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Sleep mode disables USB and Airport

D

dan801

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 1, 2009
2
0
Hey, I have a problem with the Imac going to sleep and basically stopping my USB devices from working as well as my Airport connection.


This only happened after upgrading to 10.5.6 - I never used to have a problem before this. Basically once it goes into sleep mode it will automatically disconnect all USB devices and disconnect my Airport (exception seems to be the keyboard which lets it wake). So I can no longer charge my Iphone, back up to my external hard drive because as soon as the thing goes to sleep it cuts the connections. I used to leave my computer on 24/7 because it also acts as a server to my other computers, i used to also download p2p overnight, do my backups at night etc. Now it just doesn't work anymore. Also takes a few minutes to re-connect to Airport when it comes out of sleep mode.

Anyone got a clue why?? I have aluminum IMAC running 10.5.6. Monitor off is set to 15 minutes, computer to sleep is set for 2 hours. Nothing unusual and I never changed these settings.


Thanks
 
If your computer is asleep, all services will be disabled. The only thing a computer does during sleep is keep the volatile memory (RAM) intact, so you don't have to restart. No operating system can run wireless or USB while sleeping. OS X allows network administrators to wake sleeping computers via ethernet connection when the computer is configured to do so, but it cannot do what you mention.

If you want your computer to behave in this way, you will have to leave the computer running and only turn the display off. In the exposé and spaces preference pane in Leopard, you can set a hot corner to immediately turn off the display, but you would have to disable sleep altogether in the energy saver preference pane.

However, your iPhone will still charge if you connect it to a powered USB hub that is connected to your computer. However, disconnecting the iPhone will wake your computer. This is experience talking here. ;)
 
BlueRevolution said:
If your computer is asleep, all services will be disabled. The only thing a computer does during sleep is keep the volatile memory (RAM) intact, so you don't have to restart. No operating system can run wireless or USB while sleeping. OS X allows network administrators to wake sleeping computers via ethernet connection when the computer is configured to do so, but it cannot do what you mention.

If you want your computer to behave in this way, you will have to leave the computer running and only turn the display off. In the exposé and spaces preference pane in Leopard, you can set a hot corner to immediately turn off the display, but you would have to disable sleep altogether in the energy saver preference pane.

However, your iPhone will still charge if you connect it to a powered USB hub that is connected to your computer. However, disconnecting the iPhone will wake your computer. This is experience talking here. ;)
Click to expand...


The point is I never had this issue before - my system has always been going into sleep mode and still working. It has not just simply turned the screen of in the past and I've never had a problem charging my iphone overnight or backing up my data. The sleep settings have not been changed and altered and it has always woken up the same way (hard drive kicks in - you can hear the fan turning on, screen takes 5-10 sec to wake etc).
 
Check your energy saver prefrences. Make sure your computer is set to never go to sleep, your monitor can sleep and this will keep your usb ports powered up.

--Eric
 
If there are no active tasks then the machine will fall asleep. If a Mac is asleep it can not power any devices and never has had the ability to do so while it is asleep, this includes Airport, bluetooth, USB or anything. Powering a device such as an iPhone or an external HDD is not considered an "active" task as the OS isn't actually doing anything.

Transmission has a setting in its prefs to "prevent the computer from sleeping with active transfers". Meaning that even if a file loses it's peers and isn't actually downloading, the app will prevent the computer from sleeping since the download is still technically "active". Sometimes a transfer can stop in the middle of the night or be reset or whatever and if it is out for long enough, your machine will sleep.

Also, as far as I know, the Mac OS will go to sleep even if it is sharing its internet connection with another machine.

Lastly, if you use your computer as a server then you might as well disable sleep or set it to the longest time possible.
 
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