Help Needed with SleepyHead on Mac

[Emil Vogely]

I'm also having a problem with sleepyhead and my oximeter. I've downloaded the program to my mac and I'm able to get to the page to download my info from my oximeter but it is unable to find my device. I have a version 3.8 CMS50F and it looks like sleepyhead only supports the 3.7> How can I get the program to recognize my device?

[VisitorX]

I don't know if this is your problem, but I realized that the problem I was experiencing seemed to be not with SH, but rather with my Mac. It turned out that most of the time the SD card was not even "mounting" on the desktop. (I came to understand that "mounting" refers on a Mac to the icon's appearing on the desktop, indicating that the machine is even aware that it exists and is accessible.) It was mounting only very sporadically, irrespective of whether I inserted the SD card into the slot before or after SH was running. It didn't matter. Now I can't get it to mount at all. I think I'm going to take my Mac to the shop. Hopefully that will resolve the issue fully. Or maybe in the mean time I'll try it on my other Mac.

I'm also having a problem with sleepyhead and my oximeter. I've downloaded the program to my mac and I'm able to get to the page to download my info from my oximeter but it is unable to find my device. I have a version 3.8 CMS50F and it looks like sleepyhead only supports the 3.7> How can I get the program to recognize my device?

[cate1898]

I don't know if this is your problem, but I realized that the problem I was experiencing seemed to be not with SH, but rather with my Mac. It turned out that most of the time the SD card was not even "mounting" on the desktop. (I came to understand that "mounting" refers on a Mac to the icon's appearing on the desktop, indicating that the machine is even aware that it exists and is accessible.) It was mounting only very sporadically, irrespective of whether I inserted the SD card into the slot before or after SH was running. It didn't matter. Now I can't get it to mount at all. I think I'm going to take my Mac to the shop. Hopefully that will resolve the issue fully. Or maybe in the mean time I'll try it on my other Mac.

VisitorX: I have the same problem, maybe not as bad because I am able to download the data. Sometimes it takes me a few tries of reinserting my SD card back into my mac. I know why mine does it though. I have way too many USB devices plugged into my early 2009 iMac.

Just thought I'd let you know you're not alone.

[VisitorX]

Thanks. Mine won't mount at all now. I just tried unplugging some of the USB cables. No success.

[Jang]

Hi, i'm a new member here and it was nice to find this Mac thread. I'm a new cpap user too and plan to visit here often. I have been using Mac s for at least 20 years and there's something VERY important that I have not seen mentioned here in this entire thread when using Macs'.

In regard to plugging-in and un-Plugging data cards or sd (s) as they are called.

Before I get to the VERY important part, another important thing first....

After you remove the sd card from your cpap machine, be sure to Lock it before inserting into your Mac. If you look closely at the card there's a little tab that you can slide. Move it towards the back to lock the card. It is very possible that without doing this your Mac will "write" some information onto it which can damage the data, and when putting it back into your cpap machine, you could cause an error and it could become useless and you could loose months of important data. THEN, be sure to unLock it before putting it back in the cpap machine.

Now, Inserting the card into the Mac. Do it in one quick motion, not slowly.
In a second or 2 a new Icon should appear on your desktop. There is an exception to this, where, if your finder (general) preferences are set to "show" or "don't show" external disks it may or may not appear. You should look into your finder preferences and understand how these things work because when you have to import your cpap data file you're going to have to tell the program where it is at which time you will left click on that little icon which has popped up on the desktop.
Now, the VERY important thing.
After you are done using your sd card, and BEFORE you pull it out, you myst EJECT it first. Not doing so can also damage the data on the card. It's not like a USB plug, where you can just plug and unplug anytime you want, which they call hot-swapping, you must eject it first.... Here's how...
If you can "see" it's Icon on the desktop, right click (and hold) and select eject, and it should dissappear and your done OR just drag it to the trash Mac can, (usually in the lower right area) and your done .
Also up in the "File" menu and down towards the lower part of that window you will see eject and the quick keystroke of CMD-E will eject it also.
Then, and only then, should you remove the sd card from your Mac.
I Hope this helps.
I'll check back soon, if there are any questions.
Jang

[VisitorX]

Jang - thanks very much. Some of what you mentioned I had been trying, some not. I will try to follow all your suggestions.

