How can I put my MacBook Air into sleep mode?

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Level 1

4 points

How can I put my MacBook Air into sleep mode?

My macbook will not go to sleep when clicking the apple and scrolling down to sleep. It initially appears to sleep with going to a black screen, but after 1-2 seconds the desktop opens back up. I've opened Task Manager and executed a force quit on all apps. Finder will not quit. Maybe that's normal. I'm still learning my way around Macs.

What can I do to put my laptop into sleep mode?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Air (M3, 2024)

Posted on Nov 24, 2024 8:34 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

152,368 points

Nov 24, 2024 7:05 PM in response to MacMiniAudio

Your MacBook Air should go to sleep when selecting Apple menu > Sleep, but since it's waking up immediately, there might be a configuration or peripheral issue causing it to stay awake.

I suggest trying the following: (Note: I'm assuming that your laptop is running macOS Sonoma.)

Check Prevent Sleep Settings

Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Battery > Options...
Ensure that "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off" is disabled.

Verify Connected Peripherals

Disconnect all external devices (e.g., USB drives, external monitors, hubs).

Identify Apps or Processes Preventing Sleep

Open Activity Monitor
In the Energy tab, check for apps or processes with "Preventing Sleep" listed under Preventing Sleep.
Quit any unnecessary app using high resources or explicitly preventing sleep.

Check Finder and Background Tasks

It’s normal for Finder not to quit as it's a system process. If Finder feels unresponsive, try Force Relaunch:
- Right-click Finder in the Dock > Relaunch.
Make sure no tasks like copying files are running in Finder, which might prevent sleep.

Adjust Bluetooth Settings

If you’re using Bluetooth devices, go to System Settings > Bluetooth.
Uncheck "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this Mac".

Check Sleep/Wake Logs

Open Console
Navigate to Log Reports > system.log to see if a specific app, peripheral, or task is preventing sleep.

If none of the above helps, there are three other items I can suggest:

Create a new user account. Log out of the current user, and then, log back in with the new account. See if this resolves the sleep issue. If not, go on to the next step.
Re-install macOS
Contact Apple Support directly for further assistance with this issue.

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