How to enable Power Nap on your MacBook Air (Late 2010)

Reason077 · Jul 26, 2012

Screen%20Shot%202012-07-26%20at%2005.19.11.png

Yes, it's possible! You'll need to update your SMC Firmware using the following packages.

(Edit: links removed. These packages are no longer needed as Power Nap support has been officially added in the Mac OS X 10.8.2 update)

After installation, the Power Nap settings will appear in the Energy Saver preferences pane.

Disclaimer: Install at your own risk! These updates were pushed out during the Mountain Lion beta, but for whatever reason Apple has not yet made them generally available via software update. It's possible that issues were discovered with the updates during the ML beta, or maybe they just decided at the last minute not to release the update for older Macs.

Warning: These files are for the MacBook Air (Late 2010) only. Do not attempt to install them on other models!

danb77 · Jul 26, 2012

That's very kind of you to share these!

Gemütlichkeit · Jul 26, 2012

Very cool. Bump!

kallekenkel · Jul 26, 2012

Dude! I've been looking for this "hack" since ML came out. Thanks so much! Couldn't yet test if it actually works, but I assume it does?

THX!

littledude8209 · Jul 26, 2012

So, I had this installed, and reinstalled it, and I get the settings, but it doesn't seem to actually work for some reason...

Caralvarez24 · Jul 26, 2012

Reason, have you noticed your MBA downloading any updates or emails etc?

littledude8209 · Jul 26, 2012

Caralvarez24 said:
Reason, have you noticed your MBA downloading any updates or emails etc?

I have tested with test iMessages and emails. They don't download until I open the computer. Maybe it works on a timed interval? Like, every 10 minutes it downloads everything?

Reason077 · Jul 26, 2012

Caralvarez24 said:
Reason, have you noticed your MBA downloading any updates or emails etc?

Unfortunately no, it doesn't seem to download emails in my tests, nor could iCloud "find my mac" find it while asleep.

Though I'm not entirely sure how Power Nap is supposed to work. Is it supposed to stay connected constantly while asleep? Or only connect and download things at certain intervals (ie: after a few hours? overnight?)

Update: It does work. Power Nap activates hourly, so your MacBook has to be asleep for at least an hour for it to do anything. See my post below.

littledude8209 · Jul 26, 2012

Reason077 said:
Unfortunately no, it doesn't seem to download emails in my tests, nor could iCloud "find my mac" find it while asleep.

Though I'm not entirely sure how Power Nap is supposed to work. Is it supposed to stay connected constantly while asleep? Or only connect and download things at certain intervals (ie: after a few hours? overnight?)

That is what I am wondering. I would think, from a battery standpoint, that it would connect every once and a while. I don't think find my mac was ever included in power nap though.

Gonna do some some testing and waiting different intervals to see if it starts to work though.

Reason077 · Jul 26, 2012

littledude8209 said:
That is what I am wondering. I would think, from a battery standpoint, that it would connect every once and a while. I don't think find my mac was ever included in power nap though.

On battery that would make sense, but I'm testing with the power adapter connected.

littledude8209 · Jul 26, 2012

Reason077 said:
On battery that would make sense, but I'm testing with the power adapter connected.

Same here. I just can't see it constantly being connected to the network in sleep mode. It's hard, because Apple didn't explain how it worked in detail. They just say it works.

Also quite upset that they chose to exclude the 2010 Macbook Air officially, when they claimed it would work in the beginning.

swordfish5736 · Jul 26, 2012

what i've read is that power nap takes advantage of intels smart connect technology which wasn't introduced until sandy bridge(2011) so perhaps power nap doesn't actually work on your all's machines? this update just put the checkbox there

littledude8209 · Jul 26, 2012

CRIIM44 said:
what i've read is that power nap takes advantage of intels smart connect technology which wasn't introduced until sandy bridge(2011) so perhaps power nap doesn't actually work on your all's machines? this update just put the checkbox there

But they claimed from the beginning it would work on the Late 2010 Macbook Air's.

http://www.apple.com/uk/osx/specs/

They now changed it on the US site to say 2011 and later, but they haven't changed the UK site yet.

