Mac Pro won't sleep

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Level 2

227 points

Mac Pro won't sleep

I have this old 2010 Mac Pro, and recently it doesn't seem to want to sleep, even if I tell it to via the Apple menu. The display goes dark, but I'm still hearing noise from the Mac itself, even if I wait for 5 minutes. It also seems to wake too fast for a full system sleep.

I tried an SMC reset since that is like the first thing you do for power related issues, but it doesn't seem to have helped.

Mac Pro, macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 18, 2023 11:52 AM

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Answer 1

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den.thed

Level 10

91,672 points

Dec 18, 2023 4:35 PM in response to Sam Wilkins

To finish up the list....

Check and test external drives and other devices:

Eject and disconnect all external drives, including your Time Machine backup, plus any Hubs and test.

Then move on to App's, background tasks and third party software.

Certain macOS app's, background task and third party software can prevent sleep.

To check for those, open your Activity Monitor and turn on the "Preventing Sleep" column.

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

91,672 points

Dec 18, 2023 12:26 PM in response to Sam Wilkins

The follow Apple Support article touches on a number of reasons why the Mac may not sleep.

see > If your Mac won’t go to or stay in sleep - Apple Support

Note: be sure that the correct macOS version is selected at the top of the article.

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Answer 3

Sam Wilkins Author

Level 2

227 points

Dec 18, 2023 1:37 PM in response to den.thed

I guess nobody is going to tell me what I else I can try until I go through and explain why I don't think they're the cause.

Energy Saver settings shouldn't stop it from sleeping if I manually tell it to.
I tried disabling "Wake for network access", it didn't help. Not that it should stop the computer from sleeping, but the article also covers unexpected wakes.
I would like the Magic Mouse to wake the computer. Also the bluetooth setting has always been on, and this is a recent issue.
Nobody is connected to any shares.
After I restarted from the SMC reset, I clicked Sleep in the login window, so I doubt any process would be running that is preventing sleep.
Those other things definitely aren't happening either.

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Answer 4

Sam Wilkins Author

Level 2

227 points

Dec 19, 2023 7:56 AM in response to den.thed

I didn't want to go over each sub-point for the last one in my reply, but since you don't believe me, there are no external drives or USB devices connected other than the keyboard, and I really don't see how any process could be preventing sleep when it isn't working even if I click Sleep on the login window with no users logged in. Also, doesn't that just mean preventing idle sleep?

I hope you or somebody can offer some things to try that aren't covered by Apple Support articles (or at least the one you linked), but I'm honestly very skeptical right now.

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