I have a PB-G4 17" that runs a little while without problems (say 20 min.) then it goes to sleep. Pressing any key or closing & opening the clamshell returns it to operation (the light on the clamshell lock dims and brightens as in sleep mode. I've set the system preferences to: Never sleep, Screensaver Never On, no disk shutdown (when possible), Security log-off time out disabled, etc., etc.,
A few minutes later it goes to sleep again and soon goes into an endless cycle of Sleep/Restart/Screen returns/2 seconds connect to WIFi then sleep again. I'd love to copy the HD and the users, Apps & data (i.e. mirror) to another bootable (FW800) drive and see what happens, but I do not have a blank HD and afraid I'd overwrite the current directories if I move a bootable system onto it.
After a long time being shutdown, this can sometimes be started by touching the upper left of the case to trigger this (as if static electricity fired it off.) Other times touching the speaker grill on left makes it happen or wiggling the power connector. Moving the clamshell can seem to do it on occasion. Another issue with the above machine is that I used the widget called iStat Pro and no unusual heating or other stuff seems to be going on (Or reported anyway!) The PMU has been reset too.
Thanks, Colleen, for the info about SU. My Disk Utility said all's well with the disk but did report some permissions on "changed" files it could not fix. Disk Warrior says directories are perfect. Disk Utility reported that S.M.A.R.T. drive check reported all was OK. With all that I have difficulty connecting the Random Sleep cycles to the hard drive.
My other PB-G$ 17" (about the same age) had a drive fail, however, and I'm running on an external HD with that machine. I'll get then check SU, but my gut says it can't be the drive. Do you still see it as possibly (60-80%) the drive? Apple will not upgrade the drive but insist on replacing the same size & type (70 GB) at very high cost. Should I attempt to put in a 350 GB drive myself? Will it drain the battery and raise PMU issues to do so?
If I could replace the OS (if I knew how) without erasing the hard disk, losing settings software keys and the like, I sure would. I have only the original 5.0 disk anyway, while everything is 10.5.8.
I hope I can fix this before I loose everything or it goes to black screen and I cannot monitor it any more!