G4 Wakes from sleep in middle of night

it has the annoying tendency to sometimes wake from sleep in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason.
Jonathan Hendry wrote on :

I have a G4 (dual 1.25 GHz, FW800) and it has the annoying tendency to sometimes wake from sleep in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason.

I sleep in the same room, and it's a bit disconcerting when the fans start up and the screen lights up and iTunes starts up, or RealPlayer plays out the contents of its buffer.

I'm running 10.2.6.

I haven't been able to determine the reason. I suspect it might be due to iCalHelper, somehow, but OS X isn't yet supposed to be able to wake from sleep programmatically.

Has anyone else seen this?

Anyone know how to prevent it?

Jeremy replied on :

Jonathan Hendry j_hendry@redacted.invalid wrote:

I haven't been able to determine the reason. I suspect it might be due to iCalHelper, somehow, but OS X isn't yet supposed to be able to wake from sleep programmatically.

Has anyone else seen this?

I've seen it for two different reasons. The first is that something (or someone) bumped the table or otherwise caused enough mouse or keyboard input to wake the computer. The second is a power hit; a momentary lapse in power, not enough to power down the system, or a voltage change, will often wake it up -- even though I have the machine plugged into a UPS.

Chey replied on :

In 1060201343.428776@redacted.invalid Jeremy wrote:

Jonathan Hendry j_hendry@redacted.invalid wrote:

I haven't been able to determine the reason. I suspect it might be due to iCalHelper, somehow, but OS X isn't yet supposed to be able to wake from sleep programmatically.

Has anyone else seen this?

I've seen it for two different reasons. The first is that something ( or someone) bumped the table or otherwise caused enough mouse or keyboard input to wake the computer. The second is a power hit; a momentary lapse in power, not enough to power down the system, or a voltage change, will often wake it up -- even though I have the machine plugged into a UPS.

I have the exact machine as you do. In fact, I have the same situation as you do. I have a PowerMac in my bedroom. My PowerMac will wake or the Cinema display turn back on.

I have not figured out why it does this, but my solution is turning the Promouse upside down. My PowerMac and Cinema display have not waken even with Airport left on.

Hope this helps.

James Meiss replied on :

This is off the topic, but if you want to read something scary about a computer waking up in the middle of the night, check out the article on a hacker in today's circuit section of the NY Times called the "Kinkos Caper" http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/07/technology/circuits/07kink.html.

(Of course, you can sleep easier by realizing that the hacked computers where not running Mac OS of course!)

Roger Eriksen replied on :

in article IMbYa.17829$Vx2.9053276@redacted.invalid, Jonathan Hendry at j_hendry@redacted.invalid wrote on 8/6/03 12:27 PM:

I have a G4 (dual 1.25 GHz, FW800) and it has the annoying tendency to sometimes wake from sleep in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason.

I sleep in the same room, and it's a bit disconcerting when the fans start up and the screen lights up and iTunes starts up, or RealPlayer plays out the contents of its buffer.

I'm running 10.2.6.

I haven't been able to determine the reason. I suspect it might be due to iCalHelper, somehow, but OS X isn't yet supposed to be able to wake from sleep programmatically.

Has anyone else seen this?

Anyone know how to prevent it?

Yes. Turn off your computer at night and save electricity. There is no reason to keep it running 24/7 unless you are downloading very large files.

If we all conserve electricity we can postpone building new powerplants, reduce toxic emmissions and save money!

Just my 2¢...

Jon H replied on :

On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 19:22:52 -0400, Roger Eriksen wrote (in message BB583B6C.6874%neskire@redacted.invalid):

in article IMbYa.17829$Vx2.9053276@redacted.invalid, Jonathan Hendry at j_hendry@redacted.invalid wrote on 8/6/03 12:27 PM:

Anyone know how to prevent it?

Yes. Turn off your computer at night and save electricity. There is no reason to keep it running 24/7 unless you are downloading very large files.

If we all conserve electricity we can postpone building new powerplants, reduce toxic emmissions and save money!

If it's sleeping, the fans aren't going, the drives aren't going, the monitor isn't on, the little amplifier in the sound circuitry probably isn't powered.

My problem is that I don't want it running 24/7, but it won't comply.

Neill Massello replied on :

Jonathan Hendry j_hendry@redacted.invalid wrote:

I have a G4 (dual 1.25 GHz, FW800) and it has the annoying tendency to sometimes wake from sleep in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason.

I sleep in the same room, and it's a bit disconcerting when the fans start up and the screen lights up and iTunes starts up, or RealPlayer plays out the contents of its buffer.

I'm running 10.2.6.

I haven't been able to determine the reason. I suspect it might be due to iCalHelper, somehow, but OS X isn't yet supposed to be able to wake from sleep programmatically.

Has anyone else seen this?

Anyone know how to prevent it?

The most common cause of waking is a flaky USB device or connection. Just unplugging a USB device can wake a sleeping G4. Check all the connections, then unplug one USB device each night before putting the G4 to sleep.

In addition to the power glitches noted by Jonathan Hendry, I have also had my G4 wake in response to electrostatic discharges in the vicinity of the machine.

Anno Siegel replied on :

Roger Eriksen neskire@redacted.invalid wrote in comp.sys.mac.system:

in article IMbYa.17829$Vx2.9053276@redacted.invalid, Jonathan Hendry at j_hendry@redacted.invalid wrote on 8/6/03 12:27 PM:

I have a G4 (dual 1.25 GHz, FW800) and it has the annoying tendency to sometimes wake from sleep in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason.

