MacBook Air Won’t Sleep? Fix it with an SMC Reset
I’ve gotten in the habit of immediately putting my MacBook Air to sleep by shutting the lid, by far the easiest method if you’re on the go. Typically this works without a hitch, but today the Air didn’t sleep when shut. Because the MacBook Air has no moving hard drive or sleep light, I didn’t notice this until I went to use it again about two hours later when I found the machine to be unusually hot to the touch because it never slept as intended. From there on it became a repeatable occurrence, and while I’m not sure of the cause, the solution was just a matter of resetting the SMC:
- Shut down the MacBook Air
- Connect the MagSafe adapter
- Hold down Shift+Control+Option+Power at the same time
- Release all keys at the same time, then hit the power button again to turn the MacBook Air on
The key sequences for an SMC reset are highlighted below, this is specific to the MacBook Air but would also work on the newer MacBook Pro models:
You’ll know the SMC has reset because the MagSafe light flicks on and off, and once you boot up, your MacBook Air should sleep normally again.
Ironically, I had the opposite problem earlier in the year where the MacBook Air wouldn’t wake from sleep.