IMac will not wake up

Hi Folks, I have been experiencing a very strange phenomenon with my iMac 21.5 inc (mid 2010) the nature of which is as follows. Whenever the unit sits for an extended period of time I am unable to wake it i.e. none of the required methods to wake up the system works in order to get it running I have to unplug the power cord plug it back then press the power button. It should be noted that this use to happen very infrequently, however, the frequency has increased significantly and I am concerned that one of these days it will not power up. I am using this medium to ascertain whether anyone has experienced this sort of problem and can advise me on how to fix it or can any of the Mac experts offer me assistance on how to eliminate this problem before my unit crashes.
Thanks in advance

Carolyn,
Thank you for putting me onto the following post:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=825871
I found my solution in these discussions.
Something I did not mention earlier was that I was not able to successfully use migration assistant from my MacPro to this iMac, so I created a bootable copy of my HD on the MacPro and copied it to the iMac's HD. Others who had done this experienced this issue with the iMac not waking up from sleep.
The solution was to use the install disk to reinstall the OS. I guess by simply choosing install it does the same thing as what was once known as an "archive and install." where all the user data and settings are saved, but the OS files are fixed and replaced etc.
Now the iMac performs beautifully, waking from sleep from the mouse or keyboard.
Thank You!
Message was edited by: Daniel Peck

Similar Messages

TS1587 I tried everything, except for reinstalling the SO-DIMM memory modules. Still, my iMac will not wake up. Turning it on you can hear the fan run, but the display stays dark. Any ideas what to do? Thanks Maja

My iMac won't start up, or wake from sleep. I've tried everything, except for reinstalling the SO-DIMM memory modules. Still, my iMac will not wake up. Turning it on, you can hear the fan run, but the display stays dark. Any ideas what to do? Thanks!

Mac doesn't boot
Can you hear the fans and hard drive and see the white boot screen? Flashing question mark? The circle just runs and nothing happens? Only black screen and nothing else? These can be very helpful to diagnose the source of the problem. [1]
Flashing question mark [2]: This is usually a sign of a failed hard drive. This indicates that boot up volume can not be found.
Black screen: This is usually a sign of a failed logic board. There is no single reason for this and this may be caused by failed GPU, screen, CPU or RAM.
Circle of death/no circle/blue screen: This is usually a sign of a hard drive failure. This may NOT be a dead hard drive, just broken permissions or something
Gray screen/Apple logo/spinning gear or globe/prohibitory sign/folder with flashing question mark [3]: This could be a sign of faulty hardware but more likely a software issue, i.e. broken permissions, failed software update, etc.
[edit]
What to do
First, hold down the option key (also known as the alt key) just after you've pressed the power button. This should show all the available options to boot from, so if you have Windows installed through Bootcamp or a disk in your SuperDrive, you should be able to see them along with your OS X drive/partition. Select the OS X partition with arrow keys and press enter. Startup key combinations
If that doesn't help continue doing the steps from below:
1. SMC reset [4]. Shut down and unplug all cables including power cord for at least 30 seconds and then plug in power cord and keyboard/mouse.
2. PRAM reset [5]. Hold down option, command, P and R while booting. Start it when you hear the sound and don't let go before it reboots.
3. Safe boot [6]. Hold down shift while booting to boot into safe mode. If this works, open Disk Utility from Utilities and repair your permissions and verify the disk
4. Hardware test [7]. Insert the install disk (disk 1 in Mac which shipped with OS X 10.5.4 or earlier, disk 2 if shipped with OS X 10.5.5 or newer) and hold down "D" before the grey boot screen opens. Follow on screen instructions
5. Boot from install disk. Boot from the disk that came with your Mac. Hold C while booting. Select Disk Utility from top bar and repair permissions and verify the disk. Reboot normally and see if it works now.
6. Boot from another Mac (Firewire target disk mode). Connect the machines with a Firewire cable. Power on your Mac and press T. Select the other Mac's hard drive. Download the current OS X combo update. Run the combo update installer and select the drive that won't boot as the destination.
7. "Repair" OS X. Boot from the install disk as in point 5. and reinstall OS X. This should NOT erase any data, just replaces the system files which may have caused your booting problem. Now install the latest combo update for OS X and repair permissions on your drive with Disk Utility.
7.1. Install OS X into an external hard drive and then boot from it [8] and try to copy your data from the hard drive before proceeding. If you have done a backup recently, you don't have to do this.
8. Restore OS X from Time Machine backup. Boot from the disk that came with your Mac and choose the Time Machine restore option. This step will lose any changes made since your last backup but the system and your data will be put back to exactly as it was on that date.
8.1 Reinstall OS X. Boot from the install disk as in point 5. and select Disk Utility again. Now erase the whole hard drive and install OS X again. If you had a Time Machine backup and step 7 worked you don't have to do this.

My iMac will not wake up from sleep after upgrading to OS X Mavericks

After upgrading to OS X, my iMac will not wake up from sleep. Each time I have to do a hard restart. Is there a fix for this problem?

