MacBook Air instant-on not so instant

[TheMonkeyFreak1]

I recently got my Macbook Air 13" with a Core i7 and 8GB RAM with 256GB Flash Storage. They claimed that instant on was instant but for me it is not. When my Macbook Air goes to sleep on charge, it wakes up instantly. When it goes to sleep and I wake it up within 10 minutes, it wakes up instantly but for example at night I would close the lid and leave it by my bed. In the morning I would open the screen and it would freeze. The keyboard backlight is off, the space to enter your password is white with no thing to type and it takes a few seconds to turn on. Why is this and can someone help resolve this?

Much appreciated

[jamesjingyi]

Originally Posted by TheMonkeyFreak1

I recently got my Macbook Air 13" with a Core i7 and 8GB RAM with 256GB Flash Storage. They claimed that instant on was instant but for me it is not. When my Macbook Air goes to sleep on charge, it wakes up instantly. When it goes to sleep and I wake it up within 10 minutes, it wakes up instantly but for example at night I would close the lid and leave it by my bed. In the morning I would open the screen and it would freeze. The keyboard backlight is off, the space to enter your password is white with no thing to type and it takes a few seconds to turn on. Why is this and can someone help resolve this?

Much appreciated

You should close all your applications if you want to do this. However, I would advise against it as it as it can ruin your battery. The MBA starts up in 10 secs (well mine does) so just turn it off and on again. Restarting a computer is good for it, it clears the cache. I would advise turning off the password thing however. I must say, however, I haven't run into this problem before....

[Ricanlegend]

First to your quetion there's 2 diffrent form of sleep in the MacBook the first one,is a light sleep where all your data is stored in the ram until woken up, the other is a deep sleep where the ram will copy everything to the ssd then when you wake it up from this sleep it has to copy everthing from the ssd back to the ram thats why you experince this lag , if you not going to use the computer within 4 hours just turn it off

[Boyd01]

I have a 2011 13" MBA 4GB/256GB. I rarely reboot it, just put it to sleep at the end of the day. But I quit from everything except mail and skype before putting it to sleep.

It wakes up in just a couple seconds every morning with no problem and I have been doing this every day for about a year. True, the MBA also starts up pretty quickly from a full shutdown, but then I have to enter my username and password (the way I have mine configured).

[chemistry76]

It's a Mac, not a PC. It doesn't need rebooted daily. You only need to reboot if things seem a little weird or slow.

If you were supposed to turn them off every night they wouldn't have developed the "power nap" feature.

Mine has a little lag when first waking up after a long sleep too. A few seconds (maybe 5 ish?) isn't that bad. It does seem longer than it was when it was brand new, but I assume that has something to do with all the programs I keep running.

I never turn off my MBA unless it's not going to be used for several days (never happens). The longest I've gone without rebooting is 30 days.

Jeff

[TheMonkeyFreak1]

Thank you guys. I really should put it to sleep at night but the one problem is the start up chime! You see it wakes the whole family in the morning

[jamesjingyi]

To stop that, plug in your headphones Or mute it before it goes to sleep

[agitoTech]

Originally Posted by TheMonkeyFreak1

I recently got my Macbook Air 13" with a Core i7 and 8GB RAM with 256GB Flash Storage. They claimed that instant on was instant but for me it is not. When my Macbook Air goes to sleep on charge, it wakes up instantly. When it goes to sleep and I wake it up within 10 minutes, it wakes up instantly but for example at night I would close the lid and leave it by my bed. In the morning I would open the screen and it would freeze. The keyboard backlight is off, the space to enter your password is white with no thing to type and it takes a few seconds to turn on. Why is this and can someone help resolve this?

Much appreciated

That's a sad story.... OMG, it doesn't happen within milliseconds of you opening the lid... Go buy a PC.

[PBG4 Dude]

I don't remember the actual command but it had something to do with set hibernate mode. Changing this value will keep your MBA from going onto deep sleep but battery will be used at a faster rate.

