My MBP Won't Wake Up

[gtr053]

Okay, so I am using Mac OS X 10.6.4 on my MBP. I use the bottom-left hot-corner to put it to sleep. I leave it open with the charger plugged in. Yes, I understand that's not the best idea, but it is actually charging, not just sitting there cycling through the top 4% of the battery constantly. Anyway, I use Alarm Clock 2 to wake myself up. Even though I put the laptop asleep, it wakes up. I lock the screen because it forces me to get out of my bed to enter my password to turn off the alarm. Well, I have been doing this for about a month or so. Twice, I have slept in and missed work because my MBP won't wake up. Blank screen. No keyboard or mouse response. I know it's on, because the power indicator on the front is lit up. The only thing I can do at this point is hold the power button down to force it off and then turn it back on. Does anybody know why this is happening and/or why it isn't consistent?

 

[Hellhammer]

Use your phone to wake you up for example. That software may be causing the wake up issues, thus try removing it and sleeping your MBP normally.

 

[GGJstudios]

I leave it open with the charger plugged in. Yes, I understand that's not the best idea, but it is actually charging, not just sitting there cycling through the top 4% of the battery constantly.

There's nothing wrong with leaving it plugged in. It doesn't "cycle through the top 4% of the battery". When it's fully charged, it automatically stops charging. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions: Apple Notebook Battery FAQ (note the section on "Charging."

Twice, I have slept in and missed work because my MBP won't wake up. Blank screen. No keyboard or mouse response. I know it's on, because the power indicator on the front is lit up. The only thing I can do at this point is hold the power button down to force it off and then turn it back on. Does anybody know why this is happening and/or why it isn't consistent?

This has happened to me on rare occasions. I wouldn't depend on my Mac to wake me up for something important, since there are so many other factors that can have an effect on your Mac (other apps running, adapter/battery failure, etc.) I use my cell phone alarm for wake up calls.

 

[gtr053]

I use my cell phone as well in case one of the two fail. But the only two times that it happened, I forgot to set the alarm on my phone. The alarm on the laptop automatically reoccurs. It's just that my phone sucks and it doesn't quite do the job. It's too easy to just reach over and turn the alarm off. I put it across the room forcing myself to get up and turn it off, it's either not loud enough or I am too lazy to get up and just sleep through it until it automatically turns off.

Any ideas why this happens, though?

 

[gtr053]

There's nothing wrong with leaving it plugged in. It doesn't "cycle through the top 4% of the battery". When it's fully charged, it automatically stops charging. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions: Apple Notebook Battery FAQ (note the section on "Charging."

Yeah, I've seen that page. I have been told (forgot by whom) that it stops once fully charged, works off the battery for a for a few percents and then charges back to prevent overcharging. Is that accurate. And by they way, on the link, it says that Apple does not recommend leaving it plugged in anyway.

 

[GGJstudios]

Yeah, I've seen that page. I have been told (forgot by whom) that it stops once fully charged, works off the battery for a for a few percents and then charges back to prevent overcharging. Is that accurate.

That's not true. If you read the page I linked to, the answers are there.

It is also normal that your battery may not charge to 100%. The battery may appear to stop charging between 93 percent and 99 percent, because the batteries are designed to avoid short discharge/charge cycles in order to prolong the overall life of the battery. When it reaches a full charge, the light on your MagSafe adapter will turn green. This indicates that it has stopped charging your battery and you are now running on A/C power with a fully charged battery. It will not overcharge your battery. It's also perfectly safe to let your Mac notebook sleep with A/C plugged in.

Apple Portables: Battery may not show a full charge in Mac OS X​

The battery may appear to stop charging between 93 percent and 99 percent.

This is normal. The batteries used in these computers are designed to avoid short discharge/charge cycles in order to prolong the overall life of the battery.

And by they way, on the link, it says that Apple does not recommend leaving it plugged in anyway.

Again, from the post I linked:

AppleCare support recommends that if you leave your Mac plugged in most of the time, unplug it every 2 or 3 days and run on battery down to somewhere around 50%, then plug it back in. That keeps the electrons moving.