How to Stop Mac from Turning off in Sleep Mode

Hello, I have a mac pro 5.1 (2010), with Mojave 10.14.6 OS. The mac has always worked fine, but today, when I put it into sleep mode, it turned off completely. The front LED turns off, and does not respond with the mouse or keyboard. I have tried several times to put it into sleep mode, but it always shuts down. It is set to go to rest at 15 minutes, if I leave it just also turns off after 15 minutes... Until today, sleep mode had always worked well... What problem can it be? What can I do?

Some Mac users complained that Mac won't wake up from sleep and the Mac shuts down in sleep mode. Perhaps, you put your Mac to sleep but only to find the Mac is turned off when you attempt to wake it up or the Mac logs out randomly. The same issue may occur repeatedly, which could be annoying to turn on the Mac every time after it shuts down in sleep mode. keep reading to know the fixes!

Why Mac shuts down after going to sleep

With the introduction of sleep mode in macOS, you can save energy when the Mac is idle and instantly resume where you left off. However, unexpectedly, the Mac shuts down after going to sleep, and the problem comes up over and over again, making you puzzled.

There are various possible causes behind the Mac shutting down when asleep issue, it could be software issues, hardware issues, improper sleep timer, incorrect lock screen settings, etc. We provide the solutions for the most common reasons as follows, just stay tuned.

How to fix Mac shuts down when asleep

Nobody wants to suffer unexpected Mac shutting down given that it closes all the running apps, especially if you are in the middle of a project and it is unsaved, posing a risk of data loss. And it takes time to power on the Mac and open the applications you need to use one by one, it is bothersome.

Therefore, it is necessary to fix the problem that the Mac shuts down instead of going to sleep so that you bring back the problematic Mac on track and use it normally. Now, let's proceed to detailed solutions as below, try them one by one until your Mac can get into sleep Mac and won't shut down.

Basic checks:

Disconnect unnecessary peripherals except for the mouse and keyboard to see whether the Mac shuts down in sleep mode. Some malfunctioned external devices could make the Mac power off.

Check if it is the battery causes Mac to shut down after going to sleep. If the Mac performs normally when it is plugged into the power and turns off, then the battery could be the culprit. Otherwise, change the power adapter, cable, and USB port to eliminate the power connection issue.

Configure shutdown settings with a UPS on a Mac

Use an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to lessen the chance of data loss during a power outage. A UPS keeps your computer powered for a while in the event of a power outage, and you can use Energy Saver to configure its settings. You may have set it shut down after a power outage and it occurs in sleep mode by chance.

Change Energy Saver settings

Incorrect Energy Saver settings could also be the culprit when Mac shuts down in sleep mode. Therefore, you may need to change macOS sleep settings. The specific steps are different from macOS Ventura to Monterey and earlier. You need to uncheck "prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off". 

Besides, you can try to disable Power Nap, as some Mac users suffered the same Mac shutdown in sleep mode issue reviewed the system log which revealed that the system crashed and shut down when it attempted to back up with Time Machine.

Reset SMC and NVRAM

Power supply, battery charging, sleep and wake, and hibernation, are under the control of SMC. When you encounter problems related to these aspects on Mac, you can try to reset SMC to get rid of the issue. To reset SMC on Apple Silicon Mac, just shut down the Mac and power on it after 30 seconds. And the steps on Intel Mac vart from desktop Mac to portable Mac, click the link above for more details.

Update macOS

It is always recommended to keep your macOS updated to date given that outdated macOS may trigger unexpected problems and the newest macOS may fix those glitches and provide enhanced performance and security. The latest official version is macOS Ventura 13.4, you can head to System Settings > Genaral > Software Update to check for available macOS updates. 

If you have fixed the Mac shut down in sleep mode problem with these methods, just share them!