Hello,
A friend just got a Titanium iBook (G4) with a recent version of OS X, and she's now exploring it to determine its value to her. She noticed that it was shutting down after very short periods of time, and she stumbled upon how to change the time till shutdown in the Panels. She noticed that the maximum time it allows her to set is three hours, and she'd like to know if that is indeed the longest the system can run till it needs to shut down.
She uses the computer mostly for word processing, occasional iMovie work, and for her daughter to play games suitable for younger children (elementary school level games).
I'd like to know, and to let her know it turn (as she's not on-line), what is a wise maximum amount of time she should set for her system to remain up and running. She occasionally needs long session time (and realizes the importance of frequent saves), but for the most part, she wouldn't need to use it for more than, say, two hours at a time.
Any and all advice is welcome and appreciated!
Thanks and happy computing, Eric
In article ericp06-35A769.10085014072006@redacted.invalid, Eric P. ericp06@redacted.invalid wrote:
Hello,
A friend just got a Titanium iBook (G4) with a recent version of OS X, and she's now exploring it to determine its value to her. She noticed that it was shutting down after very short periods of time, and she stumbled upon how to change the time till shutdown in the Panels. She noticed that the maximum time it allows her to set is three hours, and she'd like to know if that is indeed the longest the system can run till it needs to shut down.
It never "needs" to shut down. There is no such setting that I can find. Three hours is the time to sleep. Or you can set it to never sleep.
The only setting for shutdown allows you to set a day and time of day.
She uses the computer mostly for word processing, occasional iMovie work, and for her daughter to play games suitable for younger children (elementary school level games).
I'd like to know, and to let her know it turn (as she's not on-line), what is a wise maximum amount of time she should set for her system to remain up and running. She occasionally needs long session time (and realizes the importance of frequent saves), but for the most part, she wouldn't need to use it for more than, say, two hours at a time.
There is no reason to shut down the Mac. The "time to sleep" is inactive time, so if she's using it it won't go to sleep.
BTW, I use a PowerBook G4...
In article ericp06-35A769.10085014072006@redacted.invalid, "Eric P." ericp06@redacted.invalid wrote:
Hello,
A friend just got a Titanium iBook (G4) with a recent version of OS X, and she's now exploring it to determine its value to her. She noticed that it was shutting down after very short periods of time, and she stumbled upon how to change the time till shutdown in the Panels.
I think you mean time to sleep, which isn't shutting down. Unless something is broken, touching the keyboard or trackpad (or connecting/disconnecting a USB device) will wake the system from sleep.
After the system has shut down, you have to press the power button (or, see below...)
She noticed that the maximum time it allows her to set is three hours, and she'd like to know if that is indeed the longest the system can run till it needs to shut down.
Check the Energy Saver panel in System Preferences. In addition to settings for display and system sleep timeouts, the "Schedule" button will let her define times to start up or shutdown (or sleep) the system.
In article sehix-A131B7.12255814072006@redacted.invalid, Steve Hix sehix@redacted.invalid wrote:
In article ericp06-35A769.10085014072006@redacted.invalid, "Eric P." ericp06@redacted.invalid wrote:
Hello,
A friend just got a Titanium iBook (G4) with a recent version of OS X, and she's now exploring it to determine its value to her. She noticed that it was shutting down after very short periods of time, and she stumbled upon how to change the time till shutdown in the Panels.
I think you mean time to sleep, which isn't shutting down. Unless something is broken, touching the keyboard or trackpad (or connecting/disconnecting a USB device) will wake the system from sleep.
After the system has shut down, you have to press the power button (or, see below...)
She noticed that the maximum time it allows her to set is three hours, and she'd like to know if that is indeed the longest the system can run till it needs to shut down.
Check the Energy Saver panel in System Preferences. In addition to settings for display and system sleep timeouts, the "Schedule" button will let her define times to start up or shutdown (or sleep) the system.
I thought something was funky with her description of what was happening. Just didn't think to ask if it was truly powering off, or if it was going to sleep. She's never been one to put a computer to sleep. Whenever she's finished with a session on her G4 (and, before that, on her ruby iMac), she shuts it down. IAC, she'll show me the machine sometime soon, and then I'll really be able to help explore, troubleshoot, and set things up for optimal performance.
Heh, I'd introduce her to the CLI, but that would just blow her mind L
Thanks, Eric
In article sehix-A131B7.12255814072006@redacted.invalid, Steve Hix sehix@redacted.invalid wrote:
In article ericp06-35A769.10085014072006@redacted.invalid, "Eric P." ericp06@redacted.invalid wrote:
A friend just got a Titanium iBook (G4) with a recent version of OS X, and she's now exploring it to determine its value to her. She noticed that it was shutting down after very short periods of time, and she stumbled upon how to change the time till shutdown in the Panels.
I think you mean time to sleep, which isn't shutting down. Unless something is broken, touching the keyboard or trackpad (or connecting/disconnecting a USB device) will wake the system from sleep.
After the system has shut down, you have to press the power button (or, see below...)
She noticed that the maximum time it allows her to set is three hours, and she'd like to know if that is indeed the longest the system can run till it needs to shut down.
Check the Energy Saver panel in System Preferences. In addition to settings for display and system sleep timeouts, the "Schedule" button will let her define times to start up or shutdown (or sleep) the system.
Eric, since your friend just bought the TiBook, it's obviously used. If it is 'shutting down after very short periods of time' it's possible the battery is dying and needs to be replaced if she is running off battery power when this happens. Discharging the battery fully and then recharging it, discharging it again, and recharging (that's 2 full cycles) will reset the battery monitor in the upper right corner of the screen. You should get at least an hour of use (maybe 2) before the computer will automatically go to sleep and then later shutdown if the charger is not plugged it, although some games can drain a battery quickly with lots of disk access, video processing, and sound production.
Of course, if the TiBook is plugged in all the time, then something else may be going wrong.
--Fred