How to find out why my iMac is waking up by itself since installing Sierra?

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Level 2

324 points

How to find out why my iMac is waking up by itself since installing Sierra?

I installed macOS Sierra yesterday. Since then, both times that I put my iMac to sleep it woke up by itself sometime later and remained awake until manually put asleep again. I'm not sure how long it took before it woke up each time. I searched for wakeup in Console, but this utility has changed at lot and I didn't find wakeup reasons that used to appear in the previous version. Nothing else has changed from El Capitan other than the update to Sierra.

I'm looking for clues to help me find the cause of this new problem.

iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS Sierra (10.12), null

Posted on Sep 30, 2016 10:34 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 30, 2016 10:43 AM in response to Hersco

maybe some useful hints here...If your Mac doesn't sleep or wake when expected - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Hersco Author

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Sep 30, 2016 4:36 PM in response to PATRICKMELE

Thanks for the link. None of these conditions apply. All my settings are exactly the same as in El Capitan.

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Answer 3

trevoz

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Sep 30, 2016 5:47 PM in response to Hersco

Next time it wakes up by itself and stays awake, check Activity Monitor's Energy tab. It shows apps which are preventing sleep .

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Answer 4

Hersco Author

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Sep 30, 2016 7:39 PM in response to trevoz

Interesting thought. I wonder, though, if the apps I have open donn't prevent me from putting my iMac to sleep, why would they prevent sleep after waking up?. I will check it anyway.

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Answer 5

John Galt

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Sep 30, 2016 7:54 PM in response to Hersco

Did you follow the instructions under "If the previous steps don't work"?

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Answer 6

Hersco Author

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Sep 30, 2016 9:28 PM in response to John Galt

I did reset the SMC. Computer woke up again after about two and a half hours. Activity Monitor reported no apps preventing sleep.

Will now test again after resetting the NVRAM. I did not think to disconnect my USB devices, since they were all connected when running El Capitan and did not cause the same problem.

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Answer 7

Hersco Author

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Oct 1, 2016 11:34 AM in response to Hersco

Resetting the NVRAM did not fix the problem either. Awaiting further help from Apple Tech Support.

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Answer 8

John Galt

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Oct 1, 2016 11:43 AM in response to Hersco

.

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Answer 9

John Galt

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Oct 1, 2016 11:52 AM in response to Hersco

If the same problem is occurring in Safe Mode, and while using a different User Account while logged out of your other account, check for the presence of any input devices in Bluetooth Preferences > Advanced. Un-pair any devices you do not recognize, and de-select "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer".

All those potential causes and others are addressed in the Apple Support document referenced earlier. If nothing helps then you will need to proceed under AppleCare's direction. Be sure to contact Apple and not some scam outfit. If you Google "Apple Tech Support" you will find plenty of them, fraudulently claiming to represent Apple.

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Answer 10

Hersco Author

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Oct 1, 2016 12:12 PM in response to John Galt

Thanks for the suggestions. I have no Bluetooth devices other than my Magic Trackpad. I have always left "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer" unchecked. I am now testing as a new user. I will report the results.

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Answer 11

Hersco Author

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Oct 1, 2016 10:15 PM in response to Hersco

The new user test proved to be a bit confusing. About two and a half hours after I first put the iMac to sleep as a new user, I found it awake, with a message that the computer restarted due to a "Sleep Wake Failure." I manually woke my iMac and put it back to sleep twice over the next several hours and it did not wake up again by itself.

So the problem, which didn't occur with El Capitan, occurs in Sierra when I login normally. Also, apparently my USB connections aren't the problem, since they exist across both users.

Meanwhile, I don't know where to begin to find what in my primary user folder could be causing Sierra to wake my iMac by itself and stay awake. I really don't want to erase my drive and start all over as a new user. Perhaps I should wait for the next Sierra update to see if this problem goes away.

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Answer 12

trevoz

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Oct 2, 2016 9:56 PM in response to Hersco

In a Terminal window run this:

log show --style syslog | fgrep -i sleep | fgrep -v mDNS

It should show all the relevant sleep entries. If you notice anything interesting, post it here (the log will be quite long and repetitive, so no need to post the whole thing :-)

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Answer 13

Hersco Author

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324 points

Oct 2, 2016 10:20 PM in response to trevoz

Trevoz,

Thanks for the suggestion. Scrolling through the many lines, I spotted a couple that match up well with one that I found in Console this morning.

