[megasad]

There is a 1.33GHz G4 12" PowerBook, and it is usually used when connected to the electricity from the wall, no battery inside of it. Also, an external mouse and A3 printer are connected by USB, the printer turned off.

The problem is that, even though the wish upon closing the screen is that the machine should go to sleep, it very often does not. Or, more of a problem, it does go to sleep, but then wakes up at some point later and this is not noticed for a long time and then it is burning hot and has been closed and it was meant to be asleep, dagnammit!

Worst of all, even when it wakes up when the screen is closed, it will not go to sleep after 15 minutes, like it is set to in the Energy Saver preference pane! It stays on for ever and ever!

So, is there a software of firmware modification that I can make that will disable the ability for the PowerBook to run with the screen closed, unless there is an external screen attached? There never is, but I guess at some point in the future there may be... Failing that, the ability to turn off this feature completely / make it work as it's supposed to, would be greatly appreciated.

[Ruahrc]

Odd. That is how the powerbook is supposed to be- sleep when the screen is closed. Was yours always like this?

Maybe you need to take it to an Apple store and have it looked at- this is something that the warranty would (should?) cover.

Lastly- there is some Terminal command I think that can somewhat control the PB's wake/sleep behavior regarding the screen. Perhaps your setting is changed somehow. Unfortunately i don't know the command but try searching google (or this forum) or maybe someone else here does know it...

Ruahrc

[emil]

What is plugged into your powerbook, besides power? Sometimes certain USB peripherals can wake your powerbook, like treo 600 wakes it if I drop the phone into the usb cradle while it's aslee./..

[megasad]

As emil mentions, it is probably because there are devices attached via USB that the PowerBook keeps waking up. And it's probably part of the use-with-external-display-whilst-closed feature that PowerBooks have (and iBook's don't) that it does not go back to sleep; it thinks someone is using it.

I have looked on Mac OS X Hints, and this hint seems to be the most helpful. However, unsurprisingly, it is on how to do the opposite; how to make an iBook work whilst the screen is closed.

The printer is always turned off, except when being used, and the mouse is just a standard Logitech optical-two-button-scroll-wheeled affair. The machine is nearly always used on the same desk, only unplugged to take to college.

If anyone knows the pmset commands to make the machine not able to run whilst closed, that'd be a help; if such commands exist, I could not find them.

[Chito]

You should just unplug your mouse and see if that's the culprit. As stated above usb devices often interfere with sleep.

[webb3201]

yep, pull the devices one at a time until you find the problem. Note, my understanding is that Powermanager will not allow allow the battery to continue to pull power once charged. Point being that if you are removing the battery to save its service life while plugged in, you need not worry. I have used mine plugged in with batter in for years with no battery life issues.

k

[rjenkinson]

you should also consider anything electrical plugged into the same socket or power strip. i have a lamp that can wake my sleeping ibook.

-r.