It's just annoying that a feature I was really looking forward to/was told I would get was pulled at the last second.

kallekenkel · Jul 26, 2012

Yes littledude, they changed their mind. I'd say the info on the US website is now correct. Unfortunate, but nothing we can do against it I guess... Unless you want to sue Apple for false advertising to get your 20 bucks back

I installed Reason's SMC package last night (Germany). This morning, it had not downloaded any mail (although after I opened the MB, it of course immediately connected and downloaded everything..). Also, my latest Time Machine backup (USB HDD connected to an AirPort Express) showed the time stamp of 22:35 - so no backup over night.

I think it's safe to assume that Reason's package does in fact bring "back" the checkbox in the settings, but it does not actually do anything.

Too bad. but thx anyways Reason!!

Desmond-London · Jul 26, 2012

Confirmed - power nap will only work on Intel Ivy Bridge processors.

Do you guys know of a way to roll back SMC Firmware, to whatever it was previously?
Will format do the job?

Reason077 · Jul 27, 2012

Folks, it does work!

To validate, I left my 2010 MBA asleep overnight, but plugged in to power connector.

Upon unsleeping in the morning:

Mail was already updated with all my messages that came in overnight.
iMovie software update that I had not downloaded yesterday was downloaded (though not installed)
System console has lots of messages timestamped during the middle of the night, while it was asleep

Looking at the console log, it appears to have woken itself up approx. every hour, done its thing, then gone back into full sleep a minute or two later:

Code:

...
27/07/2012 03:53:55.000 kernel[0]: Wake reason: RTC (Alarm)
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: RTC: SleepService 2012/7/27 03:53:53, sleep 2012/7/27 02:53:56
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Wake - Full Wake/ Dark Wake / Maintenance wake
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: Previous Sleep Cause: 5
27/07/2012 04:53:53.337 hidd[54]: MultitouchHID: device bootloaded
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: wlEvent: en0 en0 Link DOWN virtIf = 0
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en0. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: en0::IO80211Interface::postMessage bssid changed
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: Graphics suppressed 162 ms
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
27/07/2012 04:53:54.083 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0-:10.0.100.7) DNS- Proxy- SMB-
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: MacAuthEvent en0   Auth result for: 00:1f:f3:06:3f:f9  MAC AUTH succeeded
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: wlEvent: en0 en0 Link UP virtIf = 0
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Up on en0
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: en0: BSSID changed to 00:1f:f3:06:3f:f9
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: en0::IO80211Interface::postMessage bssid changed
27/07/2012 04:53:56.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en0
27/07/2012 04:53:56.040 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0+:10.0.100.7) DNS+ Proxy+ SMB+
27/07/2012 04:54:04.057 netbiosd[45]: name servers down?
27/07/2012 04:55:30.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Sleep 
27/07/2012 04:55:30.000 kernel[0]: Wake reason: RTC (Alarm)
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: RTC: SleepService 2012/7/27 04:55:28, sleep 2012/7/27 03:55:31
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Wake - Full Wake/ Dark Wake / Maintenance wake
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: Previous Sleep Cause: 5
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: wlEvent: en0 en0 Link DOWN virtIf = 0
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en0. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: en0::IO80211Interface::postMessage bssid changed
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: Graphics suppressed 163 ms
27/07/2012 05:55:28.337 hidd[54]: MultitouchHID: device bootloaded
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
27/07/2012 05:55:29.086 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0-:10.0.100.7) DNS- Proxy- SMB-
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: MacAuthEvent en0   Auth result for: 00:1f:f3:06:3f:f9  MAC AUTH succeeded
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: wlEvent: en0 en0 Link UP virtIf = 0
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Up on en0
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: en0: BSSID changed to 00:1f:f3:06:3f:f9
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: en0::IO80211Interface::postMessage bssid changed
27/07/2012 05:55:31.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en0
27/07/2012 05:55:31.014 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0+:10.0.100.7) DNS+ Proxy+ SMB+
27/07/2012 05:55:31.037 UserEventAgent[11]: Captive: en0: Not probing 'MyNetwork' (protected network)
27/07/2012 05:55:31.042 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0!:10.0.100.7) DNS Proxy SMB
27/07/2012 05:55:31.390 airportd[2044]: _doAutoJoin: Already associated to “MyNetwork”. Bailing on auto-join.
27/07/2012 05:55:37.030 netbiosd[45]: name servers down?
27/07/2012 05:57:36.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Sleep 
27/07/2012 06:57:34.000 kernel[0]: Wake reason: RTC (Alarm)
...

