Daughter's Mini won't automatically sleep

Hi there,
My daughter's Mini always seems to have a load going, even when she has no apps running and has been away from her desk for hours. The fan runs almost constantly, and the hard disk never sleeps (unless you manually put the computer to sleep). True, she's running with a reasonably paltry 512 MB RAM, but I used this machine for years without this problem.
I know enough to run the Activity Monitor, but I'm not smart enough to figure out the most likely culprit. Does anyone have any suggestions?
These are at the top of the list in Activity Monitor:
kernel_task
WindowServer
MozyBackup
Dock
Finder
GrowlHelperApp
coreservicesd
Stickies DashboardClient (she has ten of these running, for some reason--I'll get her to delete them!)
Thanks!

Next time you have Activity Monitor open, click on the System Memory tab and note the number of pageouts and pageins (at the bottom of the window).
If PageOuts are significantly more than 10% of PageIns, then the Virtual Memory system (ie hard drive) is getting hammered, because there is not enough real RAM memory to satisfy her program load.
I would be suspicious of the Dashboard widgets. Many are poorly written and have memory leaks.

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MacBook won't automatically sleep

My MacBook won't automatically sleep anymore. If I close the lid or command it to sleep, it will. But it will no longer automatically sleep. I've tried tons of fixes and searched for hours on the internet, but still have not found a solution. I seem to have noticed that this starting happening after I installed Windows XP via Bootcamp, so I'm guessing that the problem is related to that. Any ideas?

This is for a Mac that won't sleep.
Here is KB article HT1776 with their tips.
Mine follow;
USB devices and hubs often cause Macs to not sleep or wake quickly from sleep (notably HP printers and scanners, HP all in ones, and Cannon scanners). Disconnect all USB except for keyboard and mouse and try. If it sleeps, add one back at a time testing after each one to find the culprit.If you've set your Mac to receive faxes, it may not be able to sleep. It might also have a damaged preferences file.
If you use your Mac for faxing, open System Preferences. click Print & Fax, click the Faxing tab, and uncheck the Receive Faxes On This Computer box.
If that doesn't work or you've never faxed on your Mac, go to Finder/Hard Drive /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration and delete the com.apple.PowerManagement.plist and com..apple.AutoWake.plist files (if your Mac asks, type your admin. password).
If the latter file isn't present in the folder, go to user name(probably your name)/Library/Preferences, delete the com.apple.systemuiserver.plist file, and reboot your Mac.
Hope this helps!
P.S. One member here reported this (Michael Gleason);
"I have had this problem with my IMac G5. It is surprisingly irritating. LaCie's Silverkeeper backup software was the cause. By default it gave itself permission to wake up the computer to check if a backup was needed. Do you have this or a similar program installed which has scheduled activities including wake-up permissions as an option?"
Dave Hamilton provided this link, xlr8yourmac.com, to a member, which addresses failure of deep sleep with some users that updated and added new FireWire and USB card.
Also, here is Apple KB article TA2469 about PCI cards and sleep.
tomhorvat adds this; After few days of messing around I found out that I had desktop background (wallpaper) set to change every 1 minute.
After unchecking "Change picture..." in system preferences (under Desktop/Screen saver), my powerbook went to sleep all by itself.
Tristan Currier noticed this; "I have a Canon printer(shared) and my imac would not sleep. I opened up printer/fax in system prefs and noticed it said the printer was in use when it was off. Opened up the printer queue and noticed about 7 pending documents. Deleted them all and now it sleeps.
Check the printer queue!"
Allan Jones says "sometimes there is Network activity: launch System Preferences > Energy Saver > "Options" tab and uncheck "Wake for Ethernet network administrator access."
Good Luck!  DALE

