Arch Linux

gilbs

Member

Registered: 2016-12-28

Posts: 11

[Kind of solved] DPMS stops working after a few seconds

Hi,

I came across a weird issue with DPMS. When I run `xset dpms 0 0 1`, it works as expected for a few seconds (the screen turns off after 1 seconds, and lights up as soon as the mouse moves). But after ~10 seconds the screen wont turn off anymore. `xset q` reports that dpms off is still set to 1 second, but it's not working, the screen remains active. Note that `xset dpms force off` always turns off the screen successfully.

This is annoying because the screen remains active forever (which consumes power and emits light).

$ xset q
Keyboard Control:
  auto repeat:  on    key click percent:  0    LED mask:  00000000
  XKB indicators:
    00: Caps Lock:   off    01: Num Lock:    off    02: Scroll Lock: off
    03: Compose:     off    04: Kana:        off    05: Sleep:       off
    06: Suspend:     off    07: Mute:        off    08: Misc:        off
    09: Mail:        off    10: Charging:    off    11: Shift Lock:  off
    12: Group 2:     off    13: Mouse Keys:  off
  auto repeat delay:  660    repeat rate:  25
  auto repeating keys:  00ffffffdffffbbf
                        fadfffefffedffff
                        9fffffffffffffff
                        fff7ffffffffffff
  bell percent:  50    bell pitch:  400    bell duration:  100
Pointer Control:
  acceleration:  2/1    threshold:  4
Screen Saver:
  prefer blanking:  yes    allow exposures:  yes
  timeout:  600    cycle:  600
Colors:
  default colormap:  0x22    BlackPixel:  0x0    WhitePixel:  0xffffff
Font Path:
  /usr/share/fonts/TTF/,/usr/share/fonts/OTF/,built-ins
DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 0    Suspend: 0    Off: 1
  DPMS is Enabled
  Monitor is On

If you need any further information, please do let me know. Thank you in advance .

Last edited by gilbs (2018-03-12 14:27:55)

R00KIE

Forum Fellow

From: Between a computer and a chair

Registered: 2008-09-14

Posts: 4,734

Re: [Kind of solved] DPMS stops working after a few seconds

If you need any further information, please do let me know. Thank you in advance .

Well yes, you haven't said if you use a DE and if so which one, if you are using something else to manage power, what kind of hardware we are talking about and so on.

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R00KIE
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gilbs

Member

Registered: 2016-12-28

Posts: 11

Re: [Kind of solved] DPMS stops working after a few seconds

I'm using i3 without login manager. My computer is a Dell XPS 13 9370. For power management, I'm using TLP and acpid, but deactivating them doesn't help. Nothing too fancy otherwise, I try to keep things simple and clean.

To make things even harder to debug, I noticed that the issue reproduces randomly. Sometimes, it stops working for one hour, and after one hour, it starts working normally again for no apparent reason.

Last edited by gilbs (2018-03-11 09:58:48)

R00KIE

Forum Fellow

From: Between a computer and a chair

Registered: 2008-09-14

Posts: 4,734

Re: [Kind of solved] DPMS stops working after a few seconds

Using anything like xscreensaver or similar?

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R00KIE
Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZSwgbW92ZSBhbG9uZy4K

gilbs

Member

Registered: 2016-12-28

Posts: 11

Re: [Kind of solved] DPMS stops working after a few seconds

I don't use xscreensaver. However, I do use xss-lock and caffeine, but deactivating/deinstalling them have no effect on the issue .

R00KIE

Forum Fellow

From: Between a computer and a chair

Registered: 2008-09-14

Posts: 4,734

Re: [Kind of solved] DPMS stops working after a few seconds

You should make sure they are not still running in the background after you have uninstalled them, a reboot should take care of that, apart from that I'm all out of ideas.

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R00KIE
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gilbs

Member

Registered: 2016-12-28

Posts: 11

Re: [Kind of solved] DPMS stops working after a few seconds

Yes, I double checked that they weren't running with ps. I also did reboot then to be hundred percent sure.

However, the problem seems to have disappeared by itself this night. That's creepy. I didn't do anything special. I'm pretty sure the issue will be back someday (when I don't expect it). I read somewhere on Reddit that somebody had a similar bug on a similar device, and it also disappeared for no obvious reason. Mmh.

Thanks for helping anyways. Cheers!