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MacBook Air 11" Shuts Down whilst Sleeping...

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roblawton

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2007
340
0
Preston, UK
Over the last month or so, I've noticed that if I leave my MacBook Air to sleep for over an hour (this is an approximate, I've not timed it) - It will shut down. So when opening up, I have to hit the power on.

If I just leave it for a few minutes, it's instant on as usual.

I've tried a couple of different reboots (resetting PRAM) but none seem to resolve this intermittent problem.

Any ideas folks...?
 
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roblawton

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2007
340
0
Preston, UK
Found that, but it doesn't go into 'Standby' it literally Shuts Down.

So instead of the usual; Click Trackpad, Press a Key, etc... I have to power on and wait for it to boot up...
 
GGJstudios

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
roblawton said:
Found that, but it doesn't go into 'Standby' it literally Shuts Down.

So instead of the usual; Click Trackpad, Press a Key, etc... I have to power on and wait for it to boot up...
Click to expand...
Have you checked your battery level?
If you leave the computer in standby long enough for the battery to deplete fully, the computer will shut down. You can recover your computer to its pre-standby state and any unsaved work should not be lost. To exit standby at this point, attach the computer to an AC power source and press the Power button.
Click to expand...
 
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roblawton

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2007
340
0
Preston, UK
Yup, battery is always fine.

I can't remember for sure, but I think it's even done it whilst plugged in and charging.
 
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roblawton

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2007
340
0
Preston, UK
After a fair bit of testing tonight, it doesn't happen when it's plugged in.

So it's just when it's running off the battery... Need to do some more testing/playing I think.
 
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emx620

macrumors newbie
Mar 1, 2011
25
0
roblawton said:
After a fair bit of testing tonight, it doesn't happen when it's plugged in.

So it's just when it's running off the battery... Need to do some more testing/playing I think.
Click to expand...

I've had this happen to me several times, and clearing the PRAM cleared it up for me (booting up while holding shift key down until 2nd restart). Also, if you want to do quicker testing, set your deepsleepdelay in terminal to something less than 70 minutes -- I set mine to 5 minutes for quick and easy testing :)
 
GGJstudios

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
emx620 said:
I've had this happen to me several times, and clearing the PRAM cleared it up for me (booting up while holding shift key down until 2nd restart). Also, if you want to do quicker testing, set your deepsleepdelay in terminal to something less than 70 minutes -- I set mine to 5 minutes for quick and easy testing :)
Click to expand...
PRAM/NVRAM has nothing to do with power/battery/charging/sleep issues. Resetting it will not help. For power issues, reset the SMC. Instructions in the link below. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
 
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CaptMrgnX

macrumors newbie
Mar 19, 2011
1
0
Turn off Hibernate to Fix this issue

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

Turning off hibernate mode worked for me. My MacBook Air 11" now wakes immediately when opening the lid and never shuts down while sleeping on battery power. There's clearly a bug in power management regarding hibernate mode. Until Apple fixes the issue, use this workaround.
 
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emx620

macrumors newbie
Mar 1, 2011
25
0
CaptMrgnX said:
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

Turning off hibernate mode worked for me. My MacBook Air 11" now wakes immediately when opening the lid and never shuts down while sleeping on battery power. There's clearly a bug in power management regarding hibernate mode. Until Apple fixes the issue, use this workaround.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why people use this as a workaround. This isn't fixing the root problem, but rather putting a bandaid on it. If you go this route, instead of getting 30 days of standby time, you'll only get a couple days as the laptop will only be sleeping. If you're having to press your power button after an hour of sleep, I'd take it to Apple and have a Genius fix it for you.
 
Last edited:
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roblawton

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2007
340
0
Preston, UK
I'm thinking the same... I'd rather have it fixed/replaced whilst I can, rather than temporarily fixing it and it possibly re-occuring later, when I'm out of warranty.

I'll book an appointment and report back what happens with the Genius.
 
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richard371

macrumors 68040
Feb 1, 2008
3,609
1,802
I opened mine today and it wouldn't wak up. I had to hit the power button several times and it booted up. This has only happend once or twice since ive had it for several months. I had 77% battery when it booted up. is there a log to see what happened?
 
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roblawton

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2007
340
0
Preston, UK
Update:

Before booking to see a Genius, I thought I'd try reinstalling OSX breaking out the little USB reinstall drive and doing a full reinstall.

web2w.jpg


webi.jpg


After reinstalling everything and getting all the software updates sorted, I left it to sleep when I went to bed...

In the morning, as soon as I opened the lid, it woke up! So it's working again.

Very strange but at least it's working now!
 
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