iMac Shutting down during sleep

[Terry_C]

Hello

I wonder if someone can help please, as this is puzzling me unless I have missed something blindingly obvious.

iMac Retina 4k 2019
Monterey 12.2
Bluetooth keyboard/mouse

Since installing 12.2 my MAC has experienced random log outs and complete shutdowns during sleep. There is as far as I can measure, no pattern to the time in sleep when this occurs and it happens whether I initiate sleep or let it “drift off” on its own as it were.

I have tried to determine from the logs what is happening and when it is happening but I need a few pointers where to look. (I’ve been a MAC user since 2007 but have never had to look at the logs, always relying on best practice and forum advice and not “meddling” so this is the first time in 15 years I’ve had any sort of issue.)

I haven’t changed any energy or automatic logout settings which currently are (and always have been):

Turn display off after 15 minutes
Put hard disks to sleep when possible
Logout after “n" minutes of activity - unchecked

So far I have:

Tried two user accounts, my own and my Admin
Reset the SMC
Run Onyx
Run Apple online diagnostics - no problems
Run EtreCheckPro - only minor issues, such as orphan files
Running in Safe Mode

I don’t know if this is a clue but I use NORD VPN when banking etc. If I manually try and shut down, NORD prevents shutdown from happening unless it is closed - which I understand is correct. However, if NORD is running and connected when sleep is invoked, the “phantom" shutdowns still occur, i.e NORD doesn’t stop it in that situation.

Many thanks in advance,

Terry

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Very likely there's some sort of incompatibility with Monterey 12.2 and "something" you have running. Although if you are having the same problem in Safe Mode, that seems unlikely. If you are concerned that NordVPN is the culprit, I would uninstall it completely; reboot; then give it a couple days to see what happens.

Do you have any anti-malware (anti-virus) apps installed? Any "cleaning" apps? These types tend to cause problems. Anything else loading on startup?

 

[Terry_C]

@Lifeisabeach

Thanks for your reply. I was a little unclear regarding NORD; if it is not connected at all it still shuts down, I was trying to convey that an app such as NORD which would normally prevent shutdown when it is connected doesn't seem to do so in this sleep situation. So I don't think it is the problem.

I will install it as you suggest incase there's something there I'm missing.

Nothing loads on start up. I only use Onyx very infrequently, and as recommended on this forum, DetectX Swift perhaps monthly and VirusBarrier less frequently. Nothing is scheduled.

 

[MacInWin]

Turn display off after 15 minutes
Put hard disks to sleep when possible
Logout after “n" minutes of activity - unchecked

Don't put hard disks to sleep when possible. I find that rotating disks, when put to sleep, don't respond fast enough when the system wants something from them during wake up and the drives are unmounted abruptly as a result, with an error message about them being disconnected. Also, under the power settings in System Preferences, put a check in "Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off." That will keep the CPU ticking over, using just at trickle of power, but the screen going dark, saving a lot of power. Here are my settings:


My Mac is an MBP, so it refers to battery, but your iMac should have the same settings in System Preferences.

 

[Terry_C]

Don't put hard disks to sleep when possible. I find that rotating disks, when put to sleep, don't respond fast enough when the system wants something from them during wake up and the drives are unmounted abruptly as a result, with an error message about them being disconnected. Also, under the power settings in System Preferences, put a check in "Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off." That will keep the CPU ticking over, using just at trickle of power, but the screen going dark, saving a lot of power. Here are my settings:
View attachment 35591

My Mac is an MBP, so it refers to battery, but your iMac should have the same settings in System Preferences.

@MacInWin

Thanks for your reply Jake. I'll try those settings in a day or so as I've currently ditched NORDVPN as per earlier message and am waiting to see if that has any effect. Incidentally mine also has a Power Nap option which is not checked.

 

[MacInWin]

I have NordVPN and I have no issues at all with it. It's not Nord.

 

[IWT]

My Mac is an MBP, so it refers to battery, but your iMac should have the same settings in System Preferences.

Just so. This is what it looks like. And the settings I've got match those that Jake advised.



Ian

 

[Terry_C]

Thanks Jake and Ian for your settings advice. I'm currently running with those and it appears to have stabilised. I'll post back in a few days or sooner if not! I don't know why this should have happened following the 2.12 update though.

Terry

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Look at the Console app and see if you see any entries in the Crash Reports section. If so, see if the times correlate around the time the computer went to sleep. if so, see if the logs tell you the offending app if you can make it out. If you can't make it out, paste the crash logs here.

 

[Terry_C]

Thanks Ashwin. There are no crash reports generated when it happens. I'm still running with the settings suggested by Jake, and it hasn't shutdown since. I might just leave well alone if that continues to be the case.

 

[Terry_C]

Sorry to be a pain but I'm still experiencing problems even with the revised power settings, albeit now just random log outs. Below is the system log from today, other log-outs generate similar. It had been asleep since yesterday evening and I'd used it from about 8.30 to 9.00 this morning just waking from sleep without having to enter my username. I reawakened it from sleep again around 11.30 and had to re enter my username and password, all apps had closed. The launchd log shows no activity before 11.20.

