How to wake up your Mac from its lethargic sleep

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

With the release of Lion, my Mac mini had one very unpleasant problem: as soon as the computer went into sleep mode and began to "breathe" evenly with the status indicator, nothing could wake it up. Searches on various forums, including official ones, confirmed that I am far from the only "happy owner" of such a problem. Therefore, today I would like to give MacRadar readers some simple guidelines with which you can try to solve some power problems and strange "behavior" of Mac computers.

1. We use the keyboard or the Power button

Sometimes your computer may not respond to a mouse button press or a touch on the trackpad, continuing to “dream”. Do not worry ahead of time - try pressing any key on the keyboard, the Power button or a similar button on the computer itself (but do not hold it down for a long time).

Perhaps one of these actions will be enough to wake up the computer.

2. Forced power off

No, of course, we will not pull out the wire from the socket or the battery from the Mac. But in some cases, the only way to get your Mac back to normal is to forcibly turn off the power (since Apple did not include the Reset button familiar to many PC users in the design of its computers).

To do this, press the Power button, located on the case of an apple laptop or desktop, and hold it until the computer turns off. Wait a few seconds, then you can turn it back on.

I just have to warn readers that too frequent shutdowns of the computer using this method can have a very negative effect on the system itself and the files stored on the hard disk.

3. Resetting the contents of PRAM and NVRAM

PRAM (parameter RAM) and NVRAM (non-volatile RAM) are two areas of your Mac's memory that keep some settings and information even after the computer is powered off. But sometimes the data contained there can be corrupted and cause all sorts of problems.

You can reset the contents of PRAM and NVRAM in five sequential steps:

1. Turn off your computer.

2. Find the keys on the keyboard

   Command

   ,

   Option

   ,

   P

   and

   R

3. (you will need these keys in the next steps).
4. Turn on your computer.

5. Press and hold the combination at the same time

   Command + Option + P + R

6. , but note that this must be done before the gray screen appears.
7. After a few seconds, your Mac will reboot again, the familiar startup sound will sound, and you can release the keys pressed.

It was these actions that helped me to get the sleep mode back to work.

4. Reset SMC parameters

In the worst case, in addition to the "faulty" sleep mode, you may notice other symptoms indicating the need to reset the parameters of the system management controller (System Management Controller or SMC for short).

Among these symptoms are the following:

• The computer runs slowly and its fans rotate at high speed, although it does not perform high-performance operations and cools properly.
• Keypad backlight, status indicator (SIL), or battery indicator are not working properly.
• The display backlight does not respond properly to changes in ambient light.
• Obvious power problems. For example, the computer does not respond to pressing the Power button or opening (closing) the laptop lid, spontaneous shutdowns or transitions to sleep, strange battery or MagSafe adapter operation.
• Connecting and disconnecting the second display does not work correctly.

To fix these problems, Apple recommends resetting the SMC settings. On apple laptops with removable batteryit's done like this:

1. Turn off your computer.
2. Unplug your MagSafe AC adapter (if connected).
3. Remove the battery from the laptop case and set it aside.
4. Press and hold the Power button for 5 seconds.
5. Release the power button, insert the battery back into the laptop, and plug in the MagSafe adapter.
6. Press the Power button to turn on the computer.

To reset SMC parameters on apple laptops without removable battery follow these steps:

1. Turn off your computer.
2. Connect one end of the MagSafe adapter to a power outlet and the other to your laptop.
3. Press Shift + Control + Option (on the left side of the keyboard) and the Power button at the same time (the LED on the MagSafe adapter may change state and even turn off temporarily).
4. Release all keys at the same time.
5. Press the Power button again to turn on the computer.

To reset SMC settings on Mac desktop computers, follow these steps:

1. Turn off your computer and unplug the power cord.
2. Wait at least 15 seconds.
3. Plug the power cord back into your Mac.
4. Wait another 5 seconds and then press the Power button to turn on the computer.

I sincerely hope that all your apple technique will last a long time and it will not come to the SMC reset. And if you have any of your own recipes to combat the "sleeping handsome", do not be lazy to tell us in the comments.