Sleep problem (insomnia): A summary

[tdemarco]

There are perhaps a dozen threads going on this forum and at MacFixIt.com about the problem of OSX Jaguar machines that won't go to sleep when the time set in the Energy Saver pane is used up. In this note I shall try to summarize the problem and the various solutions that have been proposed for it.
Here is the problem: You set the sleep time in the Energy Saver panel. When the time is used up, instead of going to sleep, the machine dims its screen (even though you have not requested separate screen dimming). The hard disc does not spin down. You can make the screen come on again by moving the cursor. The machine is not asleep.
I have counted at least five prescriptions for dealing with this problem. I've tried them all and they all don't work. So here is my quick summary of what doesn't in general work (BTW, others of you have reported as well that some of these didn't work for you):
1. Many people wrote in to suggest zapping the prom. That didn't work for me.
2. Many suggested that personal sharing might have been on. The won't sleep
but happens even with all forms of sharing disabled.
3. Some have suggested that the problem has to do with some USB devices. I
can confirm that my mac is insomniac even with all USB devices detached.
4. One person says the problem is due to iTunes running in the background. It
happens for me with iTunes not running.
5. Some say it's a Palm problem. I disabled the palm desktop and the
synch feature. Still happens.

I read here that the heart of the problem is that Apple has implemented auto sleep only for laptops, not desktops. But there were lots of people complaining of insomnia on laptops as well.
I reasoned that in our old world, we'd have trashed the pref file, which may have been corrupted. I tried trashing the prefpane from System/Library, but when I did, the energy saver would not open (it won't rebuild the entire pref pane when it finds it missing). So I tried trashing those elements of the prefpane that it was willing to rebuild. It dutifully replaced the missing stuff, but still wouldn't sleep.

So . . . I come up empty. Any additional suggestions welcome.

t.

[symphonix]

One thing that might be very helpful is if we could get a list of all the processes running on your Mac. Try opening up a Terminal (in Applications - Utilties) and typing:

ps aux

you should get an output that looks a little like:

USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TT STAT STARTED TIME COMMAND
bp 381 20.9 1.8 46456 6928 ?? S 7:34PM 2:30.50 /Applications/Hewlett-Packard/HP Photo and Imaging Sof
bp 385 14.9 1.2 44400 4880 ?? S 7:40PM 0:03.95 /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app/Contents/MacOS/Te
bp 389 6.3 10.0 115940 39432 ?? S 7:41PM 8:15.54 /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari -psn_0_
bp 391 5.7 1.7 57512 6876 ?? S 7:43PM 2:17.58 /Applications/MSN Messenger.app/Contents/MacOS/MSN Mes
bp 176 3.7 6.8 57004 26544 ?? Ss 7:27PM 2:17.27 /System/Library/CoreServices/WindowServer -daemon
bp 393 0.7 0.7 41484 2708 ?? S 7:43PM 0:29.58 /Applications/MSN Messenger.app/Contents/SharedSupport
root 143 0.0 0.2 15 ... ... etc etc

If you could copy and paste that here, we can look for any processes that might be keeping your Mac from sleeping.

[Azzgunther]

I have a computer that won't go to sleep. Instead of fighting with it, I decided to just get a program that will put it to sleep at a certain time. That way, I can go to sleep with iTunes and wake up with a sleeping computer...

(or a computer that slept but just woke up due to the programs alarm clock function)

Check out iBeeZz

Good stuff.

[JeffCGD]

Have you got a SCSI card in your machine? If you do, check that your drivers for it support deep sleeping it, and your machine.
If not, then do check for automated tasks that might be keeping it awake, as the energy saving features work fine for most of us. What you are experiencing isn't the norm.

[hulkaros]

Originally posted by tdemarco
There are perhaps a dozen threads going on this forum and at MacFixIt.com about the problem of OSX Jaguar machines that won't go to sleep when the time set in the Energy Saver pane is used up. In this note I shall try to summarize the problem and the various solutions that have been proposed for it.
Here is the problem: You set the sleep time in the Energy Saver panel. When the time is used up, instead of going to sleep, the machine dims its screen (even though you have not requested separate screen dimming). The hard disc does not spin down. You can make the screen come on again by moving the cursor. The machine is not asleep.
I have counted at least five prescriptions for dealing with this problem. I've tried them all and they all don't work. So here is my quick summary of what doesn't in general work (BTW, others of you have reported as well that some of these didn't work for you):
1. Many people wrote in to suggest zapping the prom. That didn't work for me.
2. Many suggested that personal sharing might have been on. The won't sleep
but happens even with all forms of sharing disabled.
3. Some have suggested that the problem has to do with some USB devices. I
can confirm that my mac is insomniac even with all USB devices detached.
4. One person says the problem is due to iTunes running in the background. It
happens for me with iTunes not running.
5. Some say it's a Palm problem. I disabled the palm desktop and the
synch feature. Still happens.

