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dmt43

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 28, 2023
104
19
This is not specifically a Sequoia issue, but that is my OS. I have a Macbook. My Mac always has processes that are Preventing sleep. I was a lifelong Windows user and routinely would go into Task Mgr to check things, shut down processes, etc. But I’m not sure about MACOS. If I go into Activity Monitor and let it sit for a few seconds, it shuts down most processes but bluetooth, powerd and WindowServer never seem to shut down and when I click “Sleep” the computer doesn’t obey!!! Can I shut down those processes? In general, can I shut down any process that is preventing sleep (or for whatever reason) without causing any harm/difficulty? Do processes restart when I wake up the Computer? Or would I have to reboot? thanks! Donna
 
Why don't you shut down your MacBook?
I usually do shut down. But, for example, yesterday I was going to be away from the Mac for a short time and I wanted it to sleep. I need it to sleep for short periods of time - I don’t want to shut down for just an hour or two.
 
What Macbook model? Does is go into sleep when you close the lid?
15” Macbook Air M2. I turned off the option to sleep with the lid. Anyway, it has to be unplugged. I don’t unplug it or disconnect peripherals (keyboard, hub). I want to be able to select “Sleep” from the dropdown menu and have it go to sleep.
 
Isolate the behavior.

Does it sleep normally when NOT connected to those peripherals, is the first test I'd try... if yes, plug in just one thing at a time & see which one is causing the trouble. If no, test in Safe Mode.
 
I still have a general question. Can I shut down MACOS processes manually? Are there any that should not be shut down and/or would cause harm to the system? thanks.
 
Isolate the behavior.

Does it sleep normally when NOT connected to those peripherals, is the first test I'd try... if yes, plug in just one thing at a time & see which one is causing the trouble. If no, test in Safe Mode.
I thought that was normal behavior -
Isolate the behavior.

Does it sleep normally when NOT connected to those peripherals, is the first test I'd try... if yes, plug in just one thing at a time & see which one is causing the trouble. If no, test in Safe Mode.
It will go to sleep with peripherals plugged in. Apple website said to use sleep with closing the lid you have to be off power, no monitor (not 100% sure on the peripherals). I am not using that, I go to settings and choose “Sleep” from the dropdown. Seems that if there is a process preventing sleep (which shows in Activity Monitor), it refuses to go to sleep when I choose that function. So I wanted to know about manually shutting down processes. Maybe I will set it to sleep with the lid closed. See if that works.
 
You can see all processes that are keeping system awake. In this example we can see powerd (reason - display is on), WindowServer (user input activity) and network activity by kernel assertion. These are normal when system is in use.

One of worst offenders for me has been coreaudiod, which is often invoked by playing media or web browser (by some media in some webpage). If it is web browser then usually I have been able to solve it by quittting the browser session or tab with offending webpage.

snap 2025-06-11 at 17.35.41.png
 
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You can see all processes that are keeping system awake. In this example we can see powerd (reason - display is on), WindowServer (user input activity) and network activity by kernel assertion. These are normal when system is in use.

One of worst offenders for me has been coreaudiod, which is often invoked by playing media or web browser (by some media in some webpage). If it is web browser then usually I have been able to solve it by quittting the broser session or tab with offending webpage.

View attachment 2518903
thank you! something new for me to check ; ) So, once I leave the Macbook for a period of time (I don’t recall my settings), the display will shut down and so will powerd. WindowServer should also stop after a period of inactivity. I can use -g assertions to check what’s running, but my question still is, can I manually shut those down ?
 
That network assertion is related to "Wake for network access" setting and disappears if that setting is disabled. Presence of that assertion does not however mean that system cannot sleep. It is there to wake system up to be able to access network even while asleep ("powernap"). Same goes for user input monitoring, so you can wake computer up from keyboard or mouse and sleep is prevented when computer is actually used.

Actual problems can arise from other assertions which were not present in this example.
 
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