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Miscellaneous Ramblings
'Sleep of Death' a Hardware-Specific OS 9.2 Bug?
Charles Moore - 2002.06.04 - Tip Jar
There has been a lot of traffic on troubleshooting forums about the so-called "sleep of death" wake up from sleep bug that afflicts some PowerBook users, and perhaps others as well.
The typical symptom is that when you attempt to wake your 'Book from sleep, you are greeted with a gray screen and obliged to hard restart or reset the machine in order to get back into the Finder.
I had never experienced this problem until I installed the Mac
OS X 9.2.1 upgrade on my WallStreet
PowerBook last fall, but I found that subsequently about one in
three wake ups would result in the phenomenon
occurring.
After several days of this, I gave up and went back to running OS 9.1,
which I still had installed on another hard drive partition (I have
four operating systems installed on the WallStreet - the others are OS
9.0 and Yellow Dog Linux 2.2).
The "sleep of death" has never happened on my WallStreet under OS 9.1, or for that matter under OS 8.1, 8.5.1, 8.6, or 9.0. I also haven't experienced it on my Pismo PowerBook under any OS version I've used with it - OS 9.1, 9.2.1, or OS X 10.1.x.
When I downloaded the Mac OS 9.2.2 updater, I was very interested to see whether the bug had been squashed. Unfortunately, it has not. Just like in OS 9.2.1, 9.2.2 displays a gray screen about every third wake up from sleep mode on the WallStreet, although this does not happen on the Pismo.
When this happens, I can still bring up MacsBug by pressing Command + Power Key and then entering the "es" command. This will bring back a partial view of the Finder screen and allow you to sequentially quit your open applications, but the Finder does not fully revive. The only resort is to type "rs" to reboot the Mac (or, if you don't have MacsBug, Command + Control + Power Key).
This is highly annoying, because otherwise I like OS 9.2. It seems a bit faster than OS 9.1, and it supports MacSpeech's iListen (which OS 9.1 does not). I switched to OS 9.2.2 when I installed the latest iListen 1.2, which is my preferred dictation app in the legacy OS. However, the "sleep of death" thing was just too much of an annoyance and hassle to tolerate, and after two weeks of frequent forced restarts, I again reverted to rock-stable and non-buggy OS 9.1.
I've tried trashing the Energy Saver preferences, which some have suggested might help, but to no avail. Others encountering this problem might try "downgrading" to OS 9.1 to see if that helps, but your mileage may vary. Problems like this are just another reason why having multiple partitions and operating systems on one's hard drive is a good idea.
I have heard that users are experiencing the sleep of death phenomenon in OS X as well, although this has not manifested on my Pismo. Suggested workarounds include:
- Disconnect the Ethernet cable and/or USB cables prior to Sleep
- From Energy Saver Options tab, enable "Wake for network administrative access."
Since the problem only manifests for me on the WallStreet, I'm obliged to infer that there is a bug in the OS 9.2 code that is specific to that machine (and perhaps others, but apparently not the Pismo).
Charles Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and began writing for Mac websites in May 1998. His The Road Warrior column is a regular feature on MacOpinion, and he is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com. If you find his articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Recent Miscellaneous Ramblings
- WiFi Paranoia, iMac-O-Lantern, Magic Mouse Does Click, Free Clipboard Managers, and More, 11.05. Also strange time stamps, problem with ColorIt on Intel Mac, and the story behind OS X 10.5.4 install discs.
- Google Chrome Mac Preview Has Made a Convert, 11.02. Officially a developer preview, Google's Chrome has finally made it to Intel-based Macs. It's fast, elegant, and could be your next browser.
- Fixing a Narcoleptic PowerBook G4, the Future of Tiger Support, Spam Filtering, and More, 10.28. Also installing Leopard, disappearing features, portable Thunderbird, and web page design issues.
- 2 Wireless Alternatives to Apple's Magic Mouse, 10.27. Whether you prefer buttons to buttonless, are still using Mac OS X 10.4, or don't like Bluetooth, Targus has mice to consider.
- More in the Miscellaneous Ramblings index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
- Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
- November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Quad-Core CPU Makes Sense in MacBook Pro, OS X 10.6 Causing Overheating, Overseas Power, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.06. Also Late 2009 MacBook reviewed, how to add RAM to new MacBook, 18.4in Acer notebook used Intel i7, and SanDisk SSD chosen for Sony VAIO X.
- Dumping Macs for Google Apps, SSD in iMac, Late 2009 iMac Performance Problems, and More, Mac News Review, 11.06. /newsrev/09mnr/1106.html
- IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.04. SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives.
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
- Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
- Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
- Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
- More deals in our archive.
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