|
Replies
:
19
-
Pages
:
2
[
1
2
|
Next
]
-
Last Post
:
Dec 4, 2006 9:04 PM
by: Crash Davis
|
|
|
Posts:
1
Registered:
Apr 19, 2006
|
|
|
|
Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Apr 19, 2006 4:35 PM
|
|
|
My powerbook seem to go into sleep mode while I am working on something. Or the display kind of blinks or fade into black.
If I press the power button several times, it comes back but usually asks me if I want to turn off the computer.
As I press the power button, I can hear the hard drive kind of restarting.
It is not the problem with my settings or battery.
Please help.
PowerMac G4 1.5
Mac OS X (10.3.9)
|
|
Posts:
4
Registered:
Jul 1, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Jul 1, 2006 8:13 AM
in response to: lucichao
|
|
|
I am having the same problem. It is not a power managaement settings issue; I have options set so the screen should never sleep.
At random times, even while on AC power and in the middle of typing, the screen suddenly goes black. Hitting any key wakes the display up. I hear the same sounds as the wake up when I open the lid.
This is very annoying. I paid for a premium machine, and don't feel like I got one.
I have seen others describe this problem, but no solutions. See for instance this thread on another forum:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=140151
Powerbook G4 Aluminum Mac OS X (10.4.7)
|
|
Posts:
17
Registered:
Jun 9, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Jul 6, 2006 9:06 AM
in response to: dcabana
|
|
|
Open your utilities folder.
Open the program "Console."
Select Logs.
Select System Logs.
Look for any errors such as " Power Management received emergency overtemp signal. Going to sleep."
What do you find?
Powerbook G4 15" Aluminium
Mac OS X (10.4.7)
|
|
Posts:
4
Registered:
Jul 1, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Jul 6, 2006 12:07 PM
in response to: Bdavid
|
|
|
Bdavid,
Dude, you rock. I checked the system log and found (imaging drum roll here)
"Jul 6 14:42:12 willow kernel[0]: Power Management received emergency overtemp signal. Going to sleep.USBF: 25588.848 AppleUSBOHCI[0x1f0a000] Processing WDH before suspending"
I take this to mean the maching is overheating. Will see what I can do about that.
I really appreciate your help. I was not even thinking along these lines; I figured it was a software problem.
Powerbook G4 Aluminum
Mac OS X (10.4.7)
|
|
Posts:
17
Registered:
Jun 9, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Jul 6, 2006 12:20 PM
in response to: dcabana
|
|
|
D,
check this link for a program called "Temperature Monitor."
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19994
It will allow you to view the data output from your internal temperature sensors.
You may find that one sensor is indicating an overheat.
Display the "history widow" of the program to see if any sensor is bugging out. If it is, you will see very fast and erratic temperature spikes.
Let me know what you find.
B.
Powerbook G4 15" Aluminium 1.67 Ghz
Mac OS X (10.4.7)
|
|
Posts:
4
Registered:
Jul 1, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Jul 6, 2006 1:37 PM
in response to: Bdavid
|
|
|
B
I installed the temp monitor program. Everthing looks plausible except for the trackpad temp, which alternates between exactly 0.0F and roughly 33F, flip-flopping many times a minute. This reading is clearly wrong since my trackpad is not ice cold, nor does it rapidly change temp.
I am going to leave the temp monitor running to collect data for a few days, and try to see if I can correlate spikes in temp to overtemp messages in the system log. My machine tends to go to sleep say three times a day, so it is not an urgent problem. On the other hand, the warranty only has a month left on it, so I want to resolve this matter. Am considering buying Applecare, but it is not cheap.
I found a pretty interesting thread concerning this problem; be sure to read the comments. The theory is that many Powerbooks, especially vintage 2005 models, have a faulty trackpad temp sensor.
http://www.communitymx.com/blog/index.cfm?newsid=652
Powerbook G4 Aluminum Mac OS X (10.4.7)
Powerbook G4 Aluminum
Mac OS X (10.4.7)
|
|
Posts:
17
Registered:
Jun 9, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Jul 6, 2006 9:15 PM
in response to: dcabana
|
|
|
D,
with only a month left on your warranty, I would recommend getting the top case replaced. the symptom will gradually get worse.
as for purchasing the apple care: consider that a logic board is about 900 usd....a top case is about 290 usd.
do your history graphs look like this:
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=552006650&security=AvwwDR
take a few screen shots of your track pad output, save one or two console log files and talk to your local apple tech. if you have the capability, load a fresh version of OSX onto a fire wire drive and boot your mac from it. this will confirm you are chasing a hardware issue.
before they take the tools to the case (the platform on which the key pad is mounted), remember to back up your goods.
