Arch Linux

imortallis

Member

From: Utah, USA

Registered: 2009-05-22

Posts: 6

Monitor turns off randomly?

My monitor turns off after a seemingly random amount of idle time. Messing with DPMS in either /etc/X11/xorg.conf or doing things with xset in the terminal seems to do absolutely nothing...please help! ^_^

deej

Member

Registered: 2008-02-08

Posts: 395

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

OK:

No-one could help you with the information you haven't given ! So...

Are you running Arch i686 or x86_64 ?
Is this a new install or has the behaviour described just started ?
What video card are you running ?
Is it a new card or new monitor ?
In the case of a new card, what make and power of PSU do you have ?
KDE / Gnome desktop ?
Post your xorg.conf.

Deej

imortallis

Member

From: Utah, USA

Registered: 2009-05-22

Posts: 6

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

Sorry, me=noob

Arch x86
New install from about a week ago, problem started either late wednesday or early yesterday
ATI Radeon 7000 with OSS ati driver
Old card, old (CRT) monitor
Gnome

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    Option "StandbyTime" "15"
    Option "SuspendTime" "30"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load  "dri2"
    Load  "record"
    Load  "glx"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "dri"
    Load  "dbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    Driver      "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Mouse0"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "Protocol" "auto"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    #DisplaySize      320   240    # mm
    Identifier   "Monitor0"
    VendorName   "DEL"
    ModelName    "DELL E773c"
    HorizSync    30.0 - 70.0
    VertRefresh  50.0 - 160.0
    Option        "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "NoAccel"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "SWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "Dac6Bit"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "Dac8Bit"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "BusType"                # [<str>]
        #Option     "CPPIOMode"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CPusecTimeout"          # <i>
        #Option     "AGPMode"                # <i>
        #Option     "AGPFastWrite"           # [<bool>]
        #Option     "AGPSize"                # <i>
        #Option     "GARTSize"               # <i>
        #Option     "RingSize"               # <i>
        #Option     "BufferSize"             # <i>
        #Option     "EnableDepthMoves"       # [<bool>]
        #Option     "EnablePageFlip"         # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoBackBuffer"           # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DMAForXv"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FBTexPercent"           # <i>
        #Option     "DepthBits"              # <i>
        #Option     "PCIAPERSize"            # <i>
        #Option     "AccelDFS"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "IgnoreEDID"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DisplayPriority"        # [<str>]
        #Option     "PanelSize"              # [<str>]
        #Option     "ForceMinDotClock"       # <freq>
        #Option     "ColorTiling"            # [<bool>]
        #Option     "VideoKey"               # <i>
        #Option     "RageTheatreCrystal"     # <i>
        #Option     "RageTheatreTunerPort"     # <i>
        #Option     "RageTheatreCompositePort"     # <i>
        #Option     "RageTheatreSVideoPort"     # <i>
        #Option     "TunerType"              # <i>
        #Option     "RageTheatreMicrocPath"     # <str>
        #Option     "RageTheatreMicrocType"     # <str>
        #Option     "ScalerWidth"            # <i>
        #Option     "RenderAccel"            # [<bool>]
        #Option     "SubPixelOrder"          # [<str>]
        #Option     "ShowCache"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DynamicClocks"          # [<bool>]
        #Option     "VGAAccess"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ReverseDDC"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "LVDSProbePLL"           # [<bool>]
        #Option     "AccelMethod"            # <str>
        #Option     "DRI"                    # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ConnectorTable"         # <str>
        #Option     "DefaultConnectorTable"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DefaultTMDSPLL"         # [<bool>]
        #Option     "TVDACLoadDetect"        # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ForceTVOut"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "TVStandard"             # <str>
        #Option     "IgnoreLidStatus"        # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DefaultTVDACAdj"        # [<bool>]
        #Option     "Int10"                  # [<bool>]
        #Option     "EXAVSync"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ATOMTVOut"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "R4xxATOM"               # [<bool>]
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "radeon"
    VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
    BoardName   "Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE]"
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Card0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
        Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

deej

Member

Registered: 2008-02-08

Posts: 395

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

We were all noobs once

Have you tried commenting-out:

Option "StandbyTime" "15"
Option "SuspendTime" "30"
and
Option        "DPMS" "true"

in your xorg.conf to see if that helps ?

If we attack one thing at a time, we'll sort it out !

Deej

P.S.

You may also want to comment out:

FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"

... Type1; no longer used.

Last edited by deej (2009-05-23 05:46:01)

dmartins

Member

Registered: 2006-09-23

Posts: 360

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

This may be a problem with gnome-power-manager. There was a thread about it a little while ago: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=70733&p=1
The thread is about the backlight being turned off frequently so I'm not sure how this would affect a CRT monitor. You could try uninstalling gnome-power-manager to see if it is the culprit. After uninstalling it, you have to make sure it stops running. Either kill the appropriate processes or reboot.

imortallis

Member

From: Utah, USA

Registered: 2009-05-22

Posts: 6

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

I tried both suggestions, and they seemed to have solved the problem. Thanks!

deej

Member

Registered: 2008-02-08

Posts: 395

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

If we attack one thing at a time, we'll sort it out !

Deej

...so we are non the wiser as to what it actually was then ?

Pity, could have helped someone else with the same problem...

Deej

imortallis

Member

From: Utah, USA

Registered: 2009-05-22

Posts: 6

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

I'm 90% sure that dmartins idea was the one that worked, as your suggestion of commenting out

  Option "StandbyTime" "15"
  Option "SuspendTime" "30"
and
  Option        "DPMS" "true"

didn't do anything.

deej

Member

Registered: 2008-02-08

Posts: 395

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

As long as you re-booted after commenting those out, ok.
From the look of it, as dmartins pointed out, it probably
was the gnome problem.

Glad all is ok now...

Deej

Cosmin

Member

Registered: 2008-10-06

Posts: 248

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

my monitor turns off but I am not having xorg.conf. I am on 64bit with intel card on laptop; Gnome power management - never to sleep

any ideeas?

fixed setting in gnome power mangegemnt from never to 2h 1minute

Last edited by Cosmin (2009-06-07 03:25:48)

kYd

Member

Registered: 2009-01-20

Posts: 78

Re: Monitor turns off randomly?

Sorry for bumping up on old thread but I was having the same problem and just thought I'd post my solution for all the other searchers out there.

To stop the monitor from blanking (turning off) execute:
$ xset s off

Or replace "off" with a number value (in seconds) to blank after a time period.

This doesn't set it permanently however the command can be put in .xinitrc if the desired effect is wanted on reboot.

Search tag: linux monitor turns off automatically, screen blanks automatically, monitor power settings.

Last edited by kYd (2009-10-15 17:17:48)