10.5: Enable nap mode in 10.5 on G4 MDD systems

Nov 15, '07 07:30:02AM

Contributed by: theusjones

Some G4 Mirrored Drive Door (MDD) systems have cooling systems that run loudly as the CPUs get hot, especially the model affectionately known at the "Windtunnel" G4s. On those systems, enabling nap mode brings the normal operating temperature down remarkably well, thereby quieting the fans. This was covered in this older hint.

The method is basically to install the last version of Apple's C.H.U.D. tools that allows Nap Mode on those machines, which is version 3.5.2 [21MB download]. That version still works with Leopard, although notably it misreports cache sizes. However, the old command line utility, and therefore the derived AppleScripts, that people have relied on until now to enable nap mode have broken.

So here is an Applescript I wrote that will enable nap mode again, even under Leopard:

tell application "System Preferences"
 activate
 set current pane to pane "Hardware"
 tell application "System Events"
  if not UI elements enabled then
   display dialog "GUI Scripting is not enabled. Enable?"
   set UI elements enabled to true
  end if
  tell application process "System Preferences"
   set napModeBox to checkbox 1 of group 1 of window "Hardware"
   if value of napModeBox is 0 then
    click napModeBox
   end if
   end tell
  end tell
 close the first window
end tell
Ideally the next version of C.H.U.D. Tools would bring Nap Mode back for these models which need it. Merciful Apple, why have you taken it away?

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Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071101231643321