I have been trying to consistently use the lock on the SD card, putting it on and off as appropriate, and also to eject the SD before removing it. However, on at least one occasion--perhaps the first time I put the SD into my Mac--and possibly another time as well, I accidentally did not lock the SD card before putting it into my Mac. The card still seemed to work in my CPAP after that accident, and I also was able to subsequently mount the SD to the computer and download new data to SleepyHead (though very inconsistently). So I think it is still functioning okay...but perhaps it was damaged somewhat. Recently I have not been able to mount the SD card at all. Any thoughts on this?

One thing I didn't know anything about pertained to your comment:

"...if your finder (general) preferences are set to "show" or "don't show" external disks it may or may not appear. You should look into your finder preferences and understand how these things work because when you have to import your cpap data file you're going to have to tell the program where it is at which time you will left click on that little icon which has popped up on the desktop."

Based on your comment, I went into my finder's system preferences and clicked on the "General" icon--but I didn't see anything there that would let me "show" or "don't show" external disks. I am running OS 10.8.5, in case that is relevant.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[Jang]

“Based on your comment, I went into my finder's system preferences and clicked on the "General" icon--but I didn't see anything there that would let me "show" or "don't show" external disks. I am running OS 10.8.5, in case that is relevant.”

Yes, that probably is revelant.
That means you are still back in Mt. Lion. Upgrade if you can.
I’m using El Capt. 10.11.2.
What’s your Mac ? year/Model ?
Using an external card reader? /USB ??

You could check in System Prefs/General, it may be still there ?
With the newer Systems there are a lot of additional options now.

Also, in what is called the “sidebar” on the left, when you have a finder window open, and at the bottom, any mounted disks or other devices should show up there too.
Take a look there.

So perhaps your “sd” is not being recognized at all now, and thus really damaged.
Does it still work in your cpap machine, without any errors still ?

I saw another post today that advised powering off the cpap before removing the card as a good idea too, although, i’ve never done that myself.
Let me know if any of this helps…

[VisitorX]

"That means you are still back in Mt. Lion. Upgrade if you can.
I’m using El Capt. 10.11.2.
What’s your Mac ? year/Model?"

I'm using a Macbook Pro, mid-2012, 2.3 GHtz, intel core i7, 8 gig ram.
I don't know much about upgrading operating systems (obviously).

"Using an external card reader? /USB ??"

No, the reader is built in.

"You could check in System Prefs/General, it may be still there?"

There is no General category. I have a Personal category and in that category there is a General icon, but that has noting in it that pertains to showing or not showing external devices--it's all about the colors, size of icons, scrolling, and a few other things.

"Also, in what is called the “sidebar” on the left, when you have a finder window open, and at the bottom, any mounted disks or other devices should show up there too. Take a look there."

I don't think I have any of that--no sidebar. All I see is my dock, at the bottom.

"So perhaps your “sd” is not being recognized at all now, and thus really damaged. Does it still work in your cpap machine, without any errors still?"

Yes, it seems to work fine in my CPAP machine. I'm in the process of switching my Resmed over to a Respironics (DreamStation) and I currently have both machines. The DreamStation is new and to my knowledge the SD card was never taken out before. I just put that SD card into my computer now (locked) and it won't mount either. I assume that means the problem is in my Mac. If there were some preference control set to "not show," I think that I never would have been able to mount an SD at all (or for the icon to show, anyway)--yet there were several times when I could see the icon and could download data. So my guess (though just a guess) is that I had a failing internal SD reader that has now failed completely. Does that sound right to you?

Thanks.

[Jang]

OK, for the sidebar thing, try this…

On an empty desktop, open a window, any window, like, up from the “GO” pull down menu, open the documents window. Or the key command is ( CMD Shift O ).

With this window open and selected, go up to the “View” pull down menu and look down to about the middle and select Show Sidebar.
Does this work for you ? in Mt. Lion ??

If it does, any mounted volumes will show up at the bottom, on the left,
like even your Main Hard drive.

We should find some way to see if that sd card is mounting or not.

[VisitorX]

I succeeded in doing the steps you mentioned, but there is nothing in the view menu about a sidebar. The only thing remotely related were to show the status bar, which I tried and is not relevant, and various options re. tool bars. I don't think I have the option you referred to.

OK, for the sidebar thing, try this…

On an empty desktop, open a window, any window, like, up from the “GO” pull down menu, open the documents window. Or the key command is ( CMD Shift O ).

With this window open and selected, go up to the “View” pull down menu and look down to about the middle and select Show Sidebar.
Does this work for you ? in Mt. Lion ??

If it does, any mounted volumes will show up at the bottom, on the left,
like even your Main Hard drive.

We should find some way to see if that sd card is mounting or not.