[SOLVED] system used to automatically suspend but no longer does

sizezero · 2026-06-29 23:43:15

I've been learning arch and have installed in a few times on an old 2013 era PC. Most of the time I don't install a desktop. The supend functionality has always worked fine on both suspend and resume.

Lately I've installed gnome and sshd and found it annoying that suspend locks up my remote ssh sessions so I started masking and unmasking suspending via:

sudo systemctl mask sleep.target suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target suspend-then-hibernate.target

I use a similar umask to put things back to normal. This mostly worked but sometimes required reboots to fix.

I installed gnome, ran it for a while, and then left it installed but disabled it:

sudo systemctl stop gdm.service
sudo systemctl disable gdm.service

I'm now back to a full terminal experience but for some reason, automatic suspend no longer works. I can still manually suspend via:

sudo systemctl suspend

...and when I hit a key the system comes back just fine, but auto suspend never happens.

I've looked at my logs and googled everything and I can't figure out what I did wrong. None of the above masks still exist (the symlinks they made are gone). I suppose installing gnome might have messed things up but I'd rather not reinstall the system from scratch to fix this one thing. I'd also like to have a desktop available in case I need it.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I might troubleshoot? The suspend functionality works it's just not automatically triggering after time has passed.

Last edited by sizezero (Yesterday 17:10:46)

seth · Yesterday 05:20:26

systemd-inhibit --list

Is gnome still installed? Maybe it has a configlet overwriting the logind.conf idle action?
https://man.archlinux.org/man/logind.conf.5

sizezero · Yesterday 12:40:43

$ systemd-inhibit --list
WHO            UID USER PID COMM           WHAT  WHY                                       MODE 
NetworkManager 0   root 487 NetworkManager sleep NetworkManager needs to turn off networks delay

1 inhibitors listed.

I've looked at /etc/Networkmanager/ and it doesn't look like I have any custom configuration.

Gnome is still installed but gdm is off and disabled. Does just having gnome install and not running running tweak the system? I'd like to have a desktop installed and available but if it's going to mess up suspend I guess it's better to uninstall it. Is there a safe way to uninstall it or do I need to wipe and reinstall?

On a side note, I had accidentally misconfigured a setterm setting in .bashrc with:

setterm –blank 5

Suspend is still not working but at least the screen now blanks.

The – is not a hyphen. It must have been a cut and paste error. I've since fixed it with:

setterm --blank=5

seth · Yesterday 14:51:14

NM isn't blocking the sleep, it just intercepts it to cut network connections first.

Does just having gnome install and not running running tweak the system?

Did gnome put a configlet into the logind.conf paths?

Is this maybe related to ssh? Has it worked in the past w/ the current setup?

loginctl -l

sizezero · Yesterday 15:22:43

I believe that suspend worked when I had no gnome and just sshd installed and running. The fact that the system would still suspend even when I had an active ssh session was why I started fiddling with "sudo systemctl mask ..."

/etc/systemd/logind.conf looks pretty normal. Everything is commented out except "NAutoVTs=6"

I.e.

...
#
# Use 'systemd-analyze cat-config systemd/logind.conf' to display the full config.
#
# See logind.conf(5) for details.

[Login]
NAutoVTs=6
#ReserveVT=6
#KillUserProcesses=no
...

If I'm logged in to the terminal and am logged in via ssh I get this:

$ loginctl -l
SESSION  UID USER   SEAT  LEADER CLASS   TTY   IDLE SINCE       
      1 1000 robert seat0 535    user    tty1  yes  2h 30min ago
      2 1000 robert -     560    manager -     no   -           
      3 1000 robert -     760    user    pts/0 no   -           

3 sessions listed.

If I'm just logged into the terminal I get this:

$ loginctl -l
SESSION  UID USER   SEAT  LEADER CLASS   TTY  IDLE SINCE
      1 1000 robert seat0 535    user    tty1 no   -
      2 1000 robert -     560    manager -    no   -

2 sessions listed.

I don't know what the "CLASS manager" version of my user is about.

seth · Yesterday 15:56:40

The default IdleAction is "ignore"…

systemd-analyze cat-config systemd/logind.conf

What has actually triggered the suspend before?

sizezero · Yesterday 17:10:08

I changed IdleAction from idle to suspend, restarted systemd-