My Mini: an Insomniac??

[jimhsu]

I just got the 1.25GHz Mini set up last night. Everything's going great except it does not want to go to sleep!

Literally: when I choose the "SLEEP" option, the little LED light stays constantly on, and I think I can still feel the fan inside going. Not the Blinking LED I was expecting after reading the manual. The light on the USB Mouse also is on, which further alarmed me that the Mini has not gone to sleep yet.

How long does it take to go into the sleep mode (blinking)? I was expecting within half a minute at most, but it was five minutes or more and still no blinking/sleeping. Finally I just shut it down by holding the power button for 5 seconds.

Other things attached to the Mini, just in case they matter: Dell LCD 1905FP monitor, Seagate 200GB Ext HD, Apple keyboard, Kensington USB mouse, Canon 9000S photo printer, and flash memory card reader. All powered equipment were turned off at the time I tried to make the Mini go to sleep.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[mcsenerd]

Well...our minis go to sleep practically immediately. Ok...not immediately but in under 5-10 seconds. I'd say you've got something attached to the Mini that is not letting it go to sleep. Have you tried putting it to sleep with less things plugged in? I'd remove peripherals one by one to try to isolate the problem.

 

[jimhsu]

I will try that. Even when the powered items (HD, monitor, printer) are turned off they can still keep the Mini awake? Or even things like memory card reader (not externally powered) or the mouse and keyboard are suspects?

 

[shadowguy]

My mini is brand new, and with out changing any settings goes to sleep after about 10 minutes, with no activity.

 

[wordmunger]

I will try that. Even when the powered items (HD, monitor, printer) are turned off they can still keep the Mini awake? Or even things like memory card reader (not externally powered) or the mouse and keyboard are suspects?

They shouldn't be. But it's possible. I'd try the powered devices first. Another possibility is to leave those things on -- just to see what happens.

 

[mkrishnan]

I will try that. Even when the powered items (HD, monitor, printer) are turned off they can still keep the Mini awake? Or even things like memory card reader (not externally powered) or the mouse and keyboard are suspects?

The monitor and memory card reader should not be keeping your mini awake. The mouse and the keyboard are a possibility. Wired or bluetooth? If they are wired, and they get bumped or moved, or think they do , then they will wake your computer. But you have to have *some* way to wake it, so you're kind of stuck with that, although I think I have heard occasionally of non-Mac mice that keep waking up Macs for some reason. If they're bluetooth, then you can turn off their capability to wake the computer from system prefs, but I'm not sure how you'd wake it without them, since its not like a notebook where you use the lid latch to put the computer to sleep and wake it, mostly.

If you have a powered USB or FW hub, that *might* be a possibility too. I've never heard of it, and I don't use one, but I guess its possible it's generating an incoming signal.

Oh, one more. Go to system preferences, energy saver pane, options tab (rightmost). Make sure that neither of the options under "Wake" are checked.

 

[hamster]

Are you sure it ISN'T going to sleep? The 'blinking' light is really more of a slow pulse -- very zen-like

 

[jimhsu]

I looked long and hard. No pulsating.

How would I wake it up, by the way, if it is asleep?

 

[mattroberts]

I've had issues with external HD's on a Mini. I believe the fix we had was using the USB connection rather than firewire. BUt i may have been the other way round.

hope this helps.

m

 

[Mechcozmo]

How would I wake it up, by the way, if it is asleep?

Press a button on the keyboard.

And I'd start by unplugging everything that you don't need (keep monitor, KB, mouse) and start slowly adding things in until you get it.

 

[mkrishnan]

I looked long and hard. No pulsating.

How would I wake it up, by the way, if it is asleep?

Wait....let me ask a dumb question. What *does* happen to the monitor when you try to put it to sleep? Does it go dark? Does it go into power-saving mode?