Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

vwgtiturbo · Apr 4, 2007, 09:15 PM

Okay, my MacBook of three weeks is driving me nuts... If I am at work doing something, then walk away, leaving the system on and the lid up, I come back to a dark display. The 'sleep' light isn't on at all (much less blinking, or steady). So, I hit the spacebar to wake the machine, and it doesn't wake. I click every button on the keyboard and mouse to no avail. The only way to recover is to hold the power button for 4 or 5 seconds and reboot the machine. Every time I have noticed this, I have had the external power connected (I haven't really paid attention when on battery power). This is so annoying because I have some Automator scripts that run and take 15-20 minutes to complete, and instead of sitting there waiting for them to finish, I go do something else. Well, the machine does this weird thing, and when it 'sleeps' or whatever it is, my scripts aren't finishing, and they fail out.
I thought about adjusting the sleep timings to compensate, but am still a little irritated about the 'not waking from sleep' issue.
Has anyone seen this, and actually seen a valid fix? I ran across many instances via Google, but nothing concrete by way of a solution. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

bishopazrael · Apr 5, 2007, 05:11 AM

For the record, I'm having the same problems.

If I put the system to sleep without being on the power cord, it dies. I had like 2 hours of battery life left last night when I put it to sleep and went to bed. I get up this morning and it wont wake up. Checked it and the battery was dead. So its like I've got a leak somewhere. I've reset the SMC by removing the power and battery, holding the power button for 5 secs and restarting. I haven't tried it yet, but its odd.

vwgtiturbo · Apr 6, 2007, 10:03 AM

I'm not seeing a similarity... Your hunch about a 'leak' could be accurate, but it sounds like your battery is not calibrated. If you have a MacBook/Pro, the microprocessor in the battery does need to be calibrated (I spent some time reading Apple's website when my problem turned up) by charging it until the Power Cord LED is green (with the laptop off), then turn it on, and use it over the course of time, until it DIES. Charge it until green again, and the battery should be 'calibrated'. This basically ensures that what you see, as far as a life meter, or remaining runtime, is actually accurate.

My issue happens with the power cord CONNECTED. It is simply going to sleep due to inactivity, but never resumes. Granted, if I put it to sleep by closing the lid, it wakes up just fine, but that isn't always practical, especially if I have something running in the background.

mfbernstein · Apr 6, 2007, 10:11 AM

vwgtiturbo: Your symptoms sound like those of RSS (Random Sudden Shutdown Syndrome), although in theory the problem should only effect the original Core Duo MacBooks (yours is a C2D, right?). Does this problem happen when the system is left unattended, but not under load?

In any case, as a hardware problem, the only people who can really help are Apple.

bishopazrael: Your problem seems different. Your battery may be swelling, or may simply be bad. Apple seems to be relatively helpful in replacing them.

vwgtiturbo · Apr 6, 2007, 10:23 AM

Yeah, it is a 2Ghz C2D. That is a really good question about the load... I never really considered it. I mean, when I walk away it is under load for maybe 10-15 minutes, but the sleep kicks in before I get back (maybe twenty minutes). The strange thing is that normally, I will hear the fans whirring more quickly than normal, as if the load is high enough to warm things up, BUT there is no other activity (no lights, no HDD).
I have AppleCare, so I am not too worried about it, but I wonder... If there is an issue and I need to send it back, do I have to send my hard drive? Or, can I keep it and just send the shell? I will call them and see what they say...
Thanks!

vwgtiturbo · Apr 6, 2007, 10:26 AM

Now that I think about it... the system is definitely under load when it 'sleeps'. My scripts aren't completing, so I am assuming that while they are running is when I have this 'sleep' issue.

mfbernstein · Apr 6, 2007, 10:33 AM

Well, in theory, if the heat gets too hot, the machine will be shut down. But of course the purpose of the fans is to ensure that doesn't happen.

In RSS, usually what happens is the insulation around some of the wires melts, and causes the temperature mechanism to go haywire so the machine is shutdown even when it isn't overheating.

That doesn't sound like your case (and you have a C2D). Have you tried running CoreDuoTemp and keeping an eye on one of these Automator sessions?

If you send it in to Apple, I think you have to include all the original components of the machine, not just the shell.