TiBook locking up - help!

[Mudbug]

My TiBook locks up each time I close the lid, and continues to do this REALLY IRRITATING THING no matter which user I'm logged in as. Root, regular ol' administrator, user, nothing makes a difference.
I've tried re-installing Jaguar from REAL DISKS PROVIDED BY APPLE (thanks to my wife, the teacher) to no avail.
It doesn't matter if it's running off the battery or plugged in.

Here's what it does:

Close the lid, and the computer goes to sleep, as usual.
the light "breathes" just as it always should.
Open it, the display brings back up all the icons, background pictures, and anything else that was open on the screen when closed in the first place.

But then, nothing. no pointer. keys don't make a difference.

Close the lid back down, and the computer stays on. no sleeping.

Nothing works except rebooting.

Disk First Aid, Norton, and Drive 10 all say nothing's wrong.
The Hardware Test Disk included with the computer says everything checks out.
I'm not going to undo screws to see about a loose connection somewhere, but am willing to try my hand at the unix underlyings if need be - and if that's the case, please be specific, since I'm new at that part, at least.

I don't know yet if it still happens in OS9, but I'll try that when I finish typing this - I just thought about checking that - I'll update soon.

Thanks for the help in advance!

Please help!
I've got the year of AppleCare, but I'd really like to hear what you guys have to say before I make the call. I'm usually pretty good at stuff like this, but this has me stumped. Needless to say, my wife (who really owns the TiBook) would like me to fix it. There's pride involved here.

Well, no dice for OS9 either - I guess it must be some kind of hardware thing. Any more intelligent guesses than that floating around out there?

 

[Mudbug]

hey, now that I've posted, when you open the lid back up, the computer powers back up all the drives and such, but the screen doesn't turn on at all. The slot load drive will accept a new cd, spins it up, and then, you guessed it, nothing.

I'm really at a loss here. This is day 2 of it.

BTW - I did install that "skin-a-dock" thing a few days ago, saw the thread about others having problems, uninstalled it according to the instructions given, and never had a lick of problems.

Until now.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Mudbug
hey, now that I've posted, when you open the lid back up, the computer powers back up all the drives and such, but the screen doesn't turn on at all. The slot load drive will accept a new cd, spins it up, and then, you guessed it, nothing.

I'm really at a loss here. This is day 2 of it.

BTW - I did install that "skin-a-dock" thing a few days ago, saw the thread about others having problems, uninstalled it according to the instructions given, and never had a lick of problems.

Until now.

First things first. Uninstall all system mods. If that doesn't do it maybe someone else has an idea. How new is your TiBook do you still have AppleCare?

 

[Mudbug]

skin-a-dock was my first and only system mod I've done to X - did lots to OS9 on other machines, but this one's clean.

I bought the computer back in the first week of June - it's a 667 with the combo drive.

when it's running, it runs fine, just has problems when it goes to sleep.

 

[bidge]

The new 10.2.2 software update supposedly added some support for this sort of thing, I would try it.

Good Luck

Sorry I checked and it has these points here

# Improves time needed to wake some portable computers.
# Addresses a potential loss of video when waking some PowerBooks from sleep after using DVD Player.
# Addresses a potential issue in which the computer does not respond when quitting DVD Player on some portable computers.

I would still install it anyway

 

[BenderBot1138]

Sleeping Beauty...

1) First things first: go into to your System Preferences, open up your Energy Saver prefs. Click the Show Details button and change the "Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive for:" setting to Never.

Then click the "Use seperate time to put the display to sleep" checkbox, and set it to where you want.

You can try checking or unchecking the "Put the hard disk to sleep when possible" as well, but leaving it off is best for now.

That is the temporary work around for the problem right now.

It may not solve your problem, but it'll keep the computer from going to sleep, and that, according to your description is the main problem for now.

