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TICKET ARCHIVE -> iMac G5 will not auto sleep

bwcarter - Jan 3, 2008 - 10:37 pm

Search revealed several users with this problem, but I did not see a solution posted. Our iMac G5 can be put to sleep manually, but it will not go into sleep automatically. The display will go to sleep, but the computer will not go to sleep automatically, and the hard drive spins up every few minutes. I have restored defaults in Energy Saver, zapped the PRAM, and tried various time settings for auto sleep with no effect on the problem. File Sharing is OFF. Airport is ON. Only the keyboard and mouse are connected to the iMac G5.
Thanks for your help.
Billy

bwcarter - Jan 5, 2008 - 9:28 am

I should have mentioned that we are running OS X 10.4.11. We cannot say that this problem occurred coincident with updating to 10.4.11, but we do recall that auto sleep was working before we updated in November 07. My daughter says that failure to auto sleep has occurred intermittently over the past year, but now the computer never auto sleeps.
Thanks,
Billy

Cheryl - Jan 5, 2008 - 7:15 pm

Billy,

I had the same problem on my iMac. Try this:

Open System Preferences>Energy Saver
Click on Options
Uncheck all the boxes.
Close the window. Now give it a test run.

Do you have any programs running when you walk away from the computer? There are some program that when open, check the internet on a schedule, especially some games. Try quitting all programs, then see if it goes to sleep.

Cheryl

bwcarter - Jan 6, 2008 - 9:52 pm

Hi Cheryl,

I tried your suggestions with no effect on the problem. Apple tech support says to do an archive and reinstall. We are reluctant to do a reinstall as that would put us back to 10.4.0 and we would have to update back to 10.4.11.

Thanks,
Billy

Cheryl - Jan 6, 2008 - 10:18 pm

Billy,

You can try trashing the com.apple.systempreferences.plist file from Home>Library>Preferences.
You will have to reset your options in System Preferences, but it may work.

Cheryl

bwcarter - Jan 8, 2008 - 1:58 pm

Hi Cheryl,

I trashed com.apple.systempreferences.plist (did not empty the trash) and restarted the computer. The EnergySaver settings did not change and neither did the problem. Sorry.

Billy

Cheryl - Jan 8, 2008 - 10:28 pm

Bill,

Then an archive and preserve is needed to be done. This will not touch your files or programs that you have installed. It will replace the OS X system files with new files.

Start up from your Mac OS X Install DVD - the one that matches to the OS version you are running. If you have 10.4.11 on the machine, then you need the 10.4 Tiger install disk.
----To use the disk as a start up --- insert the disk, then restart the computer. Immediately hold down the C key. It may take a while, but you will notice a different background screen as the computer starts up. You now can release the c key.

Select your language. The Welcome to the Mac OS X Installer window appears.
go to the Installer menu and select Disk Utility.
Click on the second hard drive icon in the side bar, then click on Repair Disk.
Watch the activity screen. If it does any repairs - you will need to click on the Repair Disk button a second time after the first pass is done. The object is to make sure it finds all the problems and repairs them. You may need to hit that button a third or fourth time to get no references to repairs made.

Now click on Repair Permissions. When done, quit Disk Utility.

Select your language. The Welcome to the Mac OS X Installer window appears.
Click Continue. The Important Information window appears.
After reading or printing the information, click Continue. The Software License Agreement window appears.
After reading or printing the information, click Continue.
An agreement sheet appears. If you agree with the license agreement, click Agree. The Select a Destination window appears.
Click the volume that you wish to install to.
Click Options. The installation options sheet appears.
Select Archive and Install.
Select the volume which already has Mac OS X installed.
You should also select Preserve Users and Network Settings, to preserve network and Home directory settings.
Click OK.
Click Continue to begin the installation.

After restart, go to the Utilities folder and start up Disk Utility to repair permissions.

bwcarter - Jan 11, 2008 - 11:40 am

Hi Cheryl,

We (My daughter Denise and I) don't understand why trashing the com.apple.systempreferences.plist file had no impact on the Energy Saver settings. Shouldn't the settings have returned to default?

