(10.1) Hard drive going to sleep when in use

the hard drive will occasionally power[s] down even when I'm using the computer
H. Chan wrote on :

I'm having a problem with the energy saving functions under 10.1...

After my computer (dual-533 G4) is wakened from sleep, the hard drive will occasionally power down even when I'm using the computer (it has a distinctive sound, which is also heard during a normal "begin sleeping" cycle, and just before shutting down/restarting). The system itself is not actually put to sleep.

This occurs roughly 5-10 minutes apart, and can happen even if I'm typing away (the drive powered down twice while writing this, actually). Any demand for disk activity (save, open folder) will of course re-awaken the drive.

Problems started after I changed the Energy Saver prefs to power down the monitor after a period of idleness. "Separate timing for hard drive sleep" was NOT selected. Turning the monitor sleep back off and setting them to "Never" sleep, did not fix the problem.

Has anyone else encountered similar problems? Would a PRAM reset solve this?

Neill Massello replied on :

H. Chan hfhchan@redacted.invalid wrote:

I'm having a problem with the energy saving functions under 10.1...

After my computer (dual-533 G4) is wakened from sleep, the hard drive will occasionally power down even when I'm using the computer (it has a distinctive sound, which is also heard during a normal "begin sleeping" cycle, and just before shutting down/restarting). The system itself is not actually put to sleep.

This occurs roughly 5-10 minutes apart, and can happen even if I'm typing away (the drive powered down twice while writing this, actually). Any demand for disk activity (save, open folder) will of course re-awaken the drive.

Problems started after I changed the Energy Saver prefs to power down the monitor after a period of idleness. "Separate timing for hard drive sleep" was NOT selected. Turning the monitor sleep back off and setting them to "Never" sleep, did not fix the problem.

Has anyone else encountered similar problems? Would a PRAM reset solve this?

Before zapping the PRAM, try the following: restart without extensions, trash the Energy Saver Preferences, then restart normally and reset your Energy Saver settings.

Kevin McMurtrie replied on :

In article hfhchan-8A8285.23073523102001@redacted.invalid, "H. Chan" hfhchan@redacted.invalid wrote:

I'm having a problem with the energy saving functions under 10.1...

After my computer (dual-533 G4) is wakened from sleep, the hard drive will occasionally power down even when I'm using the computer (it has a distinctive sound, which is also heard during a normal "begin sleeping" cycle, and just before shutting down/restarting). The system itself is not actually put to sleep.

This occurs roughly 5-10 minutes apart, and can happen even if I'm typing away (the drive powered down twice while writing this, actually). Any demand for disk activity (save, open folder) will of course re-awaken the drive.

Problems started after I changed the Energy Saver prefs to power down the monitor after a period of idleness. "Separate timing for hard drive sleep" was NOT selected. Turning the monitor sleep back off and setting them to "Never" sleep, did not fix the problem.

Has anyone else encountered similar problems? Would a PRAM reset solve this?

My G3 suffers from the problem and my G4 parks its heads excessively.
Only turning off drive sleep entirely prevents it.

Lincoln Ramsay replied on :

Kevin McMurtrie wrote:

After my computer (dual-533 G4) is wakened from sleep, the hard drive will occasionally power down even when I'm using the computer (it has a distinctive sound, which is also heard during a normal "begin sleeping" cycle, and just before shutting down/restarting). The system itself is not actually put to sleep. My G3 suffers from the problem and my G4 parks its heads excessively.
Only turning off drive sleep entirely prevents it.

Does the drive wake up straight away? I once had a HD that wasn't getting enough power so it would occasionally spin down and up again. My problem was that I'd managed to get a CPU fan, a CD-ROM and a HD on the same power connector.

That was years ago on a PC so it probably doesn't mean anything but the symptoms were the same.

H. Chan replied on :

In article 1f1r3l1.158bpcj5sb9ueN%nmassello@redacted.invalid, nmassello@redacted.invalid (Neill Massello) wrote:

H. Chan hfhchan@redacted.invalid wrote:

I'm having a problem with the energy saving functions under 10.1...

