a complete reboot in the morning. After the last security patch is when I noticed this. To make things a little more interesting, the bloody thing re-boots (makes the power-up sound) when it goes to sleep. I have the system logs and it does appear that there is an assertion failure just prior to the re-boot. I have tried most it not all the sugggestions above without manageing to mitigate the problem. If putting the machine to sleep with the power buttton so be it, but this problem has been plaguing Apple since 2010, Hey guys.... get a clue!!!!

Just to join in the chorus. I also have a mid-2010 iMac and am experiencing the same problem. I have done SMC and Pram resets and the problem is solved for a few days and then reappears. OSX 10.9.2.

Background: a litle under a fortnight ago, I had to resort to transferring data from my old to new iMac using a Thunderbolt to FireWire adaptor and FireWire cable after Migration Assistant via Ethernet constantly hanged (and that's another old, vexing issue in itself). *I left the adaptor plugged into the new iMac's Thunderbolt port*, but unconnected, of course, to the old iMac.

Yesterday, I unplugged the Thunderbolt/FireWire adaptor (it was slightly warm) and returned it as new - no questions asked - to my local Apple store. When I got home, the new iMac was asleep - and refused to wake using the usual means. If the power button was pressed and held, nothing happened. I had to unplug the power cord from the socket for a few minutes before replugging it, and the computer would then start up when the power button was pressed. It is less than twenty-four hours since the adaptor was unplugged, and the sleep issue has recurred about five times.

In my case, the key to the problem lies in the Thunderbolt port and the *absence* of the adaptor...

You should contact Apple Support directly by email and phone to see if an expert or someone with Apple Care can set you up with a qualifed person to listen and advise, concerning the issue and to tell them of your findings.

Depending on where you are located, region and country, your experiences may vary when contacting Apple or affiliate components of the company. It is possible to ask to elevate a continual or repeat unresolved experience to a higher level, or at least try.

Here, for the most part, we're owners and users of the product;

not Apple representatives, employees, etc and have no direct

link to the company, its products, and cannot set policy or offer

anything but advice. And sometimes even that is hit-and-miss.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

And to add my name to the list... just in the last couple of weeks my iMac (late 2009 27") has picked up this problem.

It wakes to a black screen & mouse cursor but nothing can be done.
If I'm streaming radio etc that will still be happening behind the blackness & my cursor can be moved so it is obviously just the screen/video/graphics not the CPU.
Only way out is to force shut-down & reboot.

I've been a dedicated Mac user since 1995 but I tell you... I'm really quite over Apple at the moment with this sort of thing on top of all the other issues I've had of late.

Add me too. Imac 20", mid 2007 runing Snow Leopard.

Just resolved a similar problem: new iMac 27" (late 13) running 10.9.3 goes to sleep/powers down then won't wake up/power up. Have to unplug from mains and reconnect and start up again.

Talking to Apple tech support, isolated various USB devices/ports, recreating the problem by putting Mac to sleep. Identified 7 port USB hub causing problem - wherever it was plugged in.

USB hub now in bin. No more problems : )