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5K iMac weird sleep/wake problems

Brookzy

Brookzy

macrumors 601
Original poster
May 30, 2010
4,985
5,578
UK
Hi all,

Yet another sleep/wake issues thread. It seemed the 2014 5K iMac had a tonne of issues which have now been rectified but they're back with a vengeance on my 2015 model:
  • USB devices lose power (stop charging) after the iMac has been in sleep mode for some time
  • The iMac will wake randomly during the night after this happens, and the USB devices become powered again*
  • When waking from sleep the bluetooth keyboard and mouse are sometimes unresponsive
  • When waking from sleep there is often a white square, about an inch high and an inch wide, of graphics distortion in the top left of the screen
  • When waking from sleep the system is unable to connect to the internet, despite it showing as connected, until Wi-Fi is turned off and then on again
This has only happened recently, about a couple of weeks after updating to 10.11.4. I've tried an SMC reset to no avail. I've tried removing USB devices but the wake issues still persist. The system runs fine once it's awake or has just been booted up.

Has anyone else experienced these issues? Doing as much as possible myself before lugging this humongous thing on the tube to the Genius Bar... :(

Update: I tried running Apple Diagnostics but the screen just goes black except for a small grey square. I then tried the online version of Apple Diagnostics, which would boot, and it found no issues. Hmm...

*I know this because I have been woken a couple of times in the night from three charging iDevices making the "I'm now charging!" chirp all at once.
 
Last edited:
I'm not experiencing any of the above problems in particular, but IMHO my iMac (retina 5K, 27-inch, late 2015) takes a long time to wake from sleep - much longer than my old iMac 24" mid-2007 used to... !
But I've had Bluetooth issues (bluetooth no longer available after reboot) which have been - for now - resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
 
The issues have stopped now for the most part. I did another SMC reset and then left it unplugged overnight and it seems to behaving now. I think it may be related to the freezing bugs mentioned on the front page that have apparently been caused by 10.11.4, as this is only a recent occurrence for me, having had this iMac since October.
 
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I have had similar issues. First I thought it was my Plex server that was causing it, then I realized that it was there even though I removed it and did a fresh install.

Did a SMC and NVRAM clear last night, will see if that helps.

Really frustrating...
[doublepost=1463316757][/doublepost]
geekiemac said:
I'm not experiencing any of the above problems in particular, but IMHO my iMac (retina 5K, 27-inch, late 2015) takes a long time to wake from sleep - much longer than my old iMac 24" mid-2007 used to... !
But I've had Bluetooth issues (bluetooth no longer available after reboot) which have been - for now - resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Click to expand...

I realized that coming back from sleep takes a lot longer with 24GB than with 8GB. Dont know if it has to do with that or something else.

I have the fusion drive as well, so what ive gathered it could have something to do with it being so much more data to save on the Fusion Drive with 24GB istread of 8GB that makes it so much slower from sleep.

Either way, we shouldn't be having these issues with sleep and wake and it being slow from sleep. I have disabled sleep due to it being so sluggish to wake up.
 
Dubadai said:
I realized that coming back from sleep takes a lot longer with 24GB than with 8GB. Dont know if it has to do with that or something else.

I have the fusion drive as well, so what ive gathered it could have something to do with it being so much more data to save on the Fusion Drive with 24GB istread of 8GB that makes it so much slower from sleep.
Click to expand...
Funny you should say that because my iMac has 24GB as well... which might as just explain why it's so slow to wake up.
 
Dubadai said:
I think its the case. 24GB is quiet a lot to write and load when going to sleep or waking up... Not that I always have the 24 filled, but you get the point! :)
Click to expand...
The reason it's slow is that the amount filled is more than can be stored in the flash part of the Fusion Drive. The Apple site recommends that iMacs with 32GB of RAM should have a 2 or 3TB Fusion Drive as the flash part of those is 128GB.

I guess this is extending to the 24GB too. The reason Apple warns 32GB users rather than 24GB users is that Apple doesn't sell a 24GB config.
 
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Brookzy said:
The reason it's slow is that the amount filled is more than can be stored in the flash part of the Fusion Drive. The Apple site recommends that iMacs with 32GB of RAM should have a 2 or 3TB Fusion Drive as the flash part of those is 128GB.

I guess this is extending to the 24GB too. The reason Apple warns 32GB users rather than 24GB users is that Apple doesn't sell a 24GB config.
Click to expand...
I have the Late 2014 one, so it comes with the 128GB SSD.

What you are saying makes sense though, but still annoying ;)
 
Dubadai said:
I have the Late 2014 one, so it comes with the 128GB SSD.

What you are saying makes sense though, but still annoying ;)
Click to expand...
That's really weird because my 2015 32GB/3TB isn't slow to wake up. Hmmmm.
 
Brookzy said:
The reason it's slow is that the amount filled is more than can be stored in the flash part of the Fusion Drive. The Apple site recommends that iMacs with 32GB of RAM should have a 2 or 3TB Fusion Drive as the flash part of those is 128GB.

I guess this is extending to the 24GB too. The reason Apple warns 32GB users rather than 24GB users is that Apple doesn't sell a 24GB config.
Click to expand...
Mine has the 2 TB Fusion Drive ;) and therefore the 128 GB SSD, which is more than the RAM installed.

Wake up time depends on for how long it was asleep, but maximum is around 10 seconds (after a night's sleep... my iMac sleeps as well as I do :D :D lol)

I'm thinking of trying an SMC reset to see if things improve.
 
geekiemac said:
Mine has the 2 TB Fusion Drive ;) and therefore the 128 GB SSD, which is more than the RAM installed.

Wake up time depends on for how long it was asleep, but maximum is around 10 seconds (after a night's sleep... my iMac sleeps as well as I do :D :D lol)

I'm thinking of trying an SMC reset to see if things improve.
Click to expand...

Haven't had any issues since SMC and NVRAM reset. Might be too early to tell but it seems faster to wake from sleep etc now.
 
In my case it seems that either the 10.11.5 update or the SMC reset (or both) solved my problem. Wake from a (full day) sleep took less than 5 seconds today. No more iMac sleepyhead for now... let's hope it stays that way. :)
 
My early 2015 with 32gb wakes almost instantly. I did have wake issues when I used crucial memory chips. All OWC now and no issues waking.
 
Not to bring this thread back from the dead, but I have the same exact set of issues.

I did notice that when all the application windows are closed, it reacts much better. My wife uses office 360, and leaves her mail up overnight.

In my case, when you wake it up, the display shows that white square, turns on, then goes completely blank for like 15 seconds. If I don't keep banging on the wireless keyboard, it actually won't wake up. The issue with the wireless showing connected (but not really) is intermittent, I suspect its still in the process of waking up, but I do have to turn off/on the wireless to get it to come back on.

I leave this machine on 24x7, so it never gets a chance to reset.

I haven't bothered doing the SMC or NVRAM, I guess I'll try that at some point.
 
I'm having what I think is a similar issues...

Before the recent update I left my Mac on 24/7. It would time out at about 5 minutes, the screen would go dark but the external storage devices would stay up and running. Perfect for my Plex server.

However since the update it doesn't auto sleep. If I force sleep then the external storage powers off.

Do I need to go in and change settings?
 
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