15" PB keeps going to sleep!

[Vash]

Hello,

I have a 15" PB, 1.67Ghz I got last summer for college. Recently, I've it's been acting up in the sense that everytime I turn it on, about 30 seconds after OS X boots, it automatically goes to sleep. This has happened before but last time it wouldn't wake back up (I'd have to remove the battery and restart). This time, however, I could press the power button and it'll wake back up without a problem. I have no idea what can be causing this, as it only happens about 40% of the time. I tried a PRAM reset, but that only seemed to cure the first sleep problem.

Any ideas?

-Vash

 

[triforcekt]

Narcoleptic Powerbook

Same problem here, except a bit more severe. Mine does it over and over again, and sometimes cannot be woken up at all.

The first problem I noticed--quite a few months ago--was that the display sometimes would not light back up even though the hard drive spun back up and the computer was ostensibly awake. I would have to do a hard restart.

Within the last month, it started going to sleep in the middle of typing emails, working on documents, watching movies, and encoding DVDs--sometimes several times per minute. Lately it has gotten in the habit of immediately flickering to sleep after startup and not waking up.

I've tried repairing permissions and resetting my PMU with no luck. I think it may be a heat problem. Does anyone have ANY clue what could be happening?

 

[xfiftyfour]

this seems too obvious (but better to get all your bases covered), but how does your battery and adapter look? still in good shape?

 

[yg17]

Does anyone have ANY clue what could be happening?

For once in my life, I have a clue

I had the same problem with my 15" PB. Same model as Vash, assuming he bought his brand new in 2005 (2nd to last rev). What happened, was the temperature sensors were messed up and were getting wrong readings, thus, the PowerBook thought it was overheating and went into sleep to protect itself, but it really wasn't overheating, it was just getting bad data from the temp sensors. I sent it out to Apple, they replaced the logic board and temp sensors under warranty, and all is well. If your problem is also being caused by faulty temp sensors, then you'll have to send it out, there's no software fix for it. You can check your system logs, and if you see a message that says something like "Power Management received an emergency overtemp signal. Going to sleep." then that's your problem.

 

[triforcekt]

Well, I figured out how to view my system log (yay Google) and didn't find any messages about a temperature error. In fact, every time it logged going to sleep, something in the kernel called a "bootstrap" reported something wrong. I know I should have done this first, but I tried zapping the PRAM because, if I understand correctly, that can solve kernel errors. Now it seems to be working. I hate to say that lest I jinx something, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it remains sleep-free until I tell it to!

 

[triforcekt]

I spoke too soon. :cry: It's doing it again. I reviewed my system log again, though, and got some info that i hope will be helpful.

This pops up on the console right after waking from one of the BS sleep events:

Jun 27 01:14:30 K-Computer mDNSResponder: Repeated transitions for interface en1 (***.***.*.*); delaying packets by 5 seconds
Jun 27 01:14:32 K-Computer mDNSResponder: HostnameCallback: Error -65557 for registration of K’s Computer. IP ***.***.*.*

This is the repeating pattern that appears in the system log:

Jun 27 00:59:55 K-Computer lookupd[448]: lookupd (version 369.5) starting - Tue Jun 27 00:59:55 2006
Jun 27 00:59:55 K-Computer configd[41]: posting notification com.apple.system.config.network_change
Jun 27 00:59:55 K-Computer launchd: Server 9e1f in bootstrap 1103 uid 0: "/usr/sbin/lookupd"[448]: exited abnormally: Hangup
Jun 27 01:00:01 K-Computer kernel[0]: System Sleep
Jun 27 01:00:01 K-Computer kernel[0]: System Wake
Jun 27 01:00:01 K-Computer kernel[0]: Wake event 0020


C=an anyone tell me what this means? What should I do from this point?
I feel like taking a sledgehammer to this thing. It's fallen to sleep 18 times int he course of typing this message--no joke.

 

[Vash]

The only thing I can see, other than the faulty temperature component, is that right before the PB goes to sleep, the charger turns green from orange (indicating it's not being charged) and the battery symbol switches from the adapter to battery symbols. I am still covered by the 1 year warranty, and was curious how much it costs to send in and what the waiting time would be?

If anyone has any suggestions other than repair, let me know.

Thanks again,
`Vash

 

[Sharewaredemon]

The only thing I can see, other than the faulty temperature component, is that right before the PB goes to sleep, the charger turns green from orange (indicating it's not being charged) and the battery symbol switches from the adapter to battery symbols. I am still covered by the 1 year warranty, and was curious how much it costs to send in and what the waiting time would be?

If anyone has any suggestions other than repair, let me know.

Thanks again,
`Vash

I'm not sure how much it costs to send it in but you might want to consider purchasing the AppleCare Protection Plan.

If you are a student you will be able to get a discount on it, and it will cover shipping and repairs for an extra two years after your first year.

 

[babalucci]

Same sleep problem with PB 17" G4

Vash,

I've been having the same problem with my PB since November. I bought it in August. I called Apple Support in December and they had me delete a few plist files. This worked for a few months. It has started all over again and is even worse. At Apple they said they had no reports of other users with this problem but I have seen many posting in various forums that tell the same story.

Please let me know what you find out. I am in Egypt and although I have the extended warranty, getting my Mac to the States for a repair is complicated. If I have to do it, I will need to plan it. If there is another solution, please share it.

Thanks and good luck.

Angela

 

[Vash]

Vash,

I've been having the same problem with my PB since November. I bought it in August. I called Apple Support in December and they had me delete a few plist files. This worked for a few months. It has started all over again and is even worse. At Apple they said they had no reports of other users with this problem but I have seen many posting in various forums that tell the same story.

Please let me know what you find out. I am in Egypt and although I have the extended warranty, getting my Mac to the States for a repair is complicated. If I have to do it, I will need to plan it. If there is another solution, please share it.

Thanks and good luck.

Angela

Angela,

I called Apple Support and, to my unfortunate surprise, I was up on my 1-year warranty by 10 days. Techsupport was unable to assist me, so I again went digging through Apple's archives to find a possible solution.

Finally, I found the key to the problem which I used the first time it happened. On the Powerbook 15" models (this is just specific, you can look up your model on the Apple site and they'll probably have an alternative method if this doesn't work) you can reset the PMU. It's used, supposedly, only in somewhat extreme situations. To do this: shut the computer down, remove the battery, press and hold the power button for 5 seconds, replace the battery and power on (make sure the AC adapter isn't plugged in). Just to be sure, I also reset the PRAM on reboot (before the grey screen, press and hold Command/Option/P/R until you hear it restart again [If I'm wrong, someone please correct this])

It started fine, and then went to sleep. I woke it up and, thankfully, it stayed that way. Out of terrible, terrible fear that it is just a fluke, I have tried to remain from shutting the lid, turning it off, or restarting. It has been about 5 days and it's working perfectly.

If this does happen to work for you, remember that it can always be something in the software (as the second time it happened, I fixed it through installing the latest build of Tiger). Keep looking for updates that include the logic board, or watch for 10.5 to be released. Hopefully I can make it through the summer without restarting!

Good luck and I hope it works,

`Vash