Disabling the sleep light

[Powerbook G5]

I'm pretty sure that it's better for it to sleep so it isn't running constantly. My roommate's HP laptop ran for two months nonstop without sleeping because he used it for an alarm and to run defrag and stuff at night and it burnt out the logic board by mid October and refused to start up.

 

[Counterfit]

Right, but that's an HP, not an Mac

 

[TigerPRO]

This is about the dumbest discussion I've seen on this site. And it looks like fun..

The pulsing sleep light is just about the coolest feature on the planet. If you want to get rid of it, you need a life.

But if you do need help, try this:

Void your warranty by opening up your computer and short circuiting the LED, or whatever that thing is. Then close the computer up, and hope for the best that your computer still turns on.

Otherwise you might try buying a defective refurbished computer that had a disfunctional LED light.

 

[jon404]

Duct tape, revisited

Such a useful product; usually comes in a stunning silver metallic shade that is a perfect complement to Powerbook and I-book covers. But not just for hiding bright Sleep lights ( which actually might make a good bedside nightlight?) ... duct tape stops liquid leaks (sort of), muffler leaks (very well), can be used for first aid, etc, etc. Good stuff, cheap. Also used, experimentally, in the fashion industry, and not only by bondage types.

 

[stoid]

Why not leave it on folding?!?

 

[mj_1903]

I just leave my 2 PowerMac's, iBook and PowerBook running. My PowerMac has been running non-stop for 14 months now, so it can be done.

 

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by mj_1903
I just leave my 2 PowerMac's, iBook and PowerBook running. My PowerMac has been running non-stop for 14 months now, so it can be done.

Then you must be running Mac OS 2.

 

[MattG]

Haha...I usually have to put something over my PMG4 if I leave it in sleep mode when I go to bed. It lights up the whole room!

 

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
Then you must be running Mac OS 2.

Or OS X. Hell, they could even be running OS 9, it's not unheard of to get that kind of uptime with it.

 

[Raid]

I hate that damn light too!

I too would like to be able to adjust the pulse rate of the power button on my monitor and tower as well. I love darkness when I'm trying to get a sleep and have covered up LED's on my zip drive, phone, iSub, and even put tint on my alarm clock to keep the light level as low as possible.

However, the worst offender is by far my G4 and the monitor.

The advice some people here have offered doesn't really work:
1) Tape up the button
Normaly this would work, but the plastic of the monitor and tower reflects & refracts the light so you have to plaster the enitre front of the monitor and tower face (mines an older Gigabit? G4) with tape. The result is one fugly looking set up and a tiny glow coming from the bottom right corner of the monitor... and I'm not taping up the screen!

2) Cover it with something.
Now I've had varing degrees of success with this. For my Tibook I have an old scarf that I cover the back up with and that works. Using a t-shirt over the monitor and tower works ok, but I still get light leaking around (or through) the shirt. Puting cardboard or the like is even worse, I have my monitor right up against the wall and the light simply reflects off the cardboard and onto the wall making appear brighter than before. Also unless you have a fitted piece of cardboard for your tower, the reflection from that gap is even worse than the monitor! BTW I should also mention this makes your computer look fugly or make you look like a slob.

3)Open up your computer and take out the LED.
Well this one would work, but you got to know what your doing. I aslo wonder that if you did this would the power button still work like it used to? Futhermore I've got a 17" ADC CRT monitor there is some serious shock hazzards when opening up those things.

4) Turn it off.
Well this is what I do, but some may want/need their computer on. It's my understanding that there are some scheduled repairs and checks that a computer will run late at night and if your computer is off they don't get done. I'm not sure if it's affected my computer's performance any, but I sure can't brag about my uptime.

Since the pulse rate is something that runs even when the disks and computer is asleep, I'm assuming that any modification to the pulse rate would be a firmware hack. I have yet to run accross anyone who is skilled enough to pull it off. And I doubt apple would give users the ability to play with firmware settings from the OS.

 

[MacBoyX]

Re: I hate that damn light too!

Originally posted by Raid
...4) Turn it off.
Well this is what I do, but some may want/need their computer on. It's my understanding that there are some scheduled repairs and checks that a computer will run late at night and if your computer is off they don't get done. I'm not sure if it's affected my computer's performance any, but I sure can't brag about my uptime. ...

Which won't run when it's asleep either.

If it bothers u that much and it's a desktop, have the monitor go off and the display go to sleep! If it's a 'Book, cover it up or turn it off.

I kept my iMac G4 on for almost a year (rebooting when necessary of course) and it never hurt it. Same with my G5. It runs my printer (3 other Macs print to it) and my Firewire HD (3 other Macs access it). It's not bad to leave a desktop on, the Servers at work (some are just desktop pcs) run 24/7/365.

macboyX

 

[Powerbook G5]

I regularily kept my PowerBook G3 under OS 9 running for months at a time, so yes, it is possible for long uptimes even before OS X. I normally kept it up all semester long at college and turned it off only to go home or take an extended vacation, which came every 5 months or so.

