My article on the OS 9.2 (for me) "Sleep of
Death" issue and the follow-up discussion
proved a popular topic on LEM according to the hit count - and letters
are still coming in.
Dan Knight thinks the problem may be related to non-Apple hard
drives not clearing their data cache when the Mac goes to sleep. Could
be in some cases, but that would not explain why the glitch only occurs
on my WallStreet PowerBook when I'm
booted from OS 9.2.x, 
and not when booted from OS 9.1 or 9.0 - both of
which I have installed on separate partitions.
Reader Ian Bennett (letter below) suggests, "The only time I have
experienced this is when I had the 'Use network time server' checked in
my date and time and been set for a dial up connection (via
modem)."
Sounds like a plausible theory, and as I type this, I'm back running
OS 9.2.2 with the 'Use network time server' checkbox unchecked in the
Date & Time Control Panel. So far, so good, but I've only gone
through one sleep/wake up cycle since switching back from OS 9.1. I'll
let you know if it cures the problem for me.
And now more comments from readers.
CM
"Sleep of Death"
From Phil Holmer
My wife had this same problem with an iBook (Dual USB) that we bought earlier this
year. While on vacation in April, we went to the Apple Store in Palo
Alto and asked a "genius" about it. He whipped out a Disk Warrior CD
and ran it on the iBook. There have been no reoccurrence of the sleep
problem since. Needless to say, we bought a copy of Disk Warrior on the
spot and have used it on all our Macs for many different reasons with
excellent results. This is certainly a less extreme option than
reinitializing the hard drive, which one of your other contributors
suggested. All I can say is that Apple "genius" lived up to his title
because after three months of daily use, 3-8 hours/day, we have
experienced no further sleep problems.
Phil Holmer
- Hi Phil,
Glad to hear that Disk Warrior (excellent product) fixed the problem
with your wife's iBook.
However, my WallStreet is Disk Warriored from time to time, and I still
have the problem in OS 9.2.
Charles
RE: Sleep of death
From Ian Barnett
Hi Charles
Just read the S.O.D. thread on the LEM website. The only time I have
experienced this is when I had the "Use network time server" checked in
my date and time and been set for a dial up connection (via modem).
When I tried the Apple option esc key, the app which bombs is network
time sync. It has also happened when the software update has tried to
kick in on waking up. So in my case it was a question of the order
things woke up. If the sync program got to the CPU before the TCP/IP
connection, then I think the OS got confused. This only happens in
versions of 9.2 and in my case on a G4 tower and a bronze keyboard PowerBook.
Ian Barnett
- Hi Ian,
I do use Network Time Server, and am on a dialup connection.
I must try unchecking the time server thing and see if that's the
bug.
Charles
Sleep O Death
From John McFadden
Someone in a thread said they had the issue after installing
a 10 GB TravelStar drive. I had a WallStreet that did the same thing.
The issue is with the strength of the magnets in the drive interacting
with the reed switch (which puts the 'Book to sleep whenever the lid is
closed) on the screen side of the 'book. the switch is located right on
top of the drive. Take a 2x3 inch piece of sheet metal and slide it
under the plastic on the right hand side of the keyboard on top of the
drive and tape it there and the "problem" will vanish!
J.
You don't want to know how much trouble I went thru to finally
figure this one out
Sleep of Death
From Cedric Sullivan
I just wanted to add my little experiences with this phenomenon. In
earlier versions of Mac OS 10.1, I've had this happen a few times.
Lately 10.1.4 and on I haven't experienced this.
I've also had another interesting experience. I had my iBook asleep.
I took it to work with me in my backpack. When I took it out, it was
off - not asleep in death, but off. I don't see how the screen could
have touched the power button.
Anyway, I have an iBook 600 MHz/Combo Drive (Late 2001) running Mac
OS 9.2.2 (usually in Classic) and currently running Mac OS X
10.1.5 (reduced processor performance! :D )
Cedric
- Editor's note: I've had the same thing happen once when
transporting my TiBook. I suspect your iBook's battery came loose just
far enough to disrupt power. I hope Apple will address this in future
iBooks and PowerBooks.
Sleep Bug
From Sean O'Hare
I have the problem on my B&W G3/350 which is stock except for
RAM upgrades and an added HD (Barracuda). I am running 9.2.2 but the
problem happened when I was running 9.2.1 as well.
- Sean O'Hare
- Hi Sean,
I have/had it in both versions of OS 9.2 as well, but not in any other
Mac OS version.
Charles
Sleep Bug
From Phil
Charles,
For what it's worth:
I'd forgotten that I ever had this bug until I read your column and
saw the mention of Sleeper
- a piece of software that's so good that I didn't even remember that I
had it installed! ;-) Anyway, to add to the "Sleep of Death" files,
there's a known issue with USB PCI cards that can cause your
computer - a beige G3/300 desktop running OS 8.6, in my case - to
refuse to wake up from sleep, requiring a restart. I don't remember the
suspected genealogy of the problem, though I know that the card vendor
claimed that Apple was working on a fix.
Regardless, following advice I read in either MacFixIt or XLR8YourMac (don't
remember which), I simply installed Sleeper and have never had a
problem since!
Best,
Phil
- Hi Phil,
Thanks for the info.
Charles
Sleep of Death 9.0.4
From Richard Sedlock
Hi Charles, just wanted to chime in. My G4/500 running 9.0.4 falls
into the Sleep of Death occasionally. No card upgrades, running
HotSync, not running OS X.
Thanks for the always-interesting forum.
Richard
SOD Missing Link?
From Phil Denton
Hi Charles
There was no sleep trouble on my WallStreet II 250 running OS 9.2.1
until just after a Software Update incident that I aborted.
The machine has always been a pleasure to use and given very little
trouble, so I'm usually just reading about other peoples problems, and
this makes me complacent. I run it MS free.
I reinstalled System 9.1 and then back up to 9.2.1 and haven't had
the problem since. This process was a nuisance, as there was some MS
stuff needing to be mucked off my machine to make it clean again.
Software Update has gone in the trash.
For a little while I felt like a MS victim. I hope Apple doesn't get
the mindset of ramming us with what they know we need.
Regards
PhilD
- Hi Phil,
The WallStreet works so well with OS 9.1 that there is really no
hardship in not upgrading to 9.2 unless you really need 9.2 to support
a piece of software that requires it - in my case, iListen 1.2.
Charles
Go to Charles Moore's Mailbag index.
