Q: Computer won't wake up

Late-2013 iMac, 8GB RAM, running El Capitan (10.11.6)

This is been happening since Snow Leopard on a 2007 MacBook; it's still happening with El Capitan. I keep hoping the next upgrade will fix it, but so far no good.

After several days of uptime (maybe as long as a week), the system won't wake back up after going to sleep. If it sleeps while iTunes is playing, it continues to play but I get the spinning pinwheel on a black screen and can't get control back. It also refuses SSH connections, so I can't use the reboot command.

I've been using Activity Monitor to keep an eye on what's happening. Over time, kernel_task memory usage creeps upward. The hang usually happens, as far as I can tell, after its memory usage exceeds 900MB. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on, though, because I can't pull up any info during the hang. But after a forced power-down and restart, the Activity Monitor sometimes shows the pre-reboot data for a few seconds.

It helps to quit Safari and Twitter when I'm not using them, but it only prolongs the day of reckoning.

EtreCheck report:

EtreCheck version: 3.0.6 (315)

Report generated 2016-10-11 20:42:00

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 5:53

Performance: Below Average

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Beachballing

Description:

After a few days of uptime, the computer won’t wake up from sleep. If iTunes is playing, it continues to work, so only part of the system is hung.

Hardware Information: ⓘ

    iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)

    [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

    iMac - model: iMac14,1

    1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core

    8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

        BANK 0/DIMM0

            4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

        BANK 1/DIMM0

            4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

    Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

    Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Video Information: ⓘ

    Intel Iris Pro

        iMac 1920 x 1080

System Software: ⓘ

    OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G1004) - Time since boot: about 2 days

Disk Information: ⓘ

    APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 disk0 : (1 TB) (Rotational)

        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

        Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 999.35 GB (614.37 GB free)

        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

USB Information: ⓘ

    Western Digital My Book 1230 3 TB

        EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 315 MB

        Backup Drive (disk1s2) /Volumes/Backup Drive : 3.00 TB (1.60 TB free)

    Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

    Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

    Apple Inc. MacBook Air SuperDrive

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Configuration files: ⓘ

    /etc/sudoers, File size 1293 but expected 2299

    /etc/hosts - Count: 6

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

    Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

        /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox

    [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (5.0.2 - 2015-08-19) [Support]

    [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (5.0.2 - 2015-08-19) [Support]

    [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (5.0.2 - 2015-08-19) [Support]

    [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.0.2 - 2015-08-19) [Support]

        /System/Library/Extensions

    [not loaded]    com.cisco.nke.ipsec (2.0.1 - 2016-09-13) [Support]

    [not loaded]    com.leapfrog.codeless.kext (2.0 - 2016-09-13) [Support]

    [not loaded]    com.leapfrog.driver.LfConnectDriver (1.10.5 - SDK 10.8 - 2016-09-13) [Support]

Startup Items: ⓘ

    CiscoVPN: Path: /System/Library/StartupItems/CiscoVPN

    Startup items no longer function in OS X Yosemite or later

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

    [not loaded]    7 Apple tasks

    [loaded]    144 Apple tasks

    [running]    88 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

    [not loaded]    42 Apple tasks

    [loaded]    148 Apple tasks

    [running]    102 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ

    [running]    com.barnesandnoble.nookconnect.plist (2013-12-13) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist (2014-11-18) [Support]

    [running]    com.citrix.ReceiverHelper.plist (2014-11-18) [Support]

    [running]    com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist (2014-11-18) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-11) [Support]

    [not loaded]    com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Support]

    [running]    com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa.plist (2015-10-28) [Support]

    [running]    com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangps.plist (2015-10-28) [Support]

    [running]    net.culater.SIMBL.Agent.plist (2010-07-31) [Support]

    [running]    org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist (2008-05-19) [Support]

    [loaded]    org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist (2014-08-11) [Support]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-08-29) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2016-09-01) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.leapfrog.connect.authdaemon.plist (2014-09-06) [Support]

    [not loaded]    com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Support]

    [not loaded]    com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpsd.plist (2015-10-28) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.skype.skypeinstaller.plist (2015-03-20) [Support]

    [loaded]    jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller.plist (2015-06-01) [Support]

    [loaded]    org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist (2014-08-11) [Support]

    [not loaded]    org.virtualbox.startup.plist (2015-08-19) [Support]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

    [not loaded]    com.amazon.cloud-player.plist (2013-11-26) [Support]

    [running]    com.amazon.music.plist (2016-10-11) [Support]

    [running]    com.leapfrog.connect.monitor.plist (2014-09-06) [Support]

    [not loaded]    org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist (2015-08-19) [Support]

User Login Items: ⓘ

    iTunesHelper    Application  (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

    GrowlHelperApp    Application  (/Library/PreferencePanes/Growl.prefPane/Contents/Resources/GrowlHelperApp.app)

    Skype    Application  (/Applications/Skype.app)

    Twitter    Application  (/Applications/Twitter.app)

    Google Chrome    Application Hidden (/Applications/Google Chrome.app)

    EvernoteHelper    Application  (/Applications/Evernote.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/EvernoteHelper.app)