From Console:

10:04:17.218096 kernel [IOBluetoothHCIController][WakeUpDisplay] -- took 17289663 microseconds to call activityTickle()

From Terminal:

2016-10-02 10:04:18.542750-0700 localhost blued[112]: (IOBluetooth) [com.apple.bluetooth.CBManager] bluetooth_sleepHandler IOPMIsAUserWake

2016-10-02 10:04:19.584583-0700 localhost thermald[252]: [thermald.log] Received wake from sleep power notification

There have been several occurrences of the same entries in Terminal, some at times after I went to bed at night.

I logged back in as my normal self and put the computer to sleep before I went to bed last night. I found my iMac awake this morning. After seeing that Bluetooth message in Console, I turned off Bluetooth and put my iMac to sleep again. This time, it remained asleep for 11 hours, at which time I woke it manually to post this. That is the longest stretch without waking and remaining awake that I've witnessed since installing Sierra.

As mentioned before, I have no Bluetooth devices other than my Magic Trackpad 2 and "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer" has always been unchecked. So, perhaps there is a Bluetooth issue that Sierra can't handle the way El Capitan did.

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Answer 14

trevoz

Level 4

1,990 points

Oct 2, 2016 11:03 PM in response to Hersco

I'd say it's pretty conclusive that the issue is caused by leaving bluetooth enabled. I don't think this is new to Sierra as I've seen instances of it with El Capitan too. It also only seems to affect recent MacBooks. Is yours a recent model?

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Answer 15

Oct 3, 2016 12:05 PM in response to trevoz

Heelo

I have similar issues since Sierra installed on a iMac 27" i7 late 2013

I do not if it will of any help but this is the log entries.

016-10-03 18:10:20.914219+0200 localhost kernel[0]: (AppleACPIPlatform) ACPI SLEEP

2016-10-03 19:49:49.999372+0200 localhost kernel[0]: (AppleSMC) Previous sleep cause: 5

2016-10-03 19:49:50.685725+0200 localhost apsd[103]: (CoreDaemon) <APSTCPStream: 0x7ff5f45201a0>: Configuring request for sleep proxy keep alives for environment production

2016-10-03 19:49:51.397710+0200 localhost kernel[0]: (AirPortBrcm4360) ARPT: 158544.724397: IOPMPowerSource Information: onWake, SleepType: Normal Sleep,

2016-10-03 19:49:51.411907+0200 localhost kernel[0]: PMRD: prevent idle sleep list: IODisplayWrangler+ (1)

2016-10-03 19:49:51.411909+0200 localhost kernel[0]: prevent idle sleep list: IODisplayWrangler+ (1)

2016-10-03 19:49:59.872429+0200 localhost apsd[103]: (CoreDaemon) <APSTCPStream: 0x7ff5f4416360>: Configuring request for sleep proxy keep alives for environment production

2016-10-03 19:50:03.939227+0200 localhost apsd[103]: (CoreDaemon) <APSTCPStream: 0x7ff5f441abf0>: Configuring request for sleep proxy keep alives for environment production

2016-10-03 19:50:06.464598+0200 localhost apsd[103]: (CoreDaemon) <APSTCPStream: 0x7ff5f6b18190>: Configuring request for sleep proxy keep alives for environment production

2016-10-03 19:55:30.462564+0200 localhost kernel[0]: (AppleACPIPlatform) ACPI: sleep states S3 S4 S5

2016-10-03 19:55:30.474989+0200 localhost kernel[0]: PMRD: Sleep failure code 0x00340530 0x03000032

2016-10-03 19:55:30.474990+0200 localhost kernel[0]: Sleep failure code 0x00340530 0x03000032

2016-10-03 19:55:30.999931+0200 localhost kernel[0]: PMRD: System was rebooted due to Sleep/Wake failure

2016-10-03 19:55:30.999932+0200 localhost kernel[0]: System was rebooted due to Sleep/Wake failure

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