MBP often won't wake after sleep.

Okay, just did a PRAM Reset, crossing my fingers for luck.

Also, I can say for sure that it's not an issue with Virtual Machine software.

Same problem here.
It seems from my observation here, that it is somehow related to the swap file or something - my MBP won't wake up usually after heavy memory usage (like running parallels or something like that)

Agreed. A memory/sleep problem from 10.6.3?

I'm having the same problem on my MBP since updating to 10.6.3. It only seems to occur while or shortly after I'm using my Virtual Box and goes along with some erratic system behavior, like heavy lag and program freezes that didn't occur before. I could also quite easily tab between my Virtual Box and my OS X programs, this seems to overtax the computer now.

PRAM Reset didn't help, the issue just presented itself again. There are no consistent applications that are open, and I haven't had this issue for long. It just started this year.

****. I thought I had this beat. I did all the resets and maintenance processes, and the problem disappeared for about a week. I use Parallels 5 very heavily every day, and it was sleeping and waking just fine. I usually suspend the VM for the night before shutting down. Problem reappeared today and I had to hard boot everything. Again, just appeared in 10.6.3. Not sure there is a real pattern to this.

I haven't noticed a pattern either. Sometimes it happens after the MBP has been closed for hours, and sometimes when it's closed for mere seconds. Sometimes, my virtual machine is open, and sometimes it's not. There is no one consistency except the MBP itself and Snow Leopard. I didn't used to have this problem, and I haven't abused it, so I doubt it's the Mac, but it's not just Snow Leopard, because a friend of mine, who runs Leopard, is having the same issue. This is really starting to mess with my ability to do my job. I need this problem resolved yesterday.

I have been having this problem since Leopard. I'm now on 10.6.3 and getting it again. I can't pinpoint exactly yet, I thought the problem was disconnecting from my external display but I actually think it has more to do with disconnecting from the power. It happend a few mins ago, I'm going to try an replicate the problem this time with my files saved and closed!!

Hi All,

I'm getting exactly the same issue on occasion! Most of the time it sleeps and wakes fine - however randomly I will get the 'dark screen of death' (!!) when trying to wake from sleep. The diagnostic message show the same that everyone else has reported :

30/04/2010 08:40:54 configd[15] Wake: Drivers Failure - AC 99 - HDEF GIGE SATA RP01 IXVE
com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.powermanagement.wake
com.apple.message.signature: Drivers Failure
com.apple.message.result: Failure

I do run Parallels 5 however this issue arises when I sleep the machine with Parallels still running and when I have shut Parallels down completely -so I don't think that's an issue.

Come on Apple - I too have lost work, and it's frustrating when you begin to trust that something is reliable and then get caught out several times!

Cheers
Darren

Tried to reapply the 10.6.3 from the combo, but no success. Still the same.

For me it looks that if the memory usage reaches some limit then the sleep problem will appear. Typical problem scenario I have is - start parallels, use VM for a while, suspend it, wait a while, start another VM, work, suspend, wait for HDD to calm down, close the lid, wait a few secs (or more, it doesn't matter) and you have a nice black screen of death.

I've tested two of the proposed workarounds: ensuring the same power configuration (battery vs. plug) when sleeping and waking; and turning off secure virtual memory. I've had the black screen of death with both.

I recall having a problem like this years ago on a different laptop, but these recent problems didn't start until after 10.6.3. If this BSOD is the same problem that 10.5 users are having, I'd guess a driver update that became available in 10.6.3 was also a part of a 10.5 update.

Until this is fixed, save obsessively often!

I have been having the same problem... It seemed to have started after I had upgraded from 4 to 8GB. The memory itself seemed fine as there were never any problems related to actual use. Since the only difference between sleeping with 4GB vs. 8GB would be the "hibernation-like" safe sleep mode that writes the contents of the RAM to your drive before actually sleeping, it seemed worth while to investigate. I disabled safe sleep and the problem has not come back. You can disable safe sleep in Terminal:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 (and reboot)

Just change the last "0" to a 3 to re-enable it. There is an actual utility to do the same thing if you don't want to play around in Terminal:

http://www.jinx.de/SmartSleep.html

I haven't actually used the app... so I can't say if it is or isn't compatible with the 2010 Macs.

As I use an SSD, it's probably best to save the wear by writing an 8GB file everytime I sleep the machine anyway. I'm never in the habit of leaving things open when I put my machine to sleep anyway.

Granted... this would still seem to indicate some underlaying problem.

I had been using SmartSleep when this all first started, and it was one of the first things I removed (all sleep settings reset, of course). However, I think I was using it in 'Smart' mode, which still uses HIbernate in certain circumstances.

Darren,

You have a lot more going on then other posters here.....drivers failure.

You may be experiencing a Kernel Panic as seen and described in Apple doc.#106227. If not, disregard.

Bad or incompatible RAM is the most common cause of KP's. The RAM could just need a reseat…. to make sure there's a good connection.

Here's a great site for Resolving Kernel Panics. Please do all the steps in order, even if you don't think you need to do a certain step.
I would pay attention to running the apple Hardware Test mentioned in there.

Here's a great MacFixIt article.

DALE