RE: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem

2011-01-13 Thread Crisp, Peter 

Ok, thanks for that Neil. I am comforted by your comments in still
proceeding. 

 
Kind Regards,
Peter Crisp, 

-Original Message-
From: wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au [mailto:wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au] On
Behalf Of Neil Houghton
Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 8:22 PM
To: WAMUG
Subject: Re: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem


Hi Peter,

First up, I do love my 27" iMac - I really appreciate the extra screen
real
estate, it's lovely to look at and it is quiet.

Regarding Applecare - it's like any other insurance/warranty extension:

An expensive waste of money if you never use it.
An absolute bargain if you end up needing it.

You will have to make up your own mind on that... Sometimes I do and
sometimes I don't depending on my mood at the time ;o)

The wireless keyboard is beautiful & neat (I actually got one with my
iMac)
- but I tend to use the numeric keypad a lot with Excel - so I actually
use
the wired keyboard from my previous iMac - it's also nice to be able to
rule
out a bluetooth problem with a wired keyboard.

I am very happy with my Magic mouse (unlike the previous Mighty mouse
with
the ever problematic scroll ball!!) - I didn't find the battery life
that
bad but I've now got the Apple rechargeable batteries and charger so
battery
cost is no longer an issue. I think Apple's price for a smart charger
and 6
good quality rechargeables is pretty good.


HTH


Cheers


Neil
-- 
Neil R. Houghton
Albany, Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 9841 6063
Email: n...@possumology.com



on 13/1/11 11:25 AM, Crisp, Peter at pcr...@hatch.com.au wrote:

> 
> Hi Neil, that is a very clear articulation of a problem you're
> experiencing and sorry to hear it. I'm also sorry I don't have any
> wisdom on this, but am imminently going to get myself into a 27" iMac
> and wonder if this Sleep issue will pervade my new machine (to be).
Also
> do you have any other comments or wisdom about ordering such a machine
> and any recommended upgrades (Applecare, wireless or Bluetooth
devices).
> I still have my old Magic Mouse that I got for SWMBO's Macbook (not
very
> magical actually) as constant Bluetooth dropouts and ravenous battery
> consumption (1-2 weeks between replacements) led me to get a Logitech
> Nano VX which is brilliant - and still on the original batteries from
9
> months ago! But I believe the iMac 27" comes with the Magic Mouse
> 'thrown in' and presumably now non-problematic as I observed from 12
> months ago as I see no chatter about it on this forum.
> 
> Thanks for any feedback.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Peter..
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au [mailto:wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au] On
> Behalf Of Neil Houghton
> Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 11:01 AM
> To: WAMUG
> Subject: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> A strange problem this..
> 
> A few days ago, my iMac wouldn't wake from sleep properly - in actual
> fact,
> the screen didn't wake-up (though I didn't realise that at the time) -
I
> could hear the disc going and, since I have the Mac set to require
> password
> on wake from either sleep or screen saver, I should get a login window
-
> but
> the screen remained black, with no mouse cursor.
> 
> I tried a few random key strokes (to try and "wake" it) and got the
> "beep"
> that tells you that is not appropriate (ie I needed to login first).
> 
> At the time, I was worried my screen had died (and me just a month out
> of
> warranty!) and decided a forced shut-down and re-boot should be tried.
> However, as I was pressing the power button, the log-in window
appeared
> (together with a message about incorrect password - obviously
referring
> to
> my random keystrokes when the screen was black).
> 
> I then logged in without problem and everything was OK - I have since
> surmised that when I went to force the shut-down I actually pressed
the
> power button twice - which put the computer to sleep and then
> re-awakened it
> (together with the screen, this time).
> 
> At the time, I just put it down to some random gremlin - was relieved
my
> screen was not dead - and forgot about it!
> 
> 
> Until this morning...
> 
> Go to wake up the computer, can hear activity but the screen stays
blank
> -
> this time I try just blindly entering my password and hitting return -
> the
> login obviously works and I can hear entourage (left running when the
> mac
> goes to sleep) retrieving emails from various accounts - but the
screen
> stays black.
> 
> I fired up the laptop and the iMac can be seen on the network. I try
> Google
> (from the laptop) and find a 5 page MacRumours forum on "27"iMac won't

Re: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem

2011-01-13 Thread Neil Houghton 

Hi Peter,

First up, I do love my 27" iMac - I really appreciate the extra screen real
estate, it's lovely to look at and it is quiet.

