Sleep Light

M

macnewguy

A Mac New Guy
You know when you put your computer to sleep, there is a blue light that is on in the back. Well I just noticed, when i put my computer to sleep a few minutes ago, that it kind of blinks really slowly, but the light doesn't go off. Do you know what I mean. I don't know if that is supposed to happen, because I have never noticed it before.I would appreciate any help. I just don't know what it means!

:( Thanx
 
While in Sleep mode this is normal! You should worry if you shut down your Mac and the light was still blinking! ;)
 
I always think of that as similar to watching someone that's sleeping, like slow, steady breathing. That pulsating light tells me the computer is just resting, and not dead.
 
thanks guys. I can't believe I've never noticed it before. That was a pretty cool thing you wrote, Deltamac.
 
I much prefer a the pulsing of a light to signify sleeping, as opposed to blinking, which is just harsh-looking.
 
On a side note, my G4/400 PCI machine, under OS 9.0.4, would turn the green power light orange when it was sleeping. It never did it anymore under any release of OS X -- it stays green constantly, even when the computer is sleeping.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
On a side note, my G4/400 PCI machine, under OS 9.0.4, would turn the green power light orange when it was sleeping. It never did it anymore under any release of OS X -- it stays green constantly, even when the computer is sleeping.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it never does sleep (at least a deep sleep)
 
Yeah, that's a sign that it's not going into deep sleep. My G4/450 still pulses orange when it's asleep. You must have some PCI card installed that OS X doesn't see as able to enter deep sleep - usually a SCSI card in those cases.
 
Darkshadow said:
Yeah, that's a sign that it's not going into deep sleep. My G4/450 still pulses orange when it's asleep. You must have some PCI card installed that OS X doesn't see as able to enter deep sleep - usually a SCSI card in those cases.
Click to expand...

Well, my computer doesn't support deep sleep anyways. It'll shut off monitors and spin down the hard disks, but the fans keep spinning -- it's been this way since I got it, and it's operating correctly -- that's the most "sleep" functions I'll get out of this machine... it's just that the power light doesn't indicate this anymore.
 
Hmm, you might want to submit that as a bug to Apple, then. Probably, OS X only changes the light if it's hitting deep sleep, but for a computer that doesn't support deep sleep that doesn't make much sense.
 
Ehrm... Your G4/PCI _should_ support deep sleep. That wasn't a newer feature only the AGP ones had, also G3s had it afaik?
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Well, my computer doesn't support deep sleep anyways. It'll shut off monitors and spin down the hard disks, but the fans keep spinning -- it's been this way since I got it, and it's operating correctly -- that's the most "sleep" functions I'll get out of this machine... it's just that the power light doesn't indicate this anymore.
Click to expand...

Not really a bug, anyway. Your system (the logic board and processor) does and will support deep sleep, and it will likely be one of the cards installed in your system that is not allowing it (PCI cards, as has already been mentioned, especially SCSI adapter cards are the worst offenders, perhaps an add-on pro audio card? Also, the video card can be the culprit. Any of these types of cards could have firmware updaters that WILL allow deep sleep. It's not prevented by the logic board, per se.

Not a serious issue, but one that can be fixed, if you want to.
 
Hmmm... well, in light of three people that think my machine supports deep sleep, I'm still going to have to disagree and say that it doesn't... no offense!

From what I know, and as much as I've researched, the first desktop computers that support deep sleep were the AGP G4s. The B/W G3s and the G4 PCI machines do not.

For what it's worth, I've got a Radeon 7000 PCI in the 66MHz slot, a Rage 128 PCI in the very next 33MHz slot and a Sonnet Tempo ATA/100 in the third PCI slot -- and the Tempo card's been flashed with version 4.0 firmware, which does support deep sleep. The Radeon's been flashed with the latest firmware as well, and there are no firmware updates for the Rage 128.

Deep sleep, as far as I understand it, is the ability to sleep the entire system -- hard drives, monitors and fans. Mine sleeps two of the three, sans the fans, just as I would expect it to.

Edit: I just found this KB Article that confirms that my machine does not support deep sleep:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106790

The info is all the way at the bottom.
 
Good point, well taken! I get used to talking about deep sleep as if it's available on any system with New World Roms, and got caught ASSuming (again!)
You Da Man (today)
 
Well, it still bugs me to this day that my machine has lost the orange glow from the power button. It makes me feel as if my machine, so to speak, could be sleeping deeper... hehe... although I know that it's entered the same state of sleep it always has.

If it's worth anything, I didn't lose this funtionality upon upgrading to OS X, I lost it in the transition from 9 to 9.1. I don't have my OS 9 CDs anymore -- sold 'em -- now I've just got my 9.1 install CDs, so I can't even check to make sure it works anymore!
 
Hi guys,

Happy new year, i have a g4 PB Ti 500MHz and when my mac goes to sleep my light is not flashing at all. This has happened after the 10.3.2 update!!!

Also there is a vertical line on the screen about 2.5 inches from the right hand side.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!
 
In a dark room, the white light (iMac/iBook) is really bright when it pulsates.. I would rather have an option to turn it off, or at least the pulsating turned off. So would my ex. :)

-ak
 
hear, hear! i always have to cover up the bastard during the night, cus the light is so bright!

not a big deal, but still.. would be nice to have an option to turn it off.

alex.
 
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