You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

hailalistair Author

Level 1

9 points

Crashes/reboots/restarts while on sleep

This thread is exclusive to people who have spontaneous crashes/reboots/restarts while their Mac is in sleep. (this is usually connected to having a USB external hard drive plugged in the computer while on sleep)

In simple words, you are experiencing this problem:

1) You put your Mac to sleep

2) You return to it after some time and you find it on.

3) On screen you find this error message "Your computer restarted because of a problem." or similar, and in the report of the error message the Event is "Sleep Wake Failure" or similar.

If your Mac does not wake from sleep this is NOT the thread for you, please don’t write here.

If your Mac is experiencing black screens and freezes while waking up from sleep this is NOT the thread for you, please don’t write here.

This thread is a continuation to the “New rMBP sleep/wake failure crashes” thread.

I’m trying to better understand this problem. Allow me to ask you some questions. After you answer the first 5 question, feel free to write freely in this thread. (as longs as you are pertinent to this issue)

Please answer this questions carefully. If we get enough people to answer, I will personally slap this thread on the face of every Apple employee I can find, so they will have to stop saying "we never heard of this issue" and we can get a quick fix or a quick replacement if this is indeed an hardware issue.

PLEASE ANWSER THIS QUESTIONS BEFORE WRITING IN THIS THREAD FOR THE FIRST TIME

I suggest you copy and paste the questions below in your reply, and replace the text ANSWER with your answer.

1. Which Mac do you have? (If you have this issue with multiple machines, list them here)

ANSWER

2. When did the problem start? If you had Mountain Lion installed on this machine, did the problem start when you updated to Mavericks?

ANSWER

3. Did you have your Mac replaced from Apple because of this issue? If yes, does the new machine still have the problem?

ANSWER

4. Does your machine crash/reboot while on sleep only if you have an external hard drive connected?

ANSWER

5. Does your machine crash/reboot even if you uncheck "Enable Power Nap" in Preferences, Energy Saver? (before answering this, check that you have updated OS X to 10.9.1 and that you have unchecked Power Nap in both the Battery and Power Adapter tabs in Energy Saver)

ANSWER

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

6. Do you have an external hard drive connected via USB? If yes, write the manufacturer name and model name of the drive. (example: Western Digital My Book)

ANSWER

7. Do you have a network connected drive? (like Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to an AirPort Extreme, or a NAS)

ANSWER

8. Do you have Time Machine Enabled?

ANSWER

9. Do you have Crashplan installed?

ANSWER

10. How much time does it usually take for the first crash/reboot to happen, after you put the computer on sleep?

ANSWER

11. If you have a late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina, do you have discrete graphics in it? (In other words: do you have an NVIDIA GPU? If you don't know this, go into the menu bar, click the apple icon, click About This Mac, Click More Info, in Graphics you should find written “NVIDIA GeForce”.)

ANSWER

Please forgive any mistakes in this text, unfortunately english is not my native language.

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Dec 21, 2013 7:05 AM

211 replies

Dec 26, 2013 1:15 AM in response to hailalistair

Had the Sleep Wake issue on new (one month old) Mac Book Pro. It crashed (restarted) routinely since purchase when on sleep. I read the thread original and then this one and the common factors were a WD HDD and using Google Chrome. I also have a powered hub and a LaCie self powered HDD. For the last 2 nights I disconnected the WD drive (leaving the powered hub connected) and closed Chrome. There have been no issues. I will now let it sleep with Chrome open and the WD still disconnected to see what happens and report back. This is not a solution for me as I need to be able to leave this drive connected but is an attempt to diagnose exactly which hardware / software combination is causing the issue on my machine.

Dec 26, 2013 11:20 AM in response to hailalistair

1. Which Mac do you have? (If you have this issue with multiple machines, list them here)

15" MBP Retina, mid-2012 (original)

2. When did the problem start? If you had Mountain Lion installed on this machine, did the problem start when you updated to Mavericks?