Regarding Applecare - it's like any other insurance/warranty extension:

An expensive waste of money if you never use it.
An absolute bargain if you end up needing it.

You will have to make up your own mind on that... Sometimes I do and
sometimes I don't depending on my mood at the time ;o)

The wireless keyboard is beautiful & neat (I actually got one with my iMac)
- but I tend to use the numeric keypad a lot with Excel - so I actually use
the wired keyboard from my previous iMac - it's also nice to be able to rule
out a bluetooth problem with a wired keyboard.

I am very happy with my Magic mouse (unlike the previous Mighty mouse with
the ever problematic scroll ball!!) - I didn't find the battery life that
bad but I've now got the Apple rechargeable batteries and charger so battery
cost is no longer an issue. I think Apple's price for a smart charger and 6
good quality rechargeables is pretty good.


HTH


Cheers


Neil
-- 
Neil R. Houghton
Albany, Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 9841 6063
Email: n...@possumology.com



on 13/1/11 11:25 AM, Crisp, Peter at pcr...@hatch.com.au wrote:

> 
> Hi Neil, that is a very clear articulation of a problem you're
> experiencing and sorry to hear it. I'm also sorry I don't have any
> wisdom on this, but am imminently going to get myself into a 27" iMac
> and wonder if this Sleep issue will pervade my new machine (to be). Also
> do you have any other comments or wisdom about ordering such a machine
> and any recommended upgrades (Applecare, wireless or Bluetooth devices).
> I still have my old Magic Mouse that I got for SWMBO's Macbook (not very
> magical actually) as constant Bluetooth dropouts and ravenous battery
> consumption (1-2 weeks between replacements) led me to get a Logitech
> Nano VX which is brilliant - and still on the original batteries from 9
> months ago! But I believe the iMac 27" comes with the Magic Mouse
> 'thrown in' and presumably now non-problematic as I observed from 12
> months ago as I see no chatter about it on this forum.
> 
> Thanks for any feedback.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Peter..
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au [mailto:wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au] On
> Behalf Of Neil Houghton
> Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 11:01 AM
> To: WAMUG
> Subject: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> A strange problem this..
> 
> A few days ago, my iMac wouldn't wake from sleep properly - in actual
> fact,
> the screen didn't wake-up (though I didn't realise that at the time) - I
> could hear the disc going and, since I have the Mac set to require
> password
> on wake from either sleep or screen saver, I should get a login window -
> but
> the screen remained black, with no mouse cursor.
> 
> I tried a few random key strokes (to try and "wake" it) and got the
> "beep"
> that tells you that is not appropriate (ie I needed to login first).
> 
> At the time, I was worried my screen had died (and me just a month out
> of
> warranty!) and decided a forced shut-down and re-boot should be tried.
> However, as I was pressing the power button, the log-in window appeared
> (together with a message about incorrect password - obviously referring
> to
> my random keystrokes when the screen was black).
> 
> I then logged in without problem and everything was OK - I have since
> surmised that when I went to force the shut-down I actually pressed the
> power button twice - which put the computer to sleep and then
> re-awakened it
> (together with the screen, this time).
> 
> At the time, I just put it down to some random gremlin - was relieved my
> screen was not dead - and forgot about it!
> 
> 
> Until this morning...
> 
> Go to wake up the computer, can hear activity but the screen stays blank
> -
> this time I try just blindly entering my password and hitting return -
> the
> login obviously works and I can hear entourage (left running when the
> mac
> goes to sleep) retrieving emails from various accounts - but the screen
> stays black.
> 
> I fired up the laptop and the iMac can be seen on the network. I try
> Google
> (from the laptop) and find a 5 page MacRumours forum on "27"iMac won't
> wake
> from sleep" stretching from to November 2009 (the vintage of my iMac)
> through to December 2010 (ie, basically, now):
> 
> 
> This showed LOTS of people having sleep problems - though the problems
> and
> circumstances are far from identical - several of the posts seemed
> similar
> to my problem and the consensus seemed to be that the screen was not
> waking
> up and that perhaps the computer had failed to go completely to sleep.
> 
> This reminded my of my power button pressing previously - so (more
> observantly this time) I pressed the power button once and did, in fact,
> hear the computer go to sleep - I then pressed the button again a

Re: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem

2011-01-13 Thread Neil Houghton 
Hi Carlo,


on 13/1/11 11:31 AM, cm at cm200...@gmail.com wrote:

> Hi Neil,
> 
> It does sound like a software problem. Perhaps the screen brightness is being
> set to zero. Have you tried fiddling with the brightness buttons as a
> work-around.
Yes, at the time I tried increasing brightness ­ no effect.


