Mac Pro Owners! Try this please!

[TheSpaz]

Go to System Preferences>Energy Saver

Set your computer and display to sleep after only 1 minute.

Does the computer go to sleep completely or just the display?

As some of you may know, I have a sleep problem on my Mac Pro. One morning I noticed that my computer would not go to sleep... only one of the hard drives would spin up and down constantly. So I tried everything I could to figure out how to fix the problem. I tried unplugging devices, Installing Mac OS X on a different formatted drive, replacing RAM, running Apple Hardware Test, running TechTool Deluxe, resetting PRAM and lastly, I tried resetting the SMC (System Management Controller) and nothing was working. However, while I was testing to see if my computer would go to sleep on it's own, I set it to sleep after only 1 minute to speed up the diagnostic process rather than waiting the full 30 minutes or whatever. Well, today, I was talking to another Mac Pro owner and just for fun I had him try to set his sleep settings to 1 minute... and guess what happened... his computer did not go to sleep, only the display turned off.... interesting I thought. Is this true with all Mac Pros? Could I have fixed the problem LONG ago and not knowing it because of a stupid bug in Energy Saver settings?

Please, Mac Pro owners, tell me what happens when you try this.

 

[ironic23]

just tried it on my MP 2.66ghz, 5gb, 250gb, geforce 7300gt w/ 23" aluminum ACD.

only the display slept after 1 min. system never went to sleep.

 

[apfhex]

Same here, display slept but not the system. Interesting bug.

 

[akadmon]

Same here, display slept but not the system. Interesting bug.

Mine doesn't either. Have you tried this right after a restart? On an account that doesn't have any apps loading at startup?

If you're running a lot of apps (God knows I do!), chances are your computer will not go to sleep. See this article on Apple's KB:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303698

 

[TheSpaz]

Mine doesn't either. Have you tried this right after a restart? On an account that doesn't have any apps loading at startup?

If you're running a lot of apps (God knows I do!), chances are your computer will not go to sleep. See this article on Apple's KB:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303698

I set my computer to sleep after 30 minutes and it did the same thing... the hard drive would try to spin down, then spin back up and down and up constantly.

 

[TheSpaz]

The weird thing is, my computer used to sleep fine. I haven't added any new hardware devices or even changed my setup. The only thing I can think of that I've changed is I installed the latest security update and I installed EyeTV 2.4 (Latest update). I've tried unplugging my USB devices but, since I was setting my computer to sleep after only 1 minute, it probably wasn't sleeping because of a bug in Energy Saver.

 

[tuartboy]

I've only had my Mac Pro for a couple days, but I noticed this right away. The drives just constantly spin up and down all night long. I turned off the option in the energy saver pref panel and they aren't as active, but I sure would like to get this fixed.

Another recent thread about the HD issue: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/299944/

 

[TheSpaz]

I've only had my Mac Pro for a couple days, but I noticed this right away. The drives just constantly spin up and down all night long. I turned off the option in the energy saver pref panel and they aren't as active, but I sure would like to get this fixed.

Another recent thread about the HD issue: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/299944/

Wow, I didn't know that other people were having this problem. Maybe it's a combination of 10.4.9 and EyeTV 2.4?

I've only had my Mac Pro for a couple days, but I noticed this right away. The drives just constantly spin up and down all night long. I turned off the option in the energy saver pref panel and they aren't as active, but I sure would like to get this fixed.

Another recent thread about the HD issue: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/299944/

Do you have EyeTV 2.4?

 

[robemich]

No EyeTV here

I do not have an EyeTV, but as you all know by my name, I have this problem, and I have had it since day one. I was scared at first that it was fallout from purchasing from the refurb store, but I noticed others were having the same problem.

I have not had time to call Apple about it, and I was wondering if others have? Is Apple just recommending people read the existing KB article? With this many people having the same problem with all different types of hardware/software configurations, there has to be some common denominator here....

-mike

 

[apfhex]

Have you tried this right after a restart? On an account that doesn't have any apps loading at startup? If you're running a lot of apps (God knows I do!), chances are your computer will not go to sleep. See this article on Apple's KB:

Yeah, didn't feel like trying that myself as I don't ever let it sleep automatically anyway (no problems sleeping manually), though the article does mention the Sharing preferences where I do have a few things turned on (but I don't usually have any other computers or devices connected). Pretty sure none of my regular apps would prevent sleep though.

 

[trainguy77]

I have the same thing when set to one minute. Haven't tried anything longer.

 

[TheSpaz]

Does anyone's Mac Pro sleep correctly? Has everyone installed the latest security update? Is everyone running Mac OS X 10.4.9? Does everyone have 3 drives installed? Does everyone have the latest Boot Camp?

I am running most recent Security Update
Running 10.4.9.
I have 3 hard drives internal
I have a non-recent version of Boot Camp

 

[ironic23]

Does anyone's Mac Pro sleep correctly? Has everyone installed the latest security update? Is everyone running Mac OS X 10.4.9? Does everyone have 3 drives installed? Does everyone have the latest Boot Camp?

I am running most recent Security Update
Running 10.4.9.
I have 3 hard drives internal
I have a non-recent version of Boot Camp

Most recent Security Update, 10.4.9, 1 HD (stock) and most recent BootCamp v1.2 i think.

 

[TheSpaz]

I GOT MY MAC PRO TO SLEEP ON IT'S OWN! Here's what I did:

I set my Energy Saver to sleep after 4 minutes of inactivty and my display to sleep after 3 minutes of inactivity.

