My mac lights up at night

Question

Level 1

70 points

My mac lights up at night

Recently I have noticed that my Mac will light up at night every time a new notification comes in. And then it takes a while to go black again. I have the check mark set for Do Not Disturb that says "When the Display is Sleeping". I always put the display to sleep using the "hot corner" option.

I have the latest OS installed.

iMac, macOS High Sierra (10.13.4)

Posted on Sep 2, 2018 6:12 AM

Reply

Answer 1

jeremy_v

Community Specialist

Sep 3, 2018 11:59 AM in response to SteveShapiro

Hey there, Steve,

Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities. From your post, I understand that you're having some trouble with your iMac computer's sleep/wake behavior. Specifically, when you've turned Do Not Disturb on and put the computer to sleep with hot corners, the computer will wake unexpectedly when receiving a notification. I'm happy to help!

There are certain situation in which the Mac may wake up when receiving notifications, or in other circumstances. The information below from If your Mac doesn't sleep or wake when expected - Apple Support details those scenarios, and also links to more information about each:

If your Mac wakes unexpectedly

Your Mac might wake for these activities:

Network activity that uses the Wake on Demand feature. Examples of network activity include iTunes sharing, photo sharing, printer sharing, file sharing, and using Back to My Mac.

Enhanced notifications from FaceTime, Messages, and other apps and services.

Bluetooth activity. To prevent Bluetooth devices from waking your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Bluetooth. Click the Advanced Button, then deselect "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer."

If you have a MacBook Pro (2016 or later) or MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017), note that these models are designed to start up when you open their lids or connect them to power.

Since you have Do Not Disturbed enabled, all notifications should be stopped regardless of what type, though. However, Do Not Disturb will automatically turn itself off at midnight local time. So, if you turn it on at 10PM and go to bed, at midnight (two hours later), Do Not Disturb will turn itself off and your computer will begin to behave as described in the information above. You can specify a time frame for Do Not Disturb, though, which disregards the automatic time frame in System Preferences > Notifications. If you were to set this for 10PM-7AM, for example, Do Not Disturb will not disable at midnight. You can get more information here: macOS Sierra: Receive or stop notifications .

If you've set a time frame for Do Not Disturb and the computer is still waking unexpectedly, try the following steps (also from If your Mac doesn't sleep or wake when expected - Apple Support ):

If the previous steps don't work

These additional steps may help identify or resolve the issue:

Reset the SMC.

Reset NVRAM.

Disconnect external devices other than your Apple keyboard, mouse, and display. If that resolves the issue, gradually reconnect your devices, testing each time, until you find the device that is interfering with sleep. Then check the documentation that came with the device, or contact the device manufacturer.

Start up in Safe Mode to see if the issue is related to non-Apple startup items, login items, or kernel extensions.

Try to isolate the issue by using another user account.

If you still see the issue, contact Apple Support.

Cheers!

Reply

Answer 2

CarlAVII

Community Specialist

Sep 7, 2018 11:44 AM in response to SteveShapiro

Thanks for following up, Steve!

If setting Do Not Disturb manually does not solve the issue for you, I would encourage you to reach out to Apple Support for additional assistance. You can do that here: Contact Apple Support .

Cheers!

Reply

Answer 3

SteveShapiro Author

Level 1

70 points

Sep 14, 2018 7:35 AM in response to jeremy_v

Interestingly I found this by mistake. It's under energy saver. Problem solved.

Reply

Answer 4

SteveShapiro Author

Level 1

70 points

Sep 7, 2018 4:19 AM in response to jeremy_v

Here is an update to my issue. I notice that the screen comes on every night at 3 AM. Like there is something scheduled at that time. Any way I can figure out what it is?

For now, I am going to schedule the "Do Not Disturb" from 2:30 - 3:30 AM and see if that suppresses the issue.

Reply

My mac lights up at night

Similar questions