[halledise]

enter this command into Terminal and hit enter.

sudo tmutil disablelocal

it'll ask you for your password.

restart.
bingo

[thejadedmonkey]

Originally Posted by agitoTech

That's a sad story.... OMG, it doesn't happen within milliseconds of you opening the lid... Go buy a PC.

Well I mean, that's the problem isn't it? My PC wakes faster than my MacBook air. So did my 2006 MacBook Pro. I understand the tech involved and why it happens the way it happens, but it's still annoying. There's no reason why they can't initialize the keyboard and login screen immediately and lazily restore the userspace with a longish animation.

Really, anything would be better than the air full-out freezing for a few seconds.

[KPOM]

Originally Posted by TheMonkeyFreak1

Thank you guys. I really should put it to sleep at night but the one problem is the start up chime! You see it wakes the whole family in the morning

If you keep it plugged it, or have something plugged into one of the USB ports, it won't drop down into "deep sleep" mode and will still be "instant on." The "deep sleep" mode is what helps it keep battery life even if you don't use it for up to 30 days.

Originally Posted by thejadedmonkey

Well I mean, that's the problem isn't it? My PC wakes faster than my MacBook air. So did my 2006 MacBook Pro. I understand the tech involved and why it happens the way it happens, but it's still annoying. There's no reason why they can't initialize the keyboard and login screen immediately and lazily restore the userspace with a longish animation.

Really, anything would be better than the air full-out freezing for a few seconds.

But the typical PC and 2006 MacBook Pro lose about 10% of their battery overnight when in regular sleep. If "deep sleep" did what you suggest, it might not lose quite as much as "normal" sleep overnight, but it probably would still drain faster than it does.

[Mrbobb]

Originally Posted by TheMonkeyFreak1

can someone help resolve this?

There is nothing to resolve, this is normal.

So Apple "instant" is a slight exaggeration, what else is new?

why is this

As you load more stuff onto your laptop, it has more things to do, that's the short answer. The long answer, this thread is asked many times, all the answer are already in this forum, use the SEARCH button, and happy browsing.

[Jimbogiant]

Originally Posted by TheMonkeyFreak1

I recently got my Macbook Air 13" with a Core i7 and 8GB RAM with 256GB Flash Storage. They claimed that instant on was instant but for me it is not. When my Macbook Air goes to sleep on charge, it wakes up instantly. When it goes to sleep and I wake it up within 10 minutes, it wakes up instantly but for example at night I would close the lid and leave it by my bed. In the morning I would open the screen and it would freeze. The keyboard backlight is off, the space to enter your password is white with no thing to type and it takes a few seconds to turn on. Why is this and can someone help resolve this?

Much appreciated

This is NOT an issue of "loading too much stuff" on your laptop. The explanation is simple: After a certain amount of time sleeping, your MBA enters into "hibernate" mode in which is will write the contents of your RAM to the SSD, and then power down more components.

Pros: Better battery life when in hibernate, because it cuts power to the RAM.

Cons: Takes a few seconds longer to wake up (since it is reading from the SSD instead of the RAM)

Here is how you can change/tweak how long it will take for hibernate to kick in. If you want it to take longer, you'll want a higher number.

1. Open Terminal.

2. Type (without the quotation marks) "pmset -g" and then press ENTER.

3. You will see the following readout:



4. Locate the "standby" and "standbydelay" entries. "standby" should read "1", and "standbydelay" will be a larger number (I forget what the default is). The "standbydelay" is the length of time, in SECONDS, after you put your MBA to sleep that it will wait before going into standby/hibernate mode. Also, make sure that "hibernatemode" is set to "3".

5. You'll want to change this to a larger number if you don't want your MBA to hibernate as quickly. I have mine set to 7200, which is 2 hours. So, my MBA will not hibernate until it has been closed and sleeping for 2 hours. If I close the lid and open it back up within 2 hours, it works as "instant-on" (which is the behavior that you're looking for) -- after 2 hours of being asleep, it writes its RAM to the SSD and powers down, which makes it take a few extra seconds to wake up when I open the lid.

