Flat panel G4 iMac won't sleep

I can put the machine to sleep manually, but it won't go to sleep after inactivity.
Jim Jennings wrote on :

Can anyone help me figure out why my flat panel G4 iMac won't go to sleep?

It is one of the first flat panel iMacs (14 inch, or was that 15 inch?), a couple of years old, 800 Mhz. I recently reformatted the hard drive, reinstalled Panther from scratch, and did all the system updates.

I can put the machine to sleep manually, but it won't go to sleep after inactivity. I think it is set to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. Even when no one is logged in it won't sleep.

The system log file looks like this:

Apr 16 03:15:03 Jennings-iMac-G4 syslogd: restart Apr 16 03:16:21 Jennings-iMac-G4 SymMissedTask - parent[240]: sleep request recorded: Fri Apr 16 03:16:21 2004
Apr 16 03:16:21 Jennings-iMac-G4 SymMissedTask - parent[240]: sleep request recorded: Fri Apr 16 03:16:21 2004
Apr 16 03:16:21 Jennings-iMac-G4 SymMissedTask - parent[240]: sleep cancelled time is: Fri Apr 16 03:16:21 2004
Apr 16 03:17:51 Jennings-iMac-G4 SymMissedTask - parent[240]: sleep request recorded: Fri Apr 16 03:17:51 2004
Apr 16 03:17:51 Jennings-iMac-G4 SymMissedTask - parent[240]: sleep request recorded: Fri Apr 16 03:17:51 2004
Apr 16 03:17:51 Jennings-iMac-G4 SymMissedTask - parent[240]: sleep cancelled time is: Fri Apr 16 03:17:51 2004
Apr 16 03:19:28 Jennings-iMac-G4 SymMissedTask - parent[240]: sleep request recorded: Fri Apr 16 03:19:28 2004
Apr 16 03:19:28 Jennings-iMac-G4 SymMissedTask - parent[240]: sleep request recorded: Fri Apr 16 03:19:28 2004
Apr 16 03:19:28 Jennings-iMac-G4 SymMissedTask - parent[240]: sleep cancelled time is: Fri Apr 16 03:19:28 2004

I think the first line just means that a fresh system log was started with the daily cron job. The system was not restarted. After that it looks like the system is trying to sleep about every 90 seconds, but for some reason it can't. The cycle repeates until someone starts using the computer.

Any ideas?

Ken Tanaka replied on :

Jim Jennings wrote:

Can anyone help me figure out why my flat panel G4 iMac won't go to sleep?

It is one of the first flat panel iMacs (14 inch, or was that 15 inch?), a couple of years old, 800 Mhz. I recently reformatted the hard drive, reinstalled Panther from scratch, and did all the system updates.

I can put the machine to sleep manually, but it won't go to sleep after inactivity. I think it is set to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. Even when no one is logged in it won't sleep. ...

I think the first line just means that a fresh system log was started with the daily cron job. The system was not restarted. After that it looks like the system is trying to sleep about every 90 seconds, but for some reason it can't. The cycle repeates until someone starts using the computer.

Any ideas?

You may have a noisy mouse or some other input device (graphics tablet?) is sending small movements so the computer can't tell its truely inactive.

Jim Jennings replied on :

In article c5pjhu$maq$1@redacted.invalid, Ken Tanaka <keN.tanaka_@redacted.invalid_noaa.gov> wrote:

Jim Jennings wrote:

Can anyone help me figure out why my flat panel G4 iMac won't go to sleep?

You may have a noisy mouse or some other input device (graphics tablet?) is sending small movements so the computer can't tell its truely inactive.

I will try unplugging the mouse and see what happens. But I don't think that is the problem because the screen saver does come on...

Ken Tanaka replied on :

Jim Jennings wrote:

I will try unplugging the mouse and see what happens. But I don't think that is the problem because the screen saver does come on...

I agree, if the screen saver comes on, then it won't be the mouse.

-Ken

Jim Nagy replied on :

In article c5plro$nla$1@redacted.invalid, Ken Tanaka <keN.tanaka_@redacted.invalid_noaa.gov> wrote:

Jim Jennings wrote:

I will try unplugging the mouse and see what happens. But I don't think that is the problem because the screen saver does come on...

I agree, if the screen saver comes on, then it won't be the mouse.

Did you see what startup apps are running? We installed an HP all-in-one on our iMac, and it installed some background app that was always watching to see if someone pressed the scan button. It would not sleep on its own after that. The solution was to kill that app, and to manually open the HP Director when we wanted to scan. Sleeps nicely now, just like old times.

Jim Jennings replied on :

In article 160420041925539960%never@redacted.invalid, Jim Nagy never@redacted.invalid wrote:

In article c5plro$nla$1@redacted.invalid, Ken Tanaka <keN.tanaka_@redacted.invalid_noaa.gov> wrote:

Jim Jennings wrote:

I will try unplugging the mouse and see what happens. But I don't think that is the problem because the screen saver does come on...

I agree, if the screen saver comes on, then it won't be the mouse.

Did you see what startup apps are running? We installed an HP all-in-one on our iMac, and it installed some background app that was always watching to see if someone pressed the scan button. It would not sleep on its own after that. The solution was to kill that app, and to manually open the HP Director when we wanted to scan. Sleeps nicely now, just like old times.

I don't any HP software, but I do have Norton AntiVirus. Might that inhibit sleep?