Battery percentage screen stays on waking from sleep

Question

Level 1

57 points

Battery percentage screen stays on waking from sleep

Hi-

I have a fairly new 15" MacBook Pro which I bought as a refurb from Apple about a month ago. I have been having an annoying issue since the first day that I had the laptop. I have tried PRAM reset, SMC reset, and did a complete removal and reinstall (repartitioned and installed from scratch)

I use this laptop in the evenings after work, so it sits with the lid closed, sleeping all day. When I wake it from sleep I can use the fingerprint sensor to log in, and I can barely see my apps in the background, but the battery charged percentage screen either won't go away, or takes a minute (I have had to hard boot it several times, when the screen wouldn't go away after a few minutes).

This picture shows what I am talking about:

You can see the apps in the background - it is like whatever application that shows this screen is hung.

Any ideas? I have tried SSHing into it while it exhibited this issue, but didn't find anything.

Thanks

Posted on May 3, 2018 2:28 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 1, 2018 6:41 PM in response to illusiondweller

Ok, this is super frustrating. This is now happening on both my work and home laptop. Both are MacBook Pros 15" w/ the touchbar. Both are on 10.13.5. No strange software that they have in common: Adobe, Sketch, Bear, etc. very lean install.

Has no one else seen this?

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Answer 2

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

May 4, 2018 12:49 PM in response to jrsmobile

Hello jrsmobile,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. It's my understanding that a battery icon appears and becomes stuck after waking your MacBook Pro. You've done an excellent job trying to get this resolved so far! I recommend contacting Apple Support for further assistance with this issue.

Contact Apple Support

Cheers!

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Answer 3

jrsmobile Author

Level 1

57 points

Jun 8, 2018 5:58 AM in response to chuck_3rd

Still troubleshooting this, because I know that if I take it to the genius bar it won't do it.

When the laptop was hanging with the battery charge screen I was able to ssh in and run "top". A couple of processes popped in, but the whole time it was happening "WindowServer" was pegged, and photoanalysisd was in the mix quite a bit - but does go away long before the mac is usable. When the mac is usable, WindowServer's CPU utilization is sane. Here is a filtered view of the top that I ran (why do these groups not have a "code" format button?):

