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Anondson
Level 1 (9 points)
iPhone

Q: Power Mac G5 sleeps, then freezes and fans go overdrive.

I've browsed back a bit and noticed there are more than a few other people with this same issue.

I have a Power Mac G5 Dual 1.8. After upgrading to Leopard I noticed this happening more often, but ever now and then my Mac will go to sleep and freeze there. No keyboard action will wake it. Plus, while it is frozen asleep the fans to into overdrive. I have heard the fans kick up before while the machine is awake, but I have never heard anything like when this asleep/freeze happens. My wife likens it to a jet engine.

I recall this happening once through all iterations of Tiger. But with Leopard, it has now happened four times total.

I had done a clean install of Leopard, and I've only reinstalled a few other programs—iLife, iWork, Office 2004, CS 3, so no legacy from Tiger is hanging around in there.

Still, I have a habit of launching Activity Monitor when things behave strangely and I had noticed some strange things in Leopard that has me checking this out more often recently. I think I may have noticed some odd behavior by some programs that may be related to my Power Mac G5 intermittently freeze/revving unbelievably while asleep.

It seems that there is a greatest likelihood of the computer revving while asleep when the Real Memory allocated to the kernel_task process has climbed to roughly 300 MB. I thought it might also be a factor when other apps grabbed a massive chunk of Real Memory, so I've been alert for when Safari (for instance) climbs towards 300 MB of Real Memory as well. But no, the only one that seemed for certain to be related to this issue was kernel_task climbing to stratospheric Real Memory amounts.

Quiting apps helps get stupid programs like Safari to free up its Real Memory allocation, but I don't know of any way to get kernel_task to release its Real Memory allocation to proper levels besides restarting the entire computer.

Ever since I have noticed this apparent correlation between kernal_task and the freeze/sleep + fans issue, I restart or shutdown my Mac. And since I began shutting down my Mac when I see the Real Memory of kernel_task getting too high I have not had my Power Mac experience the freeze/sleep + fans.

I would be curious if anyone else who had noticed this freeze/sleep + fans issue has noticed if doing what I describe above helps them. I'm not sure why roughly 300MB of Real Memory seems to be a tipping point for me and I wonder if it might be a different amount for other people with Power Mac G5s and this issue. I wonder why kernel_task climbs to the heavens like a spreading wildfire grabbing more Real Memory and I wonder why Safari does it as well.

Dual 1.8 GHz G5, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Dec 7, 2007 9:17 PM

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Anondson

Q: Power Mac G5 sleeps, then freezes and fans go overdrive.

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  • by toolman1848,

    toolman1848 toolman1848 Jul 2, 2008 7:28 PM in response to Anondson
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 2, 2008 7:28 PM in response to Anondson
    I have been having this problem with my G5 for months. I paid the $50 to Applecare for call in support for 30 days, and they had no solutions. I took it to Apple Store, they ran their "in depth" version of the consumer AHT software--ran for 12 hours, many loops. They said the video card was the only hardware item that came back with any errors. So I replaced the video card--did not solve the problem. I had 1GB of RamJet ram and they replaced it just in case. Did not solve the problem. I disconnected my external harddrives--did not solve the problem. I have two internal drives, the original one that came with my G5 which I bought 4 years ago, and another one that is only a year or so old. Apple Store staff thought one of the drives might be wearing out--sounded noisy to him. so I also disconnected that internal drive--did not solve the problem. I have erased the internal drive many times and reinstalled Leopard from scratch many times, even using the combo update as some have suggested. Problem still exists. I have done clean installs of all my other software after doing a fresh install of Leopard up to the current version (now at 10.5.4)--problem still persists. Clearly, Apple has a problem here that they MUST fix. I am out of solutions. I will run the terminal program and tell the disk to spin down before computer sleeps.

  • by deboni,

    deboni deboni Jul 13, 2008 3:14 AM in response to bandit
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Jul 13, 2008 3:14 AM in response to bandit
    So meanwhile Apple told me to bring the Mac for repair as it must be a hardware problem (eralier I was told by Apple support that it must a problem with OS X itelf so I should reinstall).

    The Mac was now over a week in an authorized Apple store for extreme checking. I was told the error has not shown once but it could still be a problem connected to RAM that was not original. It was removed and I got the Mac back with only the original RAM.

    Back in the office, I set up the Mac again and experience 3 kernel panics within the first couple of hours.