> Another potential work-around is to enable screen sharing on your iMac and
> then log-in from your laptop. You could then either try to revive the iMac or
> do an orderly shutdown.
I was thinking about that (though I¹ve never actually tried screensharing
yet) - however, now that I¹ve found that it seems to be a sleep failure and
that I can then sleep and rewake using the power button (without actually
shutting the machine down) I do have an orderly ³fix² to recover the
situation ­ it¹s just that I¹d rather not have the situation in the first
place ;o)


> I personally would do the upgrade to 10.6.6. If it is a problem known to
> Apple, they may have put a fix in the upgrade. Failing that, if sufficiently
> many other users are having the problem a fix will eventually be released.
I will, no doubt, upgrade to 10.6.6 before too long ­ however the problem(s)
relating to SL sleep have been reported/discussed through several SL
upgrades ­ though, as I said, the forum seems to describe several similar
but different sleep issues.

In the meantime, after some reading prompted by Ronni¹s post, I am trying
unchecking the "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer" option ­ we
will see how we go!


Thanks for the thoughts/suggestions.


Cheers


Neil
-- 
Neil R. Houghton
Albany, Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 9841 6063
Email: n...@possumology.com



> 
> Good luck,
> Carlo
> 
> On 2011-01-13, at 11:00, Neil Houghton wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> A strange problem this..
>> 
>> A few days ago, my iMac wouldn't wake from sleep properly - in actual fact,
>> the screen didn't wake-up (though I didn't realise that at the time) - I
>> could hear the disc going and, since I have the Mac set to require password
>> on wake from either sleep or screen saver, I should get a login window - but
>> the screen remained black, with no mouse cursor.
>> 
>> I tried a few random key strokes (to try and "wake" it) and got the "beep"
>> that tells you that is not appropriate (ie I needed to login first).
>> 
>> At the time, I was worried my screen had died (and me just a month out of
>> warranty!) and decided a forced shut-down and re-boot should be tried.
>> However, as I was pressing the power button, the log-in window appeared
>> (together with a message about incorrect password - obviously referring to
>> my random keystrokes when the screen was black).
>> 
>> I then logged in without problem and everything was OK - I have since
>> surmised that when I went to force the shut-down I actually pressed the
>> power button twice - which put the computer to sleep and then re-awakened it
>> (together with the screen, this time).
>> 
>> At the time, I just put it down to some random gremlin - was relieved my
>> screen was not dead - and forgot about it!
>> 
>> 
>> Until this morning...
>> 
>> Go to wake up the computer, can hear activity but the screen stays blank -
>> this time I try just blindly entering my password and hitting return - the
>> login obviously works and I can hear entourage (left running when the mac
>> goes to sleep) retrieving emails from various accounts - but the screen
>> stays black.
>> 
>> I fired up the laptop and the iMac can be seen on the network. I try Google
>> (from the laptop) and find a 5 page MacRumours forum on "27"iMac won't wake
>> from sleep" stretching from to November 2009 (the vintage of my iMac)
>> through to December 2010 (ie, basically, now):
>> 
>> 
>> This showed LOTS of people having sleep problems - though the problems and
>> circumstances are far from identical - several of the posts seemed similar
>> to my problem and the consensus seemed to be that the screen was not waking
>> up and that perhaps the computer had failed to go completely to sleep.
>> 
>> This reminded my of my power button pressing previously - so (more
>> observantly this time) I pressed the power button once and did, in fact,
>> hear the computer go to sleep - I then pressed the button again and the
>> computer awoke correctly and presented me with the login window.
>> 
>> Unfortunately, though there are MANY theories on the forum - there appears
>> to be no clear cause/solution:
>> 
>> Some people have blamed USB hubs and wireless keyboards - not applicable in
>> my case.
>> 
>> Some people point to hardware and have had Apple replacing power supplies,
>> logic boards (sometimes multiple replacements) and even new computers - this
>> may fix it for some people - but others have the problem re-occur - even
>> over new computers.
>> 
>> Others point to this as indicating a software problem and advocate complete
>> re-installations of the operating system - again

Re: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem

2011-01-13 Thread Neil Houghton 

Hi Ronni,

Well, I hadn't even heard of "SafeSleep" ;o)

After a bit of googling and reading Apple Support Articles, I'm a bit wiser!