Now for an attempt to see what is the underlying problem ...
2) If your screen is dark when you open it from sleep:
(a) close it again, then open it;
(b) if that doesn't do it, use your brightness buttons F1 and F2 to try to
wake it (above keys (1-3) on Powerbooks.
Once you "initiate" your brightness buttons, maybe everything will be ok.
Do you use an external monitor? That might be doing something. Try redecting displays.

3) I couldn't tell if you are using an external mouse or not from your original post. Try unchecking the Ignore trackpad when mouse present setting in your mouse System Pref panel if it's checked. Changing the setting might start something. It's kind of like giving the right setting a nudge... "hey reset".

Some of the MacRumors gods and regulars are sure to have some insight too. Keep an eye out here.

Info from point 2 above from Apple Knowledge Base Article ID:
75374

As a side note, I assume you've tried turning of the sleep function (setting it to never) and then resetting it. Lots of posts on about the Skin-A-Dock program and the new 10.2.2 update. I'm sure the Skin-A-Dock folks are all over this one but in the meanwhile, once again the MacRumors regulars have the heads-up.

Glad to hear you are holding off on dismantling your Powerbook... not a good idea. Voiding an AppleCare warrenty while at the same time wipeing out a Powerbook might not be a good bruise for the ego.

 

[Mudbug]

Thanks for the help so far, but I've already tried all those things to no luck.

The wierd thing is that most of the time if I go to the apple menu and choose "sleep", it goes to sleep, then is able to be awakened by pressing a key. Almost like the hinge for the LCD is doing something to it.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Mudbug
Thanks for the help so far, but I've already tried all those things to no luck.

The wierd thing is that most of the time if I go to the apple menu and choose "sleep", it goes to sleep, then is able to be awakened by pressing a key. Almost like the hinge for the LCD is doing something to it.

I'm trying to remember something I read about this a while back. Maybe just maybe when you close the lid it presses on a key just at the moment it goes to sleep and causes the lock up. That is why you can put it to sleep before closing it and have it wake up without a problem. It's just a thought.

I would call AppleCare since it sounds like it's still covered.

 

[Mudbug]

that's my next order of business.
Thanks everybody - I'll update this when I know something and share the knowledge.

 

[agreenster]

I had a similar problem with my Ti--here goes:

I had a problem where I would put the computer to sleep, close the lid, and immediately it would come back on (while the lid was closed). Well, I lived with it for a while, but because my computer was on while the scren was closed, the heat of the computer burnt my LCD. So I took it in to a Apple repair shop in town.

They told me that this was a known problem and was a hardware issue. (I have a 550 Ti) The 'old' Ti screens are perfectly flat, but if you notice, the new Ti screens have a slight bend to them and seems to eliminate the sleeping problem (and also tends to keep the screen cleaner, because the keys dont touch the keys when closed.) So anyway, they replaced my screen under warranty, and have had no problems since.

However, I still need to be careful when closing the lid. If the computer has been on for a while, I let it cool down before closing the lid after shutting it off. The powerbutton likes to fry the LCD!

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by agreenster
I had a similar problem with my Ti--here goes:

I had a problem where I would put the computer to sleep, close the lid, and immediately it would come back on (while the lid was closed). Well, I lived with it for a while, but because my computer was on while the scren was closed, the heat of the computer burnt my LCD. So I took it in to a Apple repair shop in town.

They told me that this was a known problem and was a hardware issue. (I have a 550 Ti) The 'old' Ti screens are perfectly flat, but if you notice, the new Ti screens have a slight bend to them and seems to eliminate the sleeping problem (and also tends to keep the screen cleaner, because the keys dont touch the keys when closed.) So anyway, they replaced my screen under warranty, and have had no problems since.

However, I still need to be careful when closing the lid. If the computer has been on for a while, I let it cool down before closing the lid after shutting it off. The powerbutton likes to fry the LCD!

This is good info to everyone. Especially the guy who said to turn off the sleep function. I had thought about the overheating problem but since I don't have a laptop I didn't know for sure so I didn't post.

