High Sierra random display sleep

Hello everyone, SAME STORY here!

MacBook Pro 2016 13inch with Touch Bar. This issue never occurred until I upgraded to High Sierra (current ver 10.13.1).

Whenever I stop interacting with computer, display falls asleep w/i 10-30 seconds. And I have to wake it up and insert password to login back (just as if laptop went to sleep). What is already done:

- checked Energy Saver preferences

- SMC & NVRAM reset multiple times

- re-installing of MacOS

- connecting/disconnecting different USB-C devices to check if they caused the issue

So, impossible to read email or internet content. Extremely annoying!

As @maxx_mail posted last week, it seems to have to do something with unlocking by Touch ID as I can reproduce that strange behaviour. A workaround is to unlock the MacBook by pressing any key on the keyboard.

Hopefully Apple acknowledges fixes that soon, as it requires two buttons to press (keyboard + Touch ID). I assume waking up by Touch ID misses to suspend a scheduler, that puts the Lock Screen to sleep after some idle time 😉

I'm quite sure its related to the hardware/touchbar, not a single time now have I run in to this issue that the display randomly goes to sleep after I got the touchbar replaced. For me the problem with display going to sleep randomly started about the same time the touchbar started to flicker.

Same issue here after upgrading to High Sierra. But I may be the only one running on an older 2009 Mac Pro tower - no touchbar / no thumbprint. Runs beautifully except for the issue that my screens go to sleep randomly and I can't get them to come back on without rebooting. The computer clearly keeps trucking along in the background as videos keep playing despite the screens sleeping.

Resolved on my Mac Pro. Standard procedure for SMC reset didn't work even when leaving it unplugged for 20 minutes, but unplugging my mac pro overnight did the trick and I haven't had the issue return since.

Same here, and it's driving me crazy. I'm actually experiencing this on two different late-2016 Touch Bar macs — both my personal laptop and my work one have the exact same behavior. Even without any screen saver, energy saver, or display sleep settings on, the screen randomly turns off after ~10-20s of inactivity. Seems to happen a little more when plugged into a monitor, though I've also seen it happen untethered.

I don't remember experiencing this before the High Sierra upgrade. There's also a Stack Exchange thread on the same issue and it hasn't seemed to go anywhere.

Do you have ANY devices right next to the computer?

Second, are you by chance happen to be using certain keystrokes at the time?

And are you using an application like CHROME WHEN this happens?

Does it happen with BATTERY power or only with the charger attached?

Also, I would FIRST

turn off energy saver for everything and not let it go to sleep and see if the problem continues.

If it does, try first a PRAM / NVRAM/ or / SMC reset.

It looks like there might be two issues here.

One is about closing lid sensor which activates when there's something magnetic around like a Bluetooth speaker or a phone case with magnetic clasp or an Apple Watch magnetic strap like described here SOLVED: Why does my MacBook Pro put itself to sleep while I'm working? - MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 - iFixit.

And the other seems to be related to sleep timer... Or not... Mine is set to 2 minutes but it never works as expected. Sometimes it goes to sleep in exactly 30 seconds (the screen goes dark instantly) several times in a row, and sometimes in about 3:40 it deems out a bit and in another 10s goes dark, then again it goes dark instantly in just 20 seconds of inactivity. I set with a stopwatch for about an hour and couldn't find any particular pattern. Most of the time it's just 3:40+10 or 30 not depending on how I unlock or what activity there is. And less often it's 20 or even less.

PS: I also have a Hot Corner setup to put the display to sleep. No Norton/Symantec/Microsoft software.

PPS: EtreCheck report:

EtreCheck version: 3.4.6 (460)

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)

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

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro13,2

1 3,3 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-6567U) CPU: 2-core

16 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB LPDDR3 2133 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB LPDDR3 2133 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 250

iCloud Quota: 3.26 GB available

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel Iris Graphics 550 - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 2880 x 1800

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD AP0512J disk0: (500,28 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

(disk0s1) <not mounted> [EFI]: 315 MB

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [APFS Container]: 499.31 GB

USB Information: ⓘ

USB30Bus

Apple Inc. iBridge

USB31Bus

USB31Bus

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus_1

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus_0

Virtual disks: ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk1s1 - APFS) / [Startup]: 499.31 GB (348.89 GB free)

Encrypted: Yes (Unlocked)

Physical disk: disk0s2 499.31 GB (348.89 GB free)

(disk1s2) <not mounted> [Preboot]: 499.31 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 499.31 GB

(disk1s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 499.31 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 499.31 GB

(disk1s4) /private/var/vm [VM]: 499.31 GB

Physical disk: disk0s2 499.31 GB

System Software: ⓘ

macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 (17B1003) - Time since boot: about 2 days

Configuration files: ⓘ

/etc/hosts - Count: 9

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Applications/Tunnelblick.app

[not loaded] net.tunnelblick.tap (20141104 (Tunnelblick build 4921)) [Lookup]

[not loaded] net.tunnelblick.tun (20111101 (Tunnelblick build 4921)) [Lookup]

/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (5.1.30) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (5.1.30) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (5.1.30) [Lookup]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.1.30) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks

[loaded] 160 Apple tasks

[running] 121 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 36 Apple tasks

[loaded] 166 Apple tasks

[running] 127 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2017-06-23) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2017-06-23) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.apple.installer.cleanupinstaller.plist (? 1963bf56 0 - installed 2017-09-29)

[running] com.nordvpn.NordVPN.Helper.plist (TEFINKOM & CO S.A - installed 2017-11-21) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2017-05-23) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist (TeamViewer GmbH - installed 2017-06-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick.tunnelblickd.plist (Jonathan Bullard - installed 2017-12-08) [Lookup]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist (Shell Script 700b9385 - installed 2017-11-04) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2017-08-11) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-09-28) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist (Skype Communications S.a.r.l - installed 2017-07-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick.LaunchAtLogin.plist (Jonathan Bullard - installed 2017-12-07) [Lookup]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist (Oracle America, Inc. - installed 2017-11-04) [Lookup]

