PSA: MacBook Unexpectedly Shuts Down

So doing a dance show and I'm sitting next to my sound tech when without any warning the MacBook running QLab literally passes out (AKA goes to sleep). Track stops. Panic ensues from the dance staff. We wake it up and the track resumes.

In the following moments I googled possible issues since the laptop was on AC power and had all the power saving features disabled. Turns out placing certain magnetic devices on the palm rest will convince the laptop that you've closed the lid and it subsequently shuts down.

My tech's glucose monitoring device has a magnetic component in it and that did the trick. Just thought I'd share. Apparently this also happens with some phones.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2917

On the phones and tablets there are some cases with screen covers that have magnets built into them and when you put the cover on it will go to sleep.

I've done that before accidentally too. Usually it's magnets in my backpack that lock the iPad sitting on top of it.

As I mentioned opinionatedly in another thread, if you're using a laptop for live production, you must use extreme prejudice to make sure it ignores lid closes in all ways at all times. There *is* a way to do that on OS/X, we were told, but I don't remember the details.

Yes, in the Windoze world, you can tell the laptop what to do when the lid is closed. In show conditions, I have it "do nothing" when closed.

I assume that it's a hidden preference (a preference that is present in a property list file but not made available through UI). You may be able to find out by Google'ing around or exploring any '.plist' files in directories common to settings.


Sincerely,
Ramsey

Ok; this cropped up today while I had time to look.

The recommended solution, if it's not incompatible with your OS release, is apparently a thing called Insomnia.

WARNING: if you try to operate a MacBook for extended periods with the lid closed, especially in areas not properly airconditioned, you may overheat it, and it may or may not safely thermal off on its own.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/4885228

@dvsDave: note that whatever testing you guys were doing last week WRT link expansion appears to have been left in "don't replace the label with the page title" mode...

No Sleep will let you disable sleep when the lid closes (your magnet may still turn the display off, but the software will still be running).

Jay Ashworth said:

@dvsDave: note that whatever testing you guys were doing last week WRT link expansion appears to have been left in "don't replace the label with the page title" mode...

Click to expand...

Yeah... I need to re-enable that. Will do when I get home.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

To add to this, I have had: Other laptops, Phones, iPads, iPods, flashlights, Its own maglock2 connector, even a nearby (magnetized) screwdriver cause it to "Sleep/Passout". The place it seems to be on the MBP early 2013 retina is just below the left speaker grill...

NoSleep turns out to be what i installed on 10.10, and it seems to work just fine. It does *not* override an idle timer, though, if you've set one, so you may need to care what "idle" means.

Since this thread came back up. I just wanted to also say I had the same problem with a dell ultra book that has a similar magnetic closing sensor. I spent two days re imaging a computer for an event (which I got from a fellow tech who manages the computers) I thought they were noting working as i stacked one on top of another and I told the tech I got it from that they weren't working as the screen would black out. He would pick up the computer and the computer worked but when I moved it I got nothing.

Eventually I figured out that the issue I was having with the dell was the same you had with apple computer. So I guess the lesson is, is to watch out for any laptops with a magnetic sensor and understand how it works. As some laptops even if you disable any power settings (include what to do on close on lid) might still cause issues.