My elderly iMac (about six years old) won't wake from sleep after an electrical failure today, and starts up with a black screen.

This Intel iMac is about six years old, has had the motherboard replaced by Apple. Today we had an electrical failure, and it was asleep at the time. It refused to wake from sleep, and it seems to start up, but the screen stays black. I tried zapping the PRAM, shutting it down and turning off the surge protector, etc. . . and still, nothing. Any thoughts?

If http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) does not work and you are comfortable working in the Terminal, try the following:
Enter into the Terminal the following: sudo pmset autopoweroff 0 and sudo pmset standby 0
If you like the hibernation, you can switch it back on by re-entering the commands with 1's instead of 0's. You can even change the amount of time by adjusting "autopoweroffdelay" and "standbydelay".

Similar Messages

TS3824 My iMac won't wake from sleep after installing the most recent OS update.

I'm having trouble with my iMac, the screen won't wake up after it goes to sleep. The one time it did the screen was all fuzzy and pink. This has only happened in the last few hours after installing the latest OS X Lion update. Is this normal? Can someone help?

Hello, not normal.
One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive
Reboot, test again.
If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.
Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.
Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...
/private/var/run/StartupItems
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partitiion & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Permissions.
Re-install if that doesn't work.

Mac book pro won't wake from sleep after Yosemite update

Since updating my laptop to Yosemite my MacBook hasnt woken from sleep
i can hear it turn on but the screen and keyboard don't light up
mac book is only 3 years old retina display

Mike Doolin wrote:
I think I may have found the fix for this. My MacBook Pro was dying in its sleep every time (after installing Snow Leopard), whether it went to sleep automatically or I used a Hot Corner. I went into System Preferences>Desktop & Screen Saver and changed the screen saver to Flurry, and it works now. I had had it set to a folder containing a single .pct file that I had created.
Good advice Mike! When in doubt check the ScreenSaver settings.
Definitely seems that it has a problem with that pic... In my case, selecting any images instead of the default setting (no screensaver) seems to have cured my non waking issue on my early Macbook Pro in Snow Leopard.
My original problem was that no amount of trackpad input woke it, but the space bar did. The space bar seemed to wake it up with the previous Screen Saver setting. Now trackpad wakes it up (even from total sleep as well as screen saver), too. Might be nice to know about if this is an intended 'feature' as a security trick. Otherwise I consider this a bug.
My vote is that it's a bug.

Won't wake from sleep after listening to audiobook

If my ipod goes to sleep after I've been listening to an audiobook, I can't wake it again, and have to restart it. It always works again fine after I restart it, until it goes to sleep again. I only have this problem if I've played an audiobook since the last time I restarted, even if I then played music tracks after the audiobook. If I restart it and only listen to music, it will wake up just fine every time. As far as I can tell from playing around with it, this only happens if it goes to sleep on it's own, not if I put it to sleep. Everything else works just fine, but it's really annoying to have to restart everytime I let it sleep during a book! Also, if I have to restart it, when I go back to my audiobook it will no longer remember the track position. But if I go play some music, let it go to sleep, wake it up, and then go back to the audiobook, it will remember the position again! I am totally stumped on this, I have never had anything this weird happen with my ipod, and I've had it for around 2 1/2 years. I have the latest version of iTunes and the lastest version of the ipod software.
iPod with click wheel
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Mike Doolin wrote:
I think I may have found the fix for this. My MacBook Pro was dying in its sleep every time (after installing Snow Leopard), whether it went to sleep automatically or I used a Hot Corner. I went into System Preferences>Desktop & Screen Saver and changed the screen saver to Flurry, and it works now. I had had it set to a folder containing a single .pct file that I had created.
Good advice Mike! When in doubt check the ScreenSaver settings.
Definitely seems that it has a problem with that pic... In my case, selecting any images instead of the default setting (no screensaver) seems to have cured my non waking issue on my early Macbook Pro in Snow Leopard.
My original problem was that no amount of trackpad input woke it, but the space bar did. The space bar seemed to wake it up with the previous Screen Saver setting. Now trackpad wakes it up (even from total sleep as well as screen saver), too. Might be nice to know about if this is an intended 'feature' as a security trick. Otherwise I consider this a bug.
My vote is that it's a bug.

