Powerbook and sudden motion Sensor??

hi everyone,
I have a Powerbook 17" 1.33ghz does anyone know if it has the sudden motion sensor fitted to it and if not can it be done?
Thanks
Danny

Danny--
Your PowerBook won't have the sudden motion sensor, it's only on the last two G4 17" models, both featuring 1.67GHz processors. I really doubt it would be possible to add it, either. It's pretty closely tied to the hardware and would require too many changes to your PowerBook.
charlie

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10.6.8 update and sudden motion sensor

I have MBP 8,1, 2011 base model i5. Since i updated to 10.6.8 it seems like sudden motion sensor got a lot more sensitive. Never seen it work before, now if i lift the mbp from desk even i can hear the hdd clicking home. I have disabled the sensor and it stops even i move the computer around very fast. So it is not just the drive doing, sensor is triggering that.
I was wondering if anyone knows if sensivity of this sensor changed on last mac os update? or if anyone else noticed it too?
Thx
Ozzy

Hi Ozzy,
I have not noticed any difference on my MBP.
You can try an SMC Reset, which can resolve SMS issues: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

Replacement HD and Sudden Motion Sensor

Is there a compatibility issue when choosing a replacement hard drive if the Powerbook as the Sudden Motion Sensor?

No, the sensor is not integrated into the hard drive.
Joe

Sudden Motion Sensor on OSX 10.4.6 (iBook/PowerBook G4)

cheers!
according to http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303178, there is a problem with the sudden motion sensor on my ibook g4 14'.
my questions are:
1. is the sms really not working or is it just not showing up in the system profiler?
2. what should i do to bring sms (back?)to work? install a macosx-version prior to 10.4.3?
3. did the sms on my ibook ever work? bought it with 10.4.3 on it.
thanks for the answers.

Hi Mmkay,
Welcome to Apple Discussions
I am sorry, but just to make sure; Does the Sudden Motion Sensor not show up in System Profile (Getting Information About Your Computer (System Profiler)). In System Profiler > click on the Hardware tab > Look in the main window and you should seen Sudden Motion Sensor below Serial Number. Does it say State: Enabled? If it doesn't show up, bring it to your local Apple Store. I don't think that reinstalling the system software will make a difference.
Jon
Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All), Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook, G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more... Mac OS X (10.4.5) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight..

Driving and watching a DVD - sudden motion sensor

Just out of curiousity, I was on a road trip and brought the MBP with and watched a DVD. The ride was somewhat bumpy. My question is do you think the hard drive is being used slightly during the playback of the DVD? AND does this pose any issue or possible damage from the "Sudden Motion Sensor" working indefinitely?
What do you guys think

I would doubt it. The sudden motion sensor is only going to engage if there is a major change in G-forces on that machine -- i.e. it flies out of a seat. The normal vibrations associated with driving shouldn't activate the sensor and your machine ought to handle them... Of course, there is the issue of whether or not you ought to be watching movies whilst driving, but that's another matter altogether...

Sudden Motion Sensor disabled constantly after Leopard install and upgrade

Hello,
After I upgraded Tiger to Leopard my Sudden Motion Sensor is constantly disabled. I have tried alot now, including a complete reinstall of Leopard (which now looks like a waste of time, since it didnt help at all).
I called Apple support yesterday and the guy i talked to had me doin alot of stuff - botting with a key combination, creating a new account, and now after his advise doing a hardware test and if that didnt work I should try reinstalling Leopard.
All done, nothing changed. It still shows;
Sudden Motion Sensor:
Status: Slået fra (danish, properly says disabled in english)
AMSTracker and all other software that uses SMS doesn't react on anything.
I haven't tried installing Tiger again since I have to use this laptop on work by Monday and haven't got the time tomorrow to install it again.
Has anyone experienced this, and anyone that knows a way to get SMS working again?
I use my laptop a lot when I ride with trains, but with SMS not working I feel kinda unsecure - dont wanna have a headcrash on the harddrive or something like that :-/

I contacted Apple today. My last call was apperently not registered in the system (sometimes the calls gets removed I was told... Ehm, what?).
The lady I talked to had to contact a technical department (and wait in a queue... Exactly as I had in 40 minuttes just to get through to her). After waiting on that, she returned to me and said that it apparently is a hardware failure so I have to bring my MB into a Service Provider (Humac here in Denmark).
I got a case number from her and is able to call Humac and ask them to get the spare parts home for that case number. When they get the spare parts, they should then call me and tell me. Afterwards I can bring the MB into the store when ever I got the time (as I use it work related, so I can't be without it for a day).
That is pretty much my 'fix'. Haven't contacted Humac yet, but will do that tomorrow. Gotta get some sleep now.
And yes, SeisMac and Neverball too is fun

Sudden Motion Sensor and WD Scorpio drives

I'm researching the 13-inch MacBook pro. I stumbled on this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=683913 which says that the Sudden Motion Sensor in Apple portables have issues with kernel panics when you use Western Digital's Scorpio line of hard drives. I was wondering:
- Is there a way you can disable SMS in System Preferences?
- If I get WD's Scorpio drive without their implementation of SMS ("free-fall sensor"), will Apple's SMS take over without KPs? Or do I have to use a stock drive?
Thanks!

