Portable Macs waking up from sleep while closed, not going to sleep; "hot laptop in bag" syndrome (cont.)
We continue to report on an issue where some Mac portables -- particularly MacBooks and MacBook Pros -- fail to go to sleep automatically when the lid is closed, or wake up from sleep involuntarily while the lid is closed.
Analysis of reader reports and in-house experience indicates that this issue may be machine-specific in some cases rather than effected by other circumstances.
MacFixIt reader Charles Reeves writes: "I had this problem with the second of the three MacBook Pro's it took to get one that worked properly. It was asleep when I put it in the bag, not Safe Sleep mode, and when I took it out of the bag some time later the fans were running at full speed and it was so hot I could hardly touch it. I don't recall exactly what I did at that point, but it seemed OK after I charged the battery. But it died soon thereafter (would not boot) and the local Apple Store replaced it. As I mentioned, this was the second unit; the first had problems with the SuperDrive. The third has worked flawlessly in the six months or so I've had it."
Again, it is imperative to make sure your portable Mac has actually gone to sleep before putting it in a bag or otherwise ignoring it. Sleep is indicated by a gently pulsating status light. However, this does not guarantee obviation of the problem:
"I just wanted to report that my MacBook (2GHz Intel Core Duo model) will often not sleep correctly. I have safe sleep disabled. I have started waiting until I have visually confirmed that the computer has gone to sleep (by waiting for the pulsating status light)."
Other tips for preventing this issue from happening include:
Unplug/plug first Avoid connecting or disconnecting devices, or connecting/disconnecting power after your portable Mac has gone to sleep. USB devices in particular can trigger a wake from sleep.
Turn off safe sleep Try disabling safe sleep as described in this article and check for persistence of the issue.
Previous coverage:
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<p>I learned this from a <a href="http://db.tidbits.com/article/8702">tidbits article</a> by Genn Fleishman (which includes a recipe)
This has happened when I did put the MBPro in the bag and the fan had not stopped yet. Now I wait for the fan to have stopped even while in sleep mode, as shown by the beeping light (SafeSleep disabled). Never happened again. I supposed that the MB tries to cool down the unit after going to sleep with the lid closed, and if in a bag, just is not able to cool it down.
Perhaps Apple could fix this for Leopard, if they aren't too busy spending time working on software for phones, set-top boxes, iPods, etc, etc, etc.
When the system is asleep, there is probably no power being sent from the USB connectors. When you plug in something, they have to wake to power the device. (Many devices need the power, and would not work properly otherwise.)
So if you want to charge an iPod, you'll need the system awake to do so.
It makes no difference whether I manually put the MacBook to sleep, or close the lid. I plan on disabling the lidawake function, but that really isn't the answer. Apple can and should find the answer to this - my G4 Powerbooks do not suffer from this problem at all. It is going to take more complaints before Apple will solve this. My feeling is that it is something to do with the very tight fit of the lid to the case. That probably means a recall and replacement, something Apple will not want to do unless enough people complain.
Eventually with mine, if I even touched the top of the screen when it was closed or started to move the laptop, it would wake up immediately. When I first bought the laptop it would only do it on occasion but the problem got progressively worse.
The solution is to send it in to Apple, they will replace the entire bezel and top cover that surrounds the screen and the hardware inside and the problem will go away. I have not had one false wakeup since sending it in... good luck!
- by drmoseley January 15, 2007 5:18 PM PST
- Same issue with 15" macbook pro 2.16GHz ... drains battery while asleep with flashing pulse and plugged in...reset battery by taking out and holding power button for 10 seconds, return battery and start with opt-apple-p-r resetting PRAM but still will sometimes get stuck in sleep and have to reboot rather than awaken.
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(9 Comments)I have a case number with Apple on this issue.