[SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

2mac · 2013-11-19 00:16:22

Fairly new to Arch. Love it so far.

Issue: On both of my Arch laptops, whenever I go idle, the screen will go black. This isn't too much of an issue, but it's a little annoying when using X and watching a long video or something. That's the lesser of my two issues. More importantly, after even more idle time, the computer seems to go into a hibernate state. I'm using one of these as a server, so that's a big no-no.

How do I make it so that the screen stays active and that the unit keeps functioning normally even with idle time?

Last edited by 2mac (2013-11-22 18:00:45)

skunktrader · 2013-11-19 00:40:39

First question
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/DP … m_blanking

Second question
More info needed. DM in use? laptop or desktop? etc

2mac · 2013-11-19 00:54:40

Laptop. Not sure what you mean by DM.

Scimmia · 2013-11-19 01:00:20

DM=Display Manager

You're using X, what window manager/desktop environment?

2mac · 2013-11-19 01:01:20

Xfce4, currently. However, this happens in the console before starting X as well.

Scimmia · 2013-11-19 01:22:47

it hibernates on idle without X? That's odd.

Do you have any power programs installed, acpid, laptop-power-tools, etc? Check your system logs, see if you can tell what's calling it.

karol · 2013-11-19 01:37:47

Scimmia wrote:

it hibernates on idle without X? That's odd.

Nope.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/DP … th_setterm

2mac · 2013-11-19 01:39:34

I have not manually installed any power managers that I know of. However, I installed X and Xfce4 during the same session as my system installation (in one sitting), so I wasn't idle then to test.

Scimmia · 2013-11-19 01:45:43

karol wrote:

Scimmia wrote:
it hibernates on idle without X? That's odd.
Nope.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/DP … th_setterm

OK, and where does that say anything at all about hibernation?

It doesn't, DPMS deals with the monitor, it won't hibernate the system.

karol · 2013-11-19 01:56:31

These may be unrelated issues.

2mac, how do you know the computer is entering hibernation?

2mac · 2013-11-19 02:07:49

Well, there's no way of knowing the exact cause, but I can explain the symptoms.

On my second laptop (the one hosting servers), the screen will go blank after a few minutes of idle time, but its processes continue running. After further time (I've not timed these), I'm unable to connect remotely to any of its services.

karol · 2013-11-19 02:10:29

See if fixing the DPMS issue will prevent the computer from hibernating.

2mac · 2013-11-19 02:32:35

I've done the setterm commands on my server host, and it hasn't seemed to idle out yet. I'll still have to test the screen blanking on my main box.

Will give an update shortly.

2mac · 2013-11-19 12:58:44

The issue seems to have resolved.

For those of you Googling and finding this thread, I did the following two commands and rebooted:

$ setterm -blank 0 -powerdown 0

# echo -ne "\033[9;0]" >> /etc/issue

karol · 2013-11-19 14:24:38

Please remember to mark the thread as solved https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=130309

2mac · 2013-11-22 04:09:25

UPDATE:

Not yet resolved. Although the hibernation has stopped, my screen will still go black after a short amount of idle time (hardly enough time to watch a decent video).

Have not tested in console, but definitely still happening in Xfce.

karol · 2013-11-22 04:29:58

Is it just about the screengoing black or does your computer enter hibernation?
Post the output of 'xset -q'.

Last edited by karol (2013-11-22 04:30:36)

2mac · 2013-11-22 13:00:06

Keyboard Control:
  auto repeat:  on    key click percent:  0    LED mask:  00000002
  XKB indicators:
    00: Caps Lock:   off    01: Num Lock:    on     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:  500    repeat rate:  20
  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/misc/,/usr/share/fonts/TTF/,built-ins
DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 600    Suspend: 0    Off: 900
  DPMS is Enabled
  Monitor is On

I see some stuff in there that suggests blanking is enabled, but I don't know where to configure that. Please advise.

karol · 2013-11-22 13:01:57

Read the wiki article on DPMS again.

2mac · 2013-11-22 13:24:21

I've run

xset -dpms

and

xset s off

I remember entering those previously, though. Are these settings reset on reboot?

Will give an update later today.

karol · 2013-11-22 13:27:25

2mac wrote:

Are these settings reset on reboot?

Yes, they are. You can use a script like it's suggested in the wiki to set turn DPMS off on demand or put these command e.g. in ~/.xinitrc so they're executed automatically.

socials · 2013-11-22 16:27:37

If you have xfce4 installed, you probably have xfce4-power-manager also. Run

xfce4-power-manager-settings

I can't believe no one has mentioned this already.

Last edited by socials (2013-11-22 16:28:00)

karol · 2013-11-22 16:38:45

socials wrote:

I can't believe no one has mentioned this already.

Could this be https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xf … ng_display ?

socials · 2013-11-22 16:44:25

karol wrote:

socials wrote:
I can't believe no one has mentioned this already.
Could this be https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xf … ng_display ?

Uhm? He should just change the settings in xfce4-power-manager. In case you haven't used it, there's many settings related to blanking the display. I think the default is that after 120 seconds of inactivity, it blanks the display.

Pretty sure that's a rare case when xfce4 doesn't honor those settings. Hasn't happened to me once.

Last edited by socials (2013-11-22 16:47:01)

2mac · 2013-11-22 18:00:28

UPDATE: Left the laptop open throughout the day, and when I came home, it was still on. The commands seem to have worked. I'll have to test and make sure it's persistent through reboot. Also went into the xfce4 power manager settings and they were indeed on.

Thank you for your help.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-11-19 00:16:22

[SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#2 2013-11-19 00:40:39

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#3 2013-11-19 00:54:40

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#4 2013-11-19 01:00:20

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#5 2013-11-19 01:01:20

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#6 2013-11-19 01:22:47

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#7 2013-11-19 01:37:47

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#8 2013-11-19 01:39:34

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#9 2013-11-19 01:45:43

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#10 2013-11-19 01:56:31

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#11 2013-11-19 02:07:49

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#12 2013-11-19 02:10:29

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#13 2013-11-19 02:32:35

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#14 2013-11-19 12:58:44

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#15 2013-11-19 14:24:38

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#16 2013-11-22 04:09:25

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#17 2013-11-22 04:29:58

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#18 2013-11-22 13:00:06

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#19 2013-11-22 13:01:57

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#20 2013-11-22 13:24:21

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#21 2013-11-22 13:27:25

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#22 2013-11-22 16:27:37

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#23 2013-11-22 16:38:45

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#24 2013-11-22 16:44:25

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

#25 2013-11-22 18:00:28

Re: [SOLVED] Disable screen blanking/hibernate on idle?

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