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Mac Pro refuses to fall asleep on it's own.

TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
My Mac Pro used to be able to go to sleep by setting the Energy Saver settings to automatically sleep after so many minutes. It no longer sleeps at all on it's own. Lemme explain.

If I put my computer to sleep with the Apple Menu, or Power Button or any other manual method of sleeping my computer, it works but, if I leave it to sleep on it's own only the screen will go black. When I move my mouse, the screen will instantly come back on as if only the screen was sleeping. I know what a normal sleep sounds like... I'd hear a few clicks and hard disk spin downs and then my screen would go black but, it does not do that.

To prevent a bunch of people asking the "Have you tried...?" questions, I'll go ahead and list the things that I have already tried and failed.

1. Repaired permissions
2. Unplugged any external gadget (USB and FireWire)
3. Tried a brand new user
4. Tried Restarting (Hey, couldn't hurt to just Restart)
5. Checked for weird login items (Only EyeTV Helper which has been there the whole time even before the sleep problem)
6. Made sure my software was up to date (latest security and OS Updates)
7. Booted into "Safe Mode"
8. Checked Activity Monitor for any strange processes running
9. Checked for scanner software (Couldn't find it)
10. Tried switching the Mighty Mouse to the right keyboard USB port
11. Tried un-mounting all hard drives (except for boot drive)

I can't think of anything else to try. I can't believe that Safe Mode or a new user couldn't clear the problem. Has anyone else had this problem?

I'm running Mac OS 10.4.9 on a Mac Pro with 3GB of (working) RAM and 3 internal SATA hard drives and 2 internal SuperDrives.
 
Maybe hes not tired. :D

Naw, seriously though, I had this problem with my iBook a while back, and the only way I could get it to work right was to bomb the HD and start over fresh.
 
mustang_dvs said:
Do you have wake on network activity turned on?

That may be preventing it from going to sleep... :confused:
Click to expand...

Actually.... I forgot to mention as part of my tests, I tried turning that off and it didn't help. The weird thing is... the computer doesn't even attempt to go to sleep... only the display turns dark.
 
Are you really sure the MP is not sleeping? One indication is the light on the power button. If it's blinking (slowly), then the machine is sleeping (fingers crossed). My MP wakes up from sleep very fast.
 
akadmon said:
Are you really sure the MP is not sleeping? One indication is the light on the power button. If it's blinking (slowly), then the machine is sleeping (fingers crossed). My MP wakes up from sleep very fast.
Click to expand...

The light doesn't flinch. When I manually put my computer to sleep. I hear clicks and pops and the drives spinning down and then silence. When my computer is set to automatically sleep, the display goes out but, I can still hear the computer running and there's no blinking power light.
 
I have the same problem

I found an article where it suggested to trash the energy saver config files and then reset the energy saver configuration. That worked for about 3 days, then my MP is back to not going to sleep on its own. I think it tries, but it just will not do it. 10.4.8 and 10.4.9 both exhibit the problem.

I finally just relented hitting the power button before I go to bed at night. Sorry that I do not have a solution for you, but I can share your pain. This topic comes up often. We should problem all open cases with Apple and get them to fix it. ;)

-mike
 
Well I'll be da*ned!!! Looks like my MP will not go to sleep on its own either. I swear it used to do that :confused: :(

I guess I did not notice things going bad bc when I'm at home I hardly ever step away from my MP for more than 30 mins [mm mm -- hugs & kisses baby], and when I do I usually put it to sleep manually (I'm a good daddy that way) :D

Definitely placing a call to AppleCare about this!
 
Real Basic

I had this same problem. Although I have a quicksilver G4 I had downloaded what I thought was Real Player. And it ended up being what was called real basic ( http://www.realsoftware.com )
I hadn't even opened it yet and realized that it was this package that was causing the sleep issues. I grabbed the folder with the app. in it and trashed it and my system is sleeping well. I guess I would echo the one that said to check third party apps and any "system enhancements" by deleting them before messing with the OS.

Hope this helps.
 
You may have seen a similar thread that I started, but for me the solution was to uncheck the "Put the HD to sleep when possible" option. Somehow having it checked wouldn't allow it to sleep.
 
Giving the "put hard disk to sleep whenever possible" option a try

I'll give that a try today. I have mine set to go to sleep in an hour and I'm working a short day today so I'll be back soon enough to check it. I did delete that Real Basic app yesterday and it seemed to make my machine a little snappier but alas it still ended up having the same problem so I appreciate you suggesting unchecking the box for putting the hard disk to sleep whenever possible. Will report back soon.
 
That's the Ticket!

So unchecking the box that says to put hard drive to sleep whenever possible fixed the issue. Thanks for the help/input.
Mizzzzz
 
Mine does the same thing. I've tried about everything. It actually started to go to sleep on it's own, after a brief period , when it would not. I just put it to sleep manually, then it would no wake from sleep---had to press the power button. Oh well.

I unchecked the "put hd to sleep" option and thought that might have helped when it started to sleep again....but the wake from sleep thing still bugs me.
 
I've noticed this behavior of late, however (and YMMV) I've notice that if I leave iTunes running no sleepy, if I fully quit iTunes it will sleep fine. May or may not be related to me having imported a bunch of MP3's across the network.
 
I just noticed that my Mac Pro will not sleep ( the screen will sleep but not the machine itself ) if I say "Later" to a software update "you must restart" message.
 
Maybe an iPod?

Have you tried disconnecting your iPod from your machine? I have my "enable disk use" check box unchecked. I wonder if it's keeping yours from sleeping.
 
Just to inject here for anyone that doesn't know but may be looking at this thread for a similar problem.... A Mac Pro with the Apple RAID card installed will not sleep.
 
Also Kodak camera ejected

I also had the issue with a Kodak Easy Share Camera keeping my mac up all night. Once I disconnected it was fine. Oddly my maxtor one touch external firewire drive doesn't keep it from sleeping though.
 
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