Aluminum PB Won't Automatically Sleep

I posted this before, but said Titanium when I meant Aluminum. So I've posted again with the correction.
My 15" Aluminum Powerbook won't automatically sleep any longer. This seems to coincide with my upgrade to 10.4.2, or perhaps the recent AirPort upgrade. (I'm not totally sure.)
While the computer will not actually go to sleep automatically, the screen, however, will go black -- but the sleep light doesn't actually come on..
To fix this, I have tried:
1) Resetting P-RAM (command-option-P-R)
2) Resetting Power Manager (battery out, AC power out, hold power button for 5 seconds)
3) Disconnectting AC power and removing battery for 30 min. to reset computer internals.
4) Repairing Permissions
5) Booting up, don't start any apps, and waiting for sleep.
No matter what I do, the computer will not automatically go to sleep.
Any help appreciated.
Best,
Mark

I've been having this problem for a while now; in fact, perhaps since after 10.4.2, I would reckon.
This is quite an important thing, as I do a lot of work on site with my Powerbook, and it is very inconvinent when I run out of battery. However, bringing this up on these message boards can give people the impression that you just don't know what the "Energy Saver" function of System Preferences can do!
Does anybody have any tips for identifying processes that run in the background? I've been looking at the terminal command top, but not really finding anything. It does tell me how many processes are running, however.

Won't automatically sleep with energy saver

Brand-new iMac will not automatically sleep, but will sleep on demand. Display sleeps, but hard drive stays on.
I'm not completely computer-savvy, but I've searched through other threads regarding this issue and tried the following:
- deleted com.apple.PowerManagement.plist
- reset SMC
- tried with a new admin account
- reset PRAM/NVRAM
- disconnected peripherals
- repaired file permissions
- Bluetooth settings: changed to not discoverable, turned off bluetooth sharing. I still need it on though bc my KB and mouse are wireless
Not really sure what the Console/system log stuff is, but I looked in there and saw this over and over:
+May 23 09:43:45 greatwhitehope com.apple.launchd[1] (com.google.keystone.daemon[394]): bootstrap_register() erroneously called instead of bootstrapcheckin(). Mach service: com.google.Keystone.Daemon+
+May 23 09:43:45 greatwhitehope com.apple.launchd[1] (com.google.keystone.daemon[394]): Exited with exit code: 1+
+May 23 09:43:45 greatwhitehope com.apple.launchd[1] (com.google.keystone.daemon): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds+
So I turned off Google Notifier. Didn't work.
It works with Please Sleep... but I just got this computer and it kind of ****** me off that it won't auto-sleep.
Can anyone please help or offer other suggestions?

I have the same problem and I've already contacted Apple about it. We've tried the same solutions as listed above and some more. Finally I had to record my system info during the problem (with Capture Data) and I've sent it to Apple.
The good news is that they know the problem and they are working on a solution.
The bad news is that I've bought my computer in February, I immedeately reported the problem, and there does not seem to be any progress. I contacted Apple again early May and they told me I should wait
I'll try the Sleep apps that are suggested above because it's extremely irritating the have your computer awake with fan and all when you want to sleep yourself.

10.4.9 - MacBookPro won't automatically sleep

Since upgrading to 10.4.9 my MacBookPro won't automatically go to sleep after the prescribed time. Has anyone else had this issue.
Nothing is connected to the computer other than a bluetooth Kensington mouse.
Worked fine prior to the upgrade.

I have a similar problem with my MBP. I can't even force it to sleep. Apple Menu --> Sleep: puts the display to sleep only. Same problem when closing the lid. The display will not wake up after either of these actions also.
The system itself will simply not go to sleep. 10.4.8 not a problem. 10.4.9 = problem.
Here are the steps I took to try to remedy this issue:
1) Repair permissions (disk utility)
2) Onyx (all unix scripts, cache clean, etc)
3) Applejack (auto mode)
4) New user account

Why won't automatic sleep work on a Macbook?

