M2 Mac Mini will not go to sleep

[writerguy995]

Hi. This is different from the other Mac Mini sleep discussion. I've had my M2 Mac Mini for a few weeks and love it, except it will not go to sleep when I choose "sleep" from the menu. It worked for a few days, then was intermittent, but now has completely stopped. I have two external 27 inch Dell monitors but they don't seem to be the issue.

1. In Energy Saver, everything is unchecked (put hard drive to sleep, wake for network access, and start up after power failure)
2. There are no processes running in the background that are doing this that I can find in the Activity Monitor

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[fisherking]

my m2 mini sleeps when i tell it to. i'd call apple...

 

[marstan]

Does it go to sleep at the time set in Lock Screen settings for "turn display off when inactive"? (Make sure that setting is longer than the screen saver setting).

Also check System Settings->Displays->Advanced->Energy (set "prevent auto sleeping when display is off" to off).

Do you run both ethernet and wifi turned on? I ask because my monitor delayed entering power saving mode at the set time until I enabled wifi. So wifi is somehow connected to sleep issues on the mini (at least my M2 mini Pro).

 

[Basic75]

Open Terminal.app and enter the command "pmset -g assertions" to see what is going on.

 

[writerguy995]

I don't use a screen saver. I only have wifi, not ethernet. I'll try some of these and let you know. Thank you for the help.

 

[writerguy995]

There are no changes I make in the System Settings that help.

I did run the terminal command @Basic75 suggested. But I don't know what this means. I have a USB drive plugged in for 3D printing but that's not usually there when I put it to sleep. I don't know what the InternalPreventDisplaySleep or PreventUserIdleSystemSleep means, or how to change them.

 

[Fishrrman]

Something here?

If nothing else works...
You should be aware that the difference in energy consumed between a "sleeping" Mini and one that is "awake, but idling" is next-to-nothing. Negligible.

Suggestion:
Go to the energy saver/desktop/screensaver setting, and set up a "hot corner" that will put the DISPLAY (not the Mini, but the display) to sleep.

Now, when you will be away, just shove the pointer into the hot corner (I use the upper left).
When you come back, RIGHT click the mouse -- that ought to wake it back up.

Works for me.

Another way:
Does the display have a power switch that is "easily reach-able"?
If so, when it's time to do something else, just reach forward and switch OFF the display. Switch it back on when you come back.

 

[marstan]

You should unplug all your external devices and unplug one of the monitors, restart. If that fixes the problem, then add each one back one at a time until the issue reappears.

 

[writerguy995]

That's a great idea about just turning off the monitors. That was my concern anyway.

 

[marstan]

You should be aware that the difference in energy consumed between a "sleeping" Mini and one that is "awake, but idling" is next-to-nothing. Negligible.

While this is true, the energy consumption isn't the concern, it is the fans. You don't want your mini awake 24/7 running the fans because they will wear out prematurely. I know from experience having replaced the fans twice on my '09 mini and at least once on the '12 mini. Easy and cheap enough to do but, still, avoid it if you can. In fact, I depend on these minis so much that I keep spare replacement fans on hand. Avoid kludges if you can; fix the fundamental problem.

 

[thebart]

While this is true, the energy consumption isn't the concern, it is the fans. You don't want your mini awake 24/7 running the fans because they will wear out prematurely. I know from experience having replaced the fans twice on my '09 mini and at least once on the '12 mini. Easy and cheap enough to do but, still, avoid it if you can. In fact, I depend on these minis so much that I keep spare replacement fans on hand. Avoid kludges if you can; fix the fundamental problem.

Yeah, this is the thing making me think twice about running it as a server 24/7. The fan also blows in dust. That and the excessive amount of writing to disk the OS seems to be doing

 

[marstan]

Yeah, this is the thing making me think twice about running it as a server 24/7. The fan also blows in dust. That and the excessive amount of writing to disk the OS seems to be doing

What server doesn't have fans? It is fine to run the mini as a server 24/7, just be prepared for the fan to wear out sooner than if used as a desktop allowed to sleep.