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934
Also, the application Cocktail can disable SMS by disabling it and without venturing into the Terminal.
Bryan

Sudden Motion Sensor and a new hard drive?

I was just wondering if the Sudden Motion Sensor will still work with a non-Apple hard drive.
If so,
I am also looking for a 160GB hard drive replacement for the Macbook. Something fast, reliable, quite, and most important, good quality. And low power consumption, if possible
P.S. I am also looking for 2GB RAM, with the same qualities.
Thanks.
Apple Mac mini (late 2005) Mac OS X (10.4.8) PowerMac10,2: 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, BT/AE...

Nick,
oddly enough there have been reports of the SMS not working properly with some Western Digital drives, which have their own SMS system as well. I happen to have a 120G WD Scorpio, but haven't seen the problem myself yet. I'm sure OWC will replace it without problems if it crops up though-one advantage to dealing with a Mac specific dealer

Tilted sudden motion sensor in MacBook ?

I have download an application called "AMSVisualizer" to monitor the current reading of the sudden motion sensor. It will display a MacBook Pro/PowerBook and also display the readings of the sudden motion sensor in real time. When you move the laptop (even very slightly like typing the keyboard), it will sense and display some vibration. But my result is strange : I run the program when my MacBook is place flat on the desk and the "x" reading is flashing between 13-15, and the MacBook in the display showing that it is placing on a "non-horizontal" posture. I have to lift the left portion a little bit in order to make the "x" axis reading to 0.
Here is the photo as what I described above:
Tilt
http://copo.myphotos.cc/cody/photos/MacBook/MacBook_tilt.jpg
Flat
http://copo.myphotos.cc/cody/photos/MacBook/MacBook_flat.jpg
Can some of the MacBook owner to test on this application to check your result ? The application could be downloaded here:
http://www.osxbook.com/software/sms/amsvisualizer/
Thanks!

Agreed with Jonas Hurtig. As you can see in my photo, I have to place the MacBook battery on the left side of the MacBook in order to have the reading looks normal. That is about 10-degrees tilt, there is no measurment needed for such situation if the desk is tilt like that, yor pens, desktop will slide off.....

Sudden Motion sensor works great!!!

Yesterday, I put my PowerBook G4 17" into a shoulder bag and was going back from university to my room on my bicycle...on the way unfortunatly, the shoulder strap gave way and the bag fell down on the road (it was a loud thud) my heart skipped a beat, since i was riding pretty fast, i thought this is it..i have lost my new 2 days old powerbook...i picked the bag, went to my room, switched on the powerbook...and surprise...it is back in business...i love my PowerBook G4....it is truly great!!!

Have some fun with your sudden motion sensors, and calibrate them too...
http://www.suitable.com/tools/seismac.html

Sudden Motion Sensor (Mobile Motion Module)

Okay folks, it's my turn to ask a question this time.
I worried about upgrading my hard drive, fearing that the Sudden Motion Sensor was built-in to Apple's OEM installed drives. I researched on the web prior to doing the upgrade (myself, by the way) and all sources pointed to the Sudden Motion Sensor being a "software"--for lack of a better term--feature that was independent of the hard drive, and regardless of what hard drive you have installed.
I trusted that information, and now that I have installed, successfully, a new 160GB Seagate 5400.3 hard drive?
My Sudden Motion Sensor doesn't work. It doesn't show up in the System Profiler like it used to, and it won't work with VirtueDesktop where there was feature that allowed me to switch desktops by "flipping" the PowerBook (not violently). And the best tester of all was the program, Seismac. It simulates earthquake movement readings, and any type of reading using the motion sensor.
I just opened up the application, and it says there is a problem detecting the Sudden Motion Sensor feature and will not run.
My PowerBook is the 1.67GHz/1.5GHz model A1106.
Thanks for any suggestions, and help. (I put everything back together correctly, I believe, after the installation of the hard drive).

I don't remember where I read it, but I read that if you put in a hard drive--like the one you mentioned, but that can't work in our PowerBooks or any for that matter--that has its own built-in Sudden Motion Sensor type technology, it will conflict with Apple's "software"-based technology.
I wonder if Seagate's 160GB 5400.3 drive has it? I haven't read proving this.
Plus, since my last posting, it shows up, goes away, shows up, goes away. One day two weeks ago, the Sudden Motion Sensor showed up as being enabled in Apple System Profiler. Excitedly, I ran Seismac. It started up, but then?
FROZE. And the entire machine locked up as well. (PC?).
Now don't get me wrong, anyone reading this. This Seagate drive is fabulous. It is the conflict with Sudden Motion Sensor that I'm trying to decipher!
So again, anyone out there with similar findings, be it a similar Seagate drive, or any other hard drive upgrade, let us know your findings. =)

Sudden Motion Sensor - Is Mine Missing... Or Broken?!

