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Has your 2013 Macbook Air gone blank/autosleep on you during usage?

  • Yes is has happened once or twice

    Votes: 22 17.1%
  • Yes it has happened a few times, or frequently.

    Votes: 65 50.4%
  • No it has never happened.

    Votes: 42 32.6%

  • Total voters
    129

Joelawit

macrumors newbie
Aug 21, 2013
1
0
Brazil
After I disabled 'put hard disk to sleep when possible' option, it has yet to happen to me.

This might work for someone else? Please try it at and see. I'm almost certain that we have pinpoint the issue.

I had the annoying random blinking before but after I have disabled the "put hard disk to sleep when possible" it never happened again.

Thinking about it a little, maybe putting the "HD" to sleep hasn't the same meaning for SSD drives that it has to HDD. Perhaps there is a conflict with the VM management and the sleep feature, adding the fact the SSD module in the 2013's is really different from previous models. But it's just a guess, of course.

Oh, the HDD sleeping feature is disabled on my MacAir for both Power and Battery scenarios.
 
Last edited:

AXs

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2009
515
2
I had the annoying random blinking before but after I have disabled the "put hard disk to sleep when possible" it never happened again.

Thinking about it a little, maybe putting the "HD" to sleep hasn't the same meaning for SSD drives that it has to HDD. Perhaps there is a conflict with the VM management and the sleep feature, adding the fact the SSD module in the 2013's is really different from previous models. But it's just a guess, of course.

Oh, the HDD sleeping feature is disabled on my MacAir for both Power and Battery scenarios.

Thanks for pointing it out. It surely is something that Apple know about, but cannot really fix at this point. Lets just hope that Mavericks will have a fix for it.

I'm certain you are right, it is an unforeseen issue based on the PCIe ssd.
 

Saturn1217

macrumors 65816
Apr 28, 2008
1,271
847
I will wait to vote until I've had my new MBA for a little longer (right now I'm almost at 24hrs)

But so far I haven't had that weird sleeping issue and I had it all the time on my 2012 MBA.

This time I was careful to do a completely clean reinstall (no migrating anything) and hopefully this will make my computer a little more stable than my last one.
 

bwlinux

macrumors newbie
Oct 26, 2013
1
0
Same here , Air (Mid 2013)Happened on running Mountain Lion or Mavericks. It is a very annoying problem.
 

AXs

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2009
515
2
Same here , Air (Mid 2013)Happened on running Mountain Lion or Mavericks. It is a very annoying problem.

is it still happening on mavericks?

I'm going to enable harddisk sleep to see if it still happens for me.
 

mynameis321

macrumors member
Oct 15, 2013
47
0
Oh wow I was going to place an order for a MBA but since hearing about this being a massive problem maybe I'll hold back
 

irDigital0l

Guest
Dec 7, 2010
2,901
0
I noticed a few times my MBA just shutting off completely.

One time I had to force it to wake up again.

----------

Oh wow I was going to place an order for a MBA but since hearing about this being a massive problem maybe I'll hold back

Its not a massive problem.
 

whereforart

macrumors newbie
Oct 27, 2013
2
0
It happened to me with my old MBA - in the beginning, it was only a couple of times a month and for a few seconds, but then got to the point where I had to wait for a minute or two to get the screen back. I finally had to take it to the Genius Bar, and they did a complete reset. After that it was fine, but unfortunately, it was stolen out of my home back in May.

So I got a new MBA and the same thing happens - right now it's limited to very isolated incidents, and only for a few seconds, but I worry that it will continue to get worse like the last one.
 

Knisse

macrumors member
Jan 9, 2012
67
0
I noticed a few times my MBA just shutting off completely.

One time I had to force it to wake up again.

This is what happens to me at least 5-6 times a week. It completely goes black and then i have to force turn off (hold down start button for a few seconds for it to shut off and then turn it on again)

I am going to my local Apple dealer in this week to see what is going on, definitely a problem.
 

irDigital0l

Guest
Dec 7, 2010
2,901
0
This is what happens to me at least 5-6 times a week. It completely goes black and then i have to force turn off (hold down start button for a few seconds for it to shut off and then turn it on again)

I am going to my local Apple dealer in this week to see what is going on, definitely a problem.

Hmm...

Will Apple replace it for free or what? Is it a hardware issue? Because I had this problem before updating to Mavericks.

I don't consider it massive problem, but if it continues this week, I think I may take it to an Apple Store..
 

Knisse

macrumors member
Jan 9, 2012
67
0
Hmm...

Will Apple replace it for free or what? Is it a hardware issue? Because I had this problem before updating to Mavericks.

I don't consider it massive problem, but if it continues this week, I think I may take it to an Apple Store..

I have no idea, but i think i will get a new one, since is is still within the warrenty.
If i where you, i would definitely go to where you bought it and talk to him, it might be a symptom of some deeper issues with your machine.

The women i was talking to she even admitted that it was a common issue with earlier Macbook airs, but she has not seen a newer one having these issues that often.
 

