Dual Quad-core Mac Pro reboots from sleep

My brand-new Mac Pro nearly always restarts rather than waking up from sleep. Just now I left it to go to sleep by itself and came back two or three hours later. When I touched the space bar, it restarted.

I have an IOGear firewire hub plugged in with nothing attached to it and lots of USB devices plugged in.

Dual 2.8 GHz Quad-core, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Jan 20, 2008 7:09 PM

Reply
656 replies

Mar 20, 2008 6:23 PM in response to Allan Lovett

Allan Lovett wrote:
It would be nice if Apple would acknowledge that there is an apparent problem.


It's not an "apparent" problem. It IS a problem, and what's really too bad is that some Apple tech support people still claim the problem doesn't exist. We aren't all idiots, and some of us have seen machines do this in Apple Stores. Apple has nothing whatsoever to gain from denying this other than customer animosity. I don't know whether it's a hardware problem that will require a bunch of machines to be swapped, or a firmware problem that requires a System Update, or even a bug that's common in third party hardware or software, but it's clear we're not all imagining it.

Mar 21, 2008 7:52 AM in response to JasonBee

Count me in. Running VMware consistently makes the Mac reboot from sleep mode. I need to try to reconfigure virtual machine setting (e.g. USB connectivity, etc) to see if this makes a difference, but I'm not hopeful. I expect we'll see a firmware patch from Apple, sometime in the near future. With the variety of modes in which people are experiencing this problem, it sure smells like a software bug. In the meantime, I simply make sure that I exit VMware when finished. Admittedly a pain.

Mar 21, 2008 7:58 AM in response to theskibum

At this point I've just decided not to sleep the computer. There are some advantages to this, of course. The UNIX maintenance scripts will run on their own when the computer is left on; I can set automatic back-up routines to run at night while I'm sleeping; and some say there is less "wear & tear" on the hardware when it is left on.

Sleep has been an ongoing issue for Apple computers for a very long time. This recent Mac Pro issue is probably one of the worst, but I had sleep issues with my G5 and also with a Powerbook in the past.

For now, I'll suck up the extra few bucks a month and environmental guilt that comes with leaving it on until Apple comes up with a solution. At least these new Mac Pros use less power than the previous generations.

Mar 21, 2008 4:33 PM in response to r210

Well, my machine is still stuck with the reboot... I tried the Deselecting Startup disk, but it was no help.. Resetting the PRAM seems to help, at least during the day, I have set Prefs to Never Sleep, but if I let it go overnight, it reboots in the morning... So here we are, stuck.. It seems... I have AppleCare, so I'm not worried, figure they do need to make some adjustments, likely all software, 10.5.3 may get to it, if not, keep up the drumbeat.. All is well other than this quirk..

Has this thread benn marked Answered? How can that be?

geOrge

Mar 21, 2008 9:50 PM in response to transplant6

/begin-rant/

Just hung up on Apple support. My ear started to sweat & hurt from the redundant questions, and useless recommendations from 2 different techs.

How could a problem like this get past QA? I mean... it's their OS, running on their proprietary or chosen 3rd party hardware. As the soul manufacturer of Apple computers, they have complete control over what goes into each and every system, to ensure stability.

It's not like Dell and other PC manufacturers, where they have 24 different models. Apple has; what, like only three desktop models to thoroughly test before releasing it to the public?

My girlfriend was a former owner of a 2007 MP with the ATI Video problem. After witnessing that, and how she and the issue was handled, I was convinced then that I would never buy another Apple product. What the **** was I thinking when I forked over nearly $4000 for the same headache? And please don't tell me it is just a sleep issue and I can easily and permanently resolve the problem by manually shutting down the computer. For some of us, we depend on the sleep function, and this is not an option.

Never again. There is NO excuse for this.

/end-rant/

Cheers - and I hope you have better luck than I.

Message was edited by: JasonBee

Mar 22, 2008 1:15 AM in response to JasonBee

I've been suffering from this issue too. However, I think the fact that it got past QA indicates that the issue is more complex that could have been anticipated or perhaps the causes more vague than what could be quickly detected. That could explain why there is "no peep" from apple, and why it has taken so long.

Apple will likely not say anything until the problem is resolved. What is the point in them releasing information that is simply their most recent inferences into a potentially complex problem, that by the time the issue is solved were probably proved wrong by the end solution. Why say "It could be a graphics card issue that we are working on solving" when the solution in fact proves it was a RAM problem, or a OSX issue. It would just cause undue concern and speculation.

I do agree however, that official recognition of "an issue" (need not be more specific than that) would be awfully nice!

Apple will not leave us hanging, and will most assuredly resolve the issue *when they know how.*

Mar 22, 2008 6:56 AM in response to JasonBee

JasonBee wrote:

Just hung up on Apple support. My ear started to sweat & hurt from the redundant questions, and useless recommendations from 2 different techs.


Just curious: did you terminate the call abruptly in frustration, or was the call completed from both your and their perspective? Did your call open a support "ticket" that they agreed was unresolved?
Never again. There is NO excuse for this.

I've not bothered to call Apple, in part because the absence of a fix announcement tells me they don't have one yet. I'm not a developer nor an electronic engineer, but I can certainly accept the notion that it could take months to sort out exactly what needs to be done. Just look at the assertions here from people who've declared that they've received or concocted the magic potion, which works consistently for them, typically followed within a week or so by an acknowledgement that they've been bitten once again by the problem.

What's deafening is Apple's silence. What's unforgivable is either their ignorance of the problem, or even worse, their inept attempts to deny that their IS a problem during support calls if they ARE aware of it. What is contemptible is their apparent willingness to take that posture in the face of the obviously intelligent discourse on this and other public discussions of the issue.

Someone, somewhere in the user community accessible to one or more of us must have some contact at Apple at a high enough level to make a plea that what the company is doing is stupid and bad business.

The traffic on this thread would plummet if there were a simple public acknowledgement that Apple are aware of the reports and looking into it. They wouldn't even need to agree that the machines are tarnished. There have been incidents over the years where an email to Steve Jobs has resulted in such a change. Has anyone tried that?

Mar 22, 2008 7:35 AM in response to JimRobertson

What's most disturbing is the lack of acknowledgment from the product specialists. Certainly they could at least admit they know there is a problem when we call in, without making any public announcement.

And who's to say Apple even knows this is a "problem", rather than a small group of isolated user issues? I hope everybody here has used the Mac Pro feedback form to submit a report. IF YOU HAVE NOT SUBMITTED A FEEDBACK REPORT PLEASE DO THAT NOW!

Here is the link: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macpro.html

I've heard of people sending Steve Jobs an email about problems like this. Well, let's do that too. Anyone have his email address?

Mar 22, 2008 8:27 AM in response to s_w_i_t_t_e_r_s

In my last 3 calls the product specialists acknowledged the problem and that they are working on a software fix. Hope I am allowed to say that.

s w_i_t_t_e_rs wrote:
What's most disturbing is the lack of acknowledgment from the product specialists. Certainly they could at least admit they know there is a problem when we call in, without making any public announcement.

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Dual Quad-core Mac Pro reboots from sleep

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