MP 1,1-5,1 My bedroom fan is freaking out my cMP

[eicca]

My Mac Pro 5,1 is plugged into a surge protector that plugs into the same outlet that I want to run my box fan from. However, when they share this outlet, turning on the fan causes the Mac Pro to wake from sleep.

Today I found out, if the Mac Pro is already awake, and I turn on the fan, the bluetooth and USB just stop working and I have to hard shut-down and reset both SMC and PRAM to get them working again.

That has to be some kind of surge coming through the power source, right? Wouldn't the case be grounded enough to protect from outside pulses?

Should I upgrade my surge protector? It says it's EMI/RFI filtered but it's an older unit. I could grab a Furman or two no problem.

 

[Macschrauber]

You can try to set hibernatemode 25 to let the Mac power down completely to standby.

So it cannot be triggered by any hardware to wake up but the power button.

 

[eicca]

You can try to set hibernatemode 25 to let the Mac power down completely to standby.

So it cannot be triggered by any hardware to wake up instead the power button.

Good suggestion, but that would be really irritating because the power button is not easy to get to.

Something else is wrong here but I don't know what.

Failing filter capacitors in the PSU maybe?

 

[rpmurray]

What model surge protector are you using? Older and/or lower quality surge protectors use metal oxide varistors (MOVs) that wear out with use until the surge protection becomes non-existent.

 

[eicca]

What model surge protector are you using? Older and/or lower quality surge protectors use metal oxide varistors (MOVs) that wear out with use until the surge protection becomes non-existent.

I can't see it to tell at the moment, but thinking back I remember it being used on some of our old Windows 98 computers.

I'll probably be ordering some new Furmans just out of principle now.

 

[mattspace]

The cMP IMHO has a twitchy power system. Mine used to be able to be disturbed from sleep by switching on other appliances on the same plug zone. The real fun one is starting an arc on my TIG welder, downstairs in my carport, that's under the concrete slab, and technically under next door's dwelling, and on a separate circuit in the house's wiring. Mac is behind a big UPS, but arcing up, the machine will part wake - fans spin up but no displays. Still can't figure out it rats have attacked the wiring, or if it's just EMF from the HF start of the arc.

 

[eicca]

The cMP IMHO has a twitchy power system. Mine used to be able to be disturbed from sleep by switching on other appliances on the same plug zone. The real fun one is starting an arc on my TIG welder, downstairs in my carport, that's under the concrete slab, and technically under next door's dwelling, and on a separate circuit in the house's wiring. Mac is behind a big UPS, but arcing up, the machine will part wake - fans spin up but no displays. Still can't figure out it rats have attacked the wiring, or if it's just EMF from the HF start of the arc.

Must be EMF. Mine wakes the same way—no display. It goes back to sleep after about 30 seconds.

 

[Macschrauber]

Setting the Mac Pro to complete standby instead of sleeping with powering parts of the system (ram, Bluetooth, USB) will lower the energy bill and lower the impact of surges a bit.

But hm25 can be a little tricky

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/classic-mac-pro-hibernatemode-25-filevault-and-gpus-without-bootscreen.2370374/post-31733736

 

[eicca]

Well I had a bad one last night. Was using Logic, mixing some music, and I stood up and walked around my room to hear if the mix changed depending on my position relative to my speakers. Sat back down and touched my *wireless* keyboard and got a big static shock. USB and Bluetooth instantly died. No IO whatsoever. Had to shut my computer down from the power strip. Everything started working again after letting it sit without mains power for 30 seconds to reset the SMC. And luckily Logic's auto-save kept most of my work from being lost.

It's like my machine is getting EMP'd by open sparks in my room.

Still gotta get new power strips. Would an insulating pad under the case help at all? It is sitting directly on the carpet.

 

[Madonion]

the carpet is your enemy and dry air , your should have a RH of 50% tested with a whirling sling hygrometer

I was at a lecture at a uni about static in the the workspace we were all sitting the lecturer asked us to shuffle our feet then he pointed a static meter at each of use mine was at 90kv .

think how a vandpgraff generator works its only a fabric belt and you can get a 50mm spark and hair on end ( if you have some 😇)

 

[Macschrauber]

At my workbench I have an ESD mat, those are rather cheap and can be connected to an earthed socket.

If youre unsafe about electrics let a pro do the work.

Of course dry air, and rubbing the carpet will raise the chance for an ESD case.

 

[mattspace]

Just to add to electrical funsies - my machine was woken up a couple of days ago by switching on an LED desklamp that was plugged in to the same powerboard as it.

I rewired my desk running 8 extension cables back to the UPS, eliminating the powerboards, and moved the desklamps to a different (non ups) powerpoint.

 

[eicca]

This concerns me a bit cuz I regularly blast my work MacBook with static by touching it after coming up the stairs and it hasn’t had a single issue.