 

[TigerPRO]

Originally posted by Counterfit
Or OS X. Hell, they could even be running OS 9, it's not unheard of to get that kind of uptime with it.

I think you misunderstood me, sorry to confuse you with my comment. I was pointing out if he/she was running non-stop like that, they they probably haven't upgraded their Mac OS since then. I didn't mean to imply there's something wrong with Mac OS 2. lol.

 

[rueyeet]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
The pulsing sleep light is just about the coolest feature on the planet. If you want to get rid of it, you need a life.

As a habitual insomniac, I can assure you I need good sleep far more. Though I do agree with you on coolness factor.

I'm one of those that needs the room to be pretty dark before I can sleep, and the TiBook's sleep light and power cord LED are amazingly bright in a dark room. I can ignore the steady green of the power cord, but the sleep light's really annoying. It's like the TiBook is snoring visually instead of audibly....and I can't sleep if someone's snoring! Can't nudge a PowerBook and make it roll over, either.

I've actually found that placing the foam of the headphones I use for non-roommate-bothering computing just over the sleep LED gets rid of most of the light, though.

Funny this thread should pop up just as I was wondering if there was a way to disable the thing....Go MR Forums!

 

[Powerbook G5]

If it is that bad you can just turn it off. With how quickly Panther boots up, it's not much of an issue having to wait for it to restart.

 

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by TigerPRO
I think you misunderstood me, sorry to confuse you with my comment. I was pointing out if he/she was running non-stop like that, they they probably haven't upgraded their Mac OS since then. I didn't mean to imply there's something wrong with Mac OS 2. lol.

Oh I see, that's actually funny then

 

[PismoGuy]

Replace LED with regular diode

If I would want to shut that darn light off in my pismo I would open up the case and replace the LED with a regular diode. I would not short it out for the consequences could be ugly; I would not just pull it out either because it might open a circuit that is doing something important (like acting as a sensor for waking it up or something).

 

[Powerbook G5]

My PowerBook G3's light is actually less "annoying" probably since it flashes rather than pulses. I think what gets to people is the fact that the G4's pulsing light isn't a steady blink, but rather that irregular "breathing" which psychologically gets to some people. I personally don't mind it much since I tend to need distractions such as an A/C or ceiling fan or something to help me sleep. I must admit that the first night it really took me by surprise, though, the dang thing seriously can light up the room if it is normally pitch dark and the pulsing can be a bit mesmerizing if you look at it enough. I just keep mine turned towards the back on the desk for my roommate's sake so it doesn't bother him, even though his HP laptop has a good half dozen lights of various colors that blink at seemingly random times all night long, the only difference is that they are either steady or a constant blinking instead of a pulsing.

 

[Counterfit]

I just don't let mine sleep while it's plugged in
Besides, between my roommate's binary clock, and the extremely bright LED on my front right speaker, the room's pretty bright anyway, so a "breathing" light wouldn't make much difference.

 

[Steamboatwillie]

Try this perhaps?

Here is what I did last night, as a test, to see how well it worked.

Before I went to bed I set my display to sleep after 1 minute (while plugged in) and for my computer (PB Al 15") to never sleep (again, while plugged in) After a minute it was almost totally dark with the exception of the power cords green ring. I slept fine and I am pretty sensitive to light while I am sleeping. My PowerBook was on my nightstand less than 2 feet from my head.

Good luck

 

[Raid]

Re: Try this perhaps?

Originally posted by Steamboatwillie
Here is what I did last night, as a test, to see how well it worked.

Ok I think I get it, I'll try it tonight and see what it does. Maybe I could even start folding for MR if it works!

 

[Simon Liquid]

Re: Try this perhaps?

Originally posted by Steamboatwillie
Before I went to bed I set my display to sleep after 1 minute (while plugged in) and for my computer (PB Al 15") to never sleep (again, while plugged in) After a minute it was almost totally dark with the exception of the power cords green ring. I slept fine and I am pretty sensitive to light while I am sleeping. My PowerBook was on my nightstand less than 2 feet from my head.

I tried that with my tower when I first got it. It kept the monitor light from pulsing but my Quicksilver was just too loud to sleep with the fans running. Now I just turn it off or hang an article of clothing over it.

 

[Purple Worm]

I haven't seen such a thread of old toss in all my life. Poor old TheFish, not a single post has attempted to seriously answer his question about stopping his sleep light from flashing. Losers.



Doh!

 

[rueyeet]

There is no answer to the question, because there is no way to disable the sleep light without physically modifying the machine, which was stated quite early in the thread. Pay attention.

Originally posted by Counterfit
Of course, you can always set it not to sleep...

Not if you want to close the lid of your 'Book...there was another whole thread about the fact that you can't set your 'Book not to go to sleep when the lid is closed. I don't like the idea of leaving the TiBook open all the time, what with how dusty my house is (yes, I know, shame on me). That, and I'd probably knock it off the table in my sleep or something...

 

[Powerbook G5]

I still say the best solution is turning it off at night. I know that most Mac users have a hang up about turning off or restarting, but it's not like the Apple police are going to raid your house and confiscate your Mac for turning it off at night.