When we do the archive and preserve you recommend, we will be at 10.4.0 (our latest disc). Is it difficult to get back to 10.4.11 where we are now? Would we have to do eleven updates?
Thanks,
Billy

Cheryl - Jan 12, 2008 - 8:07 am

Bill,

Usually, trashing the preference file should have brought the settings back to default. In this case, there is probably a corrupt file within the system files that is not allowing this.

Once you have done the archive install you will have 10.4.0 installed. It is really easy to update to 10.4.11 which I was going to give you instructions for in my follow up response.

Just go to System Preferences>Software Update and have it check for updates. It will give you the iTunes, Quicktime, security updates and the 10.4.11 combo update. Once that has installed and you have restarted the computer, just run Disk Utility to repair permissions.

Repairing permissions after major installs is important as the installer has strange permissions and this will correct them.

Cheryl

bwcarter - Jan 13, 2008 - 4:54 pm

Hi Cheryl,

We have not yet run the Archive and Install, but in the process of doing some additional troubleshooting we found that our computer would not come up in the "Safe Mode" described on the Apple Support site. The computer gets to the gray screen with the Apple and the rotating "gear" and then the fan goes into high speed and no further progress is made. At this point the computer must be unplugged to shut it down. Once the power is restored, the computer can be started up normally.
Comments?

Thanks,
Billy

Cheryl - Jan 13, 2008 - 10:37 pm

Billy,

Safe mode not coming up means there is something seriously wrong with either the system files or the computer itself.

Your computer came with Apple Hardware Test. It maybe on the Additional Software disk. Start up the computer using that disk and have it go through the tests.

Let me know what happens.

Cheryl

bwcarter - Jan 15, 2008 - 9:43 am

Cheryl,

We ran the Apple Hardware Test and our iMac G5 passed all the tests. I suppose our next step is the Archive and Install that you recommended?
BTW, we thought we didn't have a hardware test disc, but discovered in the fine print on the label that it is on the OS X 10.4 Install Disc 1 and is accessed by holding down the "Option" key on start-up.
Thank you for your help.

Billy

Cheryl - Jan 15, 2008 - 6:16 pm

Billy,

Apple changed it again. Thank you for letting me know. Yes, archive and install is the way to go at this point.

Keep me posted.

Cheryl

bwcarter - Jan 15, 2008 - 11:01 pm

Cheryl,
Auto Sleep started working on our iMac this afternoon. We were not troubleshooting at the time, so we don't know what made it begin sleeping again.
Since something had obviously changed, we tried coming up in Safe Mode again. It took a nerve-wracking 4 minutes of high fan speed, but it worked. It could be that we did not allow enough time when we tried Safe Boot previously, as we bailed out shortly after the fans blasted off.
We have not yet done the Archive and Install. I don't know if this is still necessary, or should we just leave well enough alone.
Thanks,

Billy

Cheryl - Jan 16, 2008 - 6:10 am

Bill,

You could watch the sleep response for a couple of days. If it continues to behave correctly, then you do not need to do the archive install. If it happens just periodically, then do the archive install.

This is the case of the computer having a mind of its own. As for the timing of the computer booting in safe mode, this happens to me when I start up with a CD/DVD. It seems to take forever and the fans seem to get louder as well as the optical drive. We are forcing the computer to start up with something other than its main instructions.

Cheryl

bwcarter - Jan 17, 2008 - 4:03 pm

Cheryl,
We are back in business and our iMac autosleep continues to work. Only one thing seems unusual to us: With both display sleep and computer sleep set to the same time interval, the display will go to sleep on time, but the computer will go to sleep about one minute later. Is that normal?
Thanks,
Billy

Cheryl - Jan 17, 2008 - 11:14 pm

Billy,

That is normal. This is one thing that the computer can only do one thing at a time.

I am glad you are working smoothly. I will close this ticket.

Cheryl