B.
Powerbook G4 15" Aluminium 1.67 Ghz
Mac OS X (10.4.7)
|
|
Posts:
9
Registered:
May 10, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Aug 15, 2006 6:44 PM
in response to: Bdavid
|
|
|
I have what appears to be a very similar problem to the one discussed in this thread. It is on a G5 iMac, running OSX 10.3.9. The machine will go to sleep, I wake it up, and it goes to sleep again 15 to 20 seconds later (ball park figure, not measured). Repeats over and over.
First time it happened was a couple months ago, then it went away after I rebooted.
Tonight it happened again, and continued to happen until I stopped a program that was running in the terminal window (self-written, a mix of python and C, compute bound). Fans run high on this machine most of the time (compared to a very quiet intel dual sitting 3 feet away), so temperature is a legitimate concern, even without a faulty sensor. After a few minutes I ran the program again, and it completed without problem while I searched the discussion forums.
I want to follow up on the theory that it is a temperature problem. However, when I open the console program, I don't seem to have the same options/choices listed earlier in this discussion. When I launch the program, I see a window titled console.log. I click the Logs icon, but then I do not see a "System Logs" to select. Instead, I see a list of console.log, ~/Library/Logs, /Library/Logs, and /var/log. I've hunted around these some but have not found any temp sensor events. Am I looking in the right place?
Is there any way to search the log files with a grep from the terminal window?
Thanks for any help,
Bob H
IMac (intel duo)
Mac OS X (10.4.6)
|
|
Posts:
4
Registered:
Jul 1, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Aug 15, 2006 8:30 PM
in response to: bumblebeagle
|
|
|
Let me begin by finishing my story. I took the Powerbook to the local Apple store, and explained the situation as I understood it. The guy at the Genius Bar was very friendly, took my story, and the PB. They replaced both the top case and the main board, which would have cost a cool $1100 (as I recall, may be off a bit) had it not been under warranty still. This did indeed solve the problem.
I decided to pop for the extended Apple Care, since I hope to get several more years out of this Mac.
As for finding the system log, when I bring up the console app, I do see system.log as one of the choices. But if you don't, it can be found at /var/log/system.log
If you are handy with grep in the terminal, have at it, and good luck.
|
|
Posts:
9
Registered:
May 10, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Aug 16, 2006 5:02 AM
in response to: dcabana
|
|
|
Thanks for pointing me at system.log. I don't see it in the console app, but I'll bet that's because I am nto logged in as an administrator. Examining the file itself (which required an admin password), I see several line like this one:
Thermal Manager: max temperature exceeded for 30 seconds, forcing system sleep
followed by a dump of various hardware status, including this:
[4] "Hard drive" Type:"temperature" Id:4 CUR:53.0 C
I'll have to check my AppleCare duration-- not sure if I'm still on it for this machine, purchased in Sep/2004. Don't know if I purchased 1 year of Apple Care or 3.
In any case, thanks for helping me figure out the cause.