After my computer (dual-533 G4) is wakened from sleep, the hard drive will occasionally power down even when I'm using the computer (it has a distinctive sound, which is also heard during a normal "begin sleeping" cycle, and just before shutting down/restarting). The system itself is not actually put to sleep.

This occurs roughly 5-10 minutes apart, and can happen even if I'm typing away (the drive powered down twice while writing this, actually). Any demand for disk activity (save, open folder) will of course re-awaken the drive.

Problems started after I changed the Energy Saver prefs to power down the monitor after a period of idleness. "Separate timing for hard drive sleep" was NOT selected. Turning the monitor sleep back off and setting them to "Never" sleep, did not fix the problem.

Has anyone else encountered similar problems? Would a PRAM reset solve this?

Before zapping the PRAM, try the following: restart without extensions, trash the Energy Saver Preferences, then restart normally and reset your Energy Saver settings.

No extensions to speak of (running 10.1), but I could try trashing the Energy prefs... erm... where are they stored under OSX?

Thanks

H. Chan replied on :

In article 3BD653B5.9010606@redacted.invalid, Lincoln Ramsay lramsay@redacted.invalid wrote:

Kevin McMurtrie wrote:

After my computer (dual-533 G4) is wakened from sleep, the hard drive will occasionally power down even when I'm using the computer (it has a distinctive sound, which is also heard during a normal "begin sleeping" cycle, and just before shutting down/restarting). The system itself is not actually put to sleep. My G3 suffers from the problem and my G4 parks its heads excessively.
Only turning off drive sleep entirely prevents it.

Does the drive wake up straight away? I once had a HD that wasn't getting enough power so it would occasionally spin down and up again. My problem was that I'd managed to get a CPU fan, a CD-ROM and a HD on the same power connector.

That was years ago on a PC so it probably doesn't mean anything but the symptoms were the same.

Yes, the drive wakes up right away, with only minimal (but just noticable) delay if I'm typing.

No additions to speak of that would drain power from the HD; I'm sure a RAM stick won't do it...

H. Chan replied on :

In article mcmurtri-551330.21540023102001@redacted.invalid, Kevin McMurtrie mcmurtri@redacted.invalid wrote:

In article hfhchan-8A8285.23073523102001@redacted.invalid, "H. Chan" hfhchan@redacted.invalid wrote:

I'm having a problem with the energy saving functions under 10.1...

After my computer (dual-533 G4) is wakened from sleep, the hard drive will occasionally power down even when I'm using the computer (it has a distinctive sound, which is also heard during a normal "begin sleeping" cycle, and just before shutting down/restarting). The system itself is not actually put to sleep.

This occurs roughly 5-10 minutes apart, and can happen even if I'm typing away (the drive powered down twice while writing this, actually). Any demand for disk activity (save, open folder) will of course re-awaken the drive.

Problems started after I changed the Energy Saver prefs to power down the monitor after a period of idleness. "Separate timing for hard drive sleep" was NOT selected. Turning the monitor sleep back off and setting them to "Never" sleep, did not fix the problem.

Has anyone else encountered similar problems? Would a PRAM reset solve this?

My G3 suffers from the problem and my G4 parks its heads excessively.
Only turning off drive sleep entirely prevents it.

Drive and monitor sleep have been disabled, but the hard drive still does the power down thing--but ONLY after it's been put to sleep previously.

HC

Dave Seaman replied on :

In article hfhchan-04DB84.09341424102001@redacted.invalid, H. Chan hfhchan@redacted.invalid wrote:

No extensions to speak of (running 10.1), but I could try trashing the Energy prefs... erm... where are they stored under OSX?

Preferences are stored ~/Library/Preferences.

H. Chan replied on :

In article 9r6kb2$dku@redacted.invalid, dseaman@redacted.invalid (Dave Seaman) wrote:

In article hfhchan-04DB84.09341424102001@redacted.invalid, H. Chan hfhchan@redacted.invalid wrote:

No extensions to speak of (running 10.1), but I could try trashing the Energy prefs... erm... where are they stored under OSX?