My macbook goes to sleep fine when I close the lid. I have no issues putting it to sleep using the menu command, but it will not go to sleep on automatically. I had this problem in 10.4 and it has continued under 10.5. I did a clean install a week ago, carefully making sure after every application that automatic sleep would work. It did, though it usually took 1.5x as long as specified in the energy saver.
The only non apple apps I have are: Office 2004, STATA, Gimp, Handbrake, and Poker Academy 2.5.
So, last weekend having made sure everything was working, I moved my files back on to the computer. The only preferences I retained were those in the iPhoto and iTunes folders, my Safari bookmarks, and my address book and iCal files.
Now, one week later my Macbook will not go to sleep. The same thing happened after I started using this summer, only I didn't go to the trouble of testing sleep as I installed apps. I just noticed one day that if I left the lid open it would never go to sleep, regardless what was plugged in, energy saver settings on anything else.
I asked a Genus about this and was told it was a Software issue. I tried very hard not to be mad. This is my fifth apple laptop (two from work) and none of the others have had this problem.
Anyone else having this problem?

It most likely is a software issue ...to confirm this try booting into 'Safe Mode' and seeing if things resolve themselves. If they do, then it may be certain 3rd party software that is preventing sleep.
If not, then it may be a hardware issue - in which case you'll have to bring your book in to an Apple Tech.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392

PB won't automatically sleep ...

unless I do it manually. Power adapter settings are set to put the computer to sleep automatically in 15 min. and the display in 5 min. The display always sleeps correctly, but not the computer. I checked to see if anything (to my limited knowledge) is preventing auto sleep option, but as far as I can tell nothing is. The wake options are disabled, I do not receive faxes (that option is unchecked), and printer sharing is disabled as well.
Does anyone have a suggestion?
Thanks,
mz
PowerBook G4 15" 1.25 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Yes, even if I have nothing running, the computer won't sleep. I agree, perhaps one of the "silent" apps is causing the problem, but which one? In the Activity monitor a bunch of stuff is on that seems to be part of the normal computer operation, but I don't know what is what....
PowerBook G4 15" 1.25 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Mac Won't Automatically Sleep After External Hard Drive Connected

I use my Mac Mini as a media server that is set to sleep after 5 minutes of inactivity. It worked pretty well, but I outgrew my hard drive and recently purchased a MyBook Studio drive to add extra storage.
Unfortunately, when connecting my drive, my Mac Mini never enters sleep. My external disk will enter sleep (a feature it has), and my monitor will turn off, but the computer just won't sleep anymore!
I can also manually sleep without issue, so I'm scratching my head a little over what could be happening.
It may or may not be relevant that the external disk installed a program when first connected, which I've since uninstalled.
Any ideas?

Colin,
No solution for you, but I just want to add that I installed a MyBook Studio II a few days ago and I have exactly the same problem. Didn't have time to investigate a lot yet.
Latest Snow Leopard on my Mini.

External Drive Won't Automatically Sleep

I have a Seagate BackUp Plus 1TB external hard drive connected by USB 3.0 to my iMac running 10.10.1. The external hard drive will not automatically go to sleep when the energy saver settings put the iMac to sleep, but it will sleep if I manually put the iMac to sleep. I added a new Brother wireless laser printer replacing a similar printer but older model, but with a new driver. That is the only change I've made other than updating Flash for Safari. Neither of those changes seem likely to be the cause of my hard drive sleep problem.

Colin,
No solution for you, but I just want to add that I installed a MyBook Studio II a few days ago and I have exactly the same problem. Didn't have time to investigate a lot yet.
Latest Snow Leopard on my Mini.

Mac mini won't auto-sleep (via energy saver)

I've tried almost everything! SMC reset, PRAM reset, scheduled works fine but the energy saver settings don't. I'm only getting a screen shut but the little lamp in the mini does't fade in and out. help please.

