iBook and "sleeping"

[mdouglas]

My iBook has the little white light start pulsing if I either command it to "sleep" (from the drop-down Apple icon) or if I close the laptop. However, if the computer goes to sleep on it's own at the predetermined time via my "energy saver" window, the white light doesn't pulse. Is this normal? Is there something I should change to get the white light to pulse when the computer has put itself in the sleep mode?

TIA,
Mark

 

[ftaok]

Are you sure that your iBook is sleeping? It could be that the screen is turned off, but the computer itself is still on. Look in the Energy Saver preference to see if you have a separate timer for the screen.

 

[ninjachild]

yeah. it's not really asleep,
it's just turning the screen off,

mine just dims, i think i set the powersaver feature at a pretty long interval,

although it would sleep if you just close the lid with the display already off
like if you packed it up to go home.

so same here

 

[ShaolinMiddleFinger]

Yeah, it's normal operation. I have mine set to the exact same thing for the last year and it hasn't bothered the unit at all.

 

[BenderBot1138]

Sleeping Beauty...

I'll start by making the assumption you are using OS X (and hope I'm right about that). In your System Preferances panel, you'll find your iBook's Energy Saver pane. You are looking for the Sleep tab, not the Options tab.

If you can't see all the details of when your computer and display are timed to sleep, click the Show Details button in the lower right of the pane.

There you'll find a check box that says: Use separate time to put the display to sleep

If it's checked, and you've also set your iBook to Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive for: to "Never", then you'll have a display that goes black, but a computer that doesn't sleep unless you tell it to sleep from the menu or close the lid.

ftaok and our resident ninja hit it bang on right out of the gate. The settings in the Energy Saver pane can be a little complicated with the combinations of settings, but a little looking around clears it all up.

 

[mdouglas]

Yep - I have the sleep and screen off features set at the same time so shouldn't I be seeing the little white light when it puts itself in sleep mode?

Mark

Originally posted by ftaok
Are you sure that your iBook is sleeping? It could be that the screen is turned off, but the computer itself is still on. Look in the Energy Saver preference to see if you have a separate timer for the screen.

 

[RBMaraman]

Originally posted by mdouglas
Yep - I have the sleep and screen off features set at the same time so shouldn't I be seeing the little white light when it puts itself in sleep mode?

Mark

The two times are independent. If you have them both set to 30 minutes, for example, after 30 minutes of inactivity the screen will shut off, then 30 minutes later the iBook will go to sleep.

 

[mdouglas]

Re: Sleeping Beauty...

BenderBot,

I don't have the "separate" box checked nor do I have the "never" thing engaged, yet it still goes blank (and certainly sounds like it's asleep) without the pulsing white light.

Mark

Originally posted by BenderBot1138
I'll start by making the assumption you are using OS X (and hope I'm right about that). In your System Preferances panel, you'll find your iBook's Energy Saver pane. You are looking for the Sleep tab, not the Options tab.

If you can't see all the details of when your computer and display are timed to sleep, click the Show Details button in the lower right of the pane.

There you'll find a check box that says: Use separate time to put the display to sleep

If it's checked, and you've also set your iBook to Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive for: to "Never", then you'll have a display that goes black, but a computer that doesn't sleep unless you tell it to sleep from the menu or close the lid.

ftaok and our resident ninja hit it bang on right out of the gate. The settings in the Energy Saver pane can be a little complicated with the combinations of settings, but a little looking around clears it all up.

 

[mdouglas]

BM,

So your white light pulses when your laptop is open and automatically goes in to sleep mode after a period of non-use?

Mark

 

[BenderBot1138]

Insomniac...

There are some programs that will keep your iBook from a peaceful rest. Are you running anything while your computer is idle? There can be an illusion of sleep (your monitor and hard drive may sleep) but you aren't in a REM state so to speak.

 

[howard]

is there anyway you can set your ibook to not go to sleep when you close the lid?...like what if i walk to another room..i want to close the lid cause its easier to carry but if i'm connected wirelessly all my connections are lost and its just annoying!

