Late 2015 27 rImac shuts down while sleeping overnight

[adgoodma]

Its a new rImac and I put it to sleep at the end of the night. When I return to the computer in the morning, it doesn't wake up. I need to press and hold the power button until it restarts.
I've adjusted all of the appropriate settings in the power savings menu.
This is actually the second rImac I've had in the last few weeks. I originally ordered one with a 380 card, but after seeing all of the benchmarks come out, I upgraded to what seemed like the sweet spot for me- the 390 card. The first computer, with all of the same things plugged into it, didn't behave this way.
The computer is only a few days old, so I might just reorder another one and see if the problem is resolved.
Has anyone else had this problem? Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[Cody1992]

I recently received a 2014 5k iMac and it seems like hitting my mouse or keyboard doesn't always wake up the computer from deep sleep, but simply hitting the power button once on the back has been waking it successfully.

Have you tried just hitting the power button once? No holding or anything?

 

[adgoodma]

I have... and it doesn't seem to work- i'll try that again tomorrow if it shuts down again.

 

[G.McGilli]

Same issue here. Just unpacked mine yesterday - and have my screen set to turn off after 5 minutes.

I only ever put my computer to sleep manually using keyboard combo so I don't want it to sleep on its own ever...

Around 2am it was fine as I woke up and just checked on it. Came back to it around 7am - and would not wake up.

Now - i never put it to sleep - in fact it was downloading about 40gb of Logic tools and samples overnight.

I tried power button quick press in the back - nothing.

Would not wake with keyboard or trackpad.

I then plugged the keyboard and trackpad in with lightning cables - still no response.

I tried a longer hold of power button, then a few quicker presses - nothing.

Finally I just had to hold it until it shut off and reboot it.


What I then noticed was that in the ENERGY settings - there was NOT a checkmark to prevent the computer from auto sleeping when the display is off. So - I have now checked that box and will see if this continues to happen.

 

[Cody1992]

Theres also a checkbox for turning off the Hard disks, so if you truly never want it to sleep, make sure to prevent that option. Either way, sleep is sleep and theres no reason why you should have to reboot the machine. Something may be defective, I would contact Apple and see if they can suggest any steps to take. You may have to have the machine replaced.

May I ask what hard drive you have in your system? it may just be taking a super long time to wake from sleep, like a minute plus if you have a HDD only machine. (which still would be slow, and odd)

 

[G.McGilli]

I'm running 512ssd. Have a 2011 Mac Mini with 5400rpm hdd beside it that has never had this issue in 4 years. Both running latest El Capitan. Will try the prevent discs from sleeping option - although not sure if that works for SSD...

 

[adgoodma]

I have a 256 ssd in mine. I've already ordered another one, so I'm not even messing around with apple.
If the next one has the same problem, I'll check with apple. I assume I just have a lemon. (?)

 

[G.McGilli]

I'm running 512ssd. Have a 2011 Mac Mini with 5400rpm hdd beside it that has never had this issue in 4 years. Both running latest El Capitan. Will try the prevent discs from sleeping option - although not sure if that works for SSD...

I made a mistake - it turns out I didn't have the latest El Capitan update on here - so just did that now and will see if that helps.

Overall - just seems like an OS issue to me - will find out soon.

 

[iemcj]

I doubt it's completely turning off, most likely it's just disconnected from your keyboard and mouse (which is still a problem, don't get me wrong!). Here's something you can try, you can schedule when it sleeps and wakes up. Set the sleep time to be like midnight and the wakeup to be when you'd want to use it in the morning. See if that helps.

 

[G.McGilli]

I doubt it's completely turning off, most likely it's just disconnected from your keyboard and mouse (which is still a problem, don't get me wrong!).

You're right about that. Thinking back - the computer was still on - however it was unresponsive to me. I know it was on because my Time Machine external drive was still being powered by the Mac through the USB port.

 

[iemcj]

Hmm. Like I said it's still a problem but at least it's a small one. Get some fresh batteries in your keyboard and mouse, and disconnect and resync them if you can. That would be the first step to troubleshoot. If it's still doing that then see if you can dig up a old fashion usb connected mouse. Gasp a cord!

 

[G.McGilli]

I'm returning mine.

This is my... 8th Mac ever - and I currently have 5 Mac computers that I use and this new one is the only one with this issue.

Last night at bed, I put the computer to sleep with the keyboard command COPMMENAD/OPTION/EJECT like I always do. One minute later - o press the trackpad and the computer wakes up - so I put it back to sleep again the same way. Middle of the night I wake up and it is shut down completely on its own (there is no shut down scheduled). So pressing the power button on the back starts it up - and it loads from scratch fresh.

I then put it to sleep by selecting Sleep from the Apple Menu. I wake up now - try it and nothing. Nothing will work on it unless I do a hard reset by holding power button for 5 seconds and then you hear the fan spoon down - the issue is that it was a sleep - the fans should not have been on anyways.

So had to boot it again from scratch.

I'm going to phone apple and if nothing comes of it - I will just return this and maybe just see which ones they have in stock at the store.

There is an Apple store less than 1 mile from my place....

 

[G.McGilli]

Just did a test.

I wiped the SSD. Reinstalled OSX fresh from the internet. I didn't install anything after that.

I put the computer to sleep. Played some console games for an hour.

When I came back - the fan was on full - blasting away - and the computer was unresponsive.

Definite return.

 

[stevefo]

WOW! I've had the same problem on my 2012 27" iMac. I've been in contact with Apple over this problem and they can't find anything wrong.

One night I unplugged it (all night) plugged it back in and the problem never came back (so far) two weeks.

Try it and report back.

 

[iemcj]

Quick tip, if you do the unplug route, once its unplugged, pres and hold the power button for ten seconds. This will release the last bit of juice in the capicitors (normally used to keep the clock in sync but in your case might be a problem). This goes for any time you're going to be working on internals but it might help here too. )

 

[G.McGilli]

Have identified and resolved my issue.

You know the saying out of sight, out of mind?

When I first got my new iMac, there are two things I did immediately before I even turned it on. One: I took out the stock RAM and inserted my own 32gb Kingston. Two: I had bought a slim 2TB Seagate HDD that draws all the power it needs from the USB Bus. I out velcro on the drive, and velcro'd it to the back side of the iMac. Out of sight, out of mind - and it would be my Time Machine.

Yesterday - when I was determined to return this machine, I turned it over to remove the RAM and I saw the USB3 drive - I had forgot about it really. So - I again, reinstalled the OS fresh and Some more testing was in order.

I Disabled Power Nap.

Last night I :

unplugged the drive - Put the computer to sleep and about 2 hours later I woke up to check it. Woke up perfectly.

Then I :

Plugged the drive back in, but I disabled Time Machine. Put the computer to sleep. I woke up 3 hours later and checked on it - and it woke perfectly.

Then I :

Enabled Time Machine backups and put it to sleep. I just woke up and checked it out. This time, the computer had shut itself down automatically. A press of the power button, and it turned right on.

I'll play with it a bit more - but from what I can tell it's all related to external drive and Time Machine. I'll keep the machine now, knowing the Mac is not totally at fault.

I don't really have any reason to Sleep the computer, instead I'll just use CTRL/SHFT EJECT to shut off all the monitors. I'm fine with that. This machine is much quieter than my Mac Mini I'm replacing.