I'm having the same problem. I just got my Mini this weekend.
After setting it up initially, the energy saver sleep worked fine.
And I haven't installed too many things since. I did an upgrade of various mac apps through the software updater and I installed a shutterfly plugin for iPhoto but nothing else really.
I didn't notice exactly when it stopped working.
The only thing I have connected via USB is the mouse/keyboard/speaker through KVM.
Even though I had those from the beginning, I'm going to try connecting them directly to the mini.
Other than that, I only have a network share setup with my Windows machine.
Any updates from the OP or others with the same problem would be great if you've gotten yours fixed.

PowerMac won't automatically sleep

While this isn't a specific Leopard issue (it was like this in Tiger), I'm on Leopard now so this is where I'm posting.
For some time, as indicated above, my Mac has not gone to sleep. Its been so long I can't tell you when it started or if it ever did. I was happy to have my Mac on 24/7 in the knowledge that at least my display went to sleep and it was there for me working in the background and making a noise if I had a mail day or night (although I tended to mute the speakers at night). However in the interests of power consumption I really want the ability for it to sleep after a prolonged time.
It does seem to sleep if left on the login screen which suggests that its something on my profile. I have also eliminated the peripheral hardware by disconnecting everything, even the bluetooth dongle on my keyboard that left my wireless mighty mouse annexed for the duration of the test.
I said "automatically" in the topic as I can manually send it to sleep with the power button. If I do this the logs look pretty much like this.
21/11/2007 08:45:12 kernel IOPMSlotsMacRISC4::determineSleepSupport has canSleep true
21/11/2007 08:45:12 [0x0-0x27027].com.elgato.eyetvhelper[287] *Wakein::CancelEvents: requested event type: wakepoweron
21/11/2007 08:45:12 [0x0-0x27027].com.elgato.eyetvhelper[287] *Wakein::CancelEvents: requested app name: com.elgato.eyetv
21/11/2007 08:45:12 [0x0-0x27027].com.elgato.eyetvhelper[287] *Wakein: 0 entries in power event schedule table
21/11/2007 08:45:13 kernel System Sleep
21/11/2007 08:46:00 kernel System Wake
21/11/2007 08:46:00 kernel Wake event 0020
21/11/2007 08:46:01 kernel USB caused wake event (OHCI)
My start up items for the system are:
Adobe Version Cue
MissingSyncMounting
Maxtor Button Watcher Daemon
MySQL
Qmaster
Retrospect Startup Helper
and my Login items:
Connect360Helper
GrowlHelperApp
Microsoft AU Daemon
TigerLaunch
iTunesHelper
SEC Helper
EyeTV Helper
Missing Sync Monitor
GarageSaleHelper
Airport Base Station Helper
ChronosNotesService
GrowlMenu
I'm not sure where to go from here.

You say a DVD installed. Does it do the same with a CD installed?
Strange indeed. Look at this link.
Mac OS X: Why your Mac might not sleep or stay in sleep mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1776
Install this free utility & see if it will sleep properly.
PleaseSleep
http://www.dragonone.com/products/macosx/pleasesleep/
 Cheers, Tom

Computer won't automatically sleep

For the past 8 years none of my computers will sleep. OSX Panther and on up through the upgrades on TiBooks MacBooks, MacBook Pro, iMacs. I can't remember what software or upgrade it started with though. And I had a heck of a time removing Norton and all the little secret files it hides. But I think I've got them all. Had to use EasyFind for that round of searching.
Laptops will sleep if the cover is closed. All computers will sleep when using the Apple command.
I've used about a dozen HDs, internal, external, Seagate, WD, Maxtor and others as boot discs.
A few years ago Apple support took me though the delete prefs re-install one by one, and many other tries and fixes. Most resulted in disaster.
Re-installing the system in all the ways possible except the one by one approach were I loose all my settings for iPhoto, iTunes and others. I can't afford to loose the many settings. It is better to live with the problem.
This will likely be a long discussion as things I've tried are re-advised to me. I know how to set the energy saver Prefs.
I never use terminal commands, too many disasters nearly every time I follow Apple advice including copy paste the command string.
Its not a big issue to me but still annoying so I thought I see what the latest suggestions might be. It does sleep if I reboot and don't sign in. Booting into safe mode works as long as I don't sign in. When I sign in in safe mode the system hangs... forever requiring a hard shutdown or restart.
I am hoping some suggestion will be put forward that I haven't tried.