 

[mdouglas]

No, I'm not running any programs that I know of. This is a new, virgin iBook. About the only programs I've put on it are Microsoft Office for the Mac. I don't think that my computer is awake when it goes to sleep without the white light - I do think it's asleep (no fan or hard-drive noise).

Mark

 

[BenderBot1138]

Your computer may be listening, and listening, and listening...

(1) Do you have any file sharing programs running?
(2) Do you have anything like Speakable items turned on?
(3) Do you have any programs running all the time (check your dock for little black triangles below programs).
(4) What is your connection to the internet?

That's a start. Some of these may not affect newer models, but lets see if you have any of these first. Sometime a program will turn settings on that you aren't aware of.

Failing all this, you may need to reset your Power Manager, but let's reserve that as a drastic action in absence of finding a root cause. Power Management issues can affect sleep and issues like disk spin down etc.

 

[mdouglas]

I do have little black triangles under some of the programs in the dock - the only one that I'm unable to turn off is the Finder program. Otherwise, I don't have any of those things that you mentioned.

 

[mdouglas]

OK sorry that I'm posting so many replies to my own post, but I haven't really gotten to the bottom of my original question.

Is there anyone who's iBook doesn't have the white pulsing light come on when the computer goes in to "sleep" mode automatically with the laptop open?

Mark

 

[RBMaraman]

Originally posted by mdouglas
BM,

So your white light pulses when your laptop is open and automatically goes in to sleep mode after a period of non-use?

Mark

Yes. My light pulses when I close the lid, and my light pulses when I select sleep from the Apple menu, and my light pulses when I set it to automatically go to sleep after a period of non-use.

 

[RBMaraman]

Originally posted by howard
is there anyway you can set your ibook to not go to sleep when you close the lid?...like what if i walk to another room..i want to close the lid cause its easier to carry but if i'm connected wirelessly all my connections are lost and its just annoying!

Whenever you close the lid, the iBook goes to sleep. There is no way to get around this. Whenever I need to move and stay connected, I hold the base with the main part of my hand, stick my index finger over the trackpad, and hold the lid down with my thumb.

 

[ftaok]

Originally posted by mdouglas
OK sorry that I'm posting so many replies to my own post, but I haven't really gotten to the bottom of my original question.

Is there anyone who's iBook doesn't have the white pulsing light come on when the computer goes in to "sleep" mode automatically with the laptop open?

Mark

OK,

I forgot to check this topic, but now I'm back.

Here's a good way to determine if you iBook is really a"sleep" or just pretending.

When you see that your iBook is asleep, but the white light is not on, do this. Try to move the cursor with the trackpad. You see, the trackpad doesn't wake up a truly sleeping iBook. If it wakes up, then your iBook wasn't really sleeping.

 

[BenderBot1138]

You're getting sleeeeeepy....

ftaok's troubleshooting tip is aok about the trackpad. You've already verified several of the points below but for completeness I'll ask again...

A. If it isn't asleep.... verify the following if you can...
(1) You have a newer iBook running updated OS X.
(2) In Energy Saver pane of System Preferences "use separate..." for display is not checked and nothing there is set to the "Never" setting.
(3) You don't have your Speakable Items turned on under your computers On/Off tab of the Speech pane's - Speech Recognition Tab (Go to System Prefercences - Speech - Speech Recognition - On/Off).
(4) No other programs are interfering with the sleep mode.
(5) You're not running some odd little weather program, Screensaver, or Desktop background updating program that updates at certain intervals in congunction with certain internet access methods.
(6) Still didn't hear from you about your internet connection... (The concept is that something ... like some internet connection things... demand your computers attention).
(7) All this done... you'll have to recalibrate your battery, then reset your Power Manager as drastic last ditch attempts to fix the problem.

B. If it is asleep...you may need to...
(1) recallibrate your battery... and if this doesn't work;
(2) reset your Power Manager.

An ideal thing here that would allow a decisive diagnosis, would be if you could use your "GRAB" program to take a screen capture of your System Preferences Energy Saver pane and post it here.