I would be surprised if Entourage was the culprit as I always tend to leave
it (and Firefox) on when I sleep the computer - and for over a year this
hasn't given any problem (I realise this doesn't actually rule it out...)

However, after reading  I checked and
found that I do have "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer" checked
and realised that I had recently added a wireless trackpad to my set-up.

Since I used a wired keyboard, I don't actually need to wake the computer by
bluetooth - so I've unchecked this option as my first trial "fix" - we will
see how we go.

Thanks for alerting me to some of OSXs sleep "features" - whilst I was aware
of the 3 basic modes of hard drive/display/system sleep, I hadn't
appreciated all the other considerations.



Cheers



Neil
-- 
Neil R. Houghton
Albany, Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 9841 6063
Email: n...@possumology.com



on 13/1/11 1:55 PM, Ronda Brown at ro...@mac.com wrote:

> 
> Hi Neil,
> 
> 
>>> I tend to feel that the problem MAY be down to the sleep process hanging
>>> (after the screen has been put to sleep but before the computer has been
>>> fully put to sleep) as one strange thing I have noticed is some entourage
>>> error messages reporting failure to connect to server
> 
>  
> The problem with SafeSleep is that if data is being written to the hard drive
> when you select 'sleep',
> SafeSleep encounters an error that causes the machine to hang in sleep.
> 
> Could this be your problem?
> 
> Try quitting Entourage before selecting 'sleep'.
> 
> Cheers,
> Ronni
> 
> On 13/01/2011, at 11:00 AM, Neil Houghton wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> A strange problem this..
>> 
>> A few days ago, my iMac wouldn't wake from sleep properly - in actual fact,
>> the screen didn't wake-up (though I didn't realise that at the time) - I
>> could hear the disc going and, since I have the Mac set to require password
>> on wake from either sleep or screen saver, I should get a login window - but
>> the screen remained black, with no mouse cursor.
>> 
>> I tried a few random key strokes (to try and "wake" it) and got the "beep"
>> that tells you that is not appropriate (ie I needed to login first).
>> 
>> At the time, I was worried my screen had died (and me just a month out of
>> warranty!) and decided a forced shut-down and re-boot should be tried.
>> However, as I was pressing the power button, the log-in window appeared
>> (together with a message about incorrect password - obviously referring to
>> my random keystrokes when the screen was black).
>> 
>> I then logged in without problem and everything was OK - I have since
>> surmised that when I went to force the shut-down I actually pressed the
>> power button twice - which put the computer to sleep and then re-awakened it
>> (together with the screen, this time).
>> 
>> At the time, I just put it down to some random gremlin - was relieved my
>> screen was not dead - and forgot about it!
>> 
>> 
>> Until this morning...
>> 
>> Go to wake up the computer, can hear activity but the screen stays blank -
>> this time I try just blindly entering my password and hitting return - the
>> login obviously works and I can hear entourage (left running when the mac
>> goes to sleep) retrieving emails from various accounts - but the screen
>> stays black.
>> 
>> I fired up the laptop and the iMac can be seen on the network. I try Google
>> (from the laptop) and find a 5 page MacRumours forum on "27"iMac won't wake
>> from sleep" stretching from to November 2009 (the vintage of my iMac)
>> through to December 2010 (ie, basically, now):
>> 
>> 
>> This showed LOTS of people having sleep problems - though the problems and
>> circumstances are far from identical - several of the posts seemed similar
>> to my problem and the consensus seemed to be that the screen was not waking
>> up and that perhaps the computer had failed to go completely to sleep.
>> 
>> This reminded my of my power button pressing previously - so (more
>> observantly this time) I pressed the power button once and did, in fact,
>> hear the computer go to sleep - I then pressed the button again and the
>> computer awoke correctly and presented me with the login window.
>> 
>> Unfortunately, though there are MANY theories on the forum - there appears
>> to be no clear cause/solution:
>> 
>> Some people have blamed USB hubs and wireless keyboards - not applicable in
>> my case.
>> 
>> Some people point to hardware and have had Apple replacing power supplies,
>> logic boards (sometimes multiple replacements) and even new computers - this
>> may fix it for some people - but others have the problem re-occur - even
>> over new computers.
>> 
>> Others point to this as indicating a software problem and advocate complete
>> re-installations of the o