dgd wrote:
For the past 8 years none of my computers will sleep...
Re-installing the system in all the ways possible except the one by one approach were I loose all my settings for iPhoto, iTunes and others. I can't afford to loose the many settings. It is better to live with the problem.
Normally a simple SMC reset would correct this problem assuming your System Preferences are defined correctly. Are these machines running with external drives or other items connected to the computers? Hard to think of what is common on 20 systems over 8 years. If you can do a complete backup, I’d certainly try wiping the internal drive, re-installing the OS, add all OS and firmware updates, verify it sleeps properly, then slowly add things to the system. You may be right, it’s better to live with the problem, but it is bothering you.
You should be able to restore user settings but I’d be suspicious of everything and rebuild. I’ve done that and copied down various network related items on a piece of paper to input them again because who can recall all port mappings, for example?

My mac mini (2009) won't enter sleep mode

My mac mini won't enter sleep mode using the power button (previously did).
Preferences for this command have been checked - with no effect.

Try resetting the SMC
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US

Dual 2.5 G5 won't auto sleep

Ever since I updated to 10.4.7, my dual G5 won't automatically sleep after any amount of time I set it to. The computer will sleep if I force it to either using the keyboard shortcut or through the Apple menu. The computer will also auto sleep in the other computer accounts on the same machine. For whatever reason, it will not auto sleep on my account. I few weeks ago, I created a brand new alias and moved all my files from my non-sleeping account to the new one. The auto sleep for for a few days before it stopped working.
I've tried trashing plists, preferences, removing USB devices, stopped file sharing, and more. I changed all my settings and active programs to exactly mirror the ones on the working account - but, nothing seems to be working.
I haven't tried flashing the PRAM yet, but I figure the problem is elsewhere since the computer will sleep on other accounts. Under my System Preferences, the extra panes I have are ATI Displays, DivX, Little Snitch, Nortorn Antivirus, Stuffit, and WMV Player. These panes also exist on the other accounts.
Anyone have any ideas what else may be causing this problem? I'm almost positive it's software related, but I don't know how to troubleshoot further given that I've already tried to make my account mirror that of a working one.
Thanks in advance.
Dual 2.5 G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Well Norton is famous for causing problems for Mac users, just search, but perhaps it could be another problem.
Open the System Prefs>Energy Saver and set the auto-sleep to something really low.
Now leave the pane open and unlocked and just wait for the sleep to kick in.
Wake it up and set the time to a little bit longer, enough that you know it's not the minimum and this time close the pane.
If this fails, offload Norton and try again.
Norton has had a few application exploits, something to think about, also most anything from Microsoft seems to continously have security exploits.
Also you should be cloning your boot drive occassionally, visit Carbon Copy Cloners forums for donationware software and read the "Before you clone" in their forums.

2010 Mac Mini won't sleep

Hello, everything was working fine until I accessed my mac mini from my old iMac G4 to share some files. Now my new Mac Mini won't sleep. Here is what I have done. Ejected the Mac Mini on the iMac. Turned off the iMac, stopped sharing everything on the Mac Mini including files, my printer and iTunes media and reset the PRAM. Still the Mac Mini won't sleep. It's set to it's defaults of 10 minutes to sleep the monitor and itself but only the monitor goes to sleep after the 10 minutes. Very frustrated...

Hello Euchre and thank you for replying. I have unchecked all the boxes within the "Sharing" options that I checked some time ago. When I did that, sharing was automatically turned off. Still I am having the issue. I'll try putting the monitor at 9 minutes and the computer at 10 to see if that works. I'll be back. Thanks again, Ed

Daughter's Mini won't automatically sleep

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