Hi,
I have just had the same problem with my iMac and after upgrading to Mavericks my iMac would not wake without pressing the power off button and re-booting.
Anyway, I have since done a complete new install on my iMac and have gone 5 days without an issue with the iMac not waking. It was a bit of a pain to do but my own view so far is that the problem is linked to the upgrading of the OS instead of a clean install.
My iMac now flies with a new OS installed instead of an upgrade.

My iMac will not wake up

My iMac will not wake up by the click of the mouse or the space bar. I have to hit the power button and then I get a normal but inactive screen. A hard reboot is necessary to bring it back up. The only thing I can think of that I did differently within the past couple of weeks is to enable the firewall. Any ideas?

First, you can try resetting the SMU and if that doesn't work, try booting from your install disc and using Disk Utility:
   1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
   2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
      Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
   3. Click the First Aid tab.
   4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
   5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
   6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
Then boot back to your internal drive and rpair permissions in Disk Utility there.

IMac will not wake from sleep after 10.4.8 Update

Recently after a couple of software updates my IMac goes to sleep and the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse will not wake it. The option for wake with Bluetooth is checked. I zapped the PRAM and also checked the HD, Nothing has changed. NOTE: No new software or hardware installs were done except for 10.4.8 update and the other mac software updates. This did not happen in prior versions of the OS on my iMac. Is this a new bug?
iMac G5 1.8 (pre iSight) Mac OS X (10.4.8) Bluetooth, Wake from Sleep

I've been dealing with this same issue, have tried everything, but to no avail. After MANY sessions on the phone with Apple tech support, as well as an Apple product specialist, I was advised to erase my computer and do a fresh install. I did an archive an install, which didn't help, but am not thrilled about the prospect of erasing everything and starting over. This problem started after the August 2006 round of updates. I feel it's bluetooth related, because I used a usb keyboard and mouse for a week as a test, with no problem. The funny thing is, I unchecked "allow bluetooth device to wake computer" thinking it might help, but the bluetooth devices continue to wake the computer anyway (except when it refuses to wake, of course!)
Jerry

After installing mavericks, the iMac will not wake from sleep properly (at all)

I've upgraded to 10.9 (late 2012 21" iMac), and I notice in the morning when the iMac has been sleeping overnight, it will not wake up,
During the day, if it sleeps for a few hours, it seems fine, and wakes normally, prompting me to type my password,
In the morning however, I hit a key (on my wireless keyboard), and the display wakes up, I get a dark grey screen, and see the loading circle (not the beachball) in the middle, and see the cursor for a few seconds, before it then disappears, and reappears.
This cycle repeats itself,
The 'fix' is to do a forced shutdown by holding the powwer button until it shuts down, and then restart.
Anyone else find this problem/find a solution?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, or by corruption of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin. Test while in safe mode. Same problem? After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

For some reason My Imac will not wake up with bluetooth Trackpad or keyboard from being in sleep mode over night.

During the day it wakes up fine. this just happens on over night. I can press the power button on the Imac and screen wakes up but my trackpad or keyboard will not work. After I Restart my Imac by holding down the power button until it shuts down and then pressing to power back on it works right away. this starting happening about a week after Lion upgrade

I've been dealing with the same issue of not waking up from sleep. For a long while, I turned off the option entirely just so I wouldn't get mad at my computer. The difference with my setup, however, is that I use a USB keyboard w/ a USB mouse. I tried most the "solutions" that I've come across on these boards. What upsets me the most is the vast number of similar posts without a clear answer.
Anyways, since I use wired keyboard and mouse, I just turned bluetooth off on this computer and tried once more to wake it from sleep. Surprisingly, it worked. My suggestion, try a wired keyboard and mouse with Bluetooth disabled on the computer.
Edit: I spoke too soon. On the second attempt, it did not wake. For reference, that one single time that it woke up was the only time I've ever had my computer's display wake from sleep mode (like many, the computer wakes, but the display won't).
Here's to hoping that whatever is causing the problem is not around in Lion.

My imac (intel core i5, OS 10.10.1) shuts down every night and will not "wake up" next morning -- it never used to do that -- if I hold down the start button more than twice for many seconds, then it will finally boot up and works fine all day – I've

my imac (intel core i5, OS 10.10.1) shuts down every night and will not "wake up" next morning -- it never used to do that -- if I hold down the start button more than twice for many seconds, then it will finally boot up and works fine all day – I’ve tried shutting it down and unplugging it, and that does not work -- I’ve run disk utilities checked permissions, and run anti-virus and get no adverse results – I cannot figure out what is different that causes this problem

From previous experience 3 indicates a shutdown initiated by the SMC (System Management Controller) — hardware responsible for many low-level functions including power, sleep, lights, and fan activity.
Try resetting it:
Power or other problems related to unexpected system sleep, shutdown, lights or fans call for an SMC reset. Read all the steps.
Before Resetting the SMC
Try each of the following steps in this order before you reset the SMC. Test the issue after completing each troubleshooting step to determine if the issue still occurs.
Press Command + Option + Escape to force quit any application that is not responding.
Put your Mac to sleep by choosing the Apple () menu from the upper-left menu bar and then choosing Sleep. Wake the computer after it has gone to sleep.
Restart your Mac by choosing the Apple () menu from the upper-left menu bar and then choosing Restart.
Shut down your Mac by choosing the Apple () menu from the upper-left menu bar and then choosing Shut Down.
Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

My iMac (10.6.8) goes to sleep and will not wake up without a hard reboot.