----------

Desmond-London said:
Confirmed - power nap will only work on Intel Ivy Bridge processors.

It is working for me. See above.

Desmond-London · Jul 27, 2012

Is it 11" or 13" ? Probably doesn't make any difference, but just wanted to check as it definetly doesn't work on my 11"

Left it plugged in overnight - no Time Machine backups have been done. In fact, if I close the lid during backup and open after an hour or so, it's resuming from the point where it was when I closed the lid. Also, I can see that wireless is reconnecting when I open the lid even after few minutes.
Find my mac is also unavailable.

Strangely, I can't even turn power nap off - the check box is always ticked when I open power saver options! Both, on AC and battery.

Anyone know how to roll back to previous SMC Firmware? I'm worried that this will break something eventually.

kallekenkel · Jul 27, 2012

This is getting interesting

I just tried to find my Mac (MBA 11" bto 1,6 4GBRam.. at home) from the office, and sure enough.. It's found!! Took a few seconds, but Bingo! Now the Time Machine backup last night certainly did not work.. But maybe that's due to the fact that I'm using an Airport Extreme with attached USB HDD.

I cannot confirm or deny whether the system update works.. Didn't have any updates last night.

Need to check my logs tonight.

Reason077 · Jul 27, 2012

Desmond-London said:
Is it 11" or 13" ? Probably doesn't make any difference, but just wanted to check as it definetly doesn't work on my 11"

Mine is a 13".

You could try resetting the SMC (I did this on a whim yesterday):
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I also clicked "Restore Defaults" in Energy Saver, and have Power Nap enabled in both Battery and Power Adapter (I tested with the Power Adapter connected).

surroundfan · Jul 27, 2012

Mine also seems to be waking and sleeping every hour. Haven't got anything to test it with though (e.g. a calendar update)...

kallekenkel · Jul 27, 2012

kallekenkel said:
Need to check my logs tonight.

Came home from work and all was there: email, messages.. and the time machine backup was done as well!! Worked 100% for me, thanks!!

Desmond-London · Jul 27, 2012

Reason077 said:

Folks, it does work!

To validate, I left my 2010 MBA asleep overnight, but plugged in to power connector.

Upon unsleeping in the morning:

Mail was already updated with all my messages that came in overnight.
iMovie software update that I had not downloaded yesterday was downloaded (though not installed)
System console has lots of messages timestamped during the middle of the night, while it was asleep

Looking at the console log, it appears to have woken itself up approx. every hour, done its thing, then gone back into full sleep a minute or two later:

Code:

...
27/07/2012 03:53:55.000 kernel[0]: Wake reason: RTC (Alarm)
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: RTC: SleepService 2012/7/27 03:53:53, sleep 2012/7/27 02:53:56
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Wake - Full Wake/ Dark Wake / Maintenance wake
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: Previous Sleep Cause: 5
27/07/2012 04:53:53.337 hidd[54]: MultitouchHID: device bootloaded
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: wlEvent: en0 en0 Link DOWN virtIf = 0
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en0. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: en0::IO80211Interface::postMessage bssid changed
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: Graphics suppressed 162 ms
27/07/2012 04:53:53.000 kernel[0]: AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
27/07/2012 04:53:54.083 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0-:10.0.100.7) DNS- Proxy- SMB-
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: MacAuthEvent en0   Auth result for: 00:1f:f3:06:3f:f9  MAC AUTH succeeded
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: wlEvent: en0 en0 Link UP virtIf = 0
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Up on en0
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: en0: BSSID changed to 00:1f:f3:06:3f:f9
27/07/2012 04:53:55.000 kernel[0]: en0::IO80211Interface::postMessage bssid changed
27/07/2012 04:53:56.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en0
27/07/2012 04:53:56.040 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0+:10.0.100.7) DNS+ Proxy+ SMB+
27/07/2012 04:54:04.057 netbiosd[45]: name servers down?
27/07/2012 04:55:30.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Sleep 
27/07/2012 04:55:30.000 kernel[0]: Wake reason: RTC (Alarm)
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: RTC: SleepService 2012/7/27 04:55:28, sleep 2012/7/27 03:55:31
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Wake - Full Wake/ Dark Wake / Maintenance wake
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: Previous Sleep Cause: 5
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: wlEvent: en0 en0 Link DOWN virtIf = 0
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en0. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: en0::IO80211Interface::postMessage bssid changed
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: Graphics suppressed 163 ms
27/07/2012 05:55:28.337 hidd[54]: MultitouchHID: device bootloaded
27/07/2012 05:55:28.000 kernel[0]: AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
27/07/2012 05:55:29.086 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0-:10.0.100.7) DNS- Proxy- SMB-
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: MacAuthEvent en0   Auth result for: 00:1f:f3:06:3f:f9  MAC AUTH succeeded
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: wlEvent: en0 en0 Link UP virtIf = 0
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Up on en0
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: en0: BSSID changed to 00:1f:f3:06:3f:f9
27/07/2012 05:55:30.000 kernel[0]: en0::IO80211Interface::postMessage bssid changed
27/07/2012 05:55:31.000 kernel[0]: AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en0
27/07/2012 05:55:31.014 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0+:10.0.100.7) DNS+ Proxy+ SMB+
27/07/2012 05:55:31.037 UserEventAgent[11]: Captive: en0: Not probing 'MyNetwork' (protected network)
27/07/2012 05:55:31.042 configd[18]: network changed: v4(en0!:10.0.100.7) DNS Proxy SMB
27/07/2012 05:55:31.390 airportd[2044]: _doAutoJoin: Already associated to MyNetwork. Bailing on auto-join.
27/07/2012 05:55:37.030 netbiosd[45]: name servers down?
27/07/2012 05:57:36.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Sleep 
27/07/2012 06:57:34.000 kernel[0]: Wake reason: RTC (Alarm)
...

----------

It is working for me. See above.

Hey Reason - can you let me know what command did you run to get those logs?

It seems to work for me too, as everything was up to date when I came from work, including the TM backup!

Reason077 · Jul 27, 2012

Desmond-London said:
Hey Reason - can you let me know what command did you run to get those logs?

It seems to work for me too, as everything was up to date when I came from work, including the TM backup!

That's from the System Log in the Console app:

/Applications/Utilities/Console.app

littledude8209 · Jul 27, 2012

Reason077 said:
Mine is a 13".

You could try resetting the SMC (I did this on a whim yesterday):
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I also clicked "Restore Defaults" in Energy Saver, and have Power Nap enabled in both Battery and Power Adapter (I tested with the Power Adapter connected).

I tried resetting both of these. Gonna do some testing to see if it is working now. Hardest thing is waiting a whole hour for it to actually work! haha

Way too anxious. I would LOVE this feature.

littledude8209 · Jul 27, 2012

Hmm. Looks like it is working to an extent on my machine. I get the same kernel wake logs, and thigns do seem to be showing up. I think the real test is to let it sleep for a few hours, let the notifications rack up, and then unplug your router/open your computer. If it is *really* working, they should be there. If not, then it isn't working. Will try once I get home.

Also, can't get find my mac working while it is closed... Odd.

Edit: Seems like find my mac is working when it is closed! I was using beta.icloud.com, and it refused to find it - saying it was offline. But when I use icloud.com, it seems to find it right away.

This is so cool!

How to enable Power Nap on your MacBook Air (Late 2010)

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