User Login Items: ⓘ

NordVPN Application

(/Applications/NordVPN.app)

Dropbox Application

(/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-09-21)

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

[enabled] 1Password - AgileBits - https://agilebits.com/onepassword (installed 2017-11-20)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

GPGPreferences (installed 2017-03-21) [Lookup]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 499.31 GB Disk used: 150.42 GB

Destinations:

My Passport [Local]

Total size: 999.46 GB

Total number of backups: 12

Oldest backup: 28/09/2017, 20:04

Last backup: 30/09/2017, 17:05

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 999.46 GB > (Disk used 150.42 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

36% plugin-container

25% WindowServer

22% mdworker

22% mdworker

20% firefox

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

3.47 GB plugin-container

1.57 GB firefox

1.33 GB kernel_task

785 MB mds_stores

359 MB phpstorm

Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ

Input Output Process name

28 MB 8 MB openvpn

3 MB 1 MB mDNSResponder

3 MB 329 KB biometrickitd

350 KB 254 KB Dropbox

107 KB 95 KB netbiosd

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ

29.02 plugin-container

24.22 WindowServer

13.94 firefox

5.68 coreaudiod

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

2.01 GB Available RAM

39 MB Free RAM

13.99 GB Used RAM

1.97 GB Cached files

2.35 GB Swap Used

Software installs (last 30 days): ⓘ

Telegram: 3.6 (installed 2017-12-01)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events): ⓘ

2017-12-01 22:28:04 Kernel Panic [Open] [Details]

3rd Party Kernel Extensions:

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp 5.1.30

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt 5.1.30

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv 5.1.30

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB 5.1.30

I'm also having this issue for the last month or two on my 2013 11" MacBook Air. Never had it before. It seems to only happen while I'm typing a lot quickly. I checked to see if I'm accidentally hitting a keyboard command for sleep, but they all involve the power button, which I am definitely not touching.

I've been having the same problem, Mac Pro with Touch Bar, High Sierra. Screen saver is set to 2 min.

At first I though it was related to a bug with Filevault (since it insists on locking the screen). But I also don't get the issue if I unlock with with a password, instead of a TouchID.

I don't have a workaround, but I know what the bug is. It's related to the 30s timer that is set on the login screen, it doesn't reset that value when you use Touch ID.

I found the relevant logs by searching for 'screen':

After a touchID login, the screen lock is set at 30 seconds:

ScreenLockAndPower | kLWDBLogLevel_Internal | -[LWBuiltInScreenLockAuthLion setTimeoutTimer:withDelay:] | set idleTime to 30.000000, timer scheduled for delay 29.996665

And it stays that way.

When you get the password prompt, the systems defaults back to a 30 second lock screen:

ScreenLockAndPower | kLWDBLogLevel_Internal | -[LWBuiltInScreenLockAuthLion startTimerForUnlockRequest:] | using standard timeout of: 30

ScreenLockAndPower | kLWDBLogLevel_Internal | -[LWBuiltInScreenLockAuthLion setTimeoutTimer:withDelay:] | set idleTime to 30.000000, timer scheduled for delay 30.000000

But after a keyboard login, the system finds a new 'lastReadPrefferedIdleTime' that seems more reasonable (1200s)

ScreenLockAndPower | kLWDBLogLevel_Internal | -[LWBuiltInScreenLockAuthLion authSuccessUsingContinuity:] | Unlock succeeded, with password, attempting to unlock the keybag

ScreenLockAndPower | kLWDBLogLevel_Internal | -[ScreenSaverDaemon _setIdleTimer:] | setting idleTimer to: 1200.000000

default 07:38:42.041036 -0800 loginwindow ScreenLockAndPower | kLWDBLogLevel_Internal | -[ScreenSaverDaemon idleTimeDefaultForUser:] | _lastReadPreferredIdleTime = 1200.000000

Except that this number is also wrong, since the value should be '120' (2 min).

So, I'm fairly sure I know the cause, I just don't know the fix.

Now I just have to remember how to open a bug with Apple.

I have mid 2012 13” MacBook Pro High Sierra 13.3.3. I’m having this issue as well. There are no magnets nearby and I have messed with energy saver settings, reset NVRAM, reset SMC, reinstalled os, and tried safe mode. Reinstalling the os and safe mode allow the display to stay awake for a few minutes before the issue arises again of my MacBook going to sleep every few seconds. The issue occurs whether an external display is connected or disconnected.

Hi, I had the exact same problem till 5 minutes ago!

I was going totally crazy with it since it was happening all the time. Until I discovered this extremely simple post:

SOLVED: Why does my MacBook Pro put itself to sleep while I'm working? - MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 - iFixit

The fact is that about any magnet you swipe near the left speaker of your Macbook will put your screen to sleep. Just like if you flipped your screen closed.

For myself, two devices I am wearing all the time were interacting with the screen: First the magnetic clip behind the milanese loop of the Apple Watch I am wearing on my left hand. Second, I also keep the charging case of my Airpods in my left pocket everyday and the back clasp of the case is magnetic. So every time I swiped my hand over the left speaker while tipping and very often when using my Macbook on my knees I was getting mad!

Good luck!

This happens to me when unlocking with password, with TouchID and with Apple Watch. Happens randomly, for instance just locked on my while in a meeting, was actively using my laptop for last 20 minutes.

Boot into Safe Mode, Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode, and run for a while there to see if the problem persists. If not reboot normally and test again.

Will this be useful?