Following the demise of my original build internal HDD, it's made me curious about the operation of the sudden motion sensor in my powerbook, or at least, the SMS that I thought was in my powerbook!
For clarification, it's a late 15" Al model (Apple website refurb), hi-res screen with dual layer SD and my understanding is that it should have an SMS.
I looked at System Profiler which told me nothing.
I checked the terminal with pmset -g which also told me nothing.
Then, I downloaded 'seisMAC' which said it was unable to locate any SMS.
Now, the HDD is currently absent (I'm running of an external FW) but my understanding was that the SMS should be on the logic board, not the drive. Is that correct?
Can anyone advise whether my powerbook should indeed have an SMS and/or whether a faulty SMS would show up as 'not found' in 'seisMAC'?
Many thanks.
Message was edited by: Zirynx

I believe the SMS in in the hard drive, enabled by electronics on the logic board. There was quite a thread on this a couple of years back, if you want to scan for it.

Sudden Motion Sensor - Anyone else hearing it?

Recently got a new 15" Macbook Pro with the 320gb 7200 rpm hard drive.
Something that's a bit worrying is that I can hear the sudden motion sensor activating. In my previous MBP, which is about 2 years old, I couldn't hear it activate at all.
Also, I've got the new MBP on a stand to raise it up. However almost every time I knock the desk it's on, the SMS activates. Sometimes it doesn't need much force to activate at all.
I'm wondering if this is likely to decrease the life of the hard drive as it's parking the head unnecessarily so often?
Thanks
Chris

My MacBook Pro's Hitachi 320GB 7200 rpm drive also clicks when it parks. I don't worry about it. Hitachi's web site claims a MTBF of 600,000 load/unload cycles (or over 160 load/unload cycles per day, every day, for 10 years).
The noise itself doesn't bug me at all - my old G4 powerbook used to cycle the optical drive every time it woke up, but it never failed (4.5 years of near daily use). So a servo or some do-hicky clicks when it does what it's supposed to do?
If it fails, I'll have AppleCare replace the drive for me, and I'll simply restore from my TimeMachine backup or from one of my SuperDuper clones. I'd rather have the motion sensor parking the drives when the machine moves then NOT doing so and having a HD head crash when I carry the machine from one room to another.

Hard drive upgrade on 13" MBP sudden motion sensor compatibility

Hello,
I'm planning on upgrading the hard drive in my 13" MBP (aluminium unibody) and I've read a lot of posts regarding the sudden motion sensor conflicts with OS X 10.6.2. I'd like to know if the Western Digital 500GB Scorpio Blue here (http://www.dabs.com/products/western-digital-500gb-scorpio-blue-5400rpm-sata-300 -8mb-58P6.html) would suffer from the conflict (I'm not sure if "Shock Guard" = sudden motion sensor). I don't know if its a simple yes/no or whether its drive / mac specific.
If it would be a problem does anyone have a suggestion for a guaranteed compatible 500Gb hard drive (5400 rpm is fine)?
Any thoughts are much appreciated, thanks for your help!

Western Digital Lists their drive features as:
* IntelliSeek™ - IntelliSeek technology calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.
* SecurePark™ - WD's SecurePark technology parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear, and improved shock tolerance.
* ShockGuard™ - WD's ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation.
* Free-fall Sensor - As an added layer of protection, if the drive (or the system it's in) is dropped while in use, WD's free-fall sensor detects that the drive is falling and, in less than 200 milliseconds, parks the head off the disks to help prevent damage and data loss.
* WhisperDrive™ - WD's exclusive WhisperDrive technology combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms that result in one of the quietest 2.5-inch drives on the market.
The Free Fall Sensor is the equivalent of the Sudden Motion Sensor. Looking at the specs for the drive you linked to... they list the following features:
Shock Guard, WhisperDrive, SecurePark
As they do not list Free Fall Sensor, I'm guessing this model does not have one so it should not conflict with the internal Sudden Motion Sensor in your MacBook.

Second Hard Drive, Sudden Motion Sensor

Back in the fall I put a SSD in my 2007 MacBook Pro. It's working perfectly. I found the "OptiBay" product, which basically replaces your optical drive with an adapter for another hard drive. I haven't received it yet, but when I do I plan on installing it with a traditional hard drive. My question regards the sudden motion sensor (SMS). I disabled it because it's not needed for the SSD, but I was planning on re-enabling it for my secondary that I will be installing. I'm still going to boot off the SSD, though. Is there a way, or terminal code, to assign the SMS to a certain disk? I'm assuming it will just disable the root drive in the event of "sudden motion," but would this affect a secondary drive?
I'd love for there to be an option to change the identifier, from disk0s2 to disk0s3, but I have a feeling it isn't possible or would be infinitely more difficult... thanks.

Most drives are available with the equivalent of an internal SMS. You just have to check the specs. Drive manufacturers often offer two versions of their drives... one with and one without a SMS. If you get a drive with the SMS built in, you can just leave the MacBook's internal one disabled.
Here is an example of one of the most popular drives:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/momentus/momentus5400.6g/
Seagate's SMS technology is referred to as G-Force. Note the product number: 5400.6_g. The "g" denotes the drive has a "G-Force" sensor.

Powerbook and sudden motion Sensor??

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