Then I booted into Safe Mode by holding down shift when I restarted. Then I logged back into my usual account and waited. Then my display went to sleep, then a minute later I heard a hard drive spin down, then I heard another hard drive spin down, then I heard some clicks and pops and my machine was silent and the light on the front was pulsating. YAY! It's a software issue! There's a bad extension somewhere, now to just figure out what it is. Hmm... that's the hard part.

 

[tuartboy]

I am running most recent Security Update = Check
Running 10.4.9. = Check
I have 3 hard drives internal = Check
I have a non-recent version of Boot Camp = Nope

 

[TheSpaz]

I am running most recent Security Update = Check
Running 10.4.9. = Check
I have 3 hard drives internal = Check
I have a non-recent version of Boot Camp = Nope

Try booting into Safe Mod (hold down shift during startup) and then setting your sleep timer to 4 minutes and you display timer to 3 minutes and wait. My Mac Pro could go to sleep then.

 

[piltupso]

I didn't seem to have a problem. I reset my sleep time to 1 min and my display went to sleep in a min and my machine went to sleep about 30 sec or a min later. The delay seems a little weird but it all went to sleep. I am running a Mac pro 2.66 with the latest security patch, OS 10.4.9, and the most recent version of boot camp.

 

[akadmon]

I didn't seem to have a problem. I reset my sleep time to 1 min and my display went to sleep in a min and my machine went to sleep about 30 sec or a min later. The delay seems a little weird but it all went to sleep. I am running a Mac pro 2.66 with the latest security patch, OS 10.4.9, and the most recent version of boot camp.

I guess I wasn't patient enough when I tried this earlier, because it worked just liked you said. The HDs (I have 4) went down in sequence about a minute after the display, I did quit all running applications before changing the sleep setting, so maybe there is/are some apps I usually keep running that prevent automatic sleep.

 

[cabasner]

Hey everyone...glad I ran into this thread, as I had not heard about this before. Just got a brand new 8 core Mac Pro last week, now that I saw this thread, wanted to make sure all was okay. I have 4 GB of RAM, but only 2 hard drives, 2 750GB drives, the ATI video card, and bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

Just tried setting the display and sleep modes for one minute, in auto. It worked just fine, got the pulsing light when the computer went to sleep. I did have to wait about another minute, however, before the clicks and whirring of the hard drives spinning down occurred (I honestly couldn't tell if BOTH drives spun down, but I presume they both did). Maybe some of you just aren't waiting long enough?

 

[TheSpaz]

Hey everyone...glad I ran into this thread, as I had not heard about this before. Just got a brand new 8 core Mac Pro last week, now that I saw this thread, wanted to make sure all was okay. I have 4 GB of RAM, but only 2 hard drives, 2 750GB drives, the ATI video card, and bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

Just tried setting the display and sleep modes for one minute, in auto. It worked just fine, got the pulsing light when the computer went to sleep. I did have to wait about another minute, however, before the clicks and whirring of the hard drives spinning down occurred (I honestly couldn't tell if BOTH drives spun down, but I presume they both did). Maybe some of you just aren't waiting long enough?

As I said earlier, it works correctly under Safe Mode, so I realize that I have to wait for the drives to spin down. However, when I'm not in Safe Mode my drives spin down and then at least one of them spins up again and no matter how long I wait, the computer will not go completely to sleep (no pulsating light). Last night I uninstalled my M-Audio drivers and my EyeTV software completely and it didn't work still.

Problem is still not solved. There's gotta be an extension causing this conflict in at least my machine.

 

[ironic23]

As I said earlier, it works correctly under Safe Mode, so I realize that I have to wait for the drives to spin down. However, when I'm not in Safe Mode my drives spin down and then at least one of them spins up again and no matter how long I wait, the computer will not go completely to sleep (no pulsating light). Last night I uninstalled my M-Audio drivers and my EyeTV software completely and it didn't work still.

Problem is still not solved. There's gotta be an extension causing this conflict in at least my machine.

i tried putting my mac pro to sleep by hitting the power button. it went to sleep momentarily (hd's spun down and light pulsating) but after a few seconds, it woke up on its own (didn't move mouse/keyboard/etc.). there aren't any usb/firewire peripherals plugged in except the mouse/keyboard. something is dead wrong.

 

[asencif]

Yes this is an issue, however I'm not sure that it has been fully documented or acknowledged by Apple. My Mac Pro has had sleep issues since November. I have notices that if I have VMWare or Parallels open it doesn't go to sleep. If I close those apps, iTunes sometimes prevents the sleep if it is accessing a share library. I found those apps to be the most troublesome in preventing my Mac to sleep, however I have one more issue with the sleep. It doesn't always work for the first day or two after a reboot, then it will start behaving and go to sleep. There is definitely something wrong with the sleep function on the MP. Regular Apps shouldn't be preventing it to sleep at all and it seems hit or miss sometimes for a good amount of people.

 

[shu82]

This may sound weird, but I have the same HD pulsating (Spinning up and down) while sleeping problem. I am running an eyetv original and 10.4.9.

The thing is This is happening on an iMac G3 400!

 

[killmoms]

Wait, you guys put your Mac Pros to sleep?

...Weird.

 

[ironic23]

I think i may have found the cause for my mac pro's sleeping problems. i have a 23" ACD. my display keeps waking up after it goes to sleep (after 2 mins) so i decided to pull the power plug of the ACD off. lo and behold, after 2 minutes, my mac pro decides to sleep. as soon as i plug my ACD's power into the plug, the mac pro wakes up. i think the mac pro's sleeping woes has something to do with the ACD, or at least it seems that way in my case.