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Why is Sleep Mode such a challenge for Apple?

I haven't had any problems getting either of my Macs (Macbook Pro, Mac Pro) to sleep or stay asleep. I do have safe sleep disabled, though, as I have no need for it (only carry around one battery) and the machine gets to sleep a lot faster.

For all of you having problems, I wonder if you are running some software that may be breaking sleep? Anything that uses a kext might be suspect. Perhaps also hardware related? I find that attached USB devices can wake a sleeping Mac if you so much as fart in their general direction.

I generally follow these rules when sleeping my Macbook Pro:

- Close any apps with a persistent network state, such as Adium and Thunderbird (no point leaving them open as I'd have to restart them when waking anyway)
- Disconnect all USB devices
- Close the lid.

The system has never woken up on its own, nor has it failed to go to sleep in normal conditions.
 
I've been having issues lately with my 2.16 CD MBP draining the battery when in sleep mode. I don't know how long the issue has been going on, since I just noticed it while traveling on vacation with i sitting in the bag for long periods of time. I'd have it fully charged only to have it dead completely 14 hours later.
 
Another thing I've never understood is Apple's method of USB devices being able to wake from sleep.

Here's what makes sense:

"Oh, a user plugged a mouse in! He must want to use me, I should wake up!"

Here's what doesn't, but happens anway:

"Oh, a user unplugged his iPod! He's probably leaving the computer, but ah heck, I'll turn back on anyway!" :rolleyes:
 
Sal Collaziano said:
There are times when I need to do the "alt/command - cd eject" combination for fast entry into sleep mode.. I've had my MBP since November and I'm running the latest updates. On several occasions (at least 10), I've come back to my computer very hot and still running - through the screen was off.

What's the deal? And how long is my computer going to last if this keeps happening? The thing gets very hot just sitting there with the lid closed for hours on end.
Click to expand...

Doesn't that key combo just turn the screen off but not sleep the machine? That might be why it's not sleeping...:rolleyes:
 
Has anybody else disabled Safe Sleep on their Mac?
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070302210328928 (Note: It says for Mac OS 10.4 but it works with Mac OS 10.5 too)

If you haven't, I would recommend that you should.

Here's a quote by lincd0 on that site about why you should disable Safe Sleep:
"Disabling Safe Sleep should be the first thing you do on any new Mac. It writes your passwords and everything else in memory out to disk in the clear, where they're trivial to recover. It's appalling that Apple enables this by default and doesn't give naive users any warning of the risk, even when they turn on FileVault. Safe Sleep completely negates the effect of FileVault and most other forms of encryption."
 
i have never had any issues with the sleep... i honestly dont think its the computer or osx itself. its something that u must of done at one point or another.
 
When I close the lid, the screen turns off and it takes 30 seconds or so for my 17" MBP to go into sleep mode( when I hear the fans turn off). Is that normal or is it unusual? My 12" Powerbook G4 was almost immediate when I closed the screen.
 
quagmire said:
When I close the lid, the screen turns off and it takes 30 seconds or so for my 17" MBP to go into sleep mode( when I hear the fans turn off). Is that normal or is it unusual?
Click to expand...

That's normal when Safe Sleep mode is enabled.
 
kabunaru said:
That's normal when Safe Sleep mode is enabled.
Click to expand...

I can't seem to find the option to turn off Safe Sleep in the system preferences. Where is it? Doesn't even come up in spotlight or in the system preference search.

EDIT: Clicked your link and it is a terminal command.

EDIT II: I turned it off. I don't really care either way, but I have no need for it due to I usually quit all apps before I put my computer to sleep and I don't do anything critical that I would be screwed if an app was closed to to a power loss and the battery completely drained.

EDIT III: Can't seem to find the file to delete it. Spotlight shows nothing and Finder search shows nothing......
 
notsofatjames said:
Id have to say Apples are the only computer that can do the sleep thing properly... have you ever tried sleep on a windows laptop?

I had one for work once, I kept closing the lid like habit. It was useless.
Click to expand...

I'll second that. When my friend got his first mac, I didn't really grasp the concept of "sleep" as applied to a computer. If I could ever manage to get my PC to sleep, there was no waking it up. I was so amazed that I could close his computer, and the battery wouldn't die. And even better, the next day, I could open it and it would be on and just the way I left it.

True story.
 
I would have to agree with the OP. I've had my MBP not go to sleep a few times before, and since then I've been very careful to make sure it is asleep before I close the lid. Being that its a $2k laptop coming back to it still on with the lid close is a little horrifying. It's a burden to have to do this everytime...
 
Here am at 10.5.5 and sleep is still hopelessly, shamefully, embarrassingly broken. It continues to be totally frustrating when used with my MBP and external displays. I hate how often I have to do a force reboot after connecting to an external display because this POS won't wake up from sleep. As much as I hate Windows XP, my Dell laptop goes to sleep and wakes from it flawlessly every time, without incident. Why can't Apple make it work reliably?

Sleep on Mac OS X is crap. I wish they would finally fix it once and for all.
 
RaceTripper said:
Here am at 10.5.5 and sleep is still hopelessly, shamefully, embarrassingly broken. It continues to be totally frustrating when used with my MBP and external displays. I hate how often I have to do a force reboot after connecting to an external display because this POS won't wake up from sleep. As much as I hate Windows XP, my Dell laptop goes to sleep and wakes from it flawlessly every time, without incident. Why can't Apple make it work reliably?

Sleep on Mac OS X is crap. I wish they would finally fix it once and for all.
Click to expand...

Have you looked at post#33 of this thread?
 
kabunaru said:
Have you looked at post#33 of this thread?
Click to expand...
Did that a long time ago. Makes no difference.

Using sleep in combination with disconnecting and connecting to external monitors just plain doesn't work worth a damn. Never has since I got it. Very frustrating since I hoped by 10.5.5 it would be better.
 
10.5.6 and Mac OS X sleep is still ass.

Disconnected my MBP in clamshell from my ACD and it refused to ever wake up. Had to hard power cycle.
 
the new EFI update works

my unibody MBP used to wake up after closing the lid but then unplug a usb connection - it wouldn't go back to sleep again, the light keeps on.

Then when I opened the lid, the screen was black and couldn't wake my MBP up, had to press the power button for 5 sec or used the Control-Command-Eject trick.

Now the EFI update solve this problem, if anyone experience the same problem, give it a go
 
SMC reset MIGHT fix it..
10.5.6 combo update fixed my MacPro sleeping issues. :)
normal update screwd them up. (worked fine from 10.5.0-10.5.5)

my mbp however sleeps like a baby.. no issues regarding that.. or just about everything except i dont know whats with the fans.
 
Aside from problems waking up from sleep years ago back in the pre-Tiger days, sleep has worked quite well for me. I close the lid and let it fall asleep with out yanking the cord, moving it activating motion sensors, etc. before the sleep light is snoring, and have then always been good to go on several MBPs and multiple rev's of OS X.
 
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