Alarm doesn't wake up the Mac

I have the same problem. And I also like to know how to make iCal recognize the alarms it could not send out because the computer was turned off. When I was using Entourage, it would show all the alarms I missed while the computer was turned off. Does anyone know how to make iCal do the same?

Thomas, welcome to the discussions. When the Mac is sleeping, iCal isn't active, and so iCal can't wake the Mac. If you need the mac to wake at a specific time, use the schedule option in the energy saver system preferences.

AK

Apple really should fix this. I have an iMac in my bedroom and wanted to use it as an alarm clock as well, but found the same problem with sleep mode. I will try the schedule option in energy saver mentioned below. Does anyone know if there is a script already written out there that the would look for alarms and then set the power saver to wake up the computer prior to the alarm time?

Why put the computer to sleep? Let it run continuously, but set the display to sleep after a couple of minutes inactivity. That way iCal will do its job, and you won't be bothered by the glowing display. You could even have iTunes play a lullaby! You might get some intermittent fan noise - quitting as many applications as possible, and setting the processor performance to reduced might help.

Austin, and everyone else,

Thanks for all your comments. And yes, I am aware of that preference setting.

I use my PB at my office, home, and on the road. And therefore my PB is turned off quite often. With Entourage, all the alarms that were supposed to go off while the PB was turned off pop up on the screen when the PB is turned on. The major problem I have with iCal is that if my PB happens to be off when the alarm is triggered, I never get that notification! For example, I set an event for the "Big Meeting" on Friday at 9AM. I want the alarm to go off 4 days prior to the meeting so I can prepare for the meeting. If my PB happens to be off at 9AM on Monday, I never get that alarm. With Entourage, the alarm pops up on the screen when the PB is turn on ANYTIME after 9AM Monday. Which means if I turn on my PB at noon on Tuesday, I still get that alarm.

But this is not my first post, I did some 30-50 posts and got already a level 1 clearance since I am with Apple discussions since it exists, dont remember the year. Don't know why I've got my profile resetted?!

When they changed to the new system, posters were credited with their currently-online post count rather than their lifetime count. It may change back, one day ... One unfortunate side-effect is welcoming people who have been posting longer than I have! I should look at the registration date.

AK

Sorry for the late reply.

I have iCalAlarmScheduler in my login applications, but not iCalEventScheduler. Can you tell me how to add it? I see iCalAlarmScheduler at /Applications/iCal.app/Contents/Resources/iCalAlarmScheduler.app. But I do not see iCalEventScheduler.

Thanks.

If the turn off alarms preference is not ticked, and the alarm scheduler is running, it should be working. You could try deleteting the various property list files associated with the alarms in case one of them is damaged and causing problems. I have ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iCal.alarmsCache.plist, ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iCal.alarmScheduler.plist and ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iCal.Helper.plist. A couple of them may be relics from previous versions - only the Scheduler gets updated when I set an alarm. Quit iCal and drag them to the desktop - if it does strange things or complains, you can always put them back.

AK

In my ~/Library/Preferences, I have...
com.apple.iCal.AlarmScheduler.plist
com.apple.iCal.helper.plist
com.apple.iCal.plist

But I do not see...
com.apple.iCal.alarmsCache.plist

Is it supposed to be there? Judging from the name of the file, it almost seems that is what I need to get the alarms to pop up when I turn on my Mac.

BTW, is the iCal designed to show all the alarms that were missed while the Mac was turned off? In other words, this is just MY iCal that is activing up like this? Since this is a brand new PB, I just assumed it was just a poor design of the software, and everyone had the same problem (i.e., past due alarms do not pop up when the Mac is turned on.)

As I said, a couple of them (including the cache) may be relics from previous versions. Yes, it is designed to fire any outstanding alarms when it comes back to life, but the actual internal process I don't know.

AK

Hey - did you ever figure this out? My Mac is behaving exactly the same as yours and I, like you, want it to tell me of the alarms I missed while the Mac was turned off....

Hopefully you found a solution 🙂

Scott

Scooter4j, Ash435,

After little experimentation, my iCal is finally behaving the way I want. Here is what I did...

1) CHECK (not UNCHECK) the box for "Turn off alarm when iCal is not open."

2) Include iCal in the Login items (System Preferences/Accounts/Login Items)

Now, evertime I turn on my PB, the past due alarms pop up on the screen.

Don't ask me why this works. In my opinion, this is not intuitive, and therefore not a Mac-like behavior. Anyway, I hope it works for you as well.

In iCal preferences, make sure "turn off alarms when iCal is not open" is not ticked.

AK

Check that iCalEventScheduler is included in your login applications.

AK