Computer shuts down when it enters sleep! and a few questions

[shinedown]

Whenever my computer enters the sleep mode (goes dark after the screensaver is over) it shuts down, sometimes having the external white light staying lit. In order to turn it back on, you have to unplug it and wait for some time. this also happens if you hit sleep from the apple menu. Any ideas why this is happening?

A few of my other questions mostly regard a slow-down in how fast my computer runs. This may be because of how many pictures I have, but could it be...

-a virus? I read the thread that said there were none but that was posted almost a year ago
-some other problem I, being the computer gringo, wouldn't even know about?

Also, one other problem I've been having recent is finder takes a long time to load when I turn on the computer. The wallpaper and dock load, but finder takes some time, no desktop icons or the top menu bar load. This doesn't happen often, but has the past few times.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[symphonix]

This may be because of how many pictures I have,

Are you running low on hard-disk space? I think you need a fair amount of free hard-drive space for it to sleep correctly.

but could it be...
-a virus? I read the thread that said there were none but that was posted almost a year ago

Nope, still no viruses on the Mac in over 20 years. (Steve puts on his gloating glasses and grins).

-some other problem I, being the computer gringo, wouldn't even know about?

The next thing I would do is use the Console to find out exactly what is happening during this failure. Make a note of the system time, then tell your Mac to Sleep. After you revive it from its little episode, go into /Applications/Utilities and launch Console.app. Have a look at any logs for that date/time and see what you can find. I suggest copy-pasting anything that looks like it might be related to the problem.

Sleep problems are not unheard of, they are often caused by bad device drivers, such as mouse drivers. Console will tell you exactly where to start looking.

Also, one other problem I've been having recent is finder takes a long time to load when I turn on the computer. The wallpaper and dock load, but finder takes some time, no desktop icons or the top menu bar load. This doesn't happen often, but has the past few times.

Finder is often slow to load after a crash such as the one described above. And once again, the Console may provide a clue to what is happening. I had a problem with the logon screen locking up for about a minute, and the Console revealed that my Wacom tablet's driver was to blame. I updated that, and viola, problem solved.

 

[shinedown]

thanks a lot, i'll check this out and see if it helps