MacBook Pro not waking properly

[return_of_the_mac]

I have a MBP mid-2012 (non retina) running Mojave 10.14.6. When I open the lid of my sleeping Mac I expect it to wake back up, display the password screen and allow me to log back in. Sometimes this works as expected, sometimes not.

In cases where this does not work, either no password box is displayed and I am able to go straight to the desktop, but am not able to click on anything or type anything; or I see the password box as expected, but cannot click in it or type anything. Sometimes closing the lid, waiting a few seconds and then opening it convinces my Mac to behave properly, sometimes not.

Holding the power button to restart my Mac always returns it to a state where everything behaves normally, until I close the lid again.

This is not a new problem, it's been an issue for at least a year, probably longer.

Does anyone know what is causing this?

 

[organicCPU]

First, you should give resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) a try:

Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

The SMC is responsible for managing power on your Mac. Resetting it can resolve certain uncommon issues related to power or thermal management.

support.apple.com

If the issue won't stop, you could deactivate lidwake completely and always use the power button to quit sleeping.
The command for turning lidwake off in Terminal is:

sudo pmset lidwake 0

Press enter, type your admin password and press enter again.
To verify the setting, you can type

pmset -g

lidwake should now be 0 instead of 1.
To revert the change and turn lidwake on again:

sudo pmset lidwake 1

pmset helps debugging problems like that, but recent versions of macOS made it harder. Write a history of sleep and wake reasons into a text file (pmset -g log > ~/Desktop/pmsetlog.txt) and don't miss to read the man page man pmset.

Many things can cause such an error – hardware and software related. Do you have File Vault enabled (see pmset destroyfvkeyonstandby in man page)? Did you try to create another fresh user account and test with that? Do you have such an issue while being in Safe Mode (Reboot and press Shift key)?

 

[return_of_the_mac]

This is such a helpful response, thank you very much. I shall try SMC reset first and see if that fixes it.

Edit: SMC reset did not resolve the problem. I'll try turning off lidwake.

 

[return_of_the_mac]

So, SMC didn't seem to do anything (no change) and turning off lid wake does not seem to have solved the problem either. With lidwake turned off (as verified via Terminal) my Mac sometimes asks for a password and sometimes allows me to go straight to my desktop. Sometimes I can use applications as normal, sometimes I can't type, but I can click on Chrome tabs even though the Chrome window does not appear to be 'active' (the close, minimise, expand buttons remain greyed out). It all seems quite random and strange, just as before.

I will test a fresh used account without filevault and Safe Mode.

 

[organicCPU]

Testing with a new account is always a good idea to eliminate the possibility, that the error relies upon a user specific add-on or simply a wrong setting.

Did you also check the setting for the duration until a password prompt after sleep or screen saver activation?
 -> System Preferences -> Security -> General -> Check 'Password required…' and set dropdown menu to immediately or whatever fits your needs
While this can make the password prompt less random, it doesn't explain the occasionally unresponsiveness of the MBP.

As SMC reset and deactivate lidwake couldn't solve the issue, now we know it's not tied to the lid sensor or lidwake, but a general wake problem. Thus you could dig a little deeper with that…

Can you check with the command pmset -g custom if hibernatemode has got a value of 3 for Battery Power as well as for AC Power?

If it's the default setting (3), the system will store a copy of memory to the disk, but will wake from memory, unless a power loss forces it to restore from hibernate image.

That's why I think it could be a defective memory causing the MBP to be unresponsive after sleep. Although there are other methods of testing RAM (Apple Hardware Test or Rember), physically swapping it, is the fastest way to get certainty. If you do have two RAM chips installed, you could remove one and then the other one to test that theory. Chances are good that not both RAMs are defective. If you're not doing this frequently, please be careful especially with electrostatic charge and read the linked iFixit article before.

Another possiblity is a slowly dying disk drive where the copy of the memory gets stored, if going to sleep. What kind of drive is it (HDD or SSD) and how old is it?

 

[return_of_the_mac]

I have a MBP mid-2012 (non retina) running Mojave 10.14.6. When I open the lid of my sleeping Mac I expect it to wake back up, display the password screen and allow me to log back in. Sometimes this works as expected, sometimes not.

In cases where this does not work, either no password box is displayed and I am able to go straight to the desktop, but am not able to click on anything or type anything; or I see the password box as expected, but cannot click in it or type anything. Sometimes closing the lid, waiting a few seconds and then opening it convinces my Mac to behave properly, sometimes not.

Holding the power button to restart my Mac always returns it to a state where everything behaves normally, until I close the lid again.

This is not a new problem, it's been an issue for at least a year, probably longer.

Does anyone know what is causing this?

Ultimately, I didn't manage to find a proper fix for this problem, but the quick fix is very simple: use Sleep and then wake to re-enter my password. Doing this sorts out the problem described above; after re-entering my password I am able to enter text etc. as normal. The problem does reoccur occassionally, but the work around is so quick as to be a non-issue.

 

[organicCPU]

Meanwhile I was thinking about the possibility of a defective lid sensor again. Then, the thought came up, that it could have something to do with magnetic fields, e.g. from an iPhone, a Smartwatch or some speaker boxes. The lid sensor seems to be sensible enough to put a MBP to sleep, if getting close enough with an Apple Watch and the like. However, very cool that you could find an easy workaround.