RMBP doesn't sleep when closing lid - heats up rapidly

[Jamesesesesess]

I've noticed something really annoying with my RMBP. Sometimes when I close the lid, it doesn't go to sleep. I can tell because the Apple logo is still lit up. I've tried letting it sit a few seconds to see what happens, but instead of eventually going to sleep, the fans turn on full blast and the bottom gets very hot. Every time this happens, I have to open it back up (the screen is just a black screen with the cursor) and use the physical power button to shut it off. This happens maybe 30% of the time.

It isn't a huge deal, but it's worrying to me what would happen if I didn't notice that it didn't go to sleep. Couldn't the internals get fried? it's also pretty annoying having an issue like this on a $2000+ laptop.

Is this a software or hardware issue? I'm on the latest version of ML. Is it worth taking it to Apple/getting a replacement?

 

[justperry]

Reinstall OS and look if it still happens, could also be a bug, you could for instance install ML again without updating, if all is well update and if the problem re occurs you know it is a bug.

 

[b0fh666]

i'd say it IS a big issue... I'd expect poor ACPI handling from linux@laptop, not from a macbook... reset SMC, PRAM, reinstall...

 

[James_C]

James,

I think the first thing to try is to see if you have a process or application that is misbehaving. Something is clearly placing a load on the CPU that is preventing it from Sleeping and causing the CPU to get hot, hence the fans coming on.

Run the Activity Monitor that can be found in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.



If it is an App, then quit or force quit the App (from the drop down from the Apple icon on the top left of the screen.)

It is also worth just checking you have no disk corruption, use the Disk Utility in the same Utilities folder to verify the hard disk.



If the Disk Utility verification shows errors then you will need to boot from the recovery partition and run the disk utility from there to repair the hard disk.

If the first two steps do not show anything up then I would be tempted to just nuke the hard disk and reinstall the OS.

If you reinstall the OS, try and avoid putting all apps back on until you have a chance to test to see if this resolves the problem, then start to put your 3rd party Apps back on.

If you have to reinstall the OS and you are still getting the error then it is likely to be a hardware problem and it needs to go back to Apple.

 

[Jamesesesesess]

Reinstall OS and look if it still happens, could also be a bug, you could for instance install ML again without updating, if all is well update and if the problem re occurs you know it is a bug.

i'd say it IS a big issue... I'd expect poor ACPI handling from linux@laptop, not from a macbook... reset SMC, PRAM, reinstall...

Thanks I'll reset the SMC and PRAM first, then if it happens again, I'll reinstall.

James,

I think the first thing to try is to see if you have a process or application that is misbehaving. Something is clearly placing a load on the CPU that is preventing it from Sleeping and causing the CPU to get hot, hence the fans coming on.

Run the Activity Monitor that can be found in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.

View attachment 372959

If it is an App, then quit or force quit the App (from the drop down from the Apple icon on the top left of the screen.)

It is also worth just checking you have no disk corruption, use the Disk Utility in the same Utilities folder to verify the hard disk.

View attachment 372962

If the Disk Utility verification shows errors then you will need to boot from the recovery partition and run the disk utility from there to repair the hard disk.

If the first two steps do not show anything up then I would be tempted to just nuke the hard disk and reinstall the OS.

If you reinstall the OS, try and avoid putting all apps back on until you have a chance to test to see if this resolves the problem, then start to put your 3rd party Apps back on.

If you have to reinstall the OS and you are still getting the error then it is likely to be a hardware problem and it needs to go back to Apple.

My name isn't James (joking... hah )

Anyway, the only programs I usually have open are Finder, Mail, Safari, Messages, and Spotify. I use Photoshop, Logic Pro, and Final Cut Pro often, but I almost always close them before closing my laptop. Even yesterday, I used Logic Pro during the day but it still slept fine. When I was using my laptop last night with casual web browsing and my other normal programs open, it didn't go to sleep properly.

Here's a screencap of my Activity Monitor. I have my normal list of programs open right now. Looks pretty normal to me? I have a nice 10GB of RAM free and the CPU seems pretty idle.

Edit: just saw your updated post, thanks for all the detail! I ran the disk check and everything came out okay.

 

[justperry]

Thanks I'll reset the SMC and PRAM first, then if it happens again, I'll reinstall.



My name isn't James (joking... hah )

Anyway, the only programs I usually have open are Finder, Mail, Safari, Messages, and Spotify. I use Photoshop, Logic Pro, and Final Cut Pro often, but I almost always close them before closing my laptop. Even yesterday, I used Logic Pro during the day but it still slept fine. When I was using my laptop last night with casual web browsing and my other normal programs open, it didn't go to sleep properly.

Here's a screencap of my Activity Monitor. I have my normal list of programs open right now. Looks pretty normal to me? I have a nice 10GB of RAM free and the CPU seems pretty idle.

Edit: just saw your updated post, thanks for all the detail! I ran the disk check and everything came out okay.

James Craner gave you good advice but if you look at processes you have to always look at ALL processes, click on the tab on top of window and select All processes.

 

[Jamesesesesess]

James Craner gave you good advice but if you look at processes you have to always look at ALL processes, click on the tab on top of window and select All processes.

This is what it looks like now. The percentages of CPU usage jump around quite a bit.

 

[justperry]

This is what it looks like now. The percentages of CPU usage jump around quite a bit.

That's fairly normal.
I do see Safari Web content is using a bit more, I read somewhere people had problems with it before.
But it is not that high.
My advise which I gave you before still stands, I think it is better to reinstall and if you still have problems go to Apple, might be something wrong here, you could try running AHT (Apple Hardware Test) and see if there are any errors, but even if there are no errors something could still be amiss.
It seems that lion and MLion are fairly buggy, lots of people with problems with them.

Edit: Have you tried to log into another User Account and look if it still happens there, if so the problem is not User Account related.

 

[Jamesesesesess]

That's fairly normal.
I do see Safari Web content is using a bit more, I read somewhere people had problems with it before.
But it is not that high.
My advise which I gave you before still stands, I think it is better to reinstall and if you still have problems go to Apple, might be something wrong here, you could try running AHT (Apple Hardware Test) and see if there are any errors, but even if there are no errors something could still be amiss.
It seems that lion and MLion are fairly buggy, lots of people with problems with them.

Edit: Have you tried to log into another User Account and look if it still happens there, if so the problem is not User Account related.

Yeah, it does use a bit. Sometimes Safari stops responding and I end up having to go into Activity Monitor and force quitting it. Also Flash crashes quite a bit.

I'll see about reinstalling tomorrow, I'll have to prepare a USB drive. Oh and I'll try that AHT tomorrow too.

My account is the only one, and tbh I'd rather just do the reinstall and see if it happens after that. Like I said, it only happens about 1/3 of the time, so I would need to be testing it out quite a bit until I'd know.