Working workaround for reboot after wake issue

[martinlk]

Hi,

Let me start out by saying that I do not personally own a Mac Pro (yet), since I'm holding out for the reboot after wake problem to get fixed by Apple.

From this discussion, however, it seems that some people have found a workaround. The workaround is as follows:

Ensure that no default disk is selected in the Startup Disk preference pane. One way to achieve this is to boot from e.g. a firewire disk containing an install of OS X and, when booted, select the firewire disk as the default startup disk. You can then shut down and remove the firewire disk. When you turn your computer back on and boot from your internal drive, there should be no default startup disk selected, since the firewire disk has now been removed.

People have reported that the above fix works. One user even reports that he hasn't seen a reboot in a month after applying the workaround.

So, Mac Pro Early 2008 owners, please test this and report back!

 

[kudukudu]

Hmm, I wonder how this will work if you have multiple internal disk. I am guessing that the OS will choose the disk in Bay 1.

 

[martinlk]

Yeah, that would make sense. I'm anxious to hear if this "solves" the problem. Also, I'm a little surprised that this thread hasn't gotten more replies yet.

 

[Squonk]

I did not have the reboot on wake problem for weeks after purchase. Now in the past week, it has happened about 6 times. One common thing that I have found is the usage of non-apple software. If I use FireFox 2 for 30 minutes or more, quit firefox, sleep - it will reboot. I have noticed this every time. The second reboot occurred after I installed and updated my installation of Office2008. Since my last reboot, I have not used FF or Off08 and have not rebooted after 6 or so sleeps.

Has anyone else seem a software correlation to this problem?

There is one other thing that I have noticed. You know how on wake the fans go to full speed for a second or two? Well, if they spin for 1-2 seconds, you will wake from sleep. If they spin for 5 seconds or so, it's a reboot.

 

[martinlk]

One common thing that I have found is the usage of non-apple software. If I use FireFox 2 for 30 minutes or more, quit firefox, sleep - it will reboot. I have noticed this every time.

I think you're speculating too much. Using Firefox or not shouldn't make a difference compared to using Apple software. Memory-wise, Firefox lives in its own isolated address space controlled by the OS, so it can't screw things up so badly that it will cause a reboot.

Anyway, you're kind of off-topic here. Let's get back on track. More users have reported in the thread I mentioned above that this "fix" indeed does work. Please test this on your Mac Pros, people!

 

[Squonk]

Anyway, you're kind of off-topic here. Let's get back on track. More users have reported in the thread I mentioned above that this "fix" indeed does work. Please test this on your Mac Pros, people!

True - sorry about that. I'll give this a whirl tonight.

 

[martinlk]

True - sorry about that. I'll give this a whirl tonight.

Excellent. If this works, I might just purchase my very own Mac Pro

 

[martinlk]

To the people who have voted "no" in the poll: please state what exactly how you tested this.

 

[martinlk]

Well, it seems that Apple has released a firmware update that (hopefully) adresses this issue: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/461563/

 

[jb60606]

I voted yes, though I'm not quite sure yet to be honest.

I changed the boot target to the Apple OSX DVD two nights ago, but I also did the EFI upgrade last night. This weekend I'm going to do a fresh install of the OS, and am not going to do the workaround to see if the firmware update does the trick.