I sleep in the same room, and it's a bit disconcerting when the fans start up and the screen lights up and iTunes starts up, or RealPlayer plays out the contents of its buffer.

I'm running 10.2.6.

I haven't been able to determine the reason. I suspect it might be due to iCalHelper, somehow, but OS X isn't yet supposed to be able to wake from sleep programmatically.

Has anyone else seen this?

Anyone know how to prevent it?

Yes. Turn off your computer at night and save electricity. There is no reason to keep it running 24/7 unless you are downloading very large files.

If we all conserve electricity we can postpone building new powerplants, reduce toxic emmissions and save money!

Sounds good, but a switched-off G4 still consumes power. You'd have to pull the plug. Power consumption in one case:

Computer + monitor 150 W Computer only 100 W Computer sleeping 20 W Computer "off" 12 W

The big power cut happens when the computer goes to sleep. Switching it off (from the front panel) doesn't make that much much of a difference.

Anno

Richard Weiss replied on :

I can't believe the crappy advice your getting. The os x / unix system cleans itself up during the wee hours. Check your system pref.s > energy saver > (tab) options and make sure "Wake for admin. tasks" isn't checked. But you'll have to get MacJanitor and run it periodically or your system will clog w/ temp. files

In BB583B6C.6874%neskire@redacted.invalid Roger Eriksen wrote:

in article IMbYa.17829$Vx2.9053276@redacted.invalid, Jonathan Hendry at j_hendry@redacted.invalid wrote on 8/6/03 12:27 PM:

I have a G4 (dual 1.25 GHz, FW800) and it has the annoying tendency to sometimes wake from sleep in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason.

I sleep in the same room, and it's a bit disconcerting when the fans start up and the screen lights up and iTunes starts up, or RealPlayer plays out the contents of its buffer.

I'm running 10.2.6.

I haven't been able to determine the reason. I suspect it might be due to iCalHelper, somehow, but OS X isn't yet supposed to be able to wake from sleep programmatically.

Has anyone else seen this?

Anyone know how to prevent it?

Yes. Turn off your computer at night and save electricity. There is no reason to keep it running 24/7 unless you are downloading very large files.

If we all conserve electricity we can postpone building new powerplants, reduce toxic emmissions and save money!

Just my 2¢...

Jon H replied on :

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 12:49:13 -0400, Richard Weiss wrote (in message 20030811094913628-0700@redacted.invalid):

I can't believe the crappy advice your getting. The os x / unix system cleans itself up during the wee hours. Check your system pref.s > energy saver > (tab) options and make sure "Wake for admin. tasks" isn't checked.

That isn't the checkbox. The checkbox is "Wake for network administrator access".

Which suggests to me that it makes the computer wake up if someone tries to connect over ethernet. ie, Wake-on-LAN.

Henry replied on :

Richard Weiss:

Thanks for your post on this thread:

in article 20030811094913628-0700@redacted.invalid, Richard Weiss at weeeze@redacted.invalid wrote on 8/11/03 9:49 AM:

I can't believe the crappy advice your getting. The os x / unix system cleans itself up during the wee hours. Check your system pref.s > energy saver > (tab) options and make sure "Wake for admin. tasks" isn't checked. But you'll have to get MacJanitor and run it periodically or your system will clog w/ temp. files

I've been trying to get good advice on this, too. I want my machine to wake itself up and take care of itself -- the washer and dryer also in my garage won't care about the noise and light.

The closest I find when I look at the system preference location you reference is "wake for network administrator access". That seems, well, different from the issue at hand.

I'm running 10.2.6. Has this options list changed recently, or is there a "secret handshake" to get the "wake for administrative tasks" item to show up under "Wake Options"?

Thanks,

Henry

henryn@redacted.invalid remove 'zzz'

In BB583B6C.6874%neskire@redacted.invalid Roger Eriksen wrote:

in article IMbYa.17829$Vx2.9053276@redacted.invalid, Jonathan Hendry at j_hendry@redacted.invalid wrote on 8/6/03 12:27 PM:

I have a G4 (dual 1.25 GHz, FW800) and it has the annoying tendency to sometimes wake from sleep in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason.

I sleep in the same room, and it's a bit disconcerting when the fans start up and the screen lights up and iTunes starts up, or RealPlayer plays out the contents of its buffer.

I'm running 10.2.6.

I haven't been able to determine the reason. I suspect it might be due to iCalHelper, somehow, but OS X isn't yet supposed to be able to wake from sleep programmatically.

Has anyone else seen this?

Anyone know how to prevent it?

Yes. Turn off your computer at night and save electricity. There is no reason to keep it running 24/7 unless you are downloading very large files.

If we all conserve electricity we can postpone building new powerplants, reduce toxic emmissions and save money!

Just my 2¢...

Kevin McMurtrie replied on :

In article 0001HW.BB5D477B0088E062F0284600@redacted.invalid, Jon H j_hendry@redacted.invalid wrote:

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 12:49:13 -0400, Richard Weiss wrote (in message 20030811094913628-0700@redacted.invalid):

I can't believe the crappy advice your getting. The os x / unix system cleans itself up during the wee hours. Check your system pref.s > energy saver > (tab) options and make sure "Wake for admin. tasks" isn't checked.

That isn't the checkbox. The checkbox is "Wake for network administrator access".

Which suggests to me that it makes the computer wake up if someone tries to connect over ethernet. ie, Wake-on-LAN.

It's more specific than that. There's a special type of wake-up packet that it enables. Normal network access won't do it.

Sending a wakeup packet to a computer that's sleeping isn't easy.
Routers will forget where the computer is after a while. It's best if you're on the same subnet.