Bob H
IMac (intel duo)
Mac OS X (10.4.6)
|
|
Posts:
1
Registered:
Sep 4, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Sep 3, 2006 10:39 PM
in response to: lucichao
|
|
|
Ok I have the sleeping sickness too. I went to the utilities menu and all that but my log did not say anything about temperature. It said this:
Sep 4 01:32:24 jill-connors-powerbook-g4-12 kernel[0]: Wake event 0001
Sep 4 01:32:24 jill-connors-powerbook-g4-12 kernel[0]: ADB present:84
Sep 4 01:32:24 jill-connors-powerbook-g4-12 kernel[0]: UniNEnet::monitorLinkStatus - Link is up at 100 Mbps - Full Duplex
Sep 4 01:32:25 jill-connors-powerbook-g4-12 kernel[0]: en0 duplicate IP address 192.168.168.128 sent from address 00:11:24:dd:b9:be
Sep 4 01:32:25 jill-connors-powerbook-g4-12 mDNSResponder: Repeated transitions for interface lo0 (FE80:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001); delaying packets by 5 seconds
Sep 4 01:32:25 jill-connors-powerbook-g4-12 mDNSResponder: Repeated transitions for interface en0 (192.168.168.128); delaying packets by 5 seconds
Sep 4 01:32:53 jill-connors-powerbook-g4-12 kernel[0]: System Sleep
That is between me waking it and it going to sleep again, a matter of moments.
WHAT DO I DO NOW? I am so desperate. I am a grad student with no car and no where near an Apple repair place. Please help me.
power book 12 inch
Mac OS X (10.4.7)
|
|
Posts:
61
Registered:
Oct 18, 2005
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Sep 10, 2006 5:56 PM
in response to: Jillbeme
|
|
|
All, I've posted a bit on the 15" aluminium powerbook thread on what I call Narcoleptic Aluminium PowerBook syndrome. Your random sleep problem is a problem on some 17" PBs, a lot of 12" PBs and a heap of 15" PBs built early last year.
Most are just out of warranty now and Apple is saying we need to replace both the top panel and the logic board??? That is about $1,200!!!
I've posted a page to rally angry owners so we can put some pressure on Apple to fess up and fix.
http://web.mac.com/rickcameron/iWeb/Electric%20Lamb/N.A.P./N.A.P..html
Or email me at rickcameron @ mac.com and I'll invite you onto a dedicated .Mac mail group to exchange ideas and read the cream of suggestions from a number of discussion boards and forums that are focused on this issue.
Powerbook G4 15" Model 5,6
Mac OS X (10.4.7)
CPU 1.67 GHz Memory 1.5GB
|
|
Posts:
11
Registered:
Sep 10, 2006
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Sep 10, 2006 8:50 PM
in response to: bumblebeagle
|
|
|
This may be related to the temp issues but i do not think it is. One line of the G5 iMacs had and issue with the power supply (including my dads) that caused a problem like the on you describe. hit this link and see if your serial matches up: http://www.apple.com/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/ They replaced both the motherboard which had been fried as the problem escalated and the power supply very quickly, so give it a shot.
Power Book G4
Mac OS X (10.4.7)
|
|
Posts:
1
Registered:
May 10, 2005
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Sep 17, 2006 3:55 PM
in response to: Rick Cameron
|
|
|
Desperately Seeking Solution for Sudden Sleep Syndrome.
After reading so many posts about this problem I feel obligated to add my Powerbook G4 to the list of suffering machines.
I too have tried reseting the PMU (I think 4 times so far today), cleared out all the different flavors of RAM, and my G4 is still plagued with this issue.
Time to call Apple care.
Thanks to you all for the ideas and workarounds.
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7) 1.5MHz, 15"
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.1)
|
|
Posts:
61
Registered:
Oct 18, 2005
|
|
|
|
Re: Display blinks and shuts off or sleeps
Posted:
Sep 17, 2006 11:27 PM
in response to: Cynthia Gregory
|
|
|
Cynthia, please feel free to join our protest .Mail Group. The more names we have on our list the more likely Apple will do the right thing and fix our computers. If you are under warranty, tell the Apple care people about our N.A.P. website (see my earlier post) so they understand what the problem is. Try to steer them towards replacing the top cover and maybe the logic board (some owners say this is not necessary but if Apple pay, why not)
Please let us know how you go after the repair. Some owners have reported that N.A.P. attacks returned after the fix so we may be dealing with a larger problem and it may only show up weeks or months after the repair. Until Apple acknowledge the factory fault, it makes sense to keep in the loop and on the list.
Thanks, Rick
Powerbook G4 15" Model 5,6
Mac OS X (10.4.7)
CPU 1.67 GHz Memory 1.5GB http://web.mac.com/rickcameron/iWeb/Electric%20Lamb/N.A.P./N.A.P..html
|
|
|