    So, obviously, it was not the RAM. But what is it then?

    The Mac shop told me based on that it must be an external device. That makes sense, but now I'm down to the apple keyboard and logitech mouse. So the last thing I will test now is the logitech mouse (even though I updated the logitech software as well).

    The kernel panic reports the following error:



    Sat Jul 12 23:37:03 2008
    panic(cpu 3 caller 0x000AB754): enable_preemption: preemption_level -1

    Latest stack backtrace for cpu 3:
    Backtrace:
    0x0009B498 0x0009BE3C 0x00029DD8 0x000AB754 0x00039C90 0x00039DBC 0x000B2DCC 0x00000000
    Proceeding back via exception chain:
    Exception state (sv=0x7c375a00)
    PC=0x93BF64B8; MSR=0x0000F030; DAR=0x0080C310; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x93C39900; R1=0xF0102C80; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)

    BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Dreamweaver

    Mac OS version:
    9E17

    Kernel version:
    Darwin Kernel Version 9.4.0: Mon Jun 9 19:36:17 PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.5.20~1/RELEASE_PPC
    System model name: PowerMac11,2
    $.L;r


    The interesting thing is that allways CPU 3 is mentioned but the BSD process is always a different one.

    Can anyone read this panic message?

  • by bandit,

    bandit bandit Jul 13, 2008 7:37 PM in response to Anondson
    Level 3 (874 points)
    Jul 13, 2008 7:37 PM in response to Anondson
    Picked up my computer today. Was told they replaced the logic board and the power supply.

    keeping an eye on it. If it happens again, it is going back!

  • by bandit,

    bandit bandit Jul 14, 2008 10:54 PM in response to Richard Haszard
    Level 3 (874 points)
    Jul 14, 2008 10:54 PM in response to Richard Haszard
    Richard,

    I had the problem prior to installing Leopard. It has to be hardware.

    Apple just replaced my power supply and logic board. Got it back yesterday, since, I have been leaving it run with the screen saver half the time and sleeping the other half. Hoping apple fixed the problem, but i want to see if it happens again. For me, it usually happens while the screen saver is on.

  • by Cameraflyer,

    Cameraflyer Cameraflyer Jul 29, 2008 3:53 PM in response to Anondson
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 29, 2008 3:53 PM in response to Anondson
    Hey everyone!

    I found one problem. The driver for my (2 year old installed) Sonnet 4+4 eSATA card was conflicting with OS10.5 and a new one was posted on the Sonnet site. After I installed the new driver, all my troubles went away on the G5!!!

  • by PowerPhill,

    PowerPhill PowerPhill Jul 29, 2008 4:22 PM in response to Joe Scheiman
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Jul 29, 2008 4:22 PM in response to Joe Scheiman
    http://www.sonnettech.com/support/downloads/computercards.html

    there's an update here and it fixes it!!! Spread the word!! Spread the word!!

    its under: *Tempo Serial ATA PCIe/PCI-X Family Firmware Updater (Mac)*

  • by BleedingStar,

    BleedingStar BleedingStar Jul 30, 2008 4:08 PM in response to Cameraflyer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2008 4:08 PM in response to Cameraflyer
    I've just tried the Sonnet update to no avail.... by computer just had the same issue.... what else could be the issue.... do i need a different sonnet update?

  • by BleedingStar,

    BleedingStar BleedingStar Jul 30, 2008 4:15 PM in response to Samsara
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2008 4:15 PM in response to Samsara
    This update is for uniprocessors only... i have a Quad 2.5 G5... is there anything i might need?

  • by bandit,

    bandit bandit Jul 30, 2008 4:41 PM in response to bandit
    Level 3 (874 points)
    Jul 30, 2008 4:41 PM in response to bandit
    It would appear that apple fixed the problem on my desktop. It is running great now. Have had no problems since getting it back.

  • by PowerPhill,

    PowerPhill PowerPhill Jul 30, 2008 5:01 PM in response to BleedingStar
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Jul 30, 2008 5:01 PM in response to BleedingStar
    I have a quad g5 & i haven't experienced it... here let me put it to sleep one more time just to make sure... Yup, slept like a baby, woke up like a fire fighter. Just try the update. it can't hurt.

    So far it's worked for everyone else!

