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My Macbook Air isn't sleeping when the lid is closed.
Pressing any key boots the machine so I don't think trying to reset the SMC or NV/PRAM is doing anything.
I hope someone can help.
Thanks in advance,
Michael
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
Thanks, Axel,
I resolved my issue which I'll include as details below. (It's a 2018 MacBook Air, BTW.) I still have one question though. How can one confirm that the SMC and NVRAM/PRAM were actually reset? As you'll see from my details my machine's behavior was different than the KB articles indicated.
Thanks again for your response.
Details:
I reset the SMC as described on Apple Support here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
The behavior they describe was not the behavior of my machine though.
My machine has the T2 chip. After step 4, I couldn't follow step 5, which is "Wait a few seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac."
It turned itself on without having to press the power button. I have no idea if it reset the SMC or not. I tried this several times.
I also tried to reset the NVRAM. as described on Apple Support here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
Again the behavior was not as described.
The documentation indicated that "On Mac computers that have the Apple T2 Security Chip, you can release the keys after the Apple logo appears and disappears for the second time."
In my experience, the Apple logo disappeared the 1st time and then the 2nd time it reappeared the machine just booted up.
I actually have no idea if taking the above steps resolved my problem or not. (Probably did.)
I was testing to see if the machine was available via Chrome Remote Desktop as a test to see if it was sleeping or not.
I restored from Time Machine back up and the issue still seemed to be present.
I then reinstalled the OS from scratch.
I thought at first that it still wasn't working. Chrome Remote Desktop was reporting that the device was online when it was sleeping. Historically, the status would update almost immediately. Presently, after a few minutes, the device shows as offline.
Reinstalling the OS was probably unnecessary. I could test this by restoring from my most recent Time Machine back up and see if the machine is still sleeping after waiting a few minutes and checking to see if the device was still showing as online but starting with a fresh OS install makes sense for me. It's been several Macs ago that I started over and I've always just transferred from another Mac when I got a new one. So I just reinstalled everything that I need and am satisfied with this.
Thanks, Axel,
I resolved my issue which I'll include as details below. (It's a 2018 MacBook Air, BTW.) I still have one question though. How can one confirm that the SMC and NVRAM/PRAM were actually reset? As you'll see from my details my machine's behavior was different than the KB articles indicated.
Thanks again for your response.
Details:
I reset the SMC as described on Apple Support here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
The behavior they describe was not the behavior of my machine though.
My machine has the T2 chip. After step 4, I couldn't follow step 5, which is "Wait a few seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac."
It turned itself on without having to press the power button. I have no idea if it reset the SMC or not. I tried this several times.
I also tried to reset the NVRAM. as described on Apple Support here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
Again the behavior was not as described.
The documentation indicated that "On Mac computers that have the Apple T2 Security Chip, you can release the keys after the Apple logo appears and disappears for the second time."
In my experience, the Apple logo disappeared the 1st time and then the 2nd time it reappeared the machine just booted up.
I actually have no idea if taking the above steps resolved my problem or not. (Probably did.)
I was testing to see if the machine was available via Chrome Remote Desktop as a test to see if it was sleeping or not.
I restored from Time Machine back up and the issue still seemed to be present.
I then reinstalled the OS from scratch.
I thought at first that it still wasn't working. Chrome Remote Desktop was reporting that the device was online when it was sleeping. Historically, the status would update almost immediately. Presently, after a few minutes, the device shows as offline.
Reinstalling the OS was probably unnecessary. I could test this by restoring from my most recent Time Machine back up and see if the machine is still sleeping after waiting a few minutes and checking to see if the device was still showing as online but starting with a fresh OS install makes sense for me. It's been several Macs ago that I started over and I've always just transferred from another Mac when I got a new one. So I just reinstalled everything that I need and am satisfied with this.
Can you provide some details on why do you think your MacBook Air (Which year is your MacBook Air?) is not going into Sleep Mode when the lid is closed?
Resetting SMC and NVRAM/PRAM always does something if performed correctly. What do you exactly mean by, "Pressing any key boots the machine so I don't think trying to reset the SMC or NV/PRAM is doing anything."? How exactly are you attempting to reset SMC etc?
Reset SMC by following the directions applicable to your MacBook Air here ➔ How to Reset SMC.
Reset NVRAM/PRAM by following the directions applicable to your MacBook Air here ➔ How to Reset NVRAM/PRAM.
I listed those links again for you so that the resetting is done correctly even if MacBook Air starts with any key press.
Axel F.
From your post it appears that you definitely reset the NVRAM/PRAM since the Apple logo appeared the second time. At that time the machine boots up normally. You are OK there. Not sure whether you reset the SMC correctly. If you would have held the buttons long enough then after the first apple logo it would have shut off (had you held the buttons down long enough) and then you would have to turn it back on pressing the power button. The easier way to Reset SMC with a T2 chip is push down the power button for 10 seconds. The machine will start and then shut off while you hold down the power button. Then after a few seconds push the power button again and it will turn on and boot normally.
But, it appears that your issue is resolved now as you stated in your post.
Your detailed post above tells me that you are checking your machine's sleep state by using Chrome Remote Desktop. By default your machine goes into a Power Nap if connected to power while sleeping. When power nap is on then your machine can make Time Machine backups, check emails and wake up on a network or bluetooth command. This is probably what is happening when you check its state from Remote Desktop. You were probably waking the machine up.
Go to System Preferences ➔ Energy Saver ➔ Power Adapter Tab - UNCHECK Enable Power Nap while connected to a into a power adapter. That should address your concern.
NOTE - The best way to check whether your Machine sleeps when lid is closed is to close the lid and after a few minutes open the lid. The MacBook should initially have a black screen and then display your session. If you have a password setup then it will ask to enter that.
Axel F.
Thanks, Axel,
That was very helpful. Especially the note at the end.
I didn't know the 10 second depression of the power button did the same thing as the 2nd method.
I did turn off Power Nap for both battery and Adapter.
I think I did reset the SMC. (I tried both the 10 second power button maneuver and the step following that.)
Thanks again,
All the best,
Michael
You are welcome Michael.
Axel F.
Macbook Air not sleeping when lid is closed
