Mac won't sleep! Sleep option gray.

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Level 1

10 points

Mac won't sleep! Sleep option gray.

Hello,

We have had several issues over the past few weeks where about a dozen macs (Macbook Pros, Airs, iMacs, Mac Pros) have all had the same issue, and vary in OS as well; from 10.8.5 to 10.9.2. They have all updated recently with Apple's new updates. Since then, the sleep option on the Macs have been grayed (greyed) out and it will not sleep or go on screensaver if left on. We want to avoid the burning of an image on the LCD screens.

I've reset the PRAM on a few to see if that will solve it. No go. I read online that manually updating some plist files would fix it or deleting them, and nothing. We need an answer quickly, users are complaining that their macbooks are heating up incredibly, and others feel like they were about to "burst into flames".

If anyone out there has had the same issue and fixed it, please advise.

Also, don't say "Just reformat and start all over"... we run a large business and need a systematic fix, not a bandaid. We are talking also about a dozen (and growing per day) computers having this issue. I am guessing we are not the only ones.

Thank you.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on May 15, 2014 8:41 AM

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Answer 1

May 15, 2014 9:41 AM in response to zumbanetops

Have you deployed any new application recently to all these computers, beside the Apple updates?

Where are you seeing the greyed out Sleep option?

What are the System Prefernces > Energy Saver settings?

In Terminal, enter pmset -g this will diplay you sleep setting and also display what prevent the sleep from occuring

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Answer 2

zumbanetops Author

Level 1

10 points

May 21, 2014 12:03 PM in response to actionmarker

Here's what happened. I went and did a pmset -g, and saw that SleepDisabled was set to 1, I then knew that it was activated to true.

I went into the com.apple.PowerManagement.plist file and changed it to false. Overwrote the file, and the sleep option came back. It did not work when I clicked it. I then did some deductive reasoning, and figured if there is a method called SleepDisabled, then there should be one called SleepEnabled. So I changed it to that and set it to TRUE and that worked.

The only problem is that it worked with the laptop I was using it on, and only that one. It was something that stuck after I put it to sleep, restarted, and shutdown. Unfortunately it only worked for the one individual computer. When I tried it on others, the results varied. iMacs, 13" MBP, 13" MBA, and others... Some would work, but after a restart, the computer will gray out the sleep option. Others would ungray the option, but would do nothing when you click it.

I also figured out that on the ones that did nothing... if you go back and reset to default the Power Saver options, it would work... but just once. After it sleeps, and you wake it back up, the sleep option returns to gray.

I've managed to try variations of it, but resetting the options before making the changes to the plist file, but mixed results where none stick. Only the initial computer a 15" MBP works and has stayed that way after multiple restarts and shutdowns.

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Answer 3

May 21, 2014 5:08 PM in response to zumbanetops

Hacking the sleep settings on the different Macs may be one way to tackle the issue, but as you describe, you are getting mixed results for each machine and it appears that the settings are reverting back to before your hack.

If this is occurring on many different machines, on different OS versions, then it is much more likely that there is some universal setting causing the issue between the Macs.

How are these Macs configured? Is there a server controlling these with admin rights? What are the settings there? or Is there an application that was recently deployed to al these Macs that overrides the sleep settings?

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