iMac OS 14.3 Sonoma does NOT stay asleep through the night. It is waking up 2-3 times a night for some reason or another (I do not know why). I suspect there is a parameter or toggle which is NOT allowing the iMac from staying asleep until 7:00AM as it is supposed to.
The only way I can sleep thru the night is by SHUTTING DOWN the iMac. That cannot be right?
Can someone help me out her, please.
iMac 24″, macOS 14.3
I have my Mac auto shut down at night and auto start up in the morning using terminal commands. Here is an example:
Using Terminal to set start up and shut down each day
Separately:
Shut down each day at 9:30 pm:
Sudo pmset repeat shutdown MTWRFSU 21:30:00 and hit return
Enter PW if required
Startup every day at 6:00AM:
Sudo pmset repeat wake MTWRFSU 6:00:00 and hit return
To have both startup and shutdown:
Sudo pmset repeat poweron MTWRFSU 6:00:00 shutdown MTWRFSU 21:30:00
To check if these were set:
Pmset -g sched
To cancel all settings:
Sudo pmset repeat cancel and hit return
Monday=M
Tuesday=T
Wednesday=W
Thursday=R
Friday=F
Saturday=S
Sunday=U
From the Mac OS User Guide: Set sleep and wake settings for your Mac - Apple Support
Set your Mac to go to sleep after inactivity
> System Settings, then click Lock Screen 
in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)Since the newer Macs are all solid state it's beneficial (IMO) to turn them off at night as that will clear out temporary system and application cache and swap files. This can help improve overall system/application performance.
If you're set on not turning off at night make sure this feature is turned ON and then use the screensaver to turn off the display after a fixed time.
.Do any of the following:
Please let me know where exactly that pop-up is. Thanks
Am I correct in understanding this is when the command is ON, it will NOT allow automatic sleeping when the display is OFF, and therefore the display will stay in OFF until the following day at the set schedule, where it will turn ON again. Is this correct? I will try it to see if it works. [Sounds confusing to me, but I will set it and see what happens tonight]. Thanks
Most experienced users on these forum don’t use Sleep.
So what do experienced users use? Do they shut down the computer or leave it "running" the entire night or weekend? How do I solve this issue?
If the switch is ON then when you start the screensaver it will not let the Mac sleep when the screen goes dark. Yes, it's a bit backward.
It does, all Macs have had that feature for the past 20 years or so.
Sleep Mode in iMac
