Q: Dual Quad-core Mac Pro reboots from sleep

r210 wrote:
No they can't; my Mac Pro has never had either virtualization solution installed.

Just sayin' that if someone took their MP into an Apple store and booted up VMWare or Fusion and then put it to sleep and the machine rebooted, the Apple rep could claim it had something to do with VMWare or Fusion. The previous poster suggested it as a potential way to "prove" this is an issue with Mac Pros and not an individual user problem. The best way to prove that, IMO, is to demonstrate the problem with a fresh install of OS X and all Apple hardware (which I've been able to do, by the way).

PacNW:

Interesting. So in your case, we can't really be sure which "fix" did it for you. I suspect deselecting the startup disk may have done it, since some Apple techs are suggesting that as a temporary workaround and myself and at least one other here have had (temporary, at least) success with it.

I'll keep you all posted.

JasonBee wrote:
Put me down as another Mac Pro user suffering from the "RAW" problem.

I've not heard it referred to as the "RAW" problem previously, and I can't figure out an acronym using those initials that indicates "reboot from sleep" or something similar.

Oops, you state it yourself, just below. However, I'd quibble a bit, because the reboot doesn't occur AFTER awakening, it reboots instead of awakening.

Has anyone noticed, you can force your MP to reboot after waking, simply by using VMware Fusion or Parallels, prior to setting the computer to sleep? Like clockwork, it will consistently reboot. I'm not saying it's a problem with Fusion/Parallels, but at least we have a way of demonstrating the issue in front of the Apple "geniuses".

Just for my own edification, can you clarify in what state one needs to leave Fusion or Parallels?
-app running, virtual machine active?
-app running, virtual machine suspended?
-app and virtual machine used during current power up session for the Mac Pro, but virtual machine now suspended and app no longer running?
-app and virtual machine used during current power up session for the Mac Pro, but virtual machine shut down and app no longer running?

This may be another clue that it's a USB problem. One of the issues that's challenged both Parallels and VMWare is sharing access to the USB ports between the Mac OS and virtualized OS. Running Fusion or Parallels may perhaps alter the state of the USB ports so that the Mac can't complete waking up from sleep under some circumstances. Of course, that would need to be a symptom of a larger USB issue, but it is a clue perhaps, as is the suggestion that USB PCI cards may be a way to avoid the problem.

I continue to monitor this thread, but I'll wait for Apple to solve the problem rather than pretending I can do their work for them. I simply don't put my machine to sleep (I allow the displays to sleep automatically and the hard drives to spin down automatically, and sometimes I leave Fusion running - sometimes with the virtual machine active), and I've not had an unintended reboot now since I discovered the problem two days after I bought the machine at MWSF in January but gave up trying to solve it myself a few days later.

It's my sense that one or another of the new observations offered here may provide Apple engineers with the clue they need to tie all the occurrences together, but it's unlikely any of us will solve it. We don't even know if the motherboards are all the same, and they won't tell us. Their resources in their own labs are vastly superior to ours. Of course, the "missing link" for us users is the absence of an acknowledgement from the company in an official tech note that there even IS a problem, and that in my view is unconscionable.

Hello all, same here. MacPro Early 2008, 10.5.2, 8800GT, 10GB RAM. Most of the times it performs a reboot instead of waking from sleep mode. Very annoying. No external peripherals, no additional cards, just the Apple Display and Apple Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

RAW (reboot after wake) - just an acronym I stole from the macrumors.com forums where many people share the same problem.

The steps I took to demonstrate the issue with VMware:

-I opened WinXP in Fusion.
-Shut down my Fusion session, but left the VMware process still running in the Dock
-Put MP to sleep.
-Woke the MP with by hitting the spacebar
** ** Mac Pro rebooted ** **
-Opened mail, Safari and let the computer sit.
-Put MP to sleep.
-Woke the MP with by hitting the spacebar
** ** Mac Pro woke from sleep without issue ** **
-I opened WinXP in Fusion.
-Shut down Fusion, this time completely exiting from Fusion (session & dock)
-Put MP to sleep.
-Woke the MP with by pressing a mouse button
** ** Mac Pro rebooted ** **
-Opened iTunes, Dreamweaver, ran xbench on HD and CPUs.
-Put MP to sleep.
-Woke the MP with by pressing a mouse button
** Mac Pro woke from sleep without issue **

8 other people I polled (some were Fusion users, and some were Parallels users) reported the same behavior. I should also mention that my MP occasionally reboots from sleep regardless of whether or not I use VMware. I only brought this up so users could demonstrate the issue. The first time it rebooted, I didn't even have Fusion installed.

I'm just going to demand a replacement. For $4k, I expect perfection.

Good luck

Message was edited by: JasonBee

JasonBee wrote:
RAW (reboot after wake) - just an acronym I stole from the macrumors.com forums where many people share the same problem.

