When you close the laptop lid, your MacBook will fall asleep. But then something unexpected happens. The light can be seen from the sides of the Mac. When you open the lid, the MacBook remains on the Desktop rather than displaying the login screen. The Apple logo on your MacBook continues to glow, and light can be seen leaking from beneath the lid, indicating that the display is still turned on.
MacBook Not Sleeping When You Close the Lid- Here’s Why
There are numerous reasons why your Mac switches between sleep and normal mode when you close the lid. If you close the notebook lid while your MacBook is connected to power, your MacBook Pro may fail to sleep when the lid is closed due to enabled sharing accesses such as the Internet, Printer, Bluetooth, or other access.
Furthermore, your Mac’s failure to enter sleep mode may be caused by:
- The external monitor, mouse, keyboard, or other peripherals are connected.
- On a Mac, the sleep mode settings are incorrect.
- Some apps continue to run in the background.
- The Mac sleep mode configurations are corrupted.
- Errors in the system
- Mac hardware problems
Fix Macbook Not Sleeping When You Close the Lid
There are a number of possible causes for your MacBook and M1 Mac not sleeping when the lid is closed. And both software and hardware issues can cause problems. To resolve this issue, you must conduct a thorough investigation.
Method 1: SMC Reset
The System Management Controller manages your MacBook’s lights, power, performance, and other features. Something wrong within the SMC could be causing your Mac to refuse to sleep when you close the lid. If you believe an SMC reset may be necessary to resolve the issue, it is quick and painless for your computer. To begin, turn off your MacBook and plug in your power adapter. Hold down the Shift, Control, Option, and Power keys, then release them all at once. Restart your computer.
For a few minutes, use your Mac normally, then close the lid to see if it falls asleep.
Method 2: Toggle with the Sleep Settings
If your MacBook doesn’t sleep with the laptop lid closed because someone is connected to your Mac’s shared Wi-Fi network, or if there is a power adapter or external device connected to your Mac, you can check your Mac’s sleep-related settings. Incorrect sleep-related preferences could cause your MacBook not to sleep with the lid closed.
You can toggle the settings to make some changes.
Step 1: Go to the Apple icon > System Preferences > Energy Saver
Step 2: Uncheck the “Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off” option under the Power Updater tab.
Step 3: Check the “Put hard disks to sleep when possible” option
Step 4: Uncheck the “Wake for Wi-Fi network access” option.
Step 5: Check the “Enable Power Nap when plugged into a power adapter” option
Method 3: Reset the NVRAM
There is one more thing you should try resetting that should not affect your Mac. It is non-volatile random-access memory that can deal with power issues. It’s known as PRAM on older Macs. In either case, turn off your Mac to reset it. While it’s off, get those fingers ready for a new placement. Then, restart your Mac and press and hold Command, Option, P, and R. When the display appears, let the computer restart itself.
Allow the computer to boot up before using it normally. Close the lid again after a few minutes. If your Mac is still not sleeping, try the next method.
Method 4: Check Enabled Sharing Preferences on Mac
Some applications or services running silently in the background may prevent your Mac from going to sleep. A simple Terminal command can determine if this is the case and which application is causing insomnia. Open Terminal from your Applications folder (usually in the utility subfolder) or Spotlight Search by typing “Terminal.” Then enter the following command: pmset -g assertions. Enter your keyboard shortcut.
You’ll see a long list of system-wide “assertions,” each with its number. The equivalent of “1” is “on” or “true,” and “0” is “off” or “false.” Examine a few of the entries about sleep, such as “PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep,” and take note of the number. ‘
Scroll down to the second section labeled “Listed by owning process” if the system does indicate that something is preventing the computer from sleeping. You can see which tasks or applications are interfering with your sleep.
Now that you know this, you can go to those applications and quit them or stop any tasks they perform. Then attempt to close the lid.
Method 5: Get Rid of External Devices
When you connect an external monitor, mouse, and keyboard to your MacBook while the lid is closed, your Mac enters clamshell mode. Clamshell mode lets you keep your Mac awake with the lid closed while working on these external devices.
To fix your MacBook Pro that won’t sleep when connected to an external monitor, select the Apple icon > Sleep rather than simply closing the lid. Alternatively, you can disconnect these external devices before closing the lid.
Method 6: Check for Updates
System errors cause this problem on occasion, but not always. After upgrading to macOS, some users report that their MacBook Pro does not sleep when the lid is closed. As a result, you can check if your Mac is running the most recent current version update, as minor macOS updates typically include bug fixes and software enhancements.
Go to the Apple icon > System Preferences > Software Update to update macOS.
Living with a MacBook that doesn’t sleep on its own isn’t so bad. If you don’t want to pay for a hardware fix, simply press the Power button on your keyboard to manually put it to sleep before closing the lid.
