Laptop won't stay asleep

February 27, 2010 9:01 PM

Why does my laptop (MacBook Pro running Windows 7) wake up after I close the lid and put it to sleep?

Why does my laptop wake up after I put it to sleep?

I close down all programs. I turn off my mouse. Then I close the lid. The settings are such that it's supposed to go to sleep when I do this.

The problem is that sometimes (but not all the time) the computer wakes up spontaneously some time later, and gets really hot.

Does anyone know why this is happening?

It's a brand new MacBook Pro, 17" screen. I'm running Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

posted by mikeand1 to Computers & Internet (19 answers total)

There could be scheduled windows events that are bringing the computer out of sleep.

Alternatively, the mac sensor for closing and opening could also be too sensitive for windows. Set go to sleep when you open the lid as "Do Nothing," and instead set it to go to sleep using the power button. (Try this in the Power Options in the Control Panel).
posted by stratastar at 9:14 PM on February 27, 2010

I can't say that I have the same hardware at all. But my Dell Latitude laptop running WinXP Pro will sleep when the lid is shut, then 30 minutes later with the lid still shut, wakes up to put itself into hibernate.

What are your power settings for being on battery power, or are you corded when this happens?
posted by metroidhunter at 9:31 PM on February 27, 2010

Response by poster: As nearly as I can tell, there's no way to set what the computer does when you open the lid.

Interestingly, I tried changing the close-the-lid setting to "Do nothing", but it still goes to sleep when I close the lid!
posted by mikeand1 at 9:35 PM on February 27, 2010

Response by poster: I'm am always plugged in so far, so I don't know what happens when I'm on battery.
posted by mikeand1 at 9:36 PM on February 27, 2010

Have you updated to the recently released Boot Camp v2.1 drivers? Something of a hail mary play, but it's worth a shot if you haven't done it already.
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 9:41 PM on February 27, 2010

Response by poster: I think you mean Bootcamp 3.1, and yes, I have.
posted by mikeand1 at 9:43 PM on February 27, 2010

Response by poster: BTW, if use the power button to put it to sleep, then I can't close the lid - doing so wakes it up. Gaahh!!!
posted by mikeand1 at 9:46 PM on February 27, 2010

Have you tried restarting after you change the settings?

It seems like its definitely a mac-windows driver issue. Ugh.
posted by stratastar at 10:49 PM on February 27, 2010

Response by poster: Yep, restarted after changing the settings.
posted by mikeand1 at 10:57 PM on February 27, 2010

MBP (speaking of older ones specifically) are known to occasionally have annoying wake/sleep issues even with OS X. My last one did. Have you tried flashing the PRAM and resetting the SMC? Not sure how/if it'll affect a Bootcamp partition, but these are commonly recommended.
posted by drpynchon at 10:58 PM on February 27, 2010

Just another data point, the spousal unit's HP does the same thing, usually after sleeping for more than an hour. I haven't been interested enough to chase it down but if it wakes me up one more time I just might.
posted by trinity8-director at 11:12 PM on February 27, 2010

Best answer: Is it in your lounge by any chance? Or around your TV?

I found that my Macbook Pro would often wake up when I slept it in the lounge. Turns out the IR receiver in the front (of my model, at least) would wake up the machine when it detected any IR coming its way - even if it wasn't the Mac remote. Changing the channel on our sat box was enough to wake it up!
posted by puddpunk at 11:39 PM on February 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is farfetched, but do you have one of those silicone keyboard covers (like this?) I had one on my old iBook G4 and the same thing would happen. I think it was just thick enough to interfere with the lid switch or whatever.
posted by cabingirl at 4:27 AM on February 28, 2010

Do you have it disconnected from the LAN?
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:44 AM on February 28, 2010

My 17 MBP would wake when a bluetooth enabled device came within range. Since I don't use bluetooth anything I disabled it. Problem solved. Also, you should unplug your USB devices before putting the machine to sleep. Changes in device state will trigger a wake event for the OS.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 5:26 AM on February 28, 2010

Is it practical to test and see if it happens in OS X as well?

This was a big issue when the unibody MacBooks first came out. I would definitely reset the SMC, and also check to see if you need any EFI or SMC firmware updates.
posted by thejoshu at 8:01 AM on February 28, 2010

This happened to me with a desktop computer I had.

You want to turn off the ability of the keyboard or mouse to wake the computer from sleep. It's in the control panel somewhere, either in power settings or mouse/keyboard. Sometimes the agent program just wakes the computer regardless; you have to stop it from listening at all.

Worth giving a shot.
posted by teedee2000 at 8:32 AM on February 28, 2010

This exact thing happened to me with this exact same computer. The only difference was that I'm running Mac. But I tried absolutely everything - I reset the SMC a dozen times, I created new accounts, I tried changing energy settings, I brought it into the Apple store... nobody could figure out what was wrong with it. I ended up returning it and getting another, and that one's fine.
posted by dithmer at 1:53 PM on February 28, 2010

Response by poster: Yep - it's the TV remote waking up the laptop.

Thanks.
posted by mikeand1 at 10:32 PM on March 31, 2010