  • by Samsara,

    Samsara Samsara Jul 30, 2008 8:47 PM in response to BleedingStar
    Level 4 (1,320 points)
    Jul 30, 2008 8:47 PM in response to BleedingStar
    What kind of Sonnet product do you have installed on your machine? If it's a pci-e card you might try removing it and see if that makes a difference. In fact anything installed in one of those slots might be causing the problem.

    Yours is the last and greatest in the Power Mac series. Did you buy it new and get the extended Applecare? If so you might have just a little time left and you can get Apple to fix it for free. If not you can call them and talk firmly but gently but insist they do something about it. Have your Macs serial number handy if you do. In fact you can go to this link right now to see if you still have coverage. Doesn't matter though if you don't, still give them a call.
    https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do

    Also check out this link for the slim possibility that your serial number falls within the ranges listed. While I wouldn't think it was related to your problem, having a serial number on that page would at least get you free passage into Apples repair facilities>
    http://www.apple.com/support/powermac/powersupply/repairextension/

    As you see from above this issue has been extensively talked about on the forum not just here but all over the place for quite sometime. Some have fixed it but no surefire universal fix as far as I can see has been mentioned. If you haven't reset your SMU/PMU you should do that. If you don't know how to do that on your machine look at the main G5 page and download the pdf manual for your model.

    Apple has not done right for it's customers on this issue. Enough people have experienced similar problems that they should have. But as one Apple Tech candidly told me, "We don't really concern ourselves with older products we've created".

  • by PowerPhill,

    PowerPhill PowerPhill Jul 30, 2008 9:26 PM in response to Samsara
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Jul 30, 2008 9:26 PM in response to Samsara
    No no no no. This update fixed it. The issue is gone. As it turns out, the firmware for the eSATA card thing was conflicting with Leopard. Note here in this short list of bug fixes listed under what's new in the update:

    • New in Version 2.1.1
    – Improved performance
    – Improved error handling
    **************** here is one common symptom fixed******************************
    – Fixed an "interrupt storm" problem (when waking from sleep, the "interrupt storm" fix was lost)
    //////////////////////////
    – Improved information generated for logs
    – Commonized driver between the Mac Pro and Power Mac platforms
    – Added reliability fixes developed for Mac Pro driver
    – Added full support for Silicon Image 4726 and 4723 chip-based port multiplier enclosures, such as the LaCie Biggest S2S, when used with Tempo SATA E4P and Tempo SATA X4P cards

    And the grand daddy of them all

    • New in Version 2.0
    – Added support for Marvell 88SX6042-based cards (Tempo SATA X4i and Tempo SATA X4P)
    – Added support for Marvell 88SX7042-based cards (Tempo SATA E4i and Tempo SATA E4P)
    – Added support for port multiplication on Marvell 88SX6042 and 88SX7042-based cards
    – Improved logging of detected devices in system.log
    – Fixed drive detection issues occurring at boot and upon simultaneous hot plugging of dissimilar drives
    _– Fixed system lockups that occur during system sleep and individual drive sleep_

    if you see here the last line mentions a system lock while attempting to go to sleep.
    This update also fixes it.

    So my fellow Mac Friends. Here is your solution. and make things go back to normal!


    If this doesn't fix it, make sure what kind of card you have, and look for a similar update but for your card.

    Thanks.

    here is where you can find the update,

    http://www.sonnettech.com/support/downloads/computercards.html

    and it is listed under:

    Tempo Serial ATA PCIe/PCI-X Family Firmware Updater (Mac)

  • by Samsara,

    Samsara Samsara Jul 30, 2008 10:00 PM in response to PowerPhill
    Level 4 (1,320 points)
    Jul 30, 2008 10:00 PM in response to PowerPhill
    Well, I was replying to Bleeding Star, and as you see from above he tried, or I think he tried, your solution to no avail.
    And after reading many, many similar posts because I have different fan issues of my own, the word Sonnet has rarely popped up.
    I am sincerely glad you've found the solution to your problem, though you might have mentioned in the beginning that you had a sonnet component and your problem then would have been solved just by removing it so you would have known the cause right away, but this fan-sleep thing happens to many more people who have no sonnet components at all.
    Still your enthusiasm is contagious and I'm remembering back to my own times when similar breakthroughs made my day.

  • by BleedingStar,

    BleedingStar BleedingStar Jul 30, 2008 10:59 PM in response to PowerPhill
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2008 10:59 PM in response to PowerPhill
    How can I even tell what brand my eSATA card is.... do i have to actually pop open the box.... I can't find it listed in my Hardware listing.
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