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#1 2023-01-19 14:28:47

michael8rown
Member
Registered: 2021-08-25
Posts: 23

6.1.4.arch1-1+, an external monitor, and rtcwake

I know others have had external monitor issues recently starting with 6.1.4.arch1-1, but mine is a little different, and it's still a problem in 6.1.6.arch1-3.

Preliminary details:

  • Current Gnome version: 43.2

  • Current Windowing system: X11

  • Lenovo laptop with a broken built-in monitor (eDP-1)

  • Lenovo external monitor (HDMI-1)

  • NOT using anything NVIDIA-related

What I expect to happen, and what used to happen in 6.1.2.arch1-1 and earlier, is:

  1. At 10:30pm, a local systemd timer triggers an rtcwake command to put my laptop to sleep. This is my home server and I don't often use it in-person.

  2. At 5am, the laptop wakes up and activates org.gnome.ScreenSaver.Lock on that HDMI-1 external monitor (screen with "Click or press a key to unlock")

  3. After about 10-15 seconds, org.gnome.Screensaver.Lock closes and puts the external monitor back to sleep (power saving mode) while the laptop itself remains awake and active until 10:30pm, at which time we return to step 1 above.

This has been the behavior for several years, but it stopped working that way in 6.1.4.arch1-1. Now, this is what happens instead:

  1. At 10:30pm, the systemd timer triggers the rtcwake command to put the laptop to sleep.

  2. At 5am, the laptop wakes up, activating the external monitor but without entering org.gnome.ScreenSaver.Lock. This leaves the monitor on and in an active, blank-screen state until 10:30pm, or until I realize it's still on and getting hot, and I jiggle the mouse or touch the keyboard to manually trigger org.gnome.ScreenSaver.Lock.

The problem I have with this is that I don't want my external monitor stuck in that blank-screen state all day long. (Since the built-in monitor is broken, I have appended "video=eDP-1:d video=HDMI-1:e" to my grub boot parameters. Again, this has worked flawlessly for years.)

I have found 3 workarounds:

  1. Use linux-lts kernel. My rtcwake routine works perfectly here. This is the option I am currently using.

  2. Roll back to 6.1.2.arch1-1. My rtcwake routine works perfectly in this and earlier kernels.

  3. Update to latest kernel but then turn the monitor off when not using that computer. This doesn't solve the problem, but at least my monitor isn't on all day.

I've looked through the logs at activity from before the kernel update and after the kernel update and I am not seeing anything obviously amiss, but I admit I don't know what I should be looking for. Does anyone know what might have happened in 6.1.4.arch1-1 to break this, or where I might look to start troubleshooting it?

Last edited by michael8rown (2023-01-23 23:56:03)

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#2 2023-01-22 22:57:12

michael8rown
Member
Registered: 2021-08-25
Posts: 23

Re: 6.1.4.arch1-1+, an external monitor, and rtcwake

I've located the source of the problem. It is gnome-software-43.3-1. I've downgraded to gnome-software-43.2-1 and the issue is gone. False. I had booted into the lts kernel without realizing it, which is why the issue appeared resolved.

Last edited by michael8rown (2023-01-23 23:57:59)

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