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My 2013 iMac doesn’t wake without a WiFi connection.

Whenever I leave the house and turn off my WiFi and come back to it later, my iMac won’t wake up, how and why does it do this? (I'm on Catalina 10.15.3)

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Feb 5, 2020 4:12 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 5, 2020 9:04 PM

Why do you turn it off? I always leave mine turned on and put the computer to sleep. You might try Downloading and Installing the macOS Catalina 10.15.3 Combo Update. See if that fixes things. Also, see If your Mac doesn't sleep or wake when expected and Tackling sleep and wake problems – The Eclectic Light Company.


If you still haven't been able to fix it:


Possible Fix for Wake-Sleep Problem


You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.


  1. Shutdown the computer, wait 30 seconds, restart the computer.
  2. Disconnect all third-party peripherals.
  3. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
  4. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
  5. Start the computer in Safe Mode. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally.
  6. Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.  Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
  7. Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.


If your wake problem ceases in Safe Modethen read the article about what safe mode disables and look there for a possible culprit. If the wake problem ceases in the new user account then the problem is located in your Home folder or your third-party applications that are running. Test with only one application. Then add one at a time and test the wake-sleep issue.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 5, 2020 9:04 PM in response to Whatevermann

Why do you turn it off? I always leave mine turned on and put the computer to sleep. You might try Downloading and Installing the macOS Catalina 10.15.3 Combo Update. See if that fixes things. Also, see If your Mac doesn't sleep or wake when expected and Tackling sleep and wake problems – The Eclectic Light Company.


If you still haven't been able to fix it:


Possible Fix for Wake-Sleep Problem


You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.


  1. Shutdown the computer, wait 30 seconds, restart the computer.
  2. Disconnect all third-party peripherals.
  3. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
  4. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
  5. Start the computer in Safe Mode. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally.
  6. Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.  Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
  7. Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.


If your wake problem ceases in Safe Modethen read the article about what safe mode disables and look there for a possible culprit. If the wake problem ceases in the new user account then the problem is located in your Home folder or your third-party applications that are running. Test with only one application. Then add one at a time and test the wake-sleep issue.

My 2013 iMac doesn’t wake without a WiFi connection.

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