Preferences are stored ~/Library/Preferences.

No obvious pref file for Energy saver, unless it's in the monolithic "com.apple.systempreferences.plist". I did a search on the OSX drive for "Energy", and except for the "EnergySaver.prefPane", no OSX-specific file was found.

Lincoln Ramsay replied on :

H. Chan wrote:

Does the drive wake up straight away?

Yes, the drive wakes up right away, with only minimal (but just noticable) delay if I'm typing.

I'd suggest you get your power supply looked at by a professional. If it's under warranty, just take it to an Apple Service Center.

While the delay is small for typing etc. you should see what it does to networked 3d games like quake :)

Also, this frequent restarting of your drive will wear it out and may result in lost data!

H. Chan replied on :

In article 3BD7456D.4030406@redacted.invalid, Lincoln Ramsay lramsay@redacted.invalid wrote:

H. Chan wrote:

Does the drive wake up straight away?

Yes, the drive wakes up right away, with only minimal (but just noticable) delay if I'm typing.

I'd suggest you get your power supply looked at by a professional. If it's under warranty, just take it to an Apple Service Center.

Oh, i intend to have the power supply replaced, if for no other reason than to try getting one with a quieter fan. I live in residence, and all my suitemates have PCs that have quieter fans. If the fridge isn't on, it's the loudest device in the suite.

Just need to find a break. And more importantly someone to drive to the nearest authorized service dealer.

While the delay is small for typing etc. you should see what it does to networked 3d games like quake :)

The drive doesn't go inactive if there's any significant network activity, or keyboard action, which games would be. Mostly it powers down when I'm reading a long webpage or between newsgroup posts.

Also, this frequent restarting of your drive will wear it out and may result in lost data!

My thoughts exactly.

Neill Massello replied on :

H. Chan hfhchan@redacted.invalid wrote:

In article 1f1r3l1.158bpcj5sb9ueN%nmassello@redacted.invalid, nmassello@redacted.invalid (Neill Massello) wrote:

H. Chan hfhchan@redacted.invalid wrote:

I'm having a problem with the energy saving functions under 10.1...

[snip]

Before zapping the PRAM, try the following: restart without extensions, trash the Energy Saver Preferences, then restart normally and reset your Energy Saver settings.

No extensions to speak of (running 10.1), but I could try trashing the Energy prefs... erm... where are they stored under OSX?

My bad. I stupidly missed that "(10.1)" that you put right there at the beginning of your subject line.

After modifying the Energy settings, I had to restart 10.1 to stop that silly default five minute spindown. My fresh installation of 10.1 has a "com.apple.PowerManagement.plist" file in Library/Preferences that contains energy settings. I have a ".GlobalPreferences.plist" file but no "com.apple.systempreferences.plist" in my OS X Preferences folder.

MW replied on :

I have the exact same problem with my Quicksilver 733. It only happened after I installed 10.1. I did a clean install to see if the problem would be fixed that way and it did not work. I even zapped the PRAM, that did not help either.

"H. Chan" hfhchan@redacted.invalid wrote in message news:hfhchan-8A8285.23073523102001@redacted.invalid...

I'm having a problem with the energy saving functions under 10.1...

After my computer (dual-533 G4) is wakened from sleep, the hard drive will occasionally power down even when I'm using the computer (it has a distinctive sound, which is also heard during a normal "begin sleeping" cycle, and just before shutting down/restarting). The system itself is not actually put to sleep.

This occurs roughly 5-10 minutes apart, and can happen even if I'm typing away (the drive powered down twice while writing this, actually). Any demand for disk activity (save, open folder) will of course re-awaken the drive.

Problems started after I changed the Energy Saver prefs to power down the monitor after a period of idleness. "Separate timing for hard drive sleep" was NOT selected. Turning the monitor sleep back off and setting them to "Never" sleep, did not fix the problem.

Has anyone else encountered similar problems? Would a PRAM reset solve this?