Arch Linux

CoolBreeZe

Member

From: Wyoming

Registered: 2016-06-26

Posts: 4

How to turn off screen on boot? - Asus G74S

I'd like to configure my old laptop to always boot with the screen off.

Amplifying information:

I'm setting up my old laptop (Asus G74SX) as a server with a few VMs.
I'd like to leave the lid open to facilitate cooling (Poor old thing is right above an AC vent, but every little bit helps...)
I'm administering everything remotely from my main machine, so I'd like to have the screen off basically all the time.

What I've tried

I can control the brightness of the screen as per this page in the wiki: Backlight
Even with the brightness set at 0, the screen is clearly still on. I'm thinking that this isn't what I'm looking for.

A little bit of googling gave me this suggestion: How can I disable a screen when booting Arch Linux?
I still want to be able to turn the screen on without opening the case, so this isn't really a desirable option.

I've tried changing my /etc/default/grub to contain:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet video=LVDS-1:d"

per this question on Stack Exchange. I noticed on of the other answers to this question involves modifying kernel mode settings. I am fairly new to arch and I don't fell comfortable modifying the kernel just yet, but if this is the only solution then I'll cross my fingers and give it a shot.

I've googled this extensivly, but 99% of my search results involve people trying to solve the behaviour I am trying to achieve. I've looked through sever al these results to try to reverse whatever solution was found, but I haven't found anything that seems like it would mimic the functionality I'm looking for.

My BIOS does not have an opetion to trun off the internal display.

What I'm looking for

A solution to my problem would be great, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can, so..

Is there a better way to google this?
As I said, the makority of the results are people asking how to solve a "problem" I'm trying to create.

Is there a man page that would cover what I'm trying to do. I'm not even sure what kind of control I'm trying to manipulate here. Can I just write a script to tuen the screen off and have it run early in the boot process?

Thanks,
-Daniel

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: How to turn off screen on boot? - Asus G74S

Does this[1] turn your screen off?

setterm --powersave powerdown

If so just write a service to execute the above command.

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Di … th_setterm

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No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

CoolBreeZe

Member

From: Wyoming

Registered: 2016-06-26

Posts: 4

Re: How to turn off screen on boot? - Asus G74S

Thanks for the quick reply, but unfortunatly

setterm --powersave powerdown

gives me this error message (and the screen does not turn off):

setterm: cannot (un)set powersave mode: Inappropriate ioctl for device

A bit more googling with that error lead me to this. It seems like this is pretty similar to what I'm trying to accomplish, I just want to be able to turn the screen back on locally if possible. The answer posted says to use vbetools. I tried to set the screens power state to off as described, but in return I get:

$ sudo vbetool dpms off
Illegal instruction

In fact, I can't issue a single command using vbetools that does not return "Illegal instruction".

Last edited by CoolBreeZe (2016-06-26 17:12:15)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,772

Re: How to turn off screen on boot? - Asus G74S

Is your machine an Intel based machine?  Have you installed and configured your microcode updates?

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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

CoolBreeZe

Member

From: Wyoming

Registered: 2016-06-26

Posts: 4

Re: How to turn off screen on boot? - Asus G74S

Yes,

$ less /proc/cpuinfo
[...]
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz
[...]

I tried to install microcode updates when I set this machine up by following the Enabling Intel microcode updates section of that page, but this caused my machine to hang on boot bith a big, purple, dashed line across the screen. I used a live cd to unistall the mirocode updates and run

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

This seemed to fix that issue, but I could reinstall my microcode updates and get a picture of the output if that would be helpful. (After lunch, I'm starving...)

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,772

Re: How to turn off screen on boot? - Asus G74S

Nah.  It was just a hunch triggered by the illegal instruction message.

Edit: Wait, maybe I did not understand.  Did you manage to install the microcode in the end?

Last edited by ewaller (2016-06-26 17:33:53)

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

CoolBreeZe

Member

From: Wyoming

Registered: 2016-06-26

Posts: 4

Re: How to turn off screen on boot? - Asus G74S

No, I did not get microcode to work. I was going to mess around with at some point not the future, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Edit: some point in the future...

Last edited by CoolBreeZe (2016-06-27 12:55:40)

santosbj

Member

Registered: 2023-01-17

Posts: 1

Re: How to turn off screen on boot? - Asus G74S

Editing  /boot/grub/grub.cfg file, is not a good solution, cause always you or system updates the grub menu, you need to edit that file again.

The correct solution is editing the file /etc/grub.d/10_linux,

find the two lines whit the next text and delete.

 echo    '$(echo "$message" | grub_quote)'

Save and update grub.

This is a permanent solution.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,650

Re: How to turn off screen on boot? - Asus G74S

You are replying to a 6 year old thread with a solution to a problem no one had in the thread. Please avoid necrobumping topics.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Genera … bumping%22

Closing.

Last edited by V1del (2023-01-17 09:06:15)