Early '09 Mac Pro started not waking from sleep

[macmesser]

My classic Mac Pro eight core (5,1 flashed) running 10.13.6 and with Apple wireless keyboard and trackpad had been running fine until a few days ago, when it started failing to wake up from sleep. Just prior to my noticing this, it displayed another, possibly related, anomalous behavior upon waking up: when the cursor was moved it would snap back to its starting position as soon as it reached its target and I stopped tracking. This behavior persisted after I swapped on a USB mouse and turned off the trackpad. It seemed to clear up after I used a Wacom pen tablet that was also connected to move the cursor and restarted. After this, the machine seems to be working fine except that when it enters sleep mode it does not respond to keyboard, trackpad nor mouse. Then I need to do a hard shutdown and restart. I usually let the Mac go to sleep on its own so now can expect to go through this routine when returning to a sleeping computer. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

PS- I should mention that when I put the machine to sleep it wakes up in response to bluetooth keyboard and trackpad, as well as USB mouse. If it goes to sleep on its own it does not respond to those devices and is also unresponsive to USB mouse.

 

[mattspace]

first thing I'd try is clearing out all your bluetooth preferences / settings etc - have you go the AC wifi upgrade? Have you got bluetooth device wake enabled? Try switching it off if so, and only wake via usb devices.

 

[macmesser]

first thing I'd try is clearing out all your bluetooth preferences / settings etc - have you go the AC wifi upgrade? Have you got bluetooth device wake enabled? Try switching it off if so, and only wake via usb devices.

Thanks for posting. Bluetooth seems to be in order. Only devices are Apple trackpad and keyboard, a speaker and headphones. No wifi upgrade. I switched off bluetooth wake and left the USB mouse attached. Will see if I can wake it when it goes to sleep.

 

[macmesser]

After using for a few days, the problem is mostly gone. Sometimes the Mac will not be awakened by Bluetooth device but mostly will. Yet another oddity has surfaced: when the Mac is sleeping it can be awakened by a bluetooth device even though "allow bluetooth device to wake computer" is left unchecked in BT prefs. I am thinking these subtle glitches may be due to a hardware incompatibility with my usb bluetooth dongle. Does this seem probable? If so, what is the most compatible BT I can install? The built in module quit long ago and I have used several usb BT dongles since. Should I reset anything or clear any preferences? Would like to get back to BT working 100% nominally.

 

[mattspace]

I'd be tempted to just get the bluetooth & wifi upgrade, at least then you can eliminate any weird usb issues from the list. You could try unplugging the bluetooth dongle before putting the machine to sleep, and see what happens.

 

[macmesser]

I'd be tempted to just get the bluetooth & wifi upgrade, at least then you can eliminate any weird usb issues from the list. You could try unplugging the bluetooth dongle before putting the machine to sleep, and see what happens.

Thanks again. I didn't know there is an Apple wifi/bluetooth upgrade for classic Mac Pro. If so, your suggestion seems like a good idea unless it will require a slot. I will try unplugging the dongle first.

 

[mattspace]

Thanks again. I didn't know there is an Apple wifi/bluetooth upgrade for classic Mac Pro. If so, your suggestion seems like a good idea unless it will require a slot. I will try unplugging the dongle first.

Taka a look at the sticky for upgrades, it's an adapter card that plugs into the existing wifi card's socket, which hosts a newer combo wifi / BT card, then you plug it into the old card's antennas, and run an extension cable to the socket the old built-in bluetooth card would be plugged into. It's a pretty neat solution.