ssh laptop 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer (... cut forty 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer (... cut forty 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer (... cut ~30 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer (... Mac is usable) 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer 169 WindowServer (... some top -l 99 -n 20 -o cpu -ncols 17 | grep WindowServer 33.7 03:33.32 10/1 3 1504- 184M- 0B 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 15.68512 0.00470 88 78.6 03:35.46 10/1 3 1510+ 208M+ 512K+ 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 14.14056 0.00000 88 98.3 03:36.49 10/1 3 1508- 210M+ 512K 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 6.64302 0.00000 88 100.2 03:37.53 9/1 3 1509+ 210M+ 512K 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 0.96898 0.00071 88 99.6 03:38.57 6/1 3 1503- 211M+ 512K 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 1.21074 0.00000 88 99.7 03:39.60 5/1 2 1504+ 212M+ 512K 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 3.33529 0.00060 88 samples between 99 and ~100%) 99.7 04:22.34 5/1 2 1627 199M+ 33M 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 1.23415 0.00000 88 66.9 04:23.03 7/1 2 1616- 199M+ 768K- 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 1.56040 0.00059 88 99.8 04:24.05 8/1 2 1515- 197M- 1184K+ 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 1.25404 0.00087 88 98.3 04:25.06 8/1 2 1527+ 198M+ 1112K- 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 1.63784 0.00000 88 101.2 04:26.21 14/1 8 1690+ 208M+ 1424K+ 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 1.39138 0.00042 88 111.0 04:27.37 14/1 8 1688- 226M+ 102M+ 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 0.67987 0.00235 88 99.7 04:28.40 13/1 8 1687- 226M+ 102M 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 1.28366 0.00045 88 100.3 04:29.43 11/1 8 1683- 226M+ 102M- 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 1.17379 0.00224 88 samples between 92 and ~100%) 96.3 05:11.24 9/1 2 1566- 177M- 122M+ 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 12.63603 0.00460 88 95.1 05:12.22 9/1 2 1566 176M- 172M+ 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 7.96572 0.00000 88 95.7 05:13.20 9/1 2 1566 177M+ 150M- 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 8.03934 0.00085 88 95.4 05:14.19 9/1 2 1568+ 176M- 150M- 0B 169 1 running *0[1] 5.91528 0.00094 88 4.6 19:18.46 9/1 2 2598- 221M+ 139M- 64M 169 1 running *0[1] 1.89081 0.00205 88 78.7 19:19.31 9/1 2 2584- 201M- 58M- 64M- 169 1 running *0[1] 18.98670 0.00275 88 85.9 19:21.05 9/1 2 2590+ 209M+ 58M+ 64M- 169 1 running *0[1] 8.50135 0.00084 88 100.6 19:22.12 9/1 2 2589- 209M+ 58M 64M 169 1 running *0[1] 5.97455 0.00199 88 98.5 19:23.15 9/1 2 2588- 210M+ 55M- 64M- 169 1 running *0[1] 2.98797 0.00232 88 samples between 85 and ~100%) 100.4 19:54.76 8/1 2 2683+ 200M- 117M- 64M- 169 1 running *0[1] 7.37598 0.00690 88 99.8 19:55.79 8/1 2 2661- 197M- 145M+ 64M 169 1 running *0[1] 10.53476 0.00910 88 91.6 19:56.75 7/1 2 2645- 194M- 150M+ 64M 169 1 running *0[1] 24.02014 0.00498 88 89.4 19:57.67 8/1 2 2648+ 196M+ 143M- 64M- 169 1 running *0[1] 25.29059 0.00000 88 91.0 19:58.63 9/1 3 2627- 199M+ 114M- 63M- 169 1 running *0[1] 20.67757 0.00000 88 90.8 19:59.56 9/1 3 2627 199M+ 114M 63M- 169 1 running *0[1] 18.06122 0.00000 88 90.2 20:00.66 9/1 3 2627 199M+ 114M 63M 169 1 running *0[1] 18.76464 0.00000 88 90.9 20:01.62 9/1 3 2627 200M+ 114M 63M 169 1 running *0[1] 16.33278 0.00000 88 90.9 20:02.57 9/1 3 2630+ 201M+ 110M- 63M- 169 1 running *0[1] 25.58776 0.00246 88 86.9 20:03.49 9/1 3 2631+ 200M- 111M+ 63M 169 1 running *0[1] 19.75265 0.00000 88 89.2 20:04.43 9/1 3 2630- 186M- 112M+ 63M 169 1 running *0[1] 18.38059 0.00000 88 85.4 20:05.31 9/1 3 2699+ 174M- 111M- 63M 169 1 running *0[1] 16.91991 0.00681 88 87.5 20:06.22 9 3 2738+ 173M- 118M+ 58M- 169 1 sleeping *0[1] 19.92318 0.02761 88 20.7 20:06.44 9 3 2973+ 173M+ 86M- 58M 169 1 sleeping *0[1] 5.07979 0.00537 88 4.7 20:06.49 9 3 2966- 172M- 159M+ 58M 169 1 sleeping *0[1] 2.36855 0.00000 88 6.7 20:06.56 9 3 2966 171M- 160M+ 58M 169 1 sleeping *0[1] 3.26716 0.00106 88 11.2 20:06.70 9/1 3 2993+ 173M+ 150M- 58M- 169 1 running *0[1] 2.62284 0.01099 88 7.6 20:06.78 9 3 3003+ 172M- 154M+ 58M 169 1 sleeping *0[1] 2.00677 0.04006 88 2.3 20:06.80 9 3 3004+ 173M+ 151M- 58M 169 1 sleeping *0[1] 0.55861 0.00353 88 samples over 30%, most < ~10%)

I have tried the very few things that I have seen regarding WindowServer and things preventing wake (turn off transparency, safe boot/repair permissions), and the hardware diagnostics found nothing.

