[Thilo Ettelt]

Hey folks!

I have the annoying problem although the HD spins down after a couple of minutes and is put to sleep it will awake after like 30 or 60 minutes (i'm not sure about the time tho). It's very annoying when taking a nap since bed and computer share my room. The only daemon started is the Logitech daemon.

Does anyone have an idea of how to prevent those spin down, spin up events?


- Thilo

[JB72]

Give us a rundown of your hardware.

[Art Vandelay]

If you use iCal, the iCal Helper runs every 60 minutes.

[Thilo Ettelt]

Originally posted by JB72:
Give us a rundown of your hardware.

iMac 500 CRT:
- apple pro keyboard
- logitech mx700

apps running: itunes (no song playing)


regarding iCal:

do you mean iCal installed on HD or iCal running?

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by Thilo Ettelt:
regarding iCal:

do you mean iCal installed on HD or iCal running?

Installed.

[Thilo Ettelt]

Originally posted by Art Vandelay:
Installed.

ok, how do i see if this helper is being started? it's not listed in my start up objects.

oh another thing i forgot:

- Palm Desktop Background
- Transport Manager (also part of the Palm software)

...running


- Thilo

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by Thilo Ettelt:
ok, how do i see if this helper is being started? it's not listed in my start up objects.

- Thilo

Check the Console log (/Applications/Utilities/Console.app).

Look for something like this...

Code:
2003-03-06 15:02:35.183 iCal Helper[1328] Launch of helper planned at : 03/06/03 16:02:35

[mjarski15]

Originally posted by Art Vandelay:
Check the Console log (/Applications/Utilities/Console.app).

Look for something like this...

Code:
2003-03-06 15:02:35.183 iCal Helper[1328] Launch of helper planned at : 03/06/03 16:02:35

What does iCal Helper do anyways?

[Thilo Ettelt]

Originally posted by mjarski15:
What does iCal Helper do anyways?

I guess it's the alarm clock ringing iCal awake when an event comes close. Which means it probably the application checking the time and launching iCal then.

I have removed iCal from my computer and removed the two Palm daemons from my startup objects list. Unfortunetely it didn't have any effects.

What I noticed in my test: the HD began spinning up at 3:00 PM. No application was launched except the Finder at that moment.


- Thilo

[Art Vandelay]

You can just simply put your computer to sleep to solve this whole problem. If you need your computer on for some reason, there is nothing you can do to stop the hard drive from spinning up occasionally.

[Thilo Ettelt]

Originally posted by Art Vandelay:
You can just simply put your computer to sleep to solve this whole problem. If you need your computer on for some reason, there is nothing you can do to stop the hard drive from spinning up occasionally.

That's quite sad. Because I wanna have iTunes playing some music in the morning in order to wake me up...

I'm sure there is a possibility to prevent these spin ups!


- Thilo

[Mithras]

Have you checked whether the disk still spins up when iTunes is not playing?

I think I remember a thread (here it is) about iTunes periodically accessing a timezone file, perhaps to keep track of when you last played a song. It's a potential culprit, anyway.

In any case, try turning of each of those suspects (Palm, iCal Helper, iTunes) in turn to narrow down the issue.

Alternatively, use this hint to set your Mac to wake up in the morning, so you can put it to sleep through the night!

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by Thilo Ettelt:
That's quite sad. Because I wanna have iTunes playing some music in the morning in order to wake me up...

I'm sure there is a possibility to prevent these spin ups!


- Thilo

It isn't sad. It's just a fact of computers. From time to time, your system is going to need to access the hard drive. Also, there are alarm clock utilities that will wake your computer from sleep automatically. Check VersionTracker.

BTW, you must have a loud hard drive if it's waking you up. I can barely tell when mine is spinning or not.

[Bouba]

Originally posted by mjarski15:
What does iCal Helper do anyways?

iCal helper is the app that display the messages or that will execute the event set.

It will not get activated if you do not launch iCal first. That means that if you want to have the events, or notification, add the iCal helper to the list of the login items.

In anyway, if it is always on, it will not trigger the activation of the hard drive unless you have an alert scheduled.

[pliny]

Oh the classic loud iMac hard drive problem. I remember some couple years ago when there was a good number of threads about this in the iMac forums complete with links to step-by-step "replace your iMac hard drive" sites. When the iMac crt hard drives get loud, they really do get loud. A function of not having a fan of course. I'm glad to hear the LCD iMacs are quieter.