Since upgrading to 10.9.1

3. Did you have your Mac replaced from Apple because of this issue? If yes, does the new machine still have the problem?

4. Does your machine crash/reboot while on sleep only if you have an external hard drive connected?

No - rarely have external drives connected, and has happened 5 times in the past week without one connected.

This setting has been unchecked for a long time - pre-dating this random reboot during sleep issue.

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

6. Do you have an external hard drive connected via USB? If yes, write the manufacturer name and model name of the drive. (example: Western Digital My Book)

7. Do you have a network connected drive? (like Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to an AirPort Extreme, or a NAS)

Yes, Time Capsule.

8. Do you have Time Machine Enabled?

Yes

9. Do you have Crashplan installed?

10. How much time does it usually take for the first crash/reboot to happen, after you put the computer on sleep?

Not sure - about an hour?

Dont have that model, but fyi my graphics are: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

Dec 27, 2013 12:53 AM in response to AlanLondon

Update. Overnight left Chrome running but WD HDD disconnected. No crashes / reboots so it seems proved (on my machine) that the cause on my machine is some incompatibility with the WD drive. I now hope that Apple / WD will resolve this issue urgently. I will post again if further observations show up anything else. For information I have answered the 'questions' about my system below.

1. Which Mac do you have? (If you have this issue with multiple machines, list them here)

Mac Book Pro Retina 13 inch late 2013

2. When did the problem start? If you had Mountain Lion installed on this machine, did the problem start when you updated to Mavericks?

From new (1 month ago)

3. Did you have your Mac replaced from Apple because of this issue? If yes, does the new machine still have the problem?

4. Does your machine crash/reboot while on sleep only if you have an external hard drive connected?

It seems so as disconnecting my WD external HDD stops the crashes. My LaCie external HDD (which is USB powered) causes no issues

Not tried this

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

6. Do you have an external hard drive connected via USB? If yes, write the manufacturer name and model name of the drive. (example: Western Digital My Book)

Western Digital My Book 2TB

LaCie 1TB

7. Do you have a network connected drive? (like Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to an AirPort Extreme, or a NAS)

8. Do you have Time Machine Enabled?

9. Do you have Crashplan installed?

10. How much time does it usually take for the first crash/reboot to happen, after you put the computer on sleep?

About 1 hour

11. If you have a late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina, do you have discrete graphics in it? (In other words: do you have an NVIDIA GPU? If you don't know this, go into the menu bar, click the apple icon, click About This Mac, Click More Info, in Graphics you should find written “NVIDIA GeForce”.)
No. Graphics are Intel Iris 1024 MB

Dec 27, 2013 2:11 AM in response to hailalistair

Just thought I'd give you an update on my end, (I have a latest Macbook 15" Retina). Since disabling PowerNap I've has no issues, and have checked my WD drives for firmware since and found one needed updating which I have now done.

I have since re-enabled PowerNap and so far over the last week I have had no problem. I've seen reports from others in the other thread who also updated their firmware but issue persisted however for me this hasn't been the case.

Its hard to say whether this is Apples issue or WD's issue... my moneys on a WD issue.

Disclaimer: Back up your HDD before you update your firmware!

hailalistair Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 27, 2013 7:19 AM in response to northernmunky

I've emailed WD, explaining the issue and asking that they report it to their engineering team. This is their answer:

Dear Raffaello,

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is Gabriel M.

Thank you for your suggestion. We have passed this information to the development team in charge of your software. You may wish to join, and add to our Community Forums' Ideas Lab at:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/New-to-WD-Community/Where-Do-I-Post-My-Ideas/td-p/12 2260 .

Our development team reviews these posts on a regular basis, to see the most commonly requested features by our customers.

If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,

Gabriel M.

Western Digital Service and Support

Dec 27, 2013 7:05 PM in response to H_Scott Matthews

Just a note (building on my reply a few above) that I disabled power naps on both battery and ac adapter and it just rebooted during sleep. Thus that change had no effect. Note this is the first time in several days that this reboot occurred. Was hoping I was in the clear, but alas, no.

