Why Wake Up on USB Activity?

1. Gary Morrison - 8 September 2007

   One thing I've never understood is why Macs wake up from sleep on USB activity. Why is that?

   That seems to complicate things for no useful reason. Is there any way to turn off that feature, and only wake up when I open the lid (on a PowerBook) or hit a key on the keyboard?

   --

   (Preferably reply to the newsgroup, please. If you reply by Email, I will sincerely try to receive your message, but it will probably get buried in spam.)

2. Richard Maine - 8 September 2007

   Well, except for laptops, the keyboard is a USB device (or BlueTooth), so there is a very concrete reason for the "complication". Even for laptops, it is common to have a USB keyoard connected. That's how I used to use my powerBook except when I was travelling. So you would certainly want at least the option.

   As for turning the option off, I just checked and don't off-hand see a way to do it on this iMac. But I suppose it is at least concievable that the available options might vary depending on the model. I'd suggest checking the enery saver system preferences. That's where other simillar things are. It probably isn't there, but I suggest it just in case it happens to be for laptops (which I don't have one of at hand to check with).

   Richard Maine | Good judgement comes from experience; email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgement. domain: summertriangle | -- Mark Twain

3. Fred McKenzie - 9 September 2007

   Previously, Gary Morrison wrote:

   One thing I've never understood is why Macs wake up from sleep on USB activity.

   Gary-

   Certainly it needs to respond to keyboard activity as Richard suggested, but that shouldn't apply to a closed PowerBook.

   What about responding to an incoming Fax from the Apple USB modem? Even the built-in modems of recent PowerBooks are probably using USB.

   Fred

4. Richard Maine - 9 September 2007

   I don't have a powerbook any more. (That was a work machine, and I retired a few months ago). But my powerbook woke from sleep from external keyboard activity with the cover closed. In fact, that was how you got it to use an external monitor and turn off the built-in one. The procedure was

   1. Power on and boot as normal.
   2. Close lid to put it to sleep.
   3. Hit a key on the external keyboard to wake it.

   You then had the powerbook using the external keyboard and monitor, which was the way I normally used it when at my desk.

   Richard Maine | Good judgement comes from experience; email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgement. domain: summertriangle | -- Mark Twain

5. Gary Morrison - 9 September 2007

   I didn't realize that they hooked the keyboard in through USB. Curious...

   I can't find any such options in the Power Saver or other System-Preferences panels.

   For my particular usage at least, that's not of much concern.

   --

   (Preferably reply to the newsgroup, please. If you reply by Email, I will sincerely try to receive your message, but it will probably get buried in spam.)

6. Jolly Roger - 9 September 2007

   Why is that curious? Most keyboards these days are USB.

   Apply rot13 to this e-mail address before using it.

   JR

7. John C. Randolph - 9 September 2007

   The machine has to wake up to check what the USB event was.

   -jcr