    Cloud Outliner Lite    Application  (/Applications/Cloud Outliner Lite.app)

    Dropbox    Application  (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

    LaCieShortcutButtonDaemon    Application Hidden (/Library/Application Support/LaCie/LaCieShortcutButtonDaemon.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

    o1dbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-16) [Support]

    AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin1017277: AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin 1.0.17 (2012-08-30) [Support]

    Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-07-20)

    Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 2.2.1.11  (2008-08-15) [Support]

    Silverlight: 5.1.41212.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-01-29) [Support]

    FlashPlayer-10.6: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-18) [Support]

    QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-07-20)

    Flash Player: 23.0.0.162 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-18) Outdated! Update

    iPhotoPhotocast: 6.0 (2007-03-17)

    CitrixICAClientPlugIn: 11.9.0 - SDK 10.9 (2014-11-18) [Support]

    npgtpo3dautoplugin: 0.1.44.29 - SDK 10.5 (2014-03-11) [Support]

    googletalkbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-12-11) [Support]

    JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 - SDK 10.7 (2014-11-20) Check version

User internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

    WebEx64: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-01-11) [Support]

    fbplugin_1_0_3: Unknown (2010-06-09) [Support]

    WebEx: 1.0 (2009-05-06) [Support]

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

    AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (2016-05-20)

    Blur - Abine, the online privacy company. - https://www.abine.com (2016-10-05)

    ClickToFlash - Marc Hoyois - http://hoyois.github.com/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/ (2016-05-09)

    Sessions - David Yoo - https://sessions-extension.github.io/Sessions/ (2016-05-09)

    Evernote Web Clipper - Evernote Corp. - http://evernote.com (2016-09-27)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

    Flash Player (2016-08-29) [Support]

    Flip4Mac WMV (2008-08-15) [Support]

    FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE) (2012-10-26) [Support]

    Growl (2011-05-25) [Support]

    LaCie Shortcut Button (2008-09-18) [Support]

    MySQL (2011-03-14) [Support]

    Perian (2011-07-23) [Support]

    TeXDistPrefPane (2007-05-11) [Support]

Time Machine: ⓘ

    Skip System Files: NO

    Mobile backups: OFF

    Auto backup: YES

    Volumes being backed up:

        Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 384.97 GB

    Destinations:

        Backup Drive [Local]

        Total size: 3.00 TB

        Total number of backups: 185

        Oldest backup: 3/3/12, 10:13 AM

        Last backup: 10/11/16, 7:36 PM

        Size of backup disk: Excellent

            Backup size 3.00 TB > (Disk size 999.35 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

        60%    com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(18)

         9%    WindowServer

         7%    iTunes

         6%    Finder

         5%    kernel_task

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

    2.67 GB    com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(18)

    880 MB    kernel_task

    336 MB    Safari

    238 MB    iTunes

    188 MB    mdworker(17)

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

    46 MB    Free RAM

    7.95 GB    Used RAM (1.22 GB Cached)

    134 MB    Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

    Oct 11, 2016, 08:14:45 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-201445_[redacted].crash [Details]

        /Users/[redacted]/Desktop/Amazon Music.app/Contents/MacOS/Amazon Music Helper

    Oct 11, 2016, 07:44:33 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-194433_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 07:14:21 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-191421_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 06:44:11 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-184411_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 06:14:00 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-181400_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 05:43:50 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-174350_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 05:13:35 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-171335_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 04:43:29 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-164329_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 04:13:14 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-161314_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 03:43:08 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-154308_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 08:40:48 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-084048_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 08:24:01 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-082401_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 08:23:36 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-082336_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 08:21:29 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-082129_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 11, 2016, 08:21:05 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-11-082105_[redacted].crash [Details]

    Oct 10, 2016, 11:48:55 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-234855_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 11:18:41 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-231841_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 10:48:28 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-224828_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 10:18:18 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-221818_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 09:48:06 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-214806_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 09:17:54 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-211754_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 08:47:41 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-204741_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 09:13:45 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-091345_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 02:36:26 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-023626_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 12:35:53 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-003553_[redacted].crash

    Oct 10, 2016, 12:05:41 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-10-000541_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 11:35:31 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-233531_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 11:05:17 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-230517_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 10:35:03 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-223503_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 10:04:53 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-220453_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 09:34:43 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-213443_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 09:04:29 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-210429_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 09:55:43 AM    Self test - passed

    Oct 9, 2016, 09:13:33 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-091333_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 01:06:38 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-010638_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 12:36:24 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-003624_[redacted].crash

    Oct 9, 2016, 12:06:18 AM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-09-000618_[redacted].crash

    Oct 8, 2016, 11:36:11 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-08-233611_[redacted].crash

    Oct 8, 2016, 11:05:50 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-08-230550_[redacted].crash

    Oct 8, 2016, 10:35:36 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-08-223536_[redacted].crash

    Oct 8, 2016, 10:05:26 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-08-220526_[redacted].crash

    Oct 8, 2016, 09:35:15 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-08-213515_[redacted].crash

    Oct 8, 2016, 09:05:05 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Amazon Music Helper_2016-10-08-210505_[redacted].crash

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