Snow Leopard problems after sleep?

Question

Level 1

0 points

Snow Leopard problems after sleep?

Hello,

My Mac Pro 4,1 seems to have no problems when first booted up. After waking up from sleep is when the problems start happening--mostly it gets stuck finding my Time Machine disk (which keeps spinning even if I try to stop it), and it freezes when trying to shut down, forcing me use the power button. This seems to be similar to some of the problems heard around here--anybody else having trouble after your Mac goes to sleep?

Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Sep 11, 2009 12:12 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Sep 11, 2009 12:15 PM in response to analogtones

Aha, try the suggestion on this link: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1924527.

Reply

Answer 2

Sep 11, 2009 12:17 PM in response to analogtones

You also could try resetting our SMC: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411.

Reply

Answer 3

analogtones Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 11, 2009 1:03 PM in response to analogtones

Thanks for your replies!

Unfortunately SMC reset didn't work. Instead of getting stuck at shutdown with my wallpaper and no icons or dock, it brought me to the blue screen and spinning wheel.

Thanks for the Time Machine suggestion. I should've specified that I'm using a usb hard drive. After initial startup, all backups are fine, but immediately after waking from sleep, the time machine icon spins and the status says "making backup disc available", which it never does. Any other ideas?

Reply

Answer 4

Sep 11, 2009 1:30 PM in response to analogtones

What model of external drive are you using? If it's a WD drive, look for a firmware update on www.wdc.com. I remember there were some updates that fixed this exact problem (drive hangs after wake from sleep).

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 11, 2009 1:33 PM in response to analogtones

You are very welcome. Looks like you have a better suggestion above.

Reply

Answer 6

analogtones Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 11, 2009 3:01 PM in response to analogtones

Thanks again for your responses.

I got excited when hearing about the firmware updates, as my drive is a WD--but sadly the model I own, WD1000H1U, has no firmware update. I did repair the external disk in disk utility, as I hadn't tried yet, but no luck!

Reply

Answer 7

Sep 11, 2009 3:54 PM in response to analogtones

You could try installing SL over your existing installation.

Reply

Answer 8

analogtones Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 14, 2009 2:09 PM in response to analogtones

I got the chance to install Snow Leopard over my previous installation today--and updated to 10.6.1, but no luck. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Reply

Answer 9

Sep 14, 2009 9:08 PM in response to analogtones

Since your problem seems to be related to your external HDD, there is something else you can try: make sure it's formatted in the proper way for a Time Machine volume, i.e. GUID partition type.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1550

This requires a new complete TM backup since it erases your external HDD. I'm not sure it will work since you're having problems only after leaving sleep mode, it's just a guess.

Reply

Answer 10

analogtones Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 16, 2009 10:39 AM in response to analogtones

I ended up doing a clean install (without backup from time machine), which overall was an improvement from upgrading over the old os. I'm pretty sure that it was the WD drive causing my problems, because when it was disconnected, I was able to sleep, shut down, and restart with no problems. After the new install, I hadn't set it up as my Time Machine drive yet, but I think (but am not sure) that even with the drive mounted it caused problems after sleeping.

Because the WD drive was originally used as a laptop backup, I figured I'd just rip open the enclosure, take the SATA drive out, and put it in the Mac Pro. No problems now, and a much faster backup drive (since it's no longer connecting via USB).

Anyway, thanks for all of your help and suggestions!

Reply