[Anand]

I am helping a friend upgrade an old G4 and it has a strange problem. The computer won't go to sleep in either OS 9 or X. In Os 9 the finder states that the case door is open and the computer can't sleep when the door is open. However, the case door is not open and it won't seem to recognize that. Does anybody know how the machine determines if the case door is open? Is there a button like on the door of a refridgerator? I have acctually reformated the HD and re-installed OS's with no change in the situation.

[saxman]

Hi

My G4 has done this a couple of times. I turned it off, opened the case, made sure everything was in the right place (cables, RAM & PCI cards seated correctly etc...) and then slammed the hell out of the door to latch it. After that it was fine.

cheers

[reader50]

When Apple first put out the G4, they feared it would run much hotter than it did. They equipped it with a then-huge heatsink, put in a door switch, and rigged the firmware to put the computer to sleep if the door were open. It turned out that the heatsink alone was enough for the early G4s, and Apple removed the door switch in later models. Firmware updates to the earlier G4s eliminated the door-switch-check function.

This affected Sawtooth and Yikes models. It sounds like you need to update the firmware, so it will ignore the old door switch. The latest Sawtooth firmware update is incompatible with some older 3rd-party RAM sticks, so alternatively you might just service the door switch. It's a magnetic switch, in two parts:


This is the magnet. It is glued onto the AirPort slot assembly.


This is the switch. It is mounted into the front button assembly, and is aligned so that when the door closes, the magnet is right beside the switch.

Do a little dusting of the switch, and make sure your door isn't bent a bit out of shape, or that the AirPort card cage is bent. If the gap between magnet and switch has increased, the switch will not detect the closed door.

Can you tell that the webcam was a free one?

[CIA]

Reader50, your answer is why I still read these forums. I wish more people here were as informative and nice to people with questions.
Thanks!