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chasg · May 9, 2007, 02:30 PM

Hi All: My MBP is restarting all by itself, while asleep. Not good.

This has happened about 5 times since I got the machine (Mac Book Pro 15", 2.33GHz, OSX 10.4.9): I put the machine to sleep (by closing the lid). When I open it up, it's in the middle of restarting (the blue screen just before the OSX splash screen soon comes up).

Normally it hasn't been a problem as when it's happened previously I've only had a few web pages open, but this time I had a whole bunch of work on the go.

What the heck is going on? Anybody else have this problem? (and how do we avoid it in the future? I don't want to have to shut down my Mac every time I put it to sleep and/or transport it).

Chas

ibook_steve · May 9, 2007, 03:06 PM

Well, this isn't Windows, so it's not because of an update. Boy, I hate it when a PC (or my Parallels) restarts out of nowhere because it downloaded an update and thought it was OK to reboot without asking.

Your machine is probably not going to sleep and something else is causing it to reboot. When you close the lid, do you wait to see the sleep LED pulsing, and then later you see this problem?

Steve

chasg · May 9, 2007, 03:31 PM

A good question (waiting for the LED). I often check, but I can't remember if I made sure it was asleep on the occasions where it was deciding to restart.

That brings up another issue: lately I've noticed that the battery hasn't carried as much charge after sleeping as it should (this is when I've made sure it was fully charged, and then slipped into my laptop bag). I'm going to be more careful to ensure that it really is sleeping from now on, thanks.

Still, I can't think of what's causing it to reboot.

Thanks for the help,

Chas

LaGow · May 9, 2007, 05:24 PM

My 15" CD2 MBP is also rebooting spontaneously. It's done it two or three times since I got it last Fall. I haven't noticed whether it was alseep or not--probably not--but the lid was closed so I always assumed it was alseep.

The problem is that it happens so randomly--and infrequently--that it's impossible to gauge under what circumstances this problem happens. I'm glad to know it's happening to other folks, though.

Andrew Stephens · May 11, 2007, 05:14 AM

Mine does this too. I've got the habit of saving everything open before I close the lid. Most times as soon as I close the lid the fans start howling away. By the time I get home 15 mins later it's still howling away in my bag. If I open the lid at this point its normally locked up and needs a hard restart. If I leave it an hour or so then the fans have drained the battery flat so I have to restart and recharge it anyway.

I'd say mine does thus around 75% of the time I sleep it by closing the lid. If I sleep the machine first it sleeps fine, then when I shut the lid the fans only spring into life around 20% of the time.

I've seen loads of posts about Mac laptops not sleeping well dating back to the old Pismo's. It seems to be something Aple can't get right. My PC laptop owning friends like to laugh as I struggle each time to wake up my mac from sleep while they just ping theirs open and start working.

grrr

Big Mac · May 11, 2007, 06:21 AM

Certain Mac models have been more prone to sleep problems, but it has never been a universal issue. On occasion Macs will panic in sleep. But if a Mac continually exhibits that behavior, it should go back to Apple. I have never before heard of spontaneous reboots due to sleep. That's a new "feature" of Apple's PC hardware, apparently.

gen · May 11, 2007, 03:14 PM

Check security option in system preferences. Log-off option after idling for 60 min was on my MBP since I purchased.
Also check to see a battery has good contact with MBP. I saw my old PB restart when I push the battery to certain direction or when I carried it in my bag probably battery lost contact briefly.

crispinwilliams · May 11, 2007, 04:23 PM

I have caught my macbook 17 doing exactly this - maybe 5 or 6 times over the last 6 weeks. Today - again it did it - I close the lid to sleep it - instead I hear the startup chime and it reboots. Strangely it is not a clean reboot since I have rEFIt installed so I should get an startup page so I can choose operating systems (MacOSX or UBUNTU)... but for these random restarts it seems to just decide to reboot the MacOSX system. Indeed one can loose large amounts of work so this is a bug I wish Apple will look into

MBP 17 C2D

BkueKanoodle · May 12, 2007, 04:06 AM

You're joking right? If not there is something wrong with your machine. One of the reasons I switched to the mac laptop was because for the last 5 years sleep just works. I had tons of windows laptops and none have ever slept and and re-awoke as seamlessly as my macs.

Having said thar, I do notice that occasionally (maybe 10 times in the last 5 years) where my mac will restart spontaneously when the lid is closed. But then again, I close and reopen my laptop about 5-7 times a day so over that period that's pretty good odds.

phoenix78 · May 12, 2007, 10:35 AM

My mbp cd 17" sometimes restarts spontaneously even when it isnt in sleep mode. This happens in windows under bootcamp though. I havent used windows for a while but needed it the other day and it was all unstable for the first few reboots... then it was all good.. no problems at all...

funny stuff eh? lets hope apple discovers something to fix for this

rob.

analogika · May 12, 2007, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by crispinwilliams

I have caught my macbook 17 doing exactly this - maybe 5 or 6 times over the last 6 weeks. Today - again it did it - I close the lid to sleep it - instead I hear the startup chime and it reboots. Strangely it is not a clean reboot since I have rEFIt installed so I should get an startup page so I can choose operating systems (MacOSX or UBUNTU)... but for these random restarts it seems to just decide to reboot the MacOSX system. Indeed one can loose large amounts of work so this is a bug I wish Apple will look into

MBP 17 C2D

I suggest you let your Certified Technician look into that, because it sure as hell ain't normal.

