Macs "just work" - yeah right. Power/sleep issues.

[stek]

Power off, power on, Cmd-Opt-P-R - wait for two bongs and let it reboot....

(resets the PRAM)

[woohoo]

It's a Mac Mini so unless you're referring to a BIOS type battery I can't see an issue there.

Apologies, did not read your post properly. I'm going to blame getting old.

[WTFH]

Have you updated to High Sierra 10.13.2 Supplemental?

Are there any apps running that are causing the problem?
I recently installed DupeGuru to tidy up my music and it's a great program BUT you have to fully exit out of it to allow the computer to shut down - if you try to shut the computer down it looks like it's doing it, then you get a pop-up to say it can't shut down, but that pop-up appears over another one from DupeGuru which says "DupeGuru is still running". That pop-up, in turn, is sitting over another one saying "You have unsaved DupeGuru results are you sure you want to quit"

I have a widget - iStatPro that runs on the left screen (mind blank, can't remember what it's called) which monitors the usage of CPU/Memory/Disks/Network/Fans/Temperature. Maybe install that and see if anything is hitting limits.
I'm currently: 5% CPU, 31.6GB unused memory, 1.01TB free HDD, 265GB free Time Machine, hottest part of the computer is the GPU at 39C, ambient 10C, and one fan is running at 1200rpm.

[cojak]

It sounds like DaveB hit the nail on the head, along with stek’s additional piece, but I’ll install the widget WTFH.

[WTFH]

iStatPro has been discontinued, but you might still be able to get it here:
iStat pro for Mac - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com
or here:
iStat Pro Download Mac

[Lance]

so no way am I replacing it just for a sleep bug which must be fixable

turn sleep off

You're welcome.

[d000hg]

No, I’m thinking that it’s quite possible that an ‘upgrade’ update did something to destabilise older Macs of all persuasions.

Woohoo is suggesting an alternative fix (for me), so I’ll give that a try.

It has done it for me since at least Yosemite which came out I think during the sale period of this iteration.

turn sleep off

You're welcome.

Not really a solution but well done for trying.

@DaveB WTF are they playing at! Many thanks I shall investigate.

@WTFH I'm on Sierra as the review I read of HS was "don't update yet" due to major changes under the hood. I had wondered about apps keeping it alive but all I tend to run is Chrome, Parallels, OneNote and Skype. I do have Dropbox in the background. Activity Monitor shows nothing untoward but nearly every app pings the web for cloud sync now

[d000hg]

Oh, OK so Safe Sleep is just Hibernate in Windows terminology... saves the state to HDD and powers off. Though OSX does already have nice features to let you turn the machine off and keep apps open, which is a big plus.

[WTFH]

@WTFH I'm on Sierra as the review I read of HS was "don't update yet" due to major changes under the hood.

I held off upgrading for a while on my old MBP, but had no problems when I did. I put it onto the iMac and it's been fine. I know there were reviews back in September/October that said don't update yet but I haven't seen any recently, and if your processor is at risk from Meltdown/Spectre, then you really should upgrade.

[cojak]

HS considerably improved the performance of my MBP.

I was very happy with the upgrade.