After installing mavericks, the iMac will not wake from sleep properly (at all)

My iMac 2011 running OS Lion started having this problem suddenly last week (will not wake from sleep after a few hours or overnight without a hard restart). I took it to Apple Store yesterday, they ran basic diagnostics and everything came back clear. They reset all Bluetooth devices and suggested I upgrade to Mavericks. I did so and the machine seemed cured for 24 hours...came home tonight after 5 hours and have same problem...will not wake from sleep without hard restart. Looks like I'm bringing it back and leaving with Apple for more intensive testing.

Although the computer won't wake, I hear the fan running if I listen closely (machine does not feel hot), I'm guessing the machine is not shut down at this point, just will not wake the display.

Seems like many people are having this problem on forum and elsewhere on the web (in both Lion and Mavericks), yet the Apple tech never heard of the issue.

guiness66:

I wanted to quickly let you know that I also took my mac mini to the Apple Store for them to run diagnostics and to repair. If you go back and take a look at my post from 2/17 you will see my current resolution.

Please note that they replaced my logic board twice and the second time they replaced the cooling fan and a melted screw that was part of the fan assembly. I believe that part of that problem may have been because the computer got too hot one or more times during its problem period with the sleep mode. I do remember one time coming in to the computer and it sounded like a jet taking off.

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Just to update my current condition...

I have reinstalled my 1 TB drive.

Current configuration...

120 GB Samsung EVO SSD

1 TB Apple Hard Drive

16 GB (8 x 8) DDR3 Crucial Brand Memory

USB Logitech Wirelesss Keyboard and Mouse

USB HP Officejet Printer

No wake from sleep problems since installing OS X 10.8.5 on February 8, 2014.

I have been running with both drives for 2 days now. Computer is fast and performing very well. No current apparent problems. Woke up perfectly the past 2 mornings after installing the 1 TB drive as my secondary drive.

That's a total of 16 days with no wake from sleep issues after a fresh install of Mountain Lion.

Blessings to all!

SeiFy:

Did the logic board show up as damaged when they ran the basic diagnostics test? Or did they have to open up the computer and do deeper testing over a period of time to catch this? All of my hardware passed the diagnostics that they ran with me at the Genius Bar. Wondering if that would have came up as ok or does machine need to be left running to get hot. Any mention of power supply? Another Apple Authorized tech from independent shop mentioned this to me.

While searching for an answer to this problem it occurred to me that it may not be the OS causing the problem. I've had this problem now and then before upgrading. In the past the remedy was as complicated as pulling out the GPU and cleaning it, inside and out. Simply sucking out the dust from the whole machine might work, but that's never been the case for me. Only taking the GPU completely apart and cleaning and the actual processor and heat sink off with rubbing alcohol, reapplying thermal paste and reassembling it has cure the problem. I've had the issue about every other month or so since my Mac Pro was a month old. Took it to have it repaired and the idiots had it for two weeks because they thought it was the hard drive. Lost all my Windows data because the fine folks at Apple don't offer any support for Bootcamp? Decided that from that point on I was on my own because I'll never let them touch anything of mine ever again. Doesn't matter either way ever since they came up with the "No Smoking" policy that voids any Applecare plan. They replaced that GPU, but it didn't take long before I found myself needing a replacement. Wasn't gonna pay over $300 for a card that was Mac capable, so I bought one that I had to hack to make it so for $100. Ever since then I've owned a $3000 hackintosh that I could've made from a PC for nothing. O well, at least it looks nice sitting there sucking up smoke and dust. How about this Apple people, maybe if there was a filter that a person could clean or replace every now and then to keep the dust out? Probably could've saved them millions of dollars in Applecare visits. Hope this helps a few out there.

I initially took it to the "genius" bar for 2 reasons.

1) I had an error message stating that my us ports have been temporarily disabled due to the fact that a device was using too much power. Please remove the device that is using to much power and your usb ports will be re-enabled. OF course all my ports were indded being disabled. This happened right after installing Mavericks and with the same usb devices that I had been using on the Mac ever since I got it. I'm not sure that they ever tested the Logic board as when I was talking to the resident genius who was waiting on me, the Thunderbolt display port lost it's connectivity to the monitor. The tech noted that in his comments and they just went ahead and replaced the board due to the "faulty" usb and thunderbolt ports noted at the time of initial check in assessment.

2) Wake from sleep issue since installing Mavericks.