The steps I took to demonstrate the issue with VMware:

-I opened WinXP in Fusion.
-Shut down my Fusion session, but left the VMware process still running in the Dock
-Put MP to sleep.
-Woke the MP with by hitting the spacebar
** ** Mac Pro rebooted ** **
-Opened mail, Safari and let the computer sit.
-Put MP to sleep.
-Woke the MP with by hitting the spacebar
** ** Mac Pro woke from sleep without issue ** **
-I opened WinXP in Fusion.
-Shut down Fusion, this time completely exiting from Fusion (session & dock)
-Put MP to sleep.
-Woke the MP with by pressing a mouse button
** ** Mac Pro rebooted ** **
-Opened iTunes, Dreamweaver, ran xbench on HD and CPUs.
-Put MP to sleep.
-Woke the MP with by pressing a mouse button
** Mac Pro woke from sleep without issue **

8 other people I polled (some were Fusion users, and some were Parallels users) reported the same behavior. I should also mention that my MP occasionally reboots from sleep regardless of whether or not I use VMware. I only brought this up so users could demonstrate the issue. The first time it rebooted, I didn't even have Fusion installed.

I'm just going to demand a replacement. For $4k, I expect perfection.

That's very interesting. I haven't been following discussions of this issues on macrumors.

I cannot remember whether I had installed Fusion before I experienced this for the first time, but I agree with others that while a condition that is sufficient to make the RAW occur predictably is useful diagnostically, it's obviously not the necessary cause of the problem, which has been said to occur in Apple stores with no added internal or external hardware. Of couse, many of those machines do have either Fusion or Parallels installed on them, but many users who haven't installed either have the problem as well.

The sad thing is that a replacement machine is no guarantee of eradication of the problem, since Apple either doesn't know what the problem is, or if they do they're not telling their customers. I do think that your observations tend to incriminate the USB hardware.

The problem with the USB theory is that there's another fix which seems to work for some people (I'm one of them, so far...) has nothing to do with USB.

Deselecting the startup disk in System Preferences so that none are selected seems to solve the problem. This solution was offered by a Level 2 tech at Apple to someone who called in (that same product specialist said Apple was "aware of the problem and working on it.")

Perhaps it's more than one issue causing this?

Some USB cards affected systems I own to sleep, but then for the fans to stay on during sleep. I guess not fully "deep" sleep. but some activity, and also kept the case cooler as a result.

This is the most confounding issue I have ever heard about to say the least.

Curious. Zapping the PRAM reduces the amount of NVRAM used. Unselecting a drive path will also do that... must be a bug in the limit of nvram used somehow... and it sounds like a fix in the wind. Can't be too much longer now.

I just got a notice that my Mac Pro Support was about to expire so I shelled out the $270.00. Seems like a prudent choice, all things considered, but I feel a little foolish at the moment. I've owned Macs since 1992 and this is the first time I've felt like I couldn't rely on the company's integrity.

Gary 11,
Good idea. I live about 90 miles from a authorized dealer/repair facility and applecare told me (even before my free 90 days ran out) that if I had purchased applecare they could have someone come by my place to do the repair. Odd because I thought that option would be included in stock 90-day support.
Lou

Just like to chime in and say that I have not experienced any reboot upon awakes in a coupe of weeks after resetting PRAM and the SMC

Today, however, after having the computer on sleep for 8+ hours I could not wake it up. The keyboard wouldnt wake it nor the mouse. I had to power off and reboot.

jeez, i cant believe this topic didnt show up when i searched for it 3 times before. maybe i searched for 'restart after sleep' instead of 'reboot'. i'm having the exact same problem. i've spent countless hrs on the phone with apple tech support, talked to about 8 different product specialists, and not one of them had ever heard of this problem!!! the big question is why isnt apple aware of the problems discussed on this forum? so 1 apple tech diagnosed my Mac Pro as dead on arrival and sent me a new one. i guess this was a big waste of time and i'm still going to have the same problem now since everyone else in this topic is having the same problem.

mine reboots after waking from overnight sleep. if i put it to sleep for a short time, it wakes ok. and for overnight sleeps, it doesnt reboot after waking everytime. but it may happen 3 days in a row and then be ok for 3 days. i've tried this both plugged and not plugged into my APC RS-1500 and it doesnt affect the situation. i've reset the SMU and zapped the PRAM several times. the SMU reset seems to fix it for a couple days but then the problem comes back.

also, this happened when i first got the computer after doing a fresh install of Leopard, updating to 10.5.2 with no migration assistant on a newly low-level formatted drive.

my mouse is also usually not seen upon bootup. i have to unplug and replug, then it stays connected till i reboot again.

Message was edited by: shape

how do you deselect the start up disk? i can't manage to do it.

1) Put your install disk in the optical drive.
2) In System Preferences select the optical drive as the startup disk "target boot" drive.
3) Re-boot. +(I did this may not be needed)+
4) Remove the install disk from optical drive.
5) Re-boot.

If you do the above successfully you will no longer have a startup disk "target boot" selected. *In fact I have not even gone into the Startup Disk panel on my Mac Pro (I don't want it auto selected)*. My machine has not re-booted from sleep at all since I did this... knocking on wood.

John