6. To change this number, input the following command into Terminal:

First, type (without the quotes) "sudo pmset -a standby 1" and press ENTER. Type in your password and press enter again.

Then, type (without the quotes) "sudo pmset -a standbydelay [the number of seconds you want your MBA to wait before going into hibernate]" and press ENTER.

If you wanted to set it to 2 hours, your command would be "sudo pmset -a standbydelay 7200" . Increase this number as necessary to get the behavior you are looking for.

I hope this helps!

James

[Chris.L]

Jimbogiant post is pretty good if you want to extend the delay before hibernation, however, it should be noted that extended the delay to hibernation will mean you will use more battery in that time before hibernation. It will be negligible but just something to be aware of.

Originally Posted by jamesjingyi

You should close all your applications if you want to do this. However, I would advise against it as it as it can ruin your battery. The MBA starts up in 10 secs (well mine does) so just turn it off and on again. Restarting a computer is good for it, it clears the cache. I would advise turning off the password thing however. I must say, however, I haven't run into this problem before....

This is some of the worst advice going.

[Mrbobb]

Originally Posted by Jimbogiant

I hope this helps!

Excellent for your patience explanation and procedure.

All in all, too much Ado for a few seconds, but that's what OP wants...

[SBA]

Originally Posted by Jimbogiant

This is NOT an issue of "loading too much stuff" on your laptop. The explanation is simple: After a certain amount of time sleeping, your MBA enters into "hibernate" mode in which is will write the contents of your RAM to the SSD, and then power down more components.

Pros: Better battery life when in hibernate, because it cuts power to the RAM.

Cons: Takes a few seconds longer to wake up (since it is reading from the SSD instead of the RAM)

Here is how you can change/tweak how long it will take for hibernate to kick in. If you want it to take longer, you'll want a higher number.

1. Open Terminal.

2. Type (without the quotation marks) "pmset -g" and then press ENTER.

3. You will see the following readout:

Image

4. Locate the "standby" and "standbydelay" entries. "standby" should read "1", and "standbydelay" will be a larger number (I forget what the default is). The "standbydelay" is the length of time, in SECONDS, after you put your MBA to sleep that it will wait before going into standby/hibernate mode. Also, make sure that "hibernatemode" is set to "3".

5. You'll want to change this to a larger number if you don't want your MBA to hibernate as quickly. I have mine set to 7200, which is 2 hours. So, my MBA will not hibernate until it has been closed and sleeping for 2 hours. If I close the lid and open it back up within 2 hours, it works as "instant-on" (which is the behavior that you're looking for) -- after 2 hours of being asleep, it writes its RAM to the SSD and powers down, which makes it take a few extra seconds to wake up when I open the lid.

6. To change this number, input the following command into Terminal:

First, type (without the quotes) "sudo pmset -a standby 1" and press ENTER. Type in your password and press enter again.

Then, type (without the quotes) "sudo pmset -a standbydelay [the number of seconds you want your MBA to wait before going into hibernate]" and press ENTER.

If you wanted to set it to 2 hours, your command would be "sudo pmset -a standbydelay 7200" . Increase this number as necessary to get the behavior you are looking for.

I hope this helps!

James

I had exactly the same issue as OP and ran this command (which I think I found on Macworld) and the issue is no more. Definitely the only advice you need in this thread, OP.

[halledise]

Originally Posted by SBA

I had exactly the same issue as OP and ran this command (which I think I found on Macworld) and the issue is no more. Definitely the only advice you need in this thread, OP.

I'm sure it works for 'instant-on', but my advice much simpler without compromising battery life etc.


enter this command into Terminal and hit enter.
sudo tmutil disablelocal

[Chris.L]

Originally Posted by halledise

I'm sure it works for 'instant-on', but my advice much simpler without compromising battery life etc.


enter this command into Terminal and hit enter.
sudo tmutil disablelocal

People might not want to disable the local Time Machine facility

[halledise]

Originally Posted by Chris.L

People might not want to disable the local Time Machine facility

true that.