My iMac (10.6.8) goes to sleep after 2 or 3 hours (even if im working at the time) and will not wake up without a hard reboot.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

What all USB or Firewire devices do you have connected?
Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, test if sleep/wake works OK in Safe Mode.
Reboot & test.
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.
next...
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

HT3887 My bluetooth devices will not wake my iMac from sleep mode.

My iMac will not awake using the bluetooth keyboard or mouse. I can use a USB mouse but bluetooth and network connection will not respond. I must restart the machine. This happens after several hours of being in sleep mode like all day when at work or over night. I have the system set to wake the computer with a keyboard or mouse click. THis works only when in sleep mode for an hour or two.

Hi 33bubbles,
If you are having issues pairing your devices via Bluetooth to your car stereo, you may find the following articles helpful:
iOS: Troubleshooting car stereo connections
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3581
iOS: Troubleshooting Bluetooth connections
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4562
Regards,
- Brenden

Keep freezing up when put to sleep, will not wake up. iMac G5, system 10.5.8, help

Keep freezing up when put to sleep, will not wake up. iMac G5, system 10.5.8, help. What version of Flash do I need?

Probably the intermittent problem that effects some users (including me at various times). It seems that Bluetooth fails to wake properly. The 'fix' that works for me is to go to System Preferences>Energy Saver and set 'computer sleep' to 'never'.

Sometimes iMac will not boot up

hey guys i have been having this on going problem for about a week now. Ok so here's what's happening, this usually happens at night. It seems that my iMac will not boot up, I have my computer put to sleep when I go to sleep and I can wake it up again in the morning. Now when I go out in the evening today for example, I just got home, woke my computer up and everything seemed fine. After a little bit my computer froze so, I restarted it and it will not boot up it would get stuck on the gray screen, sometimes the apple and the spinning thing under it (not the beach ball one) would show up and sometimes I would have just a grey screen. Over the past week I've tried the following:
Reset the Pram
Booted up from the installation cd.
Removed all the cords waited for a couple min. then tried again
Eventually I can boot up, However I am very concerned to what the problem might be.
O yea I also ran a permission repair
One final thing if knows how to protect macs with an anti virus or something similar, it would really help me out.
Thanks

Hi Karim
The symptoms you describe could be caused by bad RAM.
Follow this link to learn about testing memory.
With your iMac you should have received an Apple Hardware Test CD, if not it's included on the Installation DVD (it would state that written somewhere on the DVD). There's also a RAM test included, but it isn't as dependable as memtest (mentioned in the link above) in my experience.
Follow this link to learn how to start the Apple Hardware Test.
Kind regards
--greg

Sleeping Mountain Lion will not wake up

I have just update to Mountain Lion on my 27inch iMac .
Once it goes to sleep automatcially it will not wake up again. I need to press the power button and reboot the whole system which loses any work I am doing
There was no problem with Lion. The machine would wake up via the mouse click or enter on the keyboard
Has anyone else experience this problem and is ther a setting that neds to be changed somewhere

I suspect now that some widgets, and apps are setting bad hibernatemodes.
source: https://discussions.apple.com/message/19066192#19066192#19066192
I used pmset -g, and it said I was in hibernatemode 5. I set this (sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0) closed the lid, and it came back up. I set it to 3, and the same. I moved over to my widget, and set it. Checked my mode, and it was back to 5.
I used `man pmset` it said to only use mode 0, 3, and 25! No others! I again set it (sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25) this time to 25, and it seems to work fine.
I suspect Apple made changes to their power managment, and disabled older modes. They should have set this correctly in our upgrades, instead of letting us figure it out.
[repost from: https://discussions.apple.com/message/19062891?ac_cid=op123456#19062891?ac_cid=o p123456]

Since installing Mac OS X 10.9.2, when my computer sleeps, it frequently will not wake up, and I have to restart from scratch. Any advice?

Since installing Mac OS X 10.9.2, when my iMac sleeps, it frequently will not wake, and I have to force a computer restart.

Kate Bernard wrote:
The OP said that the computer will not awake from sleep, but did not mention any troulble with WiFi.
Are the troubleshooting steps for fixing a WiFi connection after waking from sleep relevant to a computer that fails to wake up at all?
Perhaps.

My display will not wake when I remote in

I have an imac early 2009. I have recently updated various software from Apple. I have the engery prefrence at : 1hour Computer sleep and 15 mins Display sleep. I use Gotomypc to login to my home computer. Prior to the new updates i did not have an issue with with the computer not waking from sleep. But since the updates my display will not wake? They hardrive wake but the screen just does not. I do have a screen saver, however, this was not an issue prior to the new updates. Any help would greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance,

After a lot of research it seems to be an issue with the last update. It appears to be an issue with several application and the developers are aware of the issue. Unfortunately the only fix to the issue currently is to keep your monitor on. I have adjusted my screen to only be on at various time to prevent burn out. I hope this helps.

IMac will not wake up

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for