 

[BenderBot1138]

Good points, but I'd ask MacBandit a question: Doesn't the Powerbook go into sleep mode whenever you close the lid (unless there's a malfunction)? There is a bypass for this, but I always understood it wasn't in the System Prefs.

Interesting too that the Apple Knowledge Base has a method of operating the Powerbook closed (bypassing sleep). Is Apple wrong about this MacBandit? I'm honestly curious.

It was my understanding that turning the System Prefercence Sleep settings to Never shouldn't affect the sleep routines that operate under the hardware (lid closure) trigger. I've got my Powerbook set to the Never setting, and just put it to sleep 30 minutes ago by closing the lid. I'm wondering if based on MacBandits words of advice, whether my Tibook is malfunctioning by still sleeping when I close the lid, even though I have the System Prefs set to Never.

Can you offer some insight MacBandit? I'm sure all of us who use Powerbooks would benefit.

 

[agreenster]

First off, it wasnt macbandit, it was me. He was quoting me.

ANYWAY

The problem wasnt what you are referring to. My computer would NEVER sleep when closed. EVER. If I closed the lid (to put it to sleep), it would stay on. If I would put it to sleep, THEN close the lid, it would come right back on.

The only way my laptop would sleep was when I put it to sleep with the screen open, and never close it.

It was a hardware problem. When I got the new screen, problem was solved. The settings made no difference.

 

[BenderBot1138]

Various causes of insomnia...

Good point agreenster...

AppleCare Knowledge Base doc ID 88066 says sometimes something like the problem you had can be caused by hardware conflicts with the sleep mode.

Specifically, "PPP, Apple Remote Access, and other dial-up programs, monitor the computer's modem port to check for incoming transmissions when set to auto-answer incoming calls. This may prevent the computer from sleeping correctly." I'm sure there are others too, but this proves your point well.

Good catch agreenster... my bad... misunderstood that one.

MacBandit still has me wondering about the heat issue and closed PB's ... something I never thought about before really...

 

[agreenster]

HA ha ha

Heat issue--again, my post

The hot 'power button' of the powerbook can fry the lcd monitor (resulting in a 'grey' spot on the lower right part of the screen) if the screen is closed immediately after powering off a hot computer. The heat from the metal button singes the LCD.


I found that out the hard way.

 

[BenderBot1138]

Some Like it Hot...

Hmmm... I'm not having the heat problem.

I note you're using the 550 PB. I've got an 800 right now (1GHz on order). I'm wondering if Apple fixed that problem. Also I don't get any of the lines or marks I've seen some older PB users talk about. I'm thinking that Apple has fixed many of these issues (perhaps taking to heart sources like MacRumors )

Seems that while we still have the same great look in Titanium PB's, there's a constant and impressive revolution going on at all levels for the best notebook on the planet.

Interesting about the metal button in 550's though agreenster, I'll have to check the heat on mine. I'm not really noticing any of the heat problems that older PB's are supposed to have.

 

[backspinner]

Maybe resetting the power manager helps:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

[idea provided by http://www.appleturns.com/yesterday/]

 

[agreenster]

Re: Some Like it Hot...

Originally posted by BenderBot1138
Hmmm... I'm not having the heat problem.

I note you're using the 550 PB. I've got an 800 right now (1GHz on order).

SUUUUUURE!


RUB it IN!!

 

[MacBandit]

Thanks agreenster for chiming in and taking responsibilty for your statement. I was just replying to what you said and they act as if I made the statement.

I hadn't replied because I was at work. I'm home sick now.

 

[Mudbug]

Well I tried resetting the power reset button under the keyboard, and rebooted, then closed the lid. When I opened it back up, the video was on, but looked like scrambled cable tv, instead of the background image and icons that were there before.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Mudbug
Well I tried resetting the power reset button under the keyboard, and rebooted, then closed the lid. When I opened it back up, the video was on, but looked like scrambled cable tv, instead of the background image and icons that were there before.

Try it again. I seem to remember there being a process involved in resetting the powermanager that you could hold longer or something and give it more time to reset. Again this is a vague memory.