New macbook Pro M1 chip waking when asleep with log "SMC.OutboxNotEmpty" wake reason

I solved my issue. I was using the MacBook Pro in clamshell mode connected to an external monitor through the thunderbolt port. My external monitor has a speaker. For some reason, this speaker was assigned to play system alerts.. so when Mac is sleeping and when the display is sleeping if Mac plays an alert, it wakes up the monitor. I ran the midi setup app under utilities and changed the alert audio device to internal speakers. Now my display doesn’t wake up anymore.

These two commands + disabling "Wake for network access" worked for me perfectly. Waking up every few minutes stopped, there is no battery drain over night now. Thank you chrisia777!

Jan 23, 2021 10:25 PM in response to chrisia777

I've found out an easier way to sovle this issue:

1.Run command in terminal: sudo pmset -a tcpkeepalive 0

2.Run command in terminal: sudo pmset -a powernap 0

3.Make sure these options is not checked: "System Preferences->Battery->Optimized battery charging" and "System Preferences->Battery->Power Adapter->Wake for network access"

The only downside with tcpkeepalive turned off is a warning you get when issuing the command that Find My might not be working properly, but I guess during pandemic and lockdown I will have lesser chance of my macbook being stolen or lost.

Now when my macbook is sleeping, battery is not used at all (it behaves the same as macbook being turned off). You can see this in this figure:

I've found out an easier way to sovle this issue:

1.Run command in terminal: sudo pmset -a tcpkeepalive 0

2.Run command in terminal: sudo pmset -a powernap 0

3.Make sure these options is not checked: "System Preferences->Battery->Optimized battery charging" and "System Preferences->Battery->Power Adapter->Wake for network access"

It's a darkwake's bug on bigsur.Darkwake means waking computer without turning display on to do some maintenance work.The issue with this post is that darkwake causes the external display to wake up.

sudo pmset -a tcpkeepalive 0 is to make sure that there is no network connection during sleep, otherwise darkwake will appear.

sudo pmset -a powernap 0 is to make sure that there is no background task running during sleep, otherwise darkwake will appear.

As you said, you can set them back by setting to 1.

I've feedback to apple.But I don't expect any fix, because Apple doesn't really care about users unless there's a massive accident.

chrisia777 wrote:

1.Run command in terminal: sudo pmset -a tcpkeepalive 0

2.Run command in terminal: sudo pmset -a powernap 0

Well this helped for sure. I haven't any dark wakes for whole day. I left the option for optimized battery charging enabled and haven't unload the com.apple.PowerUIAgent.plist Process. The two commands helped already pretty well. Thanks for this investigation.

After continuous investigation and research, I found that it was the problem of powernap. It's not bigsur's bug that cause external devices wake up automatically. Unlike other Intel MacBook,powernap can't be completely disabled on M1.

Typing the command in terminal.app "pmset -g log | grep darkwake" to view the darkwake log, I found that two events caused my m1 MacBook Pro to wake up. As follows:

1. DarkWake from Deep Idle [CDNP] : due to SMC.OutboxNotEmpty smc.70070000 wifibt wlan/ Using AC (Charge:100%) 6 secs

2.DarkWake from Deep Idle [CDNPB] : due to NUB.SPMISw3IRQ nub-spmi.0x02 rtc/Maintenance Using AC (Charge:92%) 45 secs

Both events are caused by M1 MacBook forcing powernap to be enabled. But we also have a solution (need to upgrade to the latest macOS 11.2 RC):

1.Run command in terminal: sudo pmset -a tcpkeepalive 0

2.Run command in terminal: sudo pmset -a powernap 0

It's not over yet, because another process will still wake up in darkwake mode. To shut down this process, first you need to disable SIP: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/disabling_and_enabling_system_integrity_protection

Then run command in terminal: sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.PowerUIAgent.plist

BTW,do not re-enable SIP or last command will be invalid.The recovery mode of M1 is different from Intel, please search for it yourself.

Yeeeeeaaahhh the same with an external sound card usb and alert assigned to this card, i unplug this card and use the internal sound card for sound and alerts, and the problem was solved, thanks .

It's definitely m1's issue. I tried to connected to docking station to mbp. My external mouse is still light up after a few minutes even I didn't have monitor connected.I checked the wake up log. It shows NUB.SPMISw3IRQ and SMC.OutboxNotEmpty like you say. So i have to turn off the monitor to make sure it won't wake up automatically by mbp. A good way to solve this issue is that close the sleep mode in your monitor osd. Or don't put MacBook into sleep, just ctrl + command + Q then press Esc. This will turn off your display.

The com.apple.PowerUIAgent process is associated with the optimized battery charging option. To disable this maintenance process, just need to uncheck the optimized battery charging option. Anyway, it's my pleasure to solve your problem.

3.Make sure these options is not checked: "System Preferences->Battery->Optimized battery charging" and "System Preferences->Battery->Power Adapter->Wake for network access"

4.Restart your mac

Did you do that.

Don't forget to restart your mac!

You can check if it works in the following ways:

After sleep, wait 30 seconds to wake up.

Then run command: pmset -g log | grep "Wake Requests" to check if there is a wake request at the time you just sleep.

If you do what I say, you won't find any "Wake Requests" log.

If there is still a "Wake Requests", please send me the log. Maybe I can find out the reason.

Hi,

I have a Macbook Pro M1 and was able to solve this by downloading an app from Jettison which manages sleep settings. I use an LG27UL850 as my external monitor on clamshell model and connect a 3TB WD MyBook to its built-in USB Dock.

By the way, I still connect my apple usb-c charger on my mac because I noticed that optimized battery charging does not work if I just get power from the usb-c monitor. It draws in power instead from the apple charger. This is important for me because I now use my Mac 99% of the time on clamshell mode. I also did not disable deep sleep in the 27UL850 so that it provides power to my external HDD. When I wake the display, the HDD is automatically mounted by Ejectify and hourly backups via TimeMachine resumes (Backup does not run when the computer is asleep because the HDD is unmounted by the app every-time the screen display turns off. Take note that this does NOT work if you manually turn power-off from your monitor because it does not trigger the app to unmount the disks first.

Other setup parameters: I use a Logitech bluetooth K380 keyboard and Logitech M720 (connected via dongle). The WD MyBook is connected directly to the first USB ports of the monitor while I used a 4 port USB hub to extend the monitor's second port. The USB hub drives a Logitech C920 Cam and the M720 dongle.

This is the perfect setup for me. I hope this helps.

Cheers!

Hyperjigs

[Edited by Moderator] 

What is Power Nap on Mac? - Apple Support

Turn Power Nap on or off on Mac - Apple Support

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Go to "System Preferences->Security & Privacy->Analytics & Improvements", then uncheck all items.

a solution? i'd untick power nap, and i have a gmail account for mails an calendar, i'd go to gmail web and i'd trash spams, and 3 mails in rough draft folder

my mac mini is sleeping for 20 mn non stop (the 1st)

if it can help...

ps: sorry for my bad english, i'm french

A professional technician told me, the logic board has problem and need to change it.