I read here that the heart of the problem is that Apple has implemented auto sleep only for laptops, not desktops. But there were lots of people complaining of insomnia on laptops as well.
I reasoned that in our old world, we'd have trashed the pref file, which may have been corrupted. I tried trashing the prefpane from System/Library, but when I did, the energy saver would not open (it won't rebuild the entire pref pane when it finds it missing). So I tried trashing those elements of the prefpane that it was willing to rebuild. It dutifully replaced the missing stuff, but still wouldn't sleep.

So . . . I come up empty. Any additional suggestions welcome.

t.

1st of all: WELCOME!
2nd: What is your exact Mac config (including add-ons, peripherals, etc.)?
3rd: Here are some other things except the ones you mentioned that may prevent your system to sleep:
-Loaded Classic
-AppleTalk
-You need to install/reinstall 10.2.6 Combo Update
-A 3rd party software/hardware including external devices that are not "that" compatible with your OS X based config
-Older Mac firmware
-A bad RAM, hard disk, graphics card, etc.

Let us know!

[tdemarco]

processes running on won't sleep iMac:

[Talleyrand-2:~] tomdemarco% ps aux
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TT STAT STARTED TIME COMMAND
tomdemarco 136 11.0 1.6 2880840 67056 ?? U 1:19PM 0:33.36 /System/
root 1771 5.7 0.1 2470432 4472 ?? Us 8:42PM 0:00.24 /System/
_windowserver 76 3.6 2.1 2868440 89812 ?? Rs 1:19PM 3:10.99 /System/
tomdemarco 1776 1.7 0.2 2767584 10000 ?? S 8:42PM 0:00.21 /Applica
tomdemarco 1754 1.7 1.0 487996 40404 ?? S 8:38PM 0:06.32 /System/
root 1803 1.6 0.0 2447508 1560 ?? Ss 8:43PM 0:00.01 /usr/lib
tomdemarco 135 1.2 0.5 2781820 20024 ?? S 1:19PM 0:07.38 /System/
tomdemarco 232 0.4 2.4 1073960 99836 ?? S 1:38PM 1:26.03 /System/
tomdemarco 1242 0.3 1.1 857012 47176 ?? S 7:49PM 0:13.51 /System/
tomdemarco 1802 0.2 0.1 2448892 3656 ?? UN 8:43PM 0:00.03 /System/
root 15 0.2 0.1 2475440 3372 ?? Ss 1:18PM 0:01.40 /usr/lib
tomdemarco 165 0.1 1.1 711968 44904 ?? S 1:19PM 2:02.98 /System/
tomdemarco 893 0.1 2.4 973188 102680 ?? S 4:11PM 3:49.76 /System/
tomdemarco 1786 0.1 0.0 2439404 1152 s000 S 8:42PM 0:00.02 -tcsh
tomdemarco 155 0.1 0.1 395680 4756 ?? S 1:19PM 0:19.40 /Library
root 1792 0.1 0.1 2472312 4900 ?? Ss 8:43PM 0:00.35 /System/
tomdemarco 831 0.0 1.1 884440 48132 ?? S 3:54PM 0:11.42 /Library
tomdemarco 652 0.0 0.0 351868 2048 ?? S 2:30PM 0:00.13 /Library
tomdemarco 639 0.0 0.0 2457804 1000 ?? S 2:29PM 0:00.02 /System/
tomdemarco 637 0.0 6.5 5194904 271284 ?? S 2:29PM 1:35.38 /Applica
tomdemarco 225 0.0 0.2 2467632 9364 ?? S 1:32PM 0:00.44 /System/
root 194 0.0 0.0 2446424 1140 ?? Ss 1:21PM 0:00.42 /System/
tomdemarco 192 0.0 0.0 2446332 1296 ?? S 1:21PM 0:00.01 /System/
tomdemarco 174 0.0 2.3 11239876 95584 ?? S 1:20PM 0:44.17 /Applica
tomdemarco 170 0.0 0.0 350852 1676 ?? S 1:19PM 0:00.13 /Library
tomdemarco 167 0.0 0.2 11140960 8812 ?? S 1:19PM 0:00.24 /Applica
tomdemarco 164 0.0 0.0 2436604 840 ?? S 1:19PM 0:00.00 /usr/sbi
tomdemarco 163 0.0 0.1 367788 3788 ?? S 1:19PM 0:14.84 /Library
tomdemarco 158 0.0 0.1 2727232 4692 ?? S 1:19PM 0:00.13 /System/
tomdemarco 154 0.0 0.1 420796 5324 ?? S 1:19PM 0:00.73 /Library
tomdemarco 152 0.0 0.1 388380 5020 ?? S 1:19PM 0:00.31 /Library
tomdemarco 151 0.0 0.1 2734444 6096 ?? S 1:19PM 0:00.15 /System/
tomdemarco 144 0.0 0.1 2449672 5392 ?? S 1:19PM 0:00.35 /usr/lib
tomdemarco 141 0.0 0.1 2498080 4188 ?? S 1:19PM 0:02.34 /System/
tomdemarco 134 0.0 0.3 2789928 13308 ?? S 1:19PM 0:03.55 /System/
tomdemarco 130 0.0 0.0 2456404 1036 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.59 /sbin/la