MacBook Pro won't wake from sleep after installing Snow Leopard

If my MacBook Pro is running while closed with an external display and I unplug it from the display it goes to sleep - as indicated by the white light and the front pulsing. If I then open the MacBook the display remains blank and it is completely unresponsive to any keys or track pad input.
The only thing it responds to at that point is holding the power button down until it powers down and then restarting - loosing all work in progress at that point.
Before installing Snow Leopard the Mac would wake reliably when opened from this state.

Mike Doolin wrote:
I think I may have found the fix for this. My MacBook Pro was dying in its sleep every time (after installing Snow Leopard), whether it went to sleep automatically or I used a Hot Corner. I went into System Preferences>Desktop & Screen Saver and changed the screen saver to Flurry, and it works now. I had had it set to a folder containing a single .pct file that I had created.
Good advice Mike! When in doubt check the ScreenSaver settings.
Definitely seems that it has a problem with that pic... In my case, selecting any images instead of the default setting (no screensaver) seems to have cured my non waking issue on my early Macbook Pro in Snow Leopard.
My original problem was that no amount of trackpad input woke it, but the space bar did. The space bar seemed to wake it up with the previous Screen Saver setting. Now trackpad wakes it up (even from total sleep as well as screen saver), too. Might be nice to know about if this is an intended 'feature' as a security trick. Otherwise I consider this a bug.
My vote is that it's a bug.

IMac won't boot if Firewire device is turned on/won't wake from sleep

I am sometimes having an issue where my iMac won't wake from sleep; after I restart the iMac wont reboot (grey screen) until I power off the LaCie 300GB Firewire drive. I just bought this iMac a couple of weeks ago but the Lacie was on a PPC G5 Tower before and always was OK. I have no other Firewire devices to test the port with so my resources are limited. Anyone heard of anything like this ?
Message was edited by: appleboyperry

I noticed there is a firmware updater for LaCie drives. I don't know if it applies to your product, but here it is
http://www.lacie.com/support/drivers/driver.htm?id=10053
Please note what it says about backing up data on the drive before applying, just in case.

Compter won't wake from sleep mode

My Pavilion 17 notebook computer, purchased in Oct. '13, won't wake from sleep mode; I must shut down and reboot each time. I know this is not due to Windows 8, as I have another Win 8 computer that works normally.

I've done some more experimentation and found a workaround. I had Sleep and the Screensaver both set to Never, and by activating the Screensaver the wake up issue has gone away. This doesn't change the fact that there is an issue with my ATV sleeping when it shouldn't and failing to wake up, but having the screensaver active stops it sleeping in the first place I guess.
It's slightly annoying because I like to have music playing with the description and album art running, and this disappears when the screensaver comes on, but it is better than unplugging the thing every time I use it. Hopefully this will be fixed in the next update, because it only appeared in the last one.

I have an iMac about a year old. It has OSX 10.8.3 with iMovie 9.0.8. Is there a way to get iMovie to store and use iMovie Events on an external drive? Raw video is eating up my 1TB internal drive.

I have an iMac about a year old. It has OSX 10.8.3 with iMovie 9.0.8. Is there a way to get iMovie to store and use iMovie Events on an external drive? Raw video is eating up my 1TB internal drive.

Yes, you can import to an external drive by choosing it from the Import Screen.
Once an Event or Project is in iMovie, it is best to move it to the external using iMovie, so the Project does not lose links to the Event.
For full instructions on how to do this, see this link.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4141

I have a macbook pro 2.2 about six years old. It is running Lion 10.7.5 should I upgrade it?

I have a macbook pro 2.2, about six years old. It is running Lion 10.7.5 should I upgrade it?

For optimum performance, install Snow Leopard 10.6.8, to date the most efficient OSX from Apple.
Ciao.

How can I convert MiniDV tapes to DVD? I've use a Canon GL 2 and an iMac about 1 year old. I'm trying to use iMovie and I've installed the latest drivers.

How can I convert MiniDV tapes to DVD? I've use a Canon GL 2 and an iMac about 1 year old. I'm trying to use iMovie and I've installed the latest drivers.

