Snooze of Death

1. Charles H. Sampson - 31 May 2008

   I'm running 10.4.11 on a G4. I've recently added a Maxtor external disk (750GB) with a USB connection. Since then, the computer has gotten into a strange condition several times: It is still running (fan is on), but the screen has gone dark and won't come back. The only action possible is to power down and reboot. Also, often when the machine has been put to sleep and is awakened, the message about improper removal of a disk appears and the Maxtor icons are no longer on the desktop.

   I'm certain that both of these problems have occurred before that addition of the Maxtor drive, the latter referring to a mounted thumb drive then, but they have become much more frequent.

   Are these recognized problems and can anything be done about them short of rebooting? If this has been discussed already, a pointer to the original thread will be fine.

   Charlie

   For an email response, insert "0824" between the 'c' and the 's'.

2. Jolly Roger - 31 May 2008

   Take a look at the system log for any messages having to do with sleep and USB devices.

   Viewing Crash, Console, and System Logs

   1. Open /Applications/Utilities/Console.

   2. From the Console menu bar, select File > View System Log.

   3. From the Console menu bar, select File > View Console Log.

   The system log will usually give you an indication as to what is causing startup issues. The console log can show issues you experience after you are logged into your user account.

   If a particular application is crashing, you may find a crash log in /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/ or /Users/you/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/.

   (Feel free to post the logs here if you need help understanding them. I'll be glad to take a look and tell you what I see.)

   Please send all responses to the relevant news group. E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. I do not read posts from Google Groups. Use a real news reader if you want me to see your posts.

   JR