I might have to bite the bullet and just make an appointment.

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Answer 4

Jun 8, 2018 7:31 AM in response to jrsmobile

If you go, let me know what they come up with. Mine is out of warranty (I didn't buy Apple Care), so I haven't brought it in. It's also hard to repeat on command, which makes it hard for them to troubleshoot.

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Answer 5

Jul 1, 2018 7:02 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I don't think so. I'll try switching spaces next time and see what happens, but I'm pretty sure something is interrupting the 'wake up' process. FWIW, iMac (same OS version) has never seen this, seems limited to the MacBook Pro.

edit...

Actually, after thinking about it, you can see the OS working under the screen (doc, menus, etc.) it's just VERY faint and quite laggy (unusably slow). You can see it in the original poster's photo. It's too laggy and too faint to do anything clever like quit some process.

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Answer 6

jrsmobile Author

Level 1

57 points

Jul 1, 2018 7:03 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

No, the machine is very unresponsive at this point.

After fingerprint-id it still sits there. you can see the apps in the background, and nothing happens.

I even tried another reformat & reinstall, Even with nothing installed but base apple programs it happened the next day.

The apple store near me is closed for remodel- once it reopens I will take it in.

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Answer 7

jrsmobile Author

Level 1

57 points

Jul 2, 2018 7:05 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

It is really weird - you can, but the apps won't actually switch.

Even the times that the battery page goes away (a few seconds to a couple minutes), initially the machine is still unresponsive. You ⌘ + tab and the switcher comes up, and you pick a new app, but nothing changes. Can't do anything, can't interact with the top app, can't switch to activity monitor to see what is going on. The only thing that I have seen is that, every time, WindowServer is using ~100% CPU (which I know because of SSH-ing into the box).

This computer was a refurb, and I wonder if this is why it was returned in the first place.

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Answer 8

jrsmobile Author

Level 1

57 points

Jul 2, 2018 7:22 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I can't do that... it has the TouchBar, which doesn't seem to show anything until the computer is fully awake. Hence, no escape key 😟

Next time it happens I will try though, maybe there is a phantom key

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Answer 9

Jul 3, 2018 8:13 AM in response to lonoshea

It might have been a fluke, but per Grant's suggestion, I tried to command+tab to Finder, and that actually put the screen back to where it should be. So far I've only had the chance to test once, will follow up if it works next time.

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Answer 10

lonoshea

Level 1

9 points

Jul 3, 2018 8:49 AM in response to illusiondweller

I will give that a try when this happens again. So far it has happened every morning for the last week. This is also the ONLY post I have seen when scouring the internet for this problem. Seems like it is either a new problem or limited to very few MBPs.

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Answer 11

lonoshea

Level 1

9 points

Jul 5, 2018 1:03 PM in response to lonoshea

In the last 2 days, this problem has happened twice. One time, I was able to use the touch bar to pull opp the application's window which closed the battery screen. This morning, the battery screen stayed until I did a hard reset.

This problem is really frustrating and I agree with the OP that going to the genius bar will be pointless.

Is there really no one else out there on the forums that have this problem?

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Answer 12

jrsmobile Author

Level 1

57 points

May 4, 2018 12:55 PM in response to chuck_3rd

I did that. They had no idea what it was.

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Answer 13

May 26, 2018 7:58 AM in response to jrsmobile

I have the same problem on my 2016 mbpro touchbar. If anyone else finds a solution, please post here. I hate to reformat my drive and do a clean install, but it's nearly come to that.

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Answer 14

jrsmobile Author

Level 1

57 points

May 26, 2018 8:02 AM in response to illusiondweller

Don't bother formatting - it didn't help in my case. I did a completely clean wipe and reinstall, and didn't do any user migration and it still happens.

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Answer 15

May 26, 2018 8:04 AM in response to jrsmobile

Ah, thanks for the warning, I'd have been ****** to spend a day on that and not have it help. For what it's worth, my work laptop is the same age and model but I don't see this problem on that one.

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Battery percentage screen stays on waking from sleep

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