RolyPolyBird

macrumors regular
Aug 13, 2010
208
0
Since upgrading to Mavericks I also am having problems, I would say my computer is going randomly into sleep mode about three times a day. Can't pinpoint anything in particular, it happens when I am busy at the computer, it has happened whilst watching a movie and it has happened whilst I was not at the computer at the time of going into sleep. Always when plugged into the power and all the energy saving settings are off.

MacBook Pro 2GHZ i7 early 2011 with 8gig ram.
 

wannabelean

macrumors 6502
Mar 18, 2009
361
10
It was happening like 5-6 times in a day earlier before Mavericks. After Mavericks, not one single instance.
 

Damhaug

macrumors newbie
Dec 27, 2013
1
0
Sudden black screen on mid 2011 MBA after upgrade to Maverics

I have same type of problem as described in this thread, but my MBA is from mid 2011.

Description of problem: Screen suddenly goes black a few seconds after waking the MBA from sleep. It started to happen after I upgraded OS to Maverics. Before Maverics I have had no problems during two years of heavy daily use.

I see this problem almost every day, but it does not happen every time waking the MBA from sleep.

I tried reseting SMC yesterday. Problem is still there.
Today, after reading this thread, I tried reseting PRAM and disabling "put HD to sleep" feature just now. The problem still did not repeat after this change, but it is far too early to tell if the problem is gone.

To me, it sounds like this issue comes in several flavors, and one variant is hitting also older MBA that are upgraded to Maverics OS.
 

mahwuhme

macrumors newbie
May 13, 2014
1
0
i had the same problem with my imac. it helped for me by turning the brightness to 100%, or all the way down. this way, it never turned black, but if i had the brightness somewhere in between, it would turn black randomly again.
 

thewonker

macrumors newbie
Jul 31, 2014
2
0
Just a consideration: Was watching a video the other day where somebody was demonstrating this and it turns out their cause was sitting the MBA on top of a case - with magnets as the closing mechanism - which was making the MBA think the screen was being closed any time there was movement or every time the user was lifting off and placing back onto the case.

I had this same problem. I was working at a cramped desk area and my two macbook (2009 models) were sitting on top of one another. The magnet on the lower computer tricked the top one into thinking it was closed. My screen would then randomly go to black and I could not get it back on without vigorous clicking of the trackpad and unplugging and replugging of the charger. I read this thread post as I was trying to troubleshoot. When I removed the lower computer the screen instantly turned on and everything was back to normal. Thank you budgynana
 

crispey

macrumors newbie
Oct 6, 2014
1
0
Just a consideration: Was watching a video the other day where somebody was demonstrating this and it turns out their cause was sitting the MBA on top of a case - with magnets as the closing mechanism - which was making the MBA think the screen was being closed any time there was movement or every time the user was lifting off and placing back onto the case.

@budgynana i've had this issue where the screen keeps going blank while i'm typing, as if it's in sleep mode which has been bugging me for ages and after reading your post i realised there was a magnet in my wrist furniture (man bangle), i carried out a few tests and yep, that's the issue :) thank you for your post!! :D
 

LFMNX

macrumors regular
Feb 14, 2011
150
2
Problem after firmware 2.9.1

I only started experiencing this frequently after installing MAC Air firmware upgrade 2.9.1 which actually in details is to prevent this problem. Mine is a Mid 2011 13" model
 

Patblack

macrumors newbie
Oct 16, 2014
1
0
I have the same problem with my desktop Mac. I have had this Mac for a few years and no problem. It just started doing it. It appears dark as if it is going to sleep but the only way to get the screen back is to turn it off and on again. Nothing is changed same windows open I return to the same window. If I am typing an email I can even continue doing that when the screen goes dark and when I turn it off and back on again what I typed when it was black will be in the post. I t happens intermittently. Somedays not at all. Doesn't seem to matter what software is being used. Any ideas?
 

skittlz

macrumors newbie
Dec 18, 2012
15
1
New York, New York
Just a consideration: Was watching a video the other day where somebody was demonstrating this and it turns out their cause was sitting the MBA on top of a case - with magnets as the closing mechanism - which was making the MBA think the screen was being closed any time there was movement or every time the user was lifting off and placing back onto the case.

I know you posted this answer about 100 years ago, but I had to reply and let you know that this was EXACTLY my problem. It was so funny, because as soon as I read what you wrote, I looked at my computer and laughed because it was sitting on top of a case with a magnet. It was freaking me out that the computer would go to sleep when I put it down and turn back on when i picked it up. LOL, SMH. It's the little things that get you sometimes. Thanks again.
 
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Tronis

macrumors newbie
Jun 22, 2015
2
0
As far as I can see, this problem has the following caracteristics: 1) It happens with Macbook Pro, 2) It happens also with Mac Mini (I'm mad about mine!), 3) Apple does not do anything to solve it, 3) Never happens with Windows machines (although it happens with my Mac mini when running Windows with Bootcamp).
 
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