Cannot set Start up time

[jb]

iMac Intel i3 21.5" OS 10.6.4

After umpteen years of leaving the power ON on my computers, I have decided to Shutdown before
going to bed. Reasons are my little contribution to energy saving, and wear and tear of my computer
hardware. I could understand to leave the power ON on older equipment when power ON would cause
sudden inrush of currents to stress some components, mainly capacitors. But today’s switching power
supply designs are such as to prevent such an inrush of currents.

Still I would like the computer to turn ON on Monday morning at 1:45am so that Cocktail can do its things
at 2:00am. Why is it that I cannot set a Start up time in my Energy Saver panel. I cannot enter
the time in the “at” box. See attachment.

[attachment=1995:Energy_Saver.jpg]

jb

[jchuzi]

What happens if you try it in a test account?

[jb]

With a test account, I can set the time.
Is there a .plist I should trash?

jb

[krissel]

Here ya go...

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/resetenergysaverprefs.html

[jb]

Thanks Krissel. But that did not help. The very same window appears as shown in my initial post.

jb

[Jack W]

Hey jb

Try clicking on the up arrow on the time box. I noticed the down arrow is grayed out.

That may do the trick.

[jchuzi]

QUOTE(krissel @ Oct 24 2010, 04:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here ya go...

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/resetenergysaverprefs.html

That article refers to preference files in /Library. The plists in that location should be global so the fact that the problem did not occur in a test account obviates that location as a source of the trouble. The culprit should be in ~.

[jb]

Thanks jchuzi. Good ideas but no go.

I can click either "up" or "down" arrows. The arrows become highlighted but still no digits in the box
and none can be inserted. And clicking on either arrow does not do anything but highlight the arrows.

The Users(~)->Library->Preferences->System configuration folder does not have a com.apple.PowerManagement.plist
or a com.apple.AutoWake.plist.

jb

[jchuzi]

The only suggestion that I have is to play with ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist. Rather than trash it, move it to the desktop (or other location) and then log out/in. This should reset all System Preferences to defaults. If the problem is solved, you'll have to reset every system preference. If it is not solved, put that plist back and log out/in again. That will restore the other preferences.

If you have Applecare, you might want to call Apple. Even if you don't, you might want to call although you'll have to pay.

In the meantime, someone else might come up with a better idea. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

FWIW, there is no System Configuration folder in ~/Library/Preferences in my setup.

EDIT: ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost has a bunch of plists that start with com.apple.systempreferences...  You could play with those as well. I have never done this but if you take care not to trash anything, you can always put them back.

[jb]

After speaking with Applecare, they were also stomped, I decided to do a reinstall. Everything is fine now.

Except...See my next post about Eudora.

jb

[Xairbusdriver]

Not sure about what kind of reinstall you did, but unless you also reformatted the drive, your home folder should still be around. That's where I think your Eudora files would be...~/Library/Preferences/Eudora (or maybe com.qualm or even a Eudora folder.