Re: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem

2011-01-12 Thread Ronda Brown 

Hi Neil,


>> I tend to feel that the problem MAY be down to the sleep process hanging
>> (after the screen has been put to sleep but before the computer has been
>> fully put to sleep) as one strange thing I have noticed is some entourage
>> error messages reporting failure to connect to server 

 
The problem with SafeSleep is that if data is being written to the hard drive 
when you select 'sleep', 
SafeSleep encounters an error that causes the machine to hang in sleep.

Could this be your problem?

Try quitting Entourage before selecting 'sleep'.

Cheers,
Ronni

On 13/01/2011, at 11:00 AM, Neil Houghton wrote:

> 
> Hi all,
> 
> A strange problem this..
> 
> A few days ago, my iMac wouldn't wake from sleep properly - in actual fact,
> the screen didn't wake-up (though I didn't realise that at the time) - I
> could hear the disc going and, since I have the Mac set to require password
> on wake from either sleep or screen saver, I should get a login window - but
> the screen remained black, with no mouse cursor.
> 
> I tried a few random key strokes (to try and "wake" it) and got the "beep"
> that tells you that is not appropriate (ie I needed to login first).
> 
> At the time, I was worried my screen had died (and me just a month out of
> warranty!) and decided a forced shut-down and re-boot should be tried.
> However, as I was pressing the power button, the log-in window appeared
> (together with a message about incorrect password - obviously referring to
> my random keystrokes when the screen was black).
> 
> I then logged in without problem and everything was OK - I have since
> surmised that when I went to force the shut-down I actually pressed the
> power button twice - which put the computer to sleep and then re-awakened it
> (together with the screen, this time).
> 
> At the time, I just put it down to some random gremlin - was relieved my
> screen was not dead - and forgot about it!
> 
> 
> Until this morning...
> 
> Go to wake up the computer, can hear activity but the screen stays blank -
> this time I try just blindly entering my password and hitting return - the
> login obviously works and I can hear entourage (left running when the mac
> goes to sleep) retrieving emails from various accounts - but the screen
> stays black.
> 
> I fired up the laptop and the iMac can be seen on the network. I try Google
> (from the laptop) and find a 5 page MacRumours forum on "27"iMac won't wake
> from sleep" stretching from to November 2009 (the vintage of my iMac)
> through to December 2010 (ie, basically, now):
> 
> 
> This showed LOTS of people having sleep problems - though the problems and
> circumstances are far from identical - several of the posts seemed similar
> to my problem and the consensus seemed to be that the screen was not waking
> up and that perhaps the computer had failed to go completely to sleep.
> 
> This reminded my of my power button pressing previously - so (more
> observantly this time) I pressed the power button once and did, in fact,
> hear the computer go to sleep - I then pressed the button again and the
> computer awoke correctly and presented me with the login window.
> 
> Unfortunately, though there are MANY theories on the forum - there appears
> to be no clear cause/solution:
> 
> Some people have blamed USB hubs and wireless keyboards - not applicable in
> my case.
> 
> Some people point to hardware and have had Apple replacing power supplies,
> logic boards (sometimes multiple replacements) and even new computers - this
> may fix it for some people - but others have the problem re-occur - even
> over new computers.
> 
> Others point to this as indicating a software problem and advocate complete
> re-installations of the operating system - again this has worked for some
> (or appeared to work for a while) but not for others - and the problem seems
> to span several versions of Snow Leopard.
> 
> For myself - I had the computer for over a year before the problem appeared
> - but it then re-appeared within days.
> 
> I haven't recently changed any hardware (& don't have a usb hub connected).
> 
> I haven't had any major software changes (haven't yet gone to 10.6.6) -
> though I may have installed a few small programs/utilities?
> 
> I tend to feel that the problem MAY be down to the sleep process hanging
> (after the screen has been put to sleep but before the computer has been
> fully put to sleep) as one strange thing I have noticed is some entourage
> error messages reporting failure to connect to server - at times when the
> computer should have been asleep - but these are isolated and not recurring
> on the 20 minute schedule that entourage checks for mail.
> 
> 
> Anybody else experienced or experiencing similar problems?
> 
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> 
> At present it is not too big a problem since (unlike some posters) I don't
> have to force shutdown to get out of the problem - and it's only happened
> twice - but if

Re: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem

2011-01-12 Thread cm 
Hi Neil,

It does sound like a software problem. Perhaps the screen brightness is being 
set to zero. Have you tried fiddling with the brightness buttons as a 
work-around.

