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Mac mini M4 won't sleep

I have just purchased a new Mini Mac M4.  It runs Sequoia 15.1.


All seems great except I cannot get it to sleep reliably without shutting everything down. Is this a known problem?  The screen goes off then after a few seconds comes back on.  I have trawled various forums looking for solutions and have not found anything that works.


I’ve tried…

-              Checking activity monitor to see for apps running that would prevent it sleeping (there are none)

-              Shutting down all the open apps and relaunching Finder

-              Logging out, then requesting sleep (no there are no other logged on users)

-              Messing about with screen settings.


The account is set up with no screen saver, to shut down the display after 5 mins and request login a minute after shutting down the display.  The apps I used most are Safari, MS word and MS Excel.


Occasionally if I just leave the mac for 5 minutes  it will turn off the screen but definitely not always and I have no idea if that means it is asleep or has just switched off the display drivers.


One thing that seems to work (but I have not tried it enough to know if it is reliable) is logging off then restarting.  If I do that then attempt to sleep it, it will sleep but as soon as I log in, I am back to square one.  

Far from ideal, I would just like to sleep the computer on demand without having to shut down everything I am working on.


I have a pretty old Mac book pro (10 years plus old).  Sleep works perfectly on that.


Can anyone confirm if this is a known problem or provide a reliable solution?

Mac mini, macOS 15.1

Posted on Nov 16, 2024 10:04 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 16, 2024 10:24 AM

Turn On "Prevent automatic sleeping when display is off"



Set "Turn display off when inactive" to 5 or 10 minutes



Leave the Mac mini On with display Off and only shut down for long periods of non-use.

5 replies

Nov 17, 2024 10:30 AM in response to Spendanddeliver

Are you talking about displays sleep or computer sleep ?


Display sleep usually is a straightforward setting but there is no reason in my view to use computer sleep, as you will read i many posts here. Either leave it ON (it will not raise you energy bill and in my view, sillicon-based macs are less prone to heating as my intel-based 2018 sometimes). Or you could also shut it down for longer periods.




Nov 17, 2024 12:48 PM in response to lanstrad1

Thanks Ianstrad1 for your response.


I guess there are a few ways to skin this cat. Basically I was looking for a way to turn off the screen, lock the account and minimise CPU use. I have migrated from a Windows environment and assumed the Mac sleep function was the equivalent of sleep on Windows 10.


I have the Mac behaving as I need it to so will leave it for now. Maybe when I get more familiar with the OS, I might revisit. For now I am just enjoying having a reliable, intuitive OS, not to mention, great performance. No more looking a the Windows rotating wheel of frustration, regular xxx is not responding messages and waiting an age for it to boot or wake up.


Mac mini M4 won't sleep

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