MiniDV was a great format, one I still use often. I also still use iMovie HD6 to process it and, for all the iterations of iMovie that followed it, I still believe it was one of Apple's greatest movie software programmes, next to Final Cut Pro, using a timeline method of editing. That was also in the day which Apple put Superdrives into their computers, so that you could not only make your movie in iMovie, but you could render it to iDVD and then burn the DVD. Now you need to buy an external burner.
Since iMovie HD6 and iDVD 6 were "universal" software, it has continued to work through the many OS releases since it came out with Tiger, I believe it was. So, it may still work with Mavericks too and, if you could locate a copy of iLife 06, probably used, you might enjoy the difference that HD6 has over all iMovie releases since then.
Not saying you can't process your MiniDV with current iMovie versions, but I'm not the one to speak about that.

IMac won't wake from sleep since Lion!

Since installing Lion my iMac (intel core 2Duo) won't wake from sleep properly using my wireless keyboard, trackpad or magic mouse! I haven't changed any settings and I have to hold down the power button to force shut down and then restart! Any help?? x

Hi all
Finally went to the Genius Bar to ask the question as nothing has worked. They said I needed to reset my PRAM. I did it (Following these instructions... http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379 ) and it worked.
So relieved....it was really annoying me.
Hope this helps others with the same issue.
Thanks
Graham

IMac 17inch G5 won't wake from sleep

Hi, my iMac G5 1.8ghz won't wake from sleep. It had been running poorly for a couple of weeks so I've re-installed Leopard however the underlining problem has not been fixed, which leads me to think it may be hardware? If i leave the iMac alone it enters into sleep mode successfully however nothing will wake it. I've tapped every key on the keyboard and nothing works. I then have to hold the power button in and re-start it. The only alternative I've found so far is to turn off sleep in system preferences.
Thanks for any help

Have you reset the SMU and the PRAM? Try deleting the System Preferences .plist in User>Library>Preferences>com.apple.systempreferences.plist. Please post back with results,

Macbook won't wake from sleep - replaced logic board and batteries already

I have a 13" White Macbook on 10.5.5 that occasionally won't wake from sleep. This will happen with nothing plugged into the Macbook except for the AC adapter. I have done the firmware upgrade, reset the SMC, reinstalled Leopard from the DVDs twice, brought it into Genius and had the ram, sleep switch, and the logic board replaced. There are no bluetooth devices attached to the computer.
I've searched the forums but haven't found a definitive answer yet.
Message was edited by: multiphrenic

I've experienced the problem as well. I have the new aluminum macbook with all factory specs and no mods, except that I changed it from smart sleep to the original old mac behavior of instant sleep. It is intermittant and with mine, I've noticed that when the screen is open, the computer appears to be completely off, but when I close the computer the light on the front of the computer comes on. The only resolution I've found so far is to hold the power button for 5 seconds for a hard power down and then push it again--everything works fine.
There is indeed a sudden drop sensor, and in fact, it did happen after I accidentally hit the corner of my mac once on a tv while trying to set it down. That could be the answer...we might have to try disabling that because quite honestly, if I drop my mac while its on, I'm going to be more worried about the screen, the case, even the cute little plastic apple than the hard drive (I have backups galore).

Won't Wake From Sleep

I held off from posting this until I'd scoured the boards looking for ideas, but I'm totally out.
Every since I updated to 10.4.8, my MacBook Pro won't wake from sleep. I've tried resetting the SMU and PRAM, enabled and disabled bluetooth device wake from sleep, and installed the latest EFI Firmware update that was just released. I've now narrowed it down to the 10.4.8 and a change in how it handles Expresscards. If I have my NitroAV FW 800 card plugged in during a session, it seems to prevent the MacBook from going to sleep properly. According to various Console messages, the PCI device prevents the computer from going to sleep, and /or places the computer into System Doze instead, from which it won't wake. The sleep light stays fixed and steady, only disappearing if I press the power button (it only reacts to the power button). From there the screen remains dark and all plugged in device fail to respond. I can hear the drive spin back up.
It reacts the same whether or not I eject the card before putting the computer to sleep. This behavior was not present before installing 10.4.8 and having fallen back on a back up of my 10.4.7 install, can say it's not present in the older OS version. I was hoping last night's EFI firmware update would deal with this, but after having installed it and 10.4.8 anew, I'm having the same old results.
If anyone has any new ideas or can direct me toward how I can make sure the folks at Apple see this, I'd greatly appreciate it.
MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 GB Ram, 7200 rpm HD, NitroAV ExpressCard FW 800

