[shawp]

I recently swapped a Gigabit Ethernet G4 for a Quicksilver one. I noticed that when I turn the computer off my iPod (which connects via firewire) remains on with the "do not disconnect" message on the screen and doesn't turn off. Similarly if I connect my iPod when the computer is off it makes a beep. I tried unplugging the computer after it had been switched off and I could hear the iPod hard disk spin up. Is this normal? It almost seems like there is some power being fed via the firewire ports when the machine is off. My iPod has never behaved this way before so I am assuming it's not at fault.

[Waragainstsleep]

Does the iPod battery icon flash like its charging while the G4 is powered off?

[shawp]

The battery icon doesn't flash and the iPod doesn't charge. In fact the opposite happens and the battery drains as the iPod won't actually power down. I recently noticed this as the iPod battery was almost flat after being left connected to the computer overnight (which was off, but not unplugged).

Could it be that there is actually a trickle of power being delivered which keeps the iPod from shutting down, but which isn't enough to cause it to recharge?

[analogika]

Desktop Macs continue to supply Firewire bus power even when the machine is off.

Many Mac laptops will supply Firewire bus power when the machine is off, but remains plugged in via the power supply.

[shawp]

I never knew that the firewire bus was powered even when the machine is off. It definitely wasn't the case for my last G4. It wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that whatever power is coming through isn't actually charging the iPod, but rather preventing it from shutting down and therefore draining it's battery.

I am going to try swapping to a USB port and see how that works.