Get it repaired.

crispinwilliams · May 12, 2007, 03:34 PM

Yes - but how do you get any certified technician to take an interest in some abnormal occurrence that happens at probably less than 1% of the time. I am sure it is not normal - I also have this other problem where the macbook pro either does not go to sleep - or wakes up - (I don't know which) and cooks itself in the carrying bag - however again it is a very low percentage of the time. If I felt confident that I could sent it to Apple and get it repaired - I would do it tomorrow - but as it is - I suspect I would send it in and get it returned with : No fault found. I have done all the standard checks - reinstalled the system from scratch - extended hardware diagnostics (no problem found). My only hope of a solution is that I am not alone - others have this low level problem and I hope that Apple is listening - please fix this.
I have used Macs for years - this is the first that has not worked perfectly.

serranot · May 13, 2007, 06:40 AM

Agreed. My 2.33 C2D exhibits this behavior very rarely and not predictably, along with three system crashed since new. Obviously, it should not do this, but there is nothing "wrong" in the sense that a normal tech will be able to diagnose. The behavior is widespread enough that hopefully someone will stumble upon the cause. For now, these little annoyances do not sour me on the MBP. I like it too much to hate it. ;-)

Regards,
Tom

videoboy22 · May 14, 2007, 03:38 AM

chasg

Is this the whole story or are you perhaps putting the MBP in a bag after you put it to sleep? When I swapped my PB for MBP, I had exactly the same problem. I put it in a tight computer sleeve and often within 5 mins I could hear it restarting.

In the end, I put it down to overheating. These MBPs get unbearably hot compared to the PB, so if its more than slightly warm I have to shut the MBP down before transporting. A pain...

chasg · May 14, 2007, 04:00 AM

woah, more active thread that I'd anticipated.

videoboy22: you've got it right, the restarting problem has always happened after the MBP has been in a tight sleeve and then put into a bag. I've never had the problem otherwise, but then it's _always_ in the sleeve and bag (I'm photographer, and my MBP is my portable studio).

Hmm, it'd be awkward to ensure that it was cool before putting it away (I'm always on the go, it seems), but I'll try. Shutting down may be neceesary (yes, what a pain!). Thanks for the advice,

Of course, I can't think of a reason for over-heating to cause a restart??

Chas

crispinwilliams · May 14, 2007, 05:54 AM

videoboy22:
The last time this spontaneous restart happened no bag was involved. I had it open doing mild things such as web surfing (so fans not on - mbp temperature monitor ~ 50 to 60 C). I closed the lid and there and then I heard the restart chimes etc etc. So in my case - I don't think heat was the trigger....

pottymouth · May 14, 2007, 07:55 AM

Mine does it too. 3 times since I got it 2 months ago. There is no more to the story. I close the lid, leave it on the table, and when I open it back up later it's halfway through the reboot.

2.16 15"

gudin · May 14, 2007, 08:25 AM

Not to pile on, but my MBP C2D has done it several times of late also. In my case, several times I close the lid and hear the reboot chime a few seconds later. Other times, I've just opened it and noticed it was halfway through re-boot.

Never had this problem before a month or two ago. Could be overheating, but I am not sure.

Raining Down in Texas · May 14, 2007, 08:50 AM

I got a 2.33 GHz C2D MBP for work, and it has rebooted after going to sleep twice in the last 3 months, both times in my bag. There were no howling fans or any other indication that it had not gone to sleep properly, except that after a few minutes I heard the startup chime come out of the bag.

I have a CD MBP that has never done this, and before that I had a Ti PB and an iBook that never did this. I think it's something unique to the C2D machines.

achillies39 · May 18, 2007, 12:17 AM

MBP just one week old has spontaneously re-booted four times in the last two days. Just sitting on my desk with a Novatel XU 870 sitting in the card slot. Haven't been able to tie it to anything in particular but suspect the card may be the problem. Power adaptor plugged in in all cases. MBP is not hot at the time and I don't think it's related to sleep initiation at this stage.

chasg · May 18, 2007, 04:27 AM

Just pulled my laptop out of the computer bag. It was fully charged when I put it in last night (about 8 hours ago), but now the battery indicator says that I've only got 80% charge.

I didn't ensure that it was asleep when I put it away last night, I'm going to have to get into that habit (or <shudder> shut it down, which is a royal pain in the *ss).

fyi: 5 days ago I did a complete format and reinstall.

Chas

ibook_steve · May 18, 2007, 01:09 PM

Since I got my MBP in January, I'm starting to really dislike Safe Sleep, simply for the fact that I have to wait for the machine to completely go to sleep. I'd disable it, but the benefits outweigh the extra time it takes for sleep. I think people just need to get into the habit of waiting and watching for the pulsing sleep LED.

Steve

crispinwilliams · May 23, 2007, 01:46 AM

Yet again another spontaneous restart... woke mbp after a night of sleep - no problem - read email and looked at a few web pages - close lid and 10 seconds later hear restart chimes.... I find nothing useful in the system log ...

rehoot · May 23, 2007, 08:18 AM

Does the error occur when you keep the lid open and use the sleep command from the blue Apple menu on the top left? If you do not get the error when it is sleeping with the lid open, then maybe it is a problem with the latch. If you do get the error, then it is either hardware or software.

I have a PowerBook G4 and I had an iBook before that (and a Mac Pro) and I have never had the problem (so it is not a universal problem with OS X). I suspect a hardware problem. Somebody above mentioned a loose battery. Does this happen only when running certain apps (Windows?) I have never run Windows on my Macs if that matters.

lethe · May 29, 2007, 05:24 PM

I'm having this exact problem as well. I've started also a thread on the apple support discussion forum.

Apple - Support - Discussions - MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo reboots after I ...

chasg · May 29, 2007, 05:31 PM

Well done lethe, perhaps putting this issue right on Apple's doorstep will help all of us out (fyi: I'm not bashing: since this is an intermittent problem, it's going to take many posts from affected people to get the necessary attention to initiate some sort of fix).

Chas