Is anyone able to provide a pointer from the attached (hopefully correctly) log as to what might be happening please? I'm afraid I don't have the skills to interpret it! There is no crash report.
Thanks

 

[MacInWin]

I note that Ransomewhere updated in the log. Why are you running that? Are you also running any antivirus software or other "protection" software? They generally are not needed as the risk for Mac is very, very low.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I'm wondering if your apps are all fully up to date. One reason I'm asking is that I see you have an entry for com.timesoftware.timemachineeditor.helper there. That itself isn't unusual, except I use TimeMachineEditor also, and I don't have a helper running that I can see, nor does that binary exist that I can find, even inside the app package. I can't even find a reference to it in my Console logs. It makes me wonder if you are out of date, or have remnants of an older version still floating. The current version of the app is 5.1.9. Your log shows the helper is version 20, but that in itself isn't a concern since a helper would likely have a different version from the app it "helps".

Try this... download MacUpdater. This app will scan everything installed and see if there are any known updates. I've been using this for a couple years now, and it's fantastic. And just to be clear.... this is NOT from MacUpdate.com. They have an updater app also, but the one I'm recommending is from a much more reputable developer.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Hey, anyone know what this entry is referring to?

imac Installer Progress

That doesn't look right to me. "imac" should be the device name, but what was installing? I see a lot of references to this that seem to be interwined with the end of the logs when it logged out.

 

[Terry_C]

I note that Ransomewhere updated in the log. Why are you running that? Are you also running any antivirus software or other "protection" software? They generally are not needed as the risk for Mac is very, very low.

Thanks Jake, I had forgotten about that, I never see it run and I suspect it was a legacy from some time back when I bought this Mac a couple of years back and copied everything across from my old one. I don't run any AV or protection S/W except for DetectX and VirusBarrier (unscheduled)

 

[MacInWin]

But it updated. It's in the log. Not saying that is the problem, but having software automatically update at any time is not a good idea, you don't know what it may be doing.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

But it updated. It's in the log. Not saying that is the problem, but having software automatically update at any time is not a good idea, you don't know what it may be doing.

Yah, but "whatever it is", if updating rather regularly automatically, may be why there are "seemingly" random shutdowns. Maybe that updater is what's doing it, even if it's normal behavior for that particular app. It'd be helpful to see more logs for more instances.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

FYI, getting back to my suggestion that some outdated software is installed... I was able to snag an older copy of TimeMachineEditor, and com.timesoftware.timemachineeditor.helper is inside that package. That same binary is NOT inside the current app, and has long been deprecated. So, I'm not saying "this" is the exact culprit here, but it does get back to my point that there may be software incompatibilities in play. If you have one legacy item loading up, chances are you have others. And there is that item about an update running right when your last shutdown happened.

It may be time to do some spring cleaning. One thing to do is delete/uninstall any apps you have that load up on startup. Do it one by one, use an Uninstaller like AppCleaner to get the extra bits. Also use Find Any File or Easy Find to search for more bits that AppCleaner missed. Once done, reboot, and reinstall those apps.

A better way, especially if you continue to have issues, is make a current backup (heck, two just to be safe), then wipe your drive clean; reinstall macOS from scratch; then migrate your data back over. Download and reinstall apps from scratch.... avoid using Migration Assistant. It's a bit extreme and time consuming, but sometimes is the only way, especially if you've upgraded macOS a few times the traditional way, and more especially if you've migrated from an older/different Mac, which I see you mentioned doing.

 

[Terry_C]

FYI, getting back to my suggestion that some outdated software is installed... I was able to snag an older copy of TimeMachineEditor, and com.timesoftware.timemachineeditor.helper is inside that package. That same binary is NOT inside the current app, and has long been deprecated. So, I'm not saying "this" is the exact culprit here, but it does get back to my point that there may be software incompatibilities in play. If you have one legacy item loading up, chances are you have others. And there is that item about an update running right when your last shutdown happened.

It may be time to do some spring cleaning. One thing to do is delete/uninstall any apps you have that load up on startup. Do it one by one, use an Uninstaller like AppCleaner to get the extra bits. Also use Find Any File or Easy Find to search for more bits that AppCleaner missed. Once done, reboot, and reinstall those apps.

A better way, especially if you continue to have issues, is make a current backup (heck, two just to be safe), then wipe your drive clean; reinstall macOS from scratch; then migrate your data back over. Download and reinstall apps from scratch.... avoid using Migration Assistant. It's a bit extreme and time consuming, but sometimes is the only way, especially if you've upgraded macOS a few times the traditional way, and more especially if you've migrated from an older/different Mac, which I see you mentioned doing.

Thanks very much for your reply. I have followed the advice given so far, MacUpdater threw up a number of outdated apps, some of which I have uninstalled using App Cleaner as I no longer use them, others are now all up to date. I have temporarily uninstalled TimeMachine editor as well. Nothing loads at start up so I'll see what happens over the next couple of days. I'll post back a log if the the same occurs.

It's a long time since I've done a clean install and certainly not on this machine as this is the first time I've ever had any issues following an update way back from Snow Leopard, (to recap this was after 12.2) So maybe it's time.

 

[MacInWin]

I have temporarily uninstalled TimeMachine editor as well.

I have TME and it works just fine. I don't think it is a factor in what you experienced. BUT....

One reason I'm asking is that I see you have an entry for com.timesoftware.timemachineeditor.helper there. That itself isn't unusual, except I use TimeMachineEditor also, and I don't have a helper running that I can see, nor does that binary exist that I can find, even inside the app package.

I think the developer used "com.tclementdev.timemachineeditor..." as the name of the support files. It was never, as far as I know, named "com.timesoftware..." And you are correct, there is no "helper." I wonder if the app the OP has is a copycat, maybe malware?