They wiped/reformatted the HD and did a fresh install of Mavericks to see if that would resolve the wake from sleep issue. It did not. I reinstaled the software after the computer did not wake from sleep the morning after I got it back with JUST MAVERICKS INSTALLED. I wanted to be sure that it was Mavaricks and my computer NOT some other software conflict. I also had the ports fail again.

Two weeks later I took it back for the same two problems that I had taken it to them for initially. They ran extensive diagnostics this time. Afetr 3 weeks, I got it back with another new logic board and a fresh install of Mavericks. They had tested the power supply and it had no problems or they would have replaced it. I had asked them very specifically about that being a possible problem, espesially since the usb ports had been complaining about not having enough problem to run a device. The next morning it once again did not wake from sleep. I again reinstalled all my software as I needed to use the computer.

Then... I installed my SSD drive which I had received as a Christmas gift. I installed Mountain Lion on this drive. I had it as my only drive for a week or more. No wake from sleep problems initially or even after I reinstalled all my apps on the SSD. I installed my 1 TB drive on Saturday (2 days ago) and did some file maintainance on that drive. (Removed Mavericks and all apps from that drive. Left only user data. Hid all new documents, Movie, Picture, etc. Folders shortcuts from the new OS X 10.8.5 instal "Finder" and replced them with short cuts to the same "old" users folders on the 1 TB HD)

The computer is really fast now as the OS and App files are on the SSD drive. Both drives have been working side by side now half a day Saturday and all day Sunday. The Mac has had no wake from sleep issues either morning since both drives have been installed. Also, my usb ports all seem to be working just fine now.

I have waited to upgraded my iMac a Mid 2011, 2.5ghz AMD HD6750M 521mb, it is all standard and has not been opened and work 100% before the upgrade.

Since the upgrade of two weeks agao my iMac now freezes during the wake-up, you can enter the password as many times as you like it will just not go any further.

My install was from scratch wiped the hard drive and done the full upgrade. It is more likely the password is not getting passed through to authenticate and wake the machine.

I started seeing this problem in both Mavericks and Mountain Lion after last update.

Every morning when I returned my external monitor (HDMI linked) was black and my macbook air (ML) screen was black. It never turned on no matter what command you tried. It would make the bump sound for certain keys, so I know it was not totally asleep, just didnt restart the screen. I had to do a hold down of the power button to restart it, in some cases it restarted and some cases it was woken up.

This was totally replicated in my Mac Mini (2012) similar monitor setup.

(* was following the instructions for not waking from sleep: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5357)

I dug around in my settings and found that the Schedule feature in power savings was enabled. This was locked so I know my wife and kids didnt have access to play with it. I used to use the feature in the past to sleep at 8pm and wake up at 6am, but I think it is now broken or changed from original feature and the trigger for some of my problems.

When I disabled that schedule by unlocking first and removing the check marks for sleep and wakeup times my monitors started working like normal.

This is probably not the same issue others are facing, but just throwing that out to folks to double check that is not turned on and complicating the issue.

chapco, those symptoms are fairly consistent with what I have been seeing. The computer is running but only displaying black screens when I try to wake. The problem seems to occur when the system sets displays to sleep. In my case I never use the schedule feature in Energy Save. I am just using the basic Computer and Display sleep settings. If Display is set to sleep after some amount of time I get the problem when I try to wake, and I have to do a hard shutdown with the power button. If I set Display sleep to Never then all is well (since the display does not go to sleep it does not get into a problem trying to wake.

Unfortunately I have to report a disappointing observation. Several of us here have been hoping this problem would be fixed in the 10.9.2 update. It has now been released and I installed it as soon as I could. I am not seeing any improvement and must now consider going back to AppleCare (just as soon as I have a free day to spend 😀 )

Unfortunately, this is definitely a Mavericks problem. I cannot say that it is for Lion as I never had that installed on my Pro, but did have it installed on my Air with no problems.

I upgraded my Macbook Pro 3,1 Santa Rosa (mid 2007) (yes, I know it's old, but is still going very strong) from Snow Leopard to Mavericks 10.9.2 on the weekend (March 1, 2014). Ever since I have been unable to wake from a black screen after a Computer Sleep. It always requires a hard reset. Not a huge deal, but very annoying. Last night I changed the following: System Preferences > Energy Saver > Power Adapter > Computer Sleep > Never. This morning the screen woke up fine. Now my Mac will never put the hard disk to sleep, but is does "wake up". I never had any problems like this before Mavericks, and is the only major problem I've noticed since upgrading. Hopefully, Apple will issue a fix soon because the message boards are littered with this problem.

My sleep/failure to wake issue started last month on my 2011 iMac that was running Lion. Took it to Apple Store where they ran diagnostics and everything came up fine. They had me upgrade to Mavericks to see if that would correct the issue. Worked fine for 24 hours but then problem persisted. I've been shutting down the computer now overnight, rather to finding restart/error message in the morning (I forwarded/reported all of those to Apple).

I've tried everything suggested on numerous message boards with no luck fixing. The tech in Apple Store was unaware of people experiencing this problem on a widespread basis.

Thank you for the comprehensive and easy to follow instructions, unfortunately it only worked for me up until the "repair Disk Permission" but then at restart, still grey/then black screen. I am pretty sure it is a OS Maverics problem. I cannot afford a technician now, any other suggestions? Should I erase the HD and upload original disks I have? Will I loose all my files that way?

Tatidejesus, have you tried setting your Energy Saver Preferences to Display Sleep = Never? That also sets Computer Sleep to Never, at least in my case. In most cases I have seen posted in various discussion threads here that has avoided the wake problem. The computer stays powered and the screen saver runs. Not going to sleep avoids having to wake, and so this symptom is avoided, at least for a lot of people.

It looks to me like there is something that happens during sleep that causes problems . Mostly failure to wake proiperly, but also occasionally other things like CPU hanging or crashing, etc. seem to occur for some people. Avoiding sleep seems to avoid the problems.

Hello Bob,

No, and I may have made things worse, I erased the drive I had and basically turned it into the Mac OS Install DVD, problem is I have no disk option to reinstall at start up now. If you know what I could do I would really appreciate.

No I don't know to set up those energy saver preferences, anyway the only thing I could get was the OS Utilities.

I suspect there are others here who can be a lot more help than I can with respect to your recovery or reinstall situation. Apple has good info. I just did a quick search and my first hit was this page - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5943?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US. On that page there is a link to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718 which is pretty much on target with what I think you are saying. Basically I think with the newer machines you do an install over the Internet.

If you really erased the disk and don't have a backup then unfortunately it is likely you lost your files. but I am not sure if that is what you actually did based on what you have said. I think you have to get past at least one Are You Sure type thing to actually do that.

You can reinstall the system on a working disk without losing the files if you don't actually erase it. However the surest way to clean up a suspect system is to back up your files, do a clean install (that is erasing the disk and doing a full install on the clean disk) and then restore your files from the backup.

I know a lot of people don't maintain backups and a lot of them don't have a way to do backups (another disk drive and Time Machine is one good one example). I always tell people if you don't do backups it is not a question of IF you will lose your files, it is only a question of WHEN you will lose them. Basically all disk drives eventually fail - some fairly soon, and some after a long time. If you have anything of value on the disk then you have to be prepared for when it happens. (Personally I am so paranoid about that that I have Time Machine alternately backing up to a Time Capsule and to an external drive. I got to that outlook through decades of managing department level computer systems where loss of everyone's data was not an option.)

Someone with more experience with this could comment further on the need to reinstall software - third party applications and so on - in the various cases.

As far as setting the Energy Saver Preferences its like any of the system preferences. There is more than way to get to System Preferences. I usually click the little apple in the menu bar at the top left corner of the screen - then I select System Preferences on the menu that drops down. A window comes up (some times it takes several seconds). Find the Energy Saver icon and click it. That gets an Energy Saver preferences window. I think what you see there can vary a bit depending on the details of your computer model. In my case I see two horizontal bars plus three check boxes. The second bar is labeled Display Sleep. I drag the pointer on the bar all the way to the right end which is marked Never. The pointer on the Computer Sleep bar above it moves over to Never also as you do that. At that point I see a warning about using more energy with those settings. I click OK. That's it.

I am at a loss at this point. Just curious, has anyone tried replacing their power supply? My power supply (along with all other hardware) came up as working fine when Apple Genius bar ran diagnostics...but a local Apple Authorized tech who I e-mailed the symptoms to seemed to think this could be my problem. He mentioned that excessive heat caused my a bad power supply was probably causing the machine to shutdown, and that he had seen this in alot of iMACS. Since I am out of warranty, I'm reluctant to spent the $300 to replace this part if it does not solve the problem.