Still nothing connected via USB.

Dec 28, 2013 4:05 AM in response to H_Scott Matthews

So now it is official..... My machine also reboots with power nap unchecked.

In my first post I said that I had not observed it, but now I heard my machine reboot with power nap unchecked. WD HDD attached, and WD MyBook Live connected.

DeimosL

Level 1

8 points

Dec 28, 2013 4:34 AM in response to hailalistair

1. Which Mac do you have? (If you have this issue with multiple machines, list them here)

MacBook rMBP 13" Late 2012

2. When did the problem start? If you had Mountain Lion installed on this machine, did the problem start when you updated to Mavericks?

Started when Mavericks installed (upgrade from Mountain Lion - which was fine)

3. Did you have your Mac replaced from Apple because of this issue? If yes, does the new machine still have the problem?

No (MacBook supplied with Mountain Lion then I upgraded outside the replace time limit)

4. Does your machine crash/reboot while on sleep only if you have an external hard drive connected?

No. always does the crash/restart middle of night (between 00:00 and 03:00) when laptop closed. I don't really use USB devices and never have them connected when crash occurs.

Yes. When I got laptio PowerNap was enabled but I quickly disabled it (both for manins and battery profiles).

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

6. Do you have an external hard drive connected via USB? If yes, write the manufacturer name and model name of the drive. (example: Western Digital My Book)

7. Do you have a network connected drive? (like Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to an AirPort Extreme, or a NAS)

Yes. Two time capsules used for Time Machine Backups (and showing all the time in Finder

8. Do you have Time Machine Enabled?

Yes

9. Do you have Crashplan installed?

10. How much time does it usually take for the first crash/reboot to happen, after you put the computer on sleep?

Between 2 and 4 hours

N/A (mine is late 2012)

Dec 28, 2013 6:11 AM in response to hailalistair

1. Which Mac do you have? (If you have this issue with multiple machines, list them here)

rMBP 2012 Mid

2. When did the problem start? If you had Mountain Lion installed on this machine, did the problem start when you updated to Mavericks?

After few days since Mavericks update

3. Did you have your Mac replaced from Apple because of this issue? If yes, does the new machine still have the problem?

No i didn't replaced

4. Does your machine crash/reboot while on sleep only if you have an external hard drive connected?

No, I never sleep/close my Macbook when some externals are plugged in

I did it but nothing changed

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

6. Do you have an external hard drive connected via USB? If yes, write the manufacturer name and model name of the drive. (example: Western Digital My Book)

Yep, 2 externals: Toshiba ALU and Touro Mobile Pro

7. Do you have a network connected drive? (like Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to an AirPort Extreme, or a NAS)

Nope

8. Do you have Time Machine Enabled?

Yes

9. Do you have Crashplan installed?

10. How much time does it usually take for the first crash/reboot to happen, after you put the computer on sleep?

Well sometimes twice a day, sometimes i have no problem for a week. The longest period with no problem was max 10 days. I use my Mac everyday.

Can't answer

Cheers from Poland

SergeNZ

Level 1

0 points

Dec 28, 2013 2:47 PM in response to hailalistair

Hi hailalistair

1. I have a late 2013 iMac 21.5" (with SSD option) and a late 2013 MacBook Air 13". The problem (kernel panic, restart and sleep/wake failure report in the log) occurs only on the former.

2. The problem started only after updating to OSX 10.9 Mavericks. The problem continues under 10.9.1.

3. I have not had a replacement machine from Apple yet.

4. There are no external USB drives connected directly, but two network drives are mapped and connected via the Time Capsule.

5. Random restarts during sleep occur both with Power Nap on and off.

7. Time Machine is on and backs up hourly to the Time Capsule. The Time Capsule has two Western Digital 2TB USB drives attached, which are networked.

10. Quite random, but usually serveral hours.

I think this is a software problem, in light of the fact that it did not occur under OSX 10.8.