This is a typical console output for these incidents:
Nov 2 04:32:04 marlon-rubios-computer kernel[0]: PCI sleep prevented by AppleFWOHCI (5)
Nov 2 04:32:04 marlon-rubios-computer kernel[0]: PCI sleep prevented by PXS3 (1)
Nov 2 04:32:04 marlon-rubios-computer kernel[0]: hibernate image path: /var/vm/sleepimage
Nov 2 04:32:04 marlon-rubios-computer kernel[0]: sizeof(IOHibernateImageHeader) == 512
Nov 2 04:32:04 marlon-rubios-computer kernel[0]: Opened file /var/vm/sleepimage, size 2147483648, partition base 0xc805000, maxio 400000
Nov 2 04:32:04 marlon-rubios-computer kernel[0]: hibernate image major 14, minor 2, blocksize 512, pollers 3
Nov 2 04:32:04 marlon-rubios-computer kernel[0]: hibernateallocpages flags 00000000, gobbling 0 pages
Nov 2 04:32:08 marlon-rubios-computer kernel[0]: IOBluetoothHCIController::terminateWL .. done
Nov 2 04:32:08 marlon-rubios-computer kernel[0]: System Doze
After that, nothing until I force a restart.

Macbook Pro with Leopard Won't Wake from Sleep

I'm intermittently, but with increased frequency finding my MBP won't wake from sleep. A copy of my log is below. I've snipped out where the log repeats. A common message is the "unknown SIGSEGV code 0". Any ideas what the issue is? How can I go about diagnosing?
9/1/10 2:40:11 PM [0x0-0x1a01a].com.adobe.flash-10.0[269] got type name: Object
9/1/10 2:40:11 PM [0x0-0x1a01a].com.adobe.flash-10.0[269] got type name: Object
9/1/10 2:40:11 PM [0x0-0x1a01a].com.adobe.flash-10.0[269] got type name: Object
9/1/10 2:40:11 PM [0x0-0x1a01a].com.adobe.flash-10.0[269] function findRecords(table:Object,findField:Object,findValue:Object,)
9/1/10 2:40:12 PM [0x0-0x1a01a].com.adobe.flash-10.0[269] CFlashPlayerMDIFrame::LoadFrame
9/1/10 2:40:24 PM kernel unknown SIGSEGV code 0
<SNIP>
9/1/10 3:14:24 PM kernel unknown SIGSEGV code 0
9/1/10 3:14:34 PM Safari[165] * _NSAutoreleaseNoPool(): Object 0x1acad280 of class NSCFString autoreleased with no pool in place - just leaking
Stack: (0x96632f4f 0x9653f432 0x9654d038 0x2d112ea2 0x2d02a511 0x2d04383d 0x2d04386b 0x968a3155 0x968a3012)
<SNIP>
9/1/10 3:14:34 PM Safari[165] * _NSAutoreleaseNoPool(): Object 0x1919b1f0 of class NSCFString autoreleased with no pool in place - just leaking
Stack: (0x96632f4f 0x9653f432 0x966c30c2 0x2d001a20 0x2d027e67 0x2d02a525 0x2d04383d 0x2d04386b 0x968a3155 0x968a3012)
9/1/10 3:14:44 PM kernel unknown SIGSEGV code 0
<SNIP>
9/2/10 5:06:22 AM kernel npvhash=4095
9/2/10 5:06:17 AM com.apple.launchctl.System[2] kern.ipc.maxsockbuf: 8388608 -> 512000

Hi David,
- Have you tried any troubleshooting steps?
You may try the following steps:
1. Reset SMC as per the following article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US. If this does not resolve the issue then go to step 2.
2. Navigate to Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/System Configuration and remove a file called powermanagement.plist (drag it to trash, might prompt for a password). Restart the mac thereafter. If this does not resolve the issue, boot to safe mode as per http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455 and check the issue there. If it works there, you will have to remove the following files to check Macintosh HD/Library/StartupItems, HD/Library/Caches and then restart the mac.
Let me know if this works.

My elderly iMac (about six years old) won't wake from sleep after an electrical failure today, and starts up with a black screen.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for