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iMac not waking up from sleep mode (10.5.6?)

Hi

My iMac 24" 2.4Ghz is about 6 months old. Ever since I've installed 10.5.6 (although I'm not sure that's got anything to do with this) I've been having various issues (other posts).

This one is about my iMac not wanting to wake from sleep.

a) until installing 10.5.6 I never had any issues with waking the iMac from sleep (ever!)

b) This only happens if the iMac has been in sleep mode for quite a while (i.e. 6+ hours or so)

c) It does not always happen.

Basically what happens is I ty to start the iMac either by pressing a key on keyboard/mouse or/and by pressing on the power button (short press). Nothing happens at all even after repeated trials.

I need to press the power button 6 seconds and then press it again to start the iMac. It then performas a full cold reset.

Any ideas to what this might be? I've reset PRAM and SMC-thingy. Still happens.

Cheers Oliver

iMac 24" 2.4Ghz, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jan 13, 2009 9:20 PM

Reply
48 replies

Jan 14, 2009 12:28 AM in response to olivernz

I have the same problem and it is very annoying.
As the OP I used to experienced this after long period of time, but yesterday
iMac went to the Deep sleep right after I pressed power button (short press)
In addition to this, iMac does not go to sleep according to Power saving settings.
It goes to Screen saver, turns the display off, but does not sleep.

Repairing permissions does not help, or help for little time only.
What is this magical act "Repairing permissions" anyways?
Hopefully, somebody can share definitive and permanent solution to this.

I believe, it started happening after 10.5.6 installed via combo update.

Thanks a lot.

Jan 14, 2009 12:45 AM in response to verzunof

Mac OS X is UNIX. Files and directories have an attribute called permissions. System files are installed with specific permissions, and the system may not operate properly if access to component files (or directories) is not allowed because permissions are (or become) set improperly. +Repair Disk Permissions+ checks system and application files to ensure permissions are correct. This document explains how it's done.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1452

If the problem is related to the system (or an app) not doing something properly, a good first step is to run +Repair Disk Permissions+ using Disk Utility.

Jan 14, 2009 1:10 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Ken,

I have run Repair permissions several times and of-course do so after big updates. Those I don't install via auto update but I download the Combo update. I have also run the daily, weekly and monthly maintenance scripts. USB devices are my Apple Keyboard with a logitec VX nano wireless mouse. The wirless transceiver is plugged into the keyboard. I've changed that to be plugged into the back of the iMac now to check if this is causing the sleep issues.

Regards Oliver

Jan 14, 2009 3:29 AM in response to olivernz

Sleep issues can be very difficult to track down. Repairing permissions will rarely, if ever solve a sleep issue. I might do it once a year or so. It's like resetting the PRAM, pretty much a waste of time.

Some sleep problems can be traced to processes that don't stop like they should when the computer is trying to initiate sleep. many times it is widgets that cause the problem. You might try looking through messages in the Console and see if there is a process that will not stop while sleep is trying to start. Sometimes it can be caused by applications that check for updates on their own. Sometimes it is caused by corrupted energy saver preference files. Sometimes external drives can cause sleep issues although that is pretty rare today. Some older drives did not recognize OSX sleep routines properly and not only would the drive not sleep, it would cause the computer not to sleep.

Good luck. I hope you figure it out.

Jan 15, 2009 3:08 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

Actually I familiar with various UNIXs including FreeBSD from where the MAC OS is rooted and
with file permissions ownership and so on, thats why I asked that question about permissions.
If something is put with certain ownership/permissions other cannot change that.
If permissions tend to break in MacOS by a user regular using the system that means
something is not right in the system or it messes up with itself creating all sorts of problems.
I read so much about solving various problems by repairing permissions that it makes me wonder that developers should look into this area of the system and make sure that basic functionalities don't break by ordinary use of the system (I know things my go wrong if somebody unknowingly
messes with the system in the shell, but this is not an ordinary use).
More over MacOS is positioned as super user friendly and "Just work", so people should not, ideally,
even know about certain system's aspects. For example, if MacOS requires permission repair to be done regularly, this should be done by the system in background, in idle times and so on.

Anyways, this is not a place to argue about developer's challenges.
I did repair again, will se how it affects the sleep/wakeup problem.
I suppose this should be widespread problem, but somehow this discussion is not big and other forums also don't have much on it.

Thanks a lot.

Jan 16, 2009 12:54 PM in response to olivernz

Can't find the com.apple.PowerManagement.plist in my iMac Library. Found RUIPowerManager:

BRPowerManager
//
// This singleton class listens for changes in the power state of the
// computer. Notifications are sent when the computer sleeps or wakes
// or when it changes from AC to battery or back.

Could this be the source of the problem?

Help appreciated...

iMac not waking up from sleep mode (10.5.6?)

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