_coreaudiod 122 0.0 0.1 2452468 4428 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.59 /usr/sbi
root 111 0.0 0.0 2438196 852 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.11 /System/
root 107 0.0 0.1 311028 5440 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.30 /Library
root 89 0.0 0.2 307884 7320 ?? S 1:19PM 0:00.32 /Library
root 74 0.0 0.9 2495748 39128 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:12.82 /System/
root 53 0.0 0.1 108616 4676 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.73 /Library
root 50 0.0 0.0 2437616 932 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.08 autofsd
root 44 0.0 0.0 2434864 788 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.01 /sbin/dy
root 42 0.0 0.1 2455296 2764 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:03.39 /System/
root 41 0.0 0.0 2446840 944 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.08 /usr/lib
root 39 0.0 0.0 2446928 1004 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.15 /usr/sbi
tomdemarco 38 0.0 0.2 2742848 8004 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.64 /System/
root 37 0.0 1.7 2998884 71800 ?? Ss 1:19PM 4:19.54 /System/
root 32 0.0 0.0 2446848 1020 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.08 /sbin/Sy
_usbmuxd 31 0.0 0.1 2461020 3176 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:09.51 /System/
root 29 0.0 0.1 2446404 2288 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.28 /usr/sbi
root 27 0.0 0.0 2435292 1124 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:01.25 /usr/sbi
root 23 0.0 0.1 2459512 3436 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.37 /usr/sbi
_mdnsresponder 18 0.0 0.1 2459588 2476 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:02.18 /usr/sbi
daemon 17 0.0 0.0 2446820 1340 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:01.15 /usr/sbi
root 16 0.0 0.1 2461416 4772 ?? Ss 1:19PM 0:00.25 /usr/sbi
root 14 0.0 0.0 2457256 728 ?? Ss 1:18PM 0:00.32 /usr/sbi
root 13 0.0 0.0 2447492 1620 ?? Ss 1:18PM 0:07.64 /usr/sbi
root 12 0.0 0.0 2444624 624 ?? Ss 1:18PM 0:00.70 /usr/sbi
root 11 0.0 0.1 2453892 5092 ?? Ss 1:18PM 0:06.50 /usr/sbi
root 10 0.0 0.1 2448588 2792 ?? Ss 1:18PM 0:00.92 /usr/lib
root 1804 0.0 0.0 2434868 520 s000 R+ 8:43PM 0:00.00 ps aux
root 1 0.0 0.0 2456860 1164 ?? Ss 1:18PM 0:14.21 /sbin/la
root 1785 0.0 0.0 2446148 1624 ?? Ss 8:42PM 0:00.03 /System/
root 1780 0.0 0.0 2436216 1564 s000 Ss 8:42PM 0:00.04 login -p
root 1773 0.0 0.0 2446840 1624 ?? Ss 8:42PM 0:00.01 /System/
root 1772 0.0 0.1 2446548 4340 ?? Ss 8:42PM 0:00.07 /System/
root 1757 0.0 0.0 2447744 1688 ?? Ss 8:38PM 0:00.02 /usr/sbi
tomdemarco 1751 0.0 0.2 2727460 6496 ?? S 8:37PM 0:00.08 /System/
tomdemarco 1749 0.0 0.2 106112 7492 ?? S 8:37PM 0:00.34 /System/
tomdemarco 1748 0.0 0.1 2738932 6140 ?? S 8:37PM 0:00.07 /System/
tomdemarco 1740 0.0 0.4 2774372 14916 ?? S 8:36PM 0:00.47 /Applica
root 1322 0.0 0.1 2450488 3704 ?? Ss 8:33PM 0:00.02 /System/
tomdemarco 1320 0.0 2.6 4972812 108088 ?? S 8:33PM 0:11.92 /System/
_spotlight 1319 0.0 0.1 2467868 3548 ?? SNs 8:32PM 0:00.05 /System/
tomdemarco 1317 0.0 1.7 549836 70032 ?? S 8:32PM 0:23.92 /Applica
tomdemarco 1248 0.0 0.4 672572 16688 ?? S 7:49PM 0:02.17 /System/
tomdemarco 1233 0.0 0.5 2482104 20700 ?? SNs 7:44PM 0:02.11 /System/

Thanks in advance for trying to help.

[DeltaMac]

Are you trying to say that you haven't fixed your problem from nearly 8 years ago?
And you have the same Mac (from 8 years ago), with the same OS X version?

[tdemarco]

No. I have two new macs, one 2009 and the other late 2010, an iMac and a MacBook Air. Neither one can go to sleep when idle for the period set in the energy saver. Problem persists even without any usb attached, even when no user program running.