Problem: when my computer turns off to sleep . . .

when my computer ... turns off to sleep, it cannot wake up
alealoha wrote on :

Problem: when my computer (G4 Dual, 1.25 mhz, OS 10.3.9) turns off to sleep, it cannot wake up. Whatever I am working on, I lose, for I have to turn off the computer. I have tried to look for a answer in the system folder, but cannot find a solution. Has anyone else had a similar problem? If so, then can you please assist me? Thank you in advance.

Aloha!

THK

Sander Tekelenburg replied on :

In article baZlg.152274$F_3.92635@redacted.invalid, alealoha alealoha@redacted.invalid wrote:

Problem: when my computer (G4 Dual, 1.25 mhz, OS 10.3.9) turns off to sleep, it cannot wake up. Whatever I am working on, I lose, for I have to turn off the computer. I have tried to look for a answer in the system folder, but cannot find a solution.

You might find an indication of the cause in a crash log, using /Applications/Utilities/Console.

However, given that forcing a reboot by itself can cause file system damage, which in turn can cause other problems, the easiest thing to try is probably to boot from your Panther install CD, not install anything, but launch Disk Utility and have it repair your disk (repeat until it reports no errors).

If that doesn't help, try booting with the Shift key down ("Safe Mode"), which amongst other things cleans up some caches and disables third-party kernel extensions and such; see if the problem disappears. If it does, and the problem returns when you again boot normally, you probably have some third-party kernel extensions that's screwing up.

Lastly, faulty hardware could be the cause. Bad Ram, badly seated RAM, misbehaving USB or FireWire devices.

David Empson replied on :

Sander Tekelenburg user@redacted.invalid wrote:

In article baZlg.152274$F_3.92635@redacted.invalid, alealoha alealoha@redacted.invalid wrote:

Problem: when my computer (G4 Dual, 1.25 mhz, OS 10.3.9) turns off to sleep, it cannot wake up. Whatever I am working on, I lose, for I have to turn off the computer. I have tried to look for a answer in the system folder, but cannot find a solution.

[snip]

Lastly, faulty hardware could be the cause. Bad Ram, badly seated RAM, misbehaving USB or FireWire devices.

It could also be due to a PCI card which isn't able to cope with the computer going to sleep. Any cards in the slots apart from the Apple-supplied video card in the AGP slot?

Jollino replied on :

In article baZlg.152274$F_3.92635@redacted.invalid, alealoha alealoha@redacted.invalid wrote:

Problem: when my computer (G4 Dual, 1.25 mhz, OS 10.3.9) turns off to sleep, it cannot wake up. Whatever I am working on, I lose, for I have to turn off the computer.

It has happened to me too, and the reason was the USB card reader I use to download photos from my camera's Compact Flash. Whenever my Mac slept with it connected, it wouldn't wake up. I worked it around by keeping it disconnected and connecting only when I need it.

My system is a PowerMac Dual G4 1 GHz with 1.25 GB of RAM and OS X 10.4.6.

Clark Martin replied on :

In article baZlg.152274$F_3.92635@redacted.invalid, alealoha alealoha@redacted.invalid wrote:

Problem: when my computer (G4 Dual, 1.25 mhz, OS 10.3.9) turns off to sleep, it cannot wake up. Whatever I am working on, I lose, for I have to turn off the computer. I have tried to look for a answer in the system folder, but cannot find a solution. Has anyone else had a similar problem? If so, then can you please assist me? Thank you in advance.

When it sleeps, it is not supposed to turn off but sleep, there is a difference. Is it sleeping or turning off (does the power light pulse or go out)? I ask because i recently solved a problem with a machine that wouldn't stay on. It turned out that when it went to sleep, either manually or automatically after inactivity, it really powered off.
Resetting the PMU didn't help, it is being sent off for repair.

Ed Anson replied on :

alealoha wrote:

Problem: when my computer (G4 Dual, 1.25 mhz, OS 10.3.9) turns off to sleep, it cannot wake up. Whatever I am working on, I lose, for I have to turn off the computer. I have tried to look for a answer in the system folder, but cannot find a solution. Has anyone else had a similar problem? If so, then can you please assist me? Thank you in advance.

Aloha!

THK

My G4 (same model and os) has recently developed a similar, yet different, problem. When I ask it to go to sleep it sometimes freezes instead. The cursor disappears, and the keyboard becomes useless, but the fan keeps running and the display stays on. When this happens, I have to force a power down to regain control.

I have tried a Google search, and found no other reports of this problem. There were many reports of the OP's problem.

breyfogle replied on :

Ed Anson wrote:

My G4 (same model and os) has recently developed a similar, yet different, problem. When I ask it to go to sleep it sometimes freezes instead. The cursor disappears, and the keyboard becomes useless, but the fan keeps running and the display stays on. When this happens, I have to force a power down to regain control.

