Our emac wakes itself up spontaneously.

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Our emac wakes itself up spontaneously.

OS10.4.11, 1.25 GHz Power PC G4: We put it to sleep when through using it for the day. Then sometime in the several hours after midnight we are awakened by the light from the display in screen saver mode. It is then necessary to power it down completely. This always happens during the early morning hours, never during the day after putting it to sleep. Coincidentaly (?) the HP Photosmart Menu always comes up when powering it up from the off state.

Here is what I have tried: Go to System preferences/energy saver/sleep and selected "Put computer to sleep after 25 minutes" and "Put display to sleep when the computer has been inactive for 12 minutes". Also go to System preferences/energy saver/options/Wake options and deselect box for "wake when modem detects a ring" and box for "wake for Ethernet network administrator access". I also did a disk utility permissions repair. Nothing helps.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

John "JT"

Emac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jan 16, 2014 6:28 PM

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Answer 1

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BDAqua

Level 10

239,333 points

Jan 16, 2014 6:58 PM in response to "JT"

Hello John,

Sounds like it may be waking for cleanups scheduled around 1 AM.

Open console in Applications>Utilities, check the system log for the date/time of the last wake problem & the Startup right after that for clues.

click on the top line we want, Shift plus click on the bottom line we want, CMD+c to copy, then paste the text in a reply with CMD+v

A couple dozen lines should be about right, hundreds or thousands won't likely be readable. 🙂

Search for Wake reason in Console.

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Answer 2

Allan Jones

Level 9

68,768 points

Jan 17, 2014 6:44 AM in response to "JT"

Is anything USB connected other than the mouse and keyboard? Some less-than-USB-compliant printers can cause sleep issues.

Coincidentaly (?) the HP Photosmart Menu always comes up when powering it up from the off state.

I'd call that a clue. However, we have an HP printer networked for our Macs but it doesn't wake them.

Around our house--we live in a very low humidity environment--any zap of static electricity at a light switch, metal lamp, etc, in winter will wake up most of our Macs, the PowerPC models being the most susceptible.

Must ask---do you have cats? They use computers while their masters sleep. 😉

Are you running any third-party (payware) anti-virus, internet security, or "I'll clean your Mac" softeware?

for BD: I don;t think it's the scripts. OP has 10.4. it wasn't until OS10.5 that the automatic maintenance scripts would run if the computer were asleep at the appointed time. I was able to confirm this on my G4 MDD with both 10.4.11 and 10.5.8 installed. I think it has to be some else--network, printer, etc

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Answer 3

BDAqua

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239,333 points

Jan 17, 2014 10:14 AM in response to Allan Jones

Thanks Allan. 🙂

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Answer 4

"JT" Author

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Jan 18, 2014 1:58 PM in response to BDAqua

Hello BD:

I looked at the system log and saw that at 58 minutes and two seconds after midnight there was a "System sleep", a "System Wake" and a "Wake event 0040". This happened on the three successive nights which I examined at the same time so I'm assuming it happens every night at that time. This is consistent with the noted times at which I have had to get up and turn it off previously.

You suggest looking In Cosole for a reason for the Wake. I didn't see anything besides the 0040 descriptor and I don't know what that means. Any ideas?

Thanks, John

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Answer 5

"JT" Author

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Jan 18, 2014 2:05 PM in response to Allan Jones

Hello Allan:

I don't know if you received my earler reply, as I am still learning how to use the discusssion groups. I did try unplugging the HP printer one night; however, the problem persisted.

Please see my reply to BDAqua; the problem does seem to lie within the computer itself, as it happens every night at exactly the same time.

Thank you for your help here,

John

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

239,333 points

Jan 18, 2014 2:17 PM in response to "JT"

Sure sounds like a scheduled wake, in Sys Prefs>Energy Saver>Schedule, is wake or Start at some time checked?

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Answer 7

"JT" Author

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Jan 19, 2014 8:36 PM in response to BDAqua

BD: No; both the "Start up or Wake" and the "Shut Down" boxes are deselected.

John

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Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

239,333 points

Jan 20, 2014 10:46 AM in response to "JT"

Hmmm, as a test, try setting it to wake say at 7 AM... any change?

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Answer 9

"JT" Author

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Jan 31, 2014 3:07 PM in response to BDAqua

Hello BD:

I tried setting it to wake up at 7:00 AM and it worked for one night. Then I made other changes and it reverted to waking up at 00:58:02. Other signs point to a problem with the operating system so I need to reinstall it if I can find one. Thanks for your help!

Jojm

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Answer 10

BDAqua

Level 10

239,333 points

Jan 31, 2014 6:25 PM in response to "JT"

OK, good luck, please let us know if that's it.

Might be time to replace the PRAM Battery, 4 years is close to their lifespan, far less if ever without AC power, & can cause strange startup problems...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/

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