Cheers

Serge

Dec 29, 2013 12:54 AM in response to hailalistair

1. Which Mac do you have? (If you have this issue with multiple machines, list them here)

MacBook Air mid-2011 4GB ram

2. When did the problem start? If you had Mountain Lion installed on this machine, did the problem start when you updated to Mavericks?

A few weeks after installing Mavericks from ML

3. Did you have your Mac replaced from Apple because of this issue? If yes, does the new machine still have the problem?

No, n/a

4. Does your machine crash/reboot while on sleep only if you have an external hard drive connected?

No (crashes without drive connected)

No - since disabling Power Nap on Battery only (not Power Adapter), I haven't seen a failure in 10 days. When Power Nap was enabled on both, I'd get a failure on battery power every 2-7 days.

(I'm still on 10.9.0, though.)

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

6. Do you have an external hard drive connected via USB? If yes, write the manufacturer name and model name of the drive. (example: Western Digital My Book)

No (when the sleep failures occurred)

7. Do you have a network connected drive? (like Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to an AirPort Extreme, or a NAS)

8. Do you have Time Machine Enabled?

Yes

9. Do you have Crashplan installed?

10. How much time does it usually take for the first crash/reboot to happen, after you put the computer on sleep?

Uncertain - after some time

N/A

Disabling Power Nap for Battery seems to have done the trick. Time Machine is enabled, but it rarely completes a backup as I'm lazy about plugging in an external drive. I'm basing my knowledge of failures on the 'Sleep Wake Failure' log dates in Console.app. Noticed failures personally a couple of times.

Dec 29, 2013 1:56 PM in response to hailalistair

1. Which Mac do you have? (If you have this issue with multiple machines, list them here)

Late 2013 RMPB 13 inch

2. When did the problem start? If you had Mountain Lion installed on this machine, did the problem start when you updated to Mavericks?

I think it was after upgrading to 10.9.1

3. Did you have your Mac replaced from Apple because of this issue? If yes, does the new machine still have the problem?

4. Does your machine crash/reboot while on sleep only if you have an external hard drive connected?

Not sure. It doesn't seem to happen when disconnected

Didn't try that since reports are inconsistent that this solves it.

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

6. Do you have an external hard drive connected via USB? If yes, write the manufacturer name and model name of the drive. (example: Western Digital My Book)

Yes. G-drive

7. Do you have a network connected drive? (like Time Capsule or an external hard drive connected to an AirPort Extreme, or a NAS)

Time capsule

8. Do you have Time Machine Enabled?

yes. It backs up to the G drive

9. Do you have Crashplan installed?

10. How much time does it usually take for the first crash/reboot to happen, after you put the computer on sleep?

Not sure. Probably around 1 hour

SergeNZ

Level 1

0 points

Dec 29, 2013 2:02 PM in response to SergeNZ

Just experienced the same problem for the first time on my brand new MacBook Air. Two brand new computers, one desktop, one laptop, both with Mavericks, and both experiencing the same problem. Definitely software.

hailalistair Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 29, 2013 6:05 PM in response to hailalistair

Just a reminder for everybody.

1) Try to disable BOTH Wake for network access and Power Nap (in Battery as well as Power Adapter)

2) Send a bug report to Apple using http://www.apple.com/feedback/. More bug reports Apple receives, the likelier it is that they will fix this soon.

3) Thanks for answering my questions. 🙂

DeimosL

Level 1

8 points

Dec 30, 2013 1:44 AM in response to hailalistair

hailalistair wrote:

Just a reminder for everybody.

1) Try to disable BOTH Wake for network access and Power Nap (in Battery as well as Power Adapter)

2) Send a bug report to Apple using http://www.apple.com/feedback/. More bug reports Apple receives, the likelier it is that they will fix this soon.

3) Thanks for answering my questions. 🙂

I have always had both disabled (After getting computer late 2012), yet still suffered the problem after upgrading to 10.9

Crashes/reboots/restarts while on sleep