I have tried a Google search, and found no other reports of this problem. There were many reports of the OP's problem.

My 15"PB (10.3.9) has done something very similar maybe 5 or 6 times in the 1 1/2 years I've had it. When putting it to sleep, it will go thru all the expected steps but the HD (I think) fails to spin down and the sleep light never comes on. When it is in this state the keyboard (including the power button) is completely deactivated. There is no way I have found to reboot or shut down the machine. Luckily, every time this has happened, whatever is hanging the OS seems to timeout after about 60 minutes and it shuts down (no it doesn't go to sleep). The system logs show absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

The first time this happened was the day I bought the machine. It still had the factory installed OS 10.3.7, store installed RAM, no user installed software and there were no external USB/FireWire devices attached. Still looking for a cause......

morenuf replied on :

In article 449ec868$0$65502$742ec2ed@redacted.invalid, breyfogle dmaynard@redacted.invalid wrote:

Ed Anson wrote:

My G4 (same model and os) has recently developed a similar, yet different, problem. When I ask it to go to sleep it sometimes freezes instead. The cursor disappears, and the keyboard becomes useless, but the fan keeps running and the display stays on. When this happens, I have to force a power down to regain control.

I have tried a Google search, and found no other reports of this problem. There were many reports of the OP's problem.

My 15"PB (10.3.9) has done something very similar maybe 5 or 6 times in the 1 1/2 years I've had it. When putting it to sleep, it will go thru all the expected steps but the HD (I think) fails to spin down and the sleep light never comes on. When it is in this state the keyboard (including the power button) is completely deactivated. There is no way I have found to reboot or shut down the machine. Luckily, every time this has happened, whatever is hanging the OS seems to timeout after about 60 minutes and it shuts down (no it doesn't go to sleep). The system logs show absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

The first time this happened was the day I bought the machine. It still had the factory installed OS 10.3.7, store installed RAM, no user installed software and there were no external USB/FireWire devices attached. Still looking for a cause......

Do you have any PCI cards installed?

I have no real answer either, however my 2002 G4 QuickSilver 933 MHz now does this same thing, but in my case I know it is caused by the USB 2.0 PCI card I just installed (with no drivers). With nothing connected to the USB 2.0 PCI card, the G4 QuickSilver sleeps and wakes fine. If ANYTHING is connected (external USB hard drive, iPod, Printer) it will blank the screen, but fans & hard drives still spin, power light does not cycle or pulse, etc, and worse of all it will refuse to wake, no cursor or keyboard response, and ONLY way out it to FORCE SHUT DOWN, by holding POWER button down.

Morenuf

breyfogle replied on :

morenuf wrote:

In article 449ec868$0$65502$742ec2ed@redacted.invalid, breyfogle dmaynard@redacted.invalid wrote:

Ed Anson wrote:

My G4 (same model and os) has recently developed a similar, yet different, problem. When I ask it to go to sleep it sometimes freezes instead. The cursor disappears, and the keyboard becomes useless, but the fan keeps running and the display stays on. When this happens, I have to force a power down to regain control.

I have tried a Google search, and found no other reports of this problem. There were many reports of the OP's problem. My 15"PB (10.3.9) has done something very similar maybe 5 or 6 times in the 1 1/2 years I've had it. When putting it to sleep, it will go thru all the expected steps but the HD (I think) fails to spin down and the sleep light never comes on. When it is in this state the keyboard (including the power button) is completely deactivated. There is no way I have found to reboot or shut down the machine. Luckily, every time this has happened, whatever is hanging the OS seems to timeout after about 60 minutes and it shuts down (no it doesn't go to sleep). The system logs show absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

The first time this happened was the day I bought the machine. It still had the factory installed OS 10.3.7, store installed RAM, no user installed software and there were no external USB/FireWire devices attached. Still looking for a cause......

Do you have any PCI cards installed?

I have no real answer either, however my 2002 G4 QuickSilver 933 MHz now does this same thing, but in my case I know it is caused by the USB 2.0 PCI card I just installed (with no drivers). With nothing connected to the USB 2.0 PCI card, the G4 QuickSilver sleeps and wakes fine. If ANYTHING is connected (external USB hard drive, iPod, Printer) it will blank the screen, but fans & hard drives still spin, power light does not cycle or pulse, etc, and worse of all it will refuse to wake, no cursor or keyboard response, and ONLY way out it to FORCE SHUT DOWN, by holding POWER button down.

Morenuf No PCI cards, my Mac is a powerbook. You a lucky that at least you can force quit with the power button to regain control. In my case the power button is just as nonfunctional as all the other keys. I just have to wait (and hope) the machine finally decides to shut itself down. So far, it always has !!