[Jimbogiant]

Originally Posted by halledise

I'm sure it works for 'instant-on', but my advice much simpler without compromising battery life etc.


enter this command into Terminal and hit enter.
sudo tmutil disablelocal

These are two unrelated things. Deleting the local Time Machine backup will only help speed up a system if

1) OP is using Time Machine to begin with, and
2) His local TM backup file has gotten so large that his drive is full (or almost full).

Local TM backups won't have any bearing on how quickly his MBA hibernates after he puts it to sleep, which is the problem he was describing (local TM backups do not cause the login screen to exhibit the behavior he was describing -- that happens when you are waking up an MBA from hibernate).

Don't get me wrong though, I think OP could also benefit from disabling the local TM backup, if only to gain back some space on the SSD. Just don't conflate the cause and effect of doing each of these commands.

[3bs]

Originally Posted by Jimbogiant

I hope this helps!

James

Hi James I'd like to change the time to 2 hours like yours but whenever I try step 6 it just ignores the command and on the next line it says MBA:~ Myname$ it doesn't ask for my password.

Edit: I went ahead with it anyway and then ran pmset -g and it actually shows the standbydelay changed to 7200. I'm not sure why it didn't ask for my password but I guess it worked. Thanks for the help.

[ladeer]

i have never turned off my 2011 MacBook Pro 15inch unless the system forces me to due to update. I constantly have the following on, and always just close the lid at night:

In VMWare:
Windows 7 (now Windows 8)
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft Outlook (about 10 windows)
Two browsers (Firefox/Chrome) totaling 20+ tabs
Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel (10+ files, 20mb+ excel files)
Snipping Tool
MSPaint (For fast copy/paste screenshot manipulation)
Visio
Firebug
Adobe Photoshop

In OSX
Safari (20+ tabs)
Sublime 2
Terminal
FTP
Evernote

It takes less than 5 seconds to start in the morning. Really, I never notice any delay after I open the lid. If anything, it's the Windows 8 log in screen taking the longest time as it actually connects to the server to check my password. (I hate the Windows 8 log in screen.)

(samsung 830 ssd, 16gb ram)

[jjd]

I get instant on with my 2011 11" MBA- no white screen, it all looks normal. But, I get no reaction from the trackpad and no mouse cursor for about 8 secs.

Before I get flamed, no 8 secs is not the end of the world. But, it is annoying and I only had this once I upgraded to ML. Anyone else experienced this?

[Jimbogiant]

Originally Posted by 3bs

Hi James I'd like to change the time to 2 hours like yours but whenever I try step 6 it just ignores the command and on the next line it says MBA:~ Myname$ it doesn't ask for my password.

Edit: I went ahead with it anyway and then ran pmset -g and it actually shows the standbydelay changed to 7200. I'm not sure why it didn't ask for my password but I guess it worked. Thanks for the help.

Generally if you input your password at any time in the same Terminal session, it won't make you re-authenticate even if you run another "sudo" command, in my experience at least. That's probably what happened (you had done a sudo command, and entered your password one time; the next time you did a sudo command in the same Terminal session it won't make you re-enter your password).

----------

Originally Posted by jjd

I get instant on with my 2011 11" MBA- no white screen, it all looks normal. But, I get no reaction from the trackpad and no mouse cursor for about 8 secs.

Before I get flamed, no 8 secs is not the end of the world. But, it is annoying and I only had this once I upgraded to ML. Anyone else experienced this?

This is the behavior that OP was talking about, and that I have experienced as well. I traced it down to the "hibernate" issue from my above posts - I found that if I closed the lid of my MBA and opened it back up before it went into full "hibernate mode," it would instantly awake without any delay from the trackpad or keyboard; however, if the machine had gone into hibernate, the screen would instantly come back on, but the mouse and keyboard would be unresponsive for several seconds.

I made my hibernatedelay longer so I get the "instant-on" behavior more often. I really haven't noticed a huge hit on my standby battery life either, but YMMV.