High Sierra random display sleep

I recently upgraded my Macbook Pro w/ Touchbar to High Sierra, and I'm running the most recent supplemental update. Ever since, the display randomly goes to sleep, but I've not changed any Energy Saver or Screen Saver settings. Prior to the upgrade, and currently, I had a Hot Corner setup to instantly put the display to sleep. In addition, I have the Security setting selected to require a password immediately after sleep or screensaver. Also, the screen saver is set to come on after 30 minutes, and the display is set to turn off after 10 minutes.


I also have the MBP connected to an external HP display, via a USB-C to VGA adapter. In addition, I've started having windows resized after waking from sleep. None of these symptoms occurred prior to the upgrade to 10.13.

Posted on Oct 12, 2017 10:08 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 27, 2018 2:46 PM

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!

60 replies

Dec 8, 2017 12:41 AM in response to steelhorse83

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

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High Sierra random display sleep

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