MacBook Pro (mid 2012) Catalina does not sleep when the lid is closed

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MacBook Pro (mid 2012) Catalina does not sleep when the lid is closed

I just bought a second hand mid 2012 MacBook Pro which is in extremely good condition for its age. It had Catalina installed but it seemed sluggish - windows would leave trails when moved - so before I migrated my stuff from my 2012 MBP 17 with High Sierra, I thought I'd see if a clean install of Catalina would pep the MBP 15 up a bit.

I installed Catalina on a new 2TB Crucial SSD and when I rebooted, I was happy to find that the MBP 15 performed as if it was new, albeit with nothing else installed. However, I discovered that when I closed the lid, the MBP did not sleep, the Apple logo remained lit and unlike my MBP 17, whose screen sleeps when the lid is about an inch open, the screen does not sleep.

I kept it next to me as I worked on my old MBP and kept glancing at the Apple logo and after about 15 minutes, the illumination switched off so there is no problem with it sleeping, per se, but it did not wake up when I opened the lid either.

Even though I didn't expect any results as the install was clean, I zapped the PRAM and the reset SMC and given that there is no other software installed, I don't know what else I can do. I'm pretty observant and I'm sure that I would have noticed that it did not sleep before the clean install and I have found a lot of discussions online which made recommendations which I have followed and which fixed the issue for some but did not fix it for many others, at least from what I read.

One other thing, the sleep/power light does not light up when it eventually went to sleep. I think I read in one of the posts (I read so many threads, I can't remember where it was now) that there is a link (apart from the obvious) between this operation light and the sleep function.

Whilst I am pretty sure that it did sleep when the lid was closed initially, it looks as if this might be a hardware problem but I am not as familiar with the internals of the MBP 15 as am with my old 17". If anybody has any suggestion, I'd be grateful.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 12, 2020 2:19 AM

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Answer 1

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rcosta887

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3,604 points

Sep 12, 2020 3:00 AM in response to Alf Megson

I assume when you say it's clean with nothing else on there that you didn't install Chrome browser even (that's a big one for interfering with sleep/wake).

Have you gone in System Preferences > Energy Saver to make sure nothing there is causing a problem? I would turn off Power Nap, and turn off Wake for network access.

If that doesn't work I would be curious if it's something with the old MacBook not liking the new SSD and would test out a clean install on the original (or another) conventional HDD if you have one around.

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Answer 2

Alf Megson Author

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129 points

Sep 29, 2020 8:06 AM in response to Alf Megson

Just to bring closure to this if anybody reads it, I bought a second hand battery indicator assembly off eBay for £4 thinking that if nothing else, it might at least have working battery LEDs. I was a bit nervous about having to remove the logic board but needn't have been - having replaced an LCD display, it was a breeze though not to be taken lightly. As I installed the battery indicator assembly, I noticed that the IC positioned at the angle of the ribbon cable would line up with the magnet in the lid assembly when closed - so I assumed/hoped that this was the magnetic sensor. The actual fitting of the part was the fiddliest bit of all because the three attachment screws are tiny and to get them in place whilst not letting the button fall out was tricky.

As soon as the battery was reconnected, I checked the battery indicator and it worked so at least I knew I had fitted that okay. And after booting up I watched with joy as the Apple logo dimmed when I closed the lid.

It is often tempting to take the easiest route and most discussions I have seen suggest that the sleep sensor is part of the SATA cable. I almost bought one which was four times the cost of the battery indicator assembly but would have taken a fraction of the time to install. I think it should be made clear to anybody with the same problem that the lid sleep sensor is part of the battery indicator assembly.

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Answer 3

Sep 12, 2020 6:55 AM in response to Alf Megson

Alf Megson wrote:

I installed Catalina on a new 2TB Crucial SSD and when I rebooted, I was happy to find that the MBP 15 performed as if it was new, albeit with nothing else installed

Did you read my original post? Specifically paragraph 4?

The 2012 has a known weak link... so it begs the question if you put in a new SATA cable at the same time as you replaced the SSD? This is highly recommended.

Easy to test by booting your machine externally from a Boot clone, this will bypass the internal SSD and SATA cable.

Also if you remove that SSD and put it into an external enclosure and subsequently boot it externally— this will bypass the internal SATA cable and test that '2TB Crucial SSD' for functionality as well.

SATA replacement 15" MBP mid-2012

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/9230084#15_inch

Boot clone https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-10081

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Answer 4

Alf Megson Author

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129 points

Sep 12, 2020 3:40 AM in response to rcosta887

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, 'literally' out of the box clean install - nothing added, nothing removed.

The Power Saving preference pane is the first thing I looked at, I should have mentioned it but I suppose I assumed that it the obvious place to start.

I've learned that the HDD ribbon is connected to the sensor so I was going to have a look at that next time I open it, especially as I have swapped the SSD but I don't think I disrupted anything, so I'll also try booting with the old SSD (I replaced it because it was 128GB and I installed a 2TB) the system on the old one is a fresh install on a pretty barren drive, I can't see that anything other than Logic X had been installed on it but it had been used because the previous owner's WiFi networks and Bluetooth devices were saved. Anyway, I think it is clean enough to test whether my new SSD is the problem.

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Answer 5

rcosta887

Level 4

3,604 points

Sep 12, 2020 4:24 AM in response to Alf Megson

My biggest worry is that it's something about the electronics of the SSD itself (not a defect, just something inherent like maybe it's large of cache) that is causing the problem with your older Mac. Hopefully that's not the case though!

I would run a quick Diagnostic w/ the power plugged in to see if that throws out any error codes.

And if you can't figure it out (which would be unfortunate, obviously) I wonder if it's something specific with Catalina and whether an older macOS would have the same problem.

Please post an update here though as I am very curious what it turns out to be.

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Answer 6

rcosta887

Level 4

3,604 points

Sep 12, 2020 4:39 AM in response to Alf Megson

As a very general rule, 90% of "Wake" problems are actually "Sleep" problems. I believe the issue here is that the MacBook is not fully going to sleep properly, the main mystery is, of course, the "why".

You may end up needing to go into the Console logs to see if there's any insight there, but I would keep the above rule in mind.

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Answer 7

Alf Megson Author

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129 points

Sep 13, 2020 8:57 AM in response to leroydouglas

I booted from the old SSD (a near clean install) by USB and there was the same problem.

I have new RAM to install, arriving tomorrow, as well as a 2TB HDD in the optical bay so I'll inspect the SATA/sensor cable then.

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Answer 8

Alf Megson Author

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129 points

Sep 14, 2020 5:29 AM in response to rcosta887

I just installed the RAM and replaced the optical drive with a caddy and 2TB HDD and dismantled the primary drive attachment assembly to check if there was anything obvious wrong with it but it seemed okay.

The SATA cable loom is described on most retailing websites as SATA HDD IR Sleep Sensor Detector cable and from that I had assumed that the part which attaches to the drive bracket contained the lid sensor but using a paperclip, located the magnet in the screen assembly to be near where the screen would close next to the SD card slot - so I'm wondering what is what, right now.

Just to check, I ran a magnet around the edge of the top of the MBP body to see if there was a response but nothing happened.

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Answer 9

Alf Megson Author

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129 points

Sep 14, 2020 6:06 AM in response to Alf Megson

Okay, I have learned that on the 13" model, the sleep sensor is somehow integral to the battery indicator light and on checking the battery indicator light on my 15", I find that the button does not move and consequently the LEDs do not light up.

Apart from the shape of the ribbon cable, I don't see a material difference between the photos of the 13" and 15" battery indicator assemblies so I am just wondering whether to bite the bullet and perform my first logic board removal in order to replace this.

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