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Latest macOS Mojave Update on my iMac 5K Wrecks Sleep Mode; iMac Constantly Wakes up Dozens of times a day

2021-10-14 • SEND FEEDBACK |

Related: 4K and 5K display, Apple, Apple Core Rot, Apple macOS, Apple macOS Mojave, clothing and footwear, computer display, iMac, iMac 5K, laptop, MacBook, USB

I run macOS Mojave on my 2019 iMac 5K (I will never “upgrade” the OS).

This iMac 5K has been the most reliable Mac I’ve ever used, excepting the 2012 MacBook Pro when used as a server. I know this particular iMac 5K of mine very well, exactly how it has performed for 2.5 years now.

I installed the latest macOS Mojave around September 30. Since then, my iMac 5K wakes up frequently out of sleep, sometimes as often as every 5 minutes, day or night. This is driving me crazy.

Checking the system logs, I am trying to determine what is causing the wakeups, but so far I am not sure.

Trust Apple to screw things up—every time there is an update, new bugs appear.

UPDATE Oct 20: Apple and their software engineering sloppiness. The iMac 5K wakes itself up all night, every night (and day). My wife is complaining that it wakes her up if my office door is left open (it’s a bright screen!). My only solution, a very annoying one, is to shut the godamn thing down. This all started after Apple’s most recent security update.

Energy Saver preferences

System log

All I see in the system log is buggy Apple software being killed. But poorly-engineered and hardly-tested Apple system software polluting the log files has been the norm for many years.

Still, all the wakeups all look to be preceded by syslogd emitting ASL Sender Statistics.

Oct 20 11:33:33 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1C000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[18683]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 11:33:33 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1B000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[18727]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 11:33:33 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1A000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[18744]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 11:33:36 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1D000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[18743]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 11:33:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[18708]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 11:51:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics
Oct 20 11:51:46 diglloyd-iMac xpcproxy[18862]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper_userdir: 529: bootstrap_look_up returned (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Oct 20 11:52:00 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1D000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[18837]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 11:52:12 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent): Unknown key for integer: _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit
Oct 20 11:52:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[18865]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 11:54:43 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19014]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 12:32:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics
Oct 20 12:32:47 diglloyd-iMac xpcproxy[19104]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper_userdir: 529: bootstrap_look_up returned (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Oct 20 12:32:59 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1D000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19075]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 12:33:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19107]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 12:51:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics
Oct 20 12:51:46 diglloyd-iMac xpcproxy[19232]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper_userdir: 529: bootstrap_look_up returned (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Oct 20 12:52:27 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1D000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19207]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 12:52:27 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1A000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19241]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 12:52:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19237]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 12:54:43 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19378]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 13:32:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics
Oct 20 13:32:47 diglloyd-iMac xpcproxy[19453]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper_userdir: 529: bootstrap_look_up returned (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Oct 20 13:33:00 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1A000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19424]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 13:33:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19454]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 13:51:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics
Oct 20 13:51:46 diglloyd-iMac xpcproxy[19584]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper_userdir: 529: bootstrap_look_up returned (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Oct 20 13:52:00 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1A000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19558]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 13:52:12 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent): Unknown key for integer: _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit
Oct 20 13:52:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19587]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 13:54:43 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19731]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 14:32:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics
Oct 20 14:32:47 diglloyd-iMac xpcproxy[19832]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper_userdir: 529: bootstrap_look_up returned (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Oct 20 14:33:19 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1A000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19806]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 14:33:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19837]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 14:51:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics
Oct 20 14:51:46 diglloyd-iMac xpcproxy[19932]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper_userdir: 529: bootstrap_look_up returned (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Oct 20 14:52:00 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1A000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19908]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 14:52:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[19935]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 14:54:43 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[20076]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 15:32:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics
Oct 20 15:32:46 diglloyd-iMac xpcproxy[20165]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper_userdir: 529: bootstrap_look_up returned (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Oct 20 15:33:33 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1A000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[20139]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 15:33:33 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1D000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[20179]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 15:33:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[20170]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 15:51:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics
Oct 20 15:51:46 diglloyd-iMac xpcproxy[20297]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper_userdir: 529: bootstrap_look_up returned (ipc/send) invalid destination port
Oct 20 15:52:00 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.1D000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[20273]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 15:52:12 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent): Unknown key for integer: _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit
Oct 20 15:52:45 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[20300]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 15:54:43 diglloyd-iMac com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000[20443]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[77]
Oct 20 16:32:41 diglloyd-iMac syslogd[51]: ASL Sender Statistics

Stijn B writes:

I wonder if you’ve been able to solve this?

I’ve been having the same problem with my previous 2018 MacBook Pro (also original OS), and the problem’s still there with my new MBP M1 Max.

All ‘wake for…’ access is also disabled. Reset SMC etc… to no avail. =

It’s driving me crazy, as it is also firing up my LaCie Big Dock’s each time (about every hour or so).

I do find other people around the internet reporting the ‘ASL sender statistics’ message in the logs, but no one seems to be able to explain what is is exactly, and how to turn it off...

[later]
It is indeed the same with no peripherals. I’ve also checked another old MBP on High Sierra: same thing… Turning Wifi off seems to help. But this is no solution of course. And what is kind of shocking: while sleep is supposed to cut off wifi, it seems data is still being sent to apple...

MPG: I have not found a solution. Searching for a solution does not turn anything up other than the same problem. You can find useless generic suggestions like “reinstall macOS” or “make a new account and transfer everything” which have no basis other than pure guessing (no evidence whatsoever). Quite a dumpster fire in that Apple is silent on the isuse (can’t a trillion dollar company afford some outreach engineers to solve user issues?).

It’s not clear at all to me that ASL Sender is the issue, or it is just the manifestation of a wake-from-sleep caused by something else.

How to investigate which process causes wakeups during laptop sleep-mode in MacOS
Syslog and ASL in macOS

Also, a puzzler is how wake-from-sleep is missing for a whole day on my iMac yesterday Feb 26:

diglloyd-iMac:diglloydUtil lloyd$ log show --start 2022-02-25 | grep -i "Wake reason"
2022-02-25 00:34:08.466353-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: RTC XHC1 (Alarm)
...
2022-02-25 19:55:08.472275-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: RTC XHC1 (Alarm)
2022-02-25 20:34:42.474363-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: RTC XHC1 (Alarm)
2022-02-25 20:34:42.474364-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: RTC XHC1 (Alarm)
2022-02-25 20:55:28.469471-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: XHC1
2022-02-25 20:55:28.469472-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: XHC1
2022-02-27 09:02:58.852408-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: XHC1
2022-02-27 09:02:58.852409-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: XHC1
2022-02-27 09:11:19.542050-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: XHC1
2022-02-27 09:11:19.542051-0800 0x74       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: XHC1

pmset -g log

A lot of good information can be seen via "pmset -g log". But so far it has not helped me deduce the cause or how to fix it.

As shown, my iMac 5K woke up 121 times in 5 days, or about 24 times a day. And possibly it was shut down some of those days.

diglloyd-iMac:~ lloyd$ pmset -g log
PM ASL data store: /var/log/powermanagement


Sleep/Wakes since boot at 2022-02-23 12:57:46 -0800 :120   Dark Wake Count in this sleep cycle:1

Time stamp                Domain              	Message                                                                    	Duration  	Delay     
==========                ======              	=======                                                                    	========  	=====     
UUID: 3F4A58F3-5D54-469D-A630-0CB0A01E4013
2022-02-27 09:21:34 -0800 Sleep               	Entering Sleep state due to 'Idle Sleep':TCPKeepAlive=inactive Using AC (Charge:0%) 295 secs  
...

Total Sleep/Wakes since boot at 2022-02-23 12:57:46 -0800 :121

2022-02-27 09:27:54 -0800 : Showing all currently held IOKit power assertions
Assertion status system-wide:
  BackgroundTask                 0
  ApplePushServiceTask           0
  UserIsActive                   1
  PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep    0
  PreventSystemSleep             0
  ExternalMedia                  0
  PreventUserIdleSystemSleep     0
  NetworkClientActive            0
Listed by owning process:
  pid 110(hidd): [0x00024e6f000999be] 00:00:00 UserIsActive named: "com.apple.iohideventsystem.queue.tickle.4294968214.3" 
	Timeout will fire in 59 secs Action=TimeoutActionRelease
Kernel Assertions: 0x4=USB
  id=503  level=255 0x4=USB mod=1969-1231, 16:00:00.000 description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.14100000 owner=Keyboard Hub
  id=505  level=255 0x4=USB mod=1969-1231, 16:00:00.000 description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.14130000 owner=Apple Optical USB Mouse
  id=507  level=255 0x4=USB mod=1969-1231, 16:00:00.000 description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.14400000 owner=Epson Perfection V19
Idle sleep preventers: IODisplayWrangler