Another potential work-around is to enable screen sharing on your iMac and then 
log-in from your laptop. You could then either try to revive the iMac or do an 
orderly shutdown.

I personally would do the upgrade to 10.6.6. If it is a problem known to Apple, 
they may have put a fix in the upgrade. Failing that, if sufficiently many 
other users are having the problem a fix will eventually be released.

Good luck,
Carlo

On 2011-01-13, at 11:00, Neil Houghton wrote:

> 
> Hi all,
> 
> A strange problem this..
> 
> A few days ago, my iMac wouldn't wake from sleep properly - in actual fact,
> the screen didn't wake-up (though I didn't realise that at the time) - I
> could hear the disc going and, since I have the Mac set to require password
> on wake from either sleep or screen saver, I should get a login window - but
> the screen remained black, with no mouse cursor.
> 
> I tried a few random key strokes (to try and "wake" it) and got the "beep"
> that tells you that is not appropriate (ie I needed to login first).
> 
> At the time, I was worried my screen had died (and me just a month out of
> warranty!) and decided a forced shut-down and re-boot should be tried.
> However, as I was pressing the power button, the log-in window appeared
> (together with a message about incorrect password - obviously referring to
> my random keystrokes when the screen was black).
> 
> I then logged in without problem and everything was OK - I have since
> surmised that when I went to force the shut-down I actually pressed the
> power button twice - which put the computer to sleep and then re-awakened it
> (together with the screen, this time).
> 
> At the time, I just put it down to some random gremlin - was relieved my
> screen was not dead - and forgot about it!
> 
> 
> Until this morning...
> 
> Go to wake up the computer, can hear activity but the screen stays blank -
> this time I try just blindly entering my password and hitting return - the
> login obviously works and I can hear entourage (left running when the mac
> goes to sleep) retrieving emails from various accounts - but the screen
> stays black.
> 
> I fired up the laptop and the iMac can be seen on the network. I try Google
> (from the laptop) and find a 5 page MacRumours forum on "27"iMac won't wake
> from sleep" stretching from to November 2009 (the vintage of my iMac)
> through to December 2010 (ie, basically, now):
> 
> 
> This showed LOTS of people having sleep problems - though the problems and
> circumstances are far from identical - several of the posts seemed similar
> to my problem and the consensus seemed to be that the screen was not waking
> up and that perhaps the computer had failed to go completely to sleep.
> 
> This reminded my of my power button pressing previously - so (more
> observantly this time) I pressed the power button once and did, in fact,
> hear the computer go to sleep - I then pressed the button again and the
> computer awoke correctly and presented me with the login window.
> 
> Unfortunately, though there are MANY theories on the forum - there appears
> to be no clear cause/solution:
> 
> Some people have blamed USB hubs and wireless keyboards - not applicable in
> my case.
> 
> Some people point to hardware and have had Apple replacing power supplies,
> logic boards (sometimes multiple replacements) and even new computers - this
> may fix it for some people - but others have the problem re-occur - even
> over new computers.
> 
> Others point to this as indicating a software problem and advocate complete
> re-installations of the operating system - again this has worked for some
> (or appeared to work for a while) but not for others - and the problem seems
> to span several versions of Snow Leopard.
> 
> For myself - I had the computer for over a year before the problem appeared
> - but it then re-appeared within days.
> 
> I haven't recently changed any hardware (& don't have a usb hub connected).
> 
> I haven't had any major software changes (haven't yet gone to 10.6.6) -
> though I may have installed a few small programs/utilities?
> 
> I tend to feel that the problem MAY be down to the sleep process hanging
> (after the screen has been put to sleep but before the computer has been
> fully put to sleep) as one strange thing I have noticed is some entourage
> error messages reporting failure to connect to server - at times when the
> computer should have been asleep - but these are isolated and not recurring
> on the 20 minute schedule that entourage checks for mail.
> 
> 
> Anybody else experienced or experiencing similar problems?
> 
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> 
> At present it is not too big a problem since (unlike some posters) I don't
> have to force shutdown to get out of the problem - and it's only ha

RE: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem

2011-01-12 Thread Crisp, Peter 

Hi Neil, that is a very clear articulation of a problem you're
experiencing and sorry to hear it. I'm also sorry I don't have any
wisdom on this, but am imminently going to get myself into a 27" iMac
and wonder if this Sleep issue will pervade my new machine (to be). Also
do you have any other comments or wisdom about ordering such a machine
and any recommended upgrades (Applecare, wireless or Bluetooth devices).
I still have my old Magic Mouse that I got for SWMBO's Macbook (not very
magical actually) as constant Bluetooth dropouts and ravenous battery
consumption (1-2 weeks between replacements) led me to get a Logitech
Nano VX which is brilliant - and still on the original batteries from 9
months ago! But I believe the iMac 27" comes with the Magic Mouse
'thrown in' and presumably now non-problematic as I observed from 12
months ago as I see no chatter about it on this forum.

Thanks for any feedback.

Regards

Peter..

-Original Message-
From: wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au [mailto:wamug-ow...@wamug.org.au] On
Behalf Of Neil Houghton
Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 11:01 AM
To: WAMUG
Subject: 27"IiMac - screen wake-up problem


Hi all,

A strange problem this..

A few days ago, my iMac wouldn't wake from sleep properly - in actual
fact,
the screen didn't wake-up (though I didn't realise that at the time) - I
could hear the disc going and, since I have the Mac set to require
password
on wake from either sleep or screen saver, I should get a login window -
but
the screen remained black, with no mouse cursor.

I tried a few random key strokes (to try and "wake" it) and got the
"beep"
that tells you that is not appropriate (ie I needed to login first).

At the time, I was worried my screen had died (and me just a month out
of
warranty!) and decided a forced shut-down and re-boot should be tried.
However, as I was pressing the power button, the log-in window appeared
(together with a message about incorrect password - obviously referring
to
my random keystrokes when the screen was black).

I then logged in without problem and everything was OK - I have since
surmised that when I went to force the shut-down I actually pressed the
power button twice - which put the computer to sleep and then
re-awakened it
(together with the screen, this time).

At the time, I just put it down to some random gremlin - was relieved my
screen was not dead - and forgot about it!


Until this morning...

Go to wake up the computer, can hear activity but the screen stays blank
-
this time I try just blindly entering my password and hitting return -
the
login obviously works and I can hear entourage (left running when the
mac
goes to sleep) retrieving emails from various accounts - but the screen
stays black.

I fired up the laptop and the iMac can be seen on the network. I try
Google
(from the laptop) and find a 5 page MacRumours forum on "27"iMac won't
wake
from sleep" stretching from to November 2009 (the vintage of my iMac)
through to December 2010 (ie, basically, now):


This showed LOTS of people having sleep problems - though the problems
and
circumstances are far from identical - several of the posts seemed
similar
to my problem and the consensus seemed to be that the screen was not
waking
up and that perhaps the computer had failed to go completely to sleep.

This reminded my of my power button pressing previously - so (more
observantly this time) I pressed the power button once and did, in fact,
hear the computer go to sleep - I then pressed the button again and the
computer awoke correctly and presented me with the login window.

Unfortunately, though there are MANY theories on the forum - there
appears
to be no clear cause/solution:

Some people have blamed USB hubs and wireless keyboards - not applicable
in
my case.

Some people point to hardware and have had Apple replacing power
supplies,
logic boards (sometimes multiple replacements) and even new computers -
this
may fix it for some people - but others have the problem re-occur - even
over new computers.

Others point to this as indicating a software problem and advocate
complete
re-installations of the operating system - again this has worked for
some
(or appeared to work for a while) but not for others - and the problem
seems
to span several versions of Snow Leopard.

For myself - I had the computer for over a year before the problem
appeared
- but it then re-appeared within days.

I haven't recently changed any hardware (& don't have a usb hub
connected).

I haven't had any major software changes (haven't yet gone to 10.6.6) -
though I may have installed a few small programs/utilities?

I tend to feel that the problem MAY be down to the sleep process hanging
(after the screen has been put to sleep but before the computer has been
fully put to sleep) as one strange thing I have noticed is some
entourage
error messages reporting failure to connect to server - at times when
the
computer should have been asleep