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

I've upgraded to 10.9 (late 2012 21" iMac), and I notice in the morning when the iMac has been sleeping overnight, it will not wake up,

During the day, if it sleeps for a few hours, it seems fine, and wakes normally, prompting me to type my password,

In the morning however, I hit a key (on my wireless keyboard), and the display wakes up, I get a dark grey screen, and see the loading circle (not the beachball) in the middle, and see the cursor for a few seconds, before it then disappears, and reappears.

This cycle repeats itself,

The 'fix' is to do a forced shutdown by holding the powwer button until it shuts down, and then restart.


Anyone else find this problem/find a solution?

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Oct 28, 2013 2:44 AM

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Posted on Oct 28, 2013 11:06 PM

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, or by corruption of certain system caches.


Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.


Test while in safe mode. Same problem?


After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.
210 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Oct 28, 2013 11:06 PM in response to fearull

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, or by corruption of certain system caches.


Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.


Test while in safe mode. Same problem?


After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Oct 31, 2013 5:22 AM in response to fearull

I am getting similar problem.


Have a late 2012 27" iMac. Just upgraded it to OSX 10.9.


When ever the computer goes to sleep for a long time. It will freeze when trying to wake it back up and log in.

So basically wake it up. I get the login screen. Type password in an hit enter and then bang. The hole thing dies. If I leave it for 5 minutes. Sometimes it will go past the login screen but everything after that is as if the computer is choking and runs as if I'm back in the dark ages.


This issue wasn't present in OSX 10.8.


The only devices plugged into it is the apple keyboard.

Oct 31, 2013 6:03 AM in response to fearull

Well, I'm just off the phone to Apple support,


As per the instructions received,

First thing I did was reset the SMC;


  • Shut down the computer.
  • Unplug the computer's power cord.
  • Wait fifteen seconds.
  • Attach the computer's power cord.
  • Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.



This was then followed by resetting the NVRAM/PRAM;


  • Shut down your Mac.
  • Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
  • Turn on the computer.
  • Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
  • Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
  • Release the keys.


After this step, I verified disc permissions;


  • Disc Utility
  • select my main Mac HD
  • Click on 'verify disc permissions'
  • then, when done, click on 'repair disc permissions'


Finally, I started in safeboot mode;


  • Shut down the iMac
  • Restart, holding the Shift key until I saw a loading/progress bar.
  • After starting up, did a regular restart.



I won't really know if anything has been resolved/fixed until I try to wake from sleep tomorrow morning, so I will report on the results.

Nov 7, 2013 2:08 AM in response to Evilmystro

Alas, this did not fix the problem for me either.


This morning I thought all was well on waking the machine; the dark silver screen I have been seeing recently came up and was replaced by my desktop which stayed up for about 5 seconds before the computer went back to sleep and would not respond.


Whilst the desktop was open I had moved the mouse saw the pointer move across the screen in response before the machine plunged back to sleep. Frustratingly close, but not close enought. Anyone with any further thoughts? Most of the similar posts seem to advise an SMC reset but has not worked for me.

Nov 10, 2013 4:24 AM in response to fearull

I have early 2013 27" iMac and since going to Maverick I am having the same issue - it has only happend 3 times to me so far but it does look like an issue that I hope Apple are looking into and will apply a hotfix to resolve it.


My Mac is running 32GB ram and a 3TB fusion drive if that helps anyone and is set to:


Computer sleep after 1 hour

Display sleep after 20 minutes

Wake for Network access is ticked (I have tried both with and without)

Enable Power Nap is ticked

Put hard drives to sleep is not enabled


Many thanks to fearull for posting the steps to try and resolve this issue ( I have been in IT a long time but this is my first Mac so many thanks for writing down the steps to perfrom each action)


I will run through the steps to see if they make a difference or resolve the issue - I am not sure if it is the same for everyone but my Mac sleep issues seem intermittent since upgrading - it does not happen everyday so I am not sure if I am lucky or not as it sounds like some of you guys and on other threads are suffering this issue every time you try and wake the Mac up.


Thanks all 🙂

Nov 10, 2013 11:23 AM in response to Mr Mo-Fo

I Tried a new approach to the verify disk permissions from info on another post.

So far so good (fingers crossed). My computer is a 21.5-inch, late 2009 iMac.

I was previously unable to wake from computer sleep 90% of the time.

I could occasionally wake from sleep if it had just gone to sleep within minutes.


I'll let you know if it isn't a long term fix.


  1. Shut down computer, unplugged power cord for 30 seconds.
  2. Plugged in waited 10 seconds
  3. Held down alt/option key and then booted up to be able to boot fromRecovery partion.
  4. When given a choice selected boot from OS X recovery partition.
  5. Selected disk utility.
  6. Verify disc permissions
  7. Repair disc permissions
  8. Reboot
  9. Went to system preferences/Energy saver and selected restore defaults to test ability to wake from sleep.


Also there is no power nap option on this vintage IMac.

Current settings to test :

  • Computer sleep 10min
  • Display sleep 10min
  • Put hard disk to sleep when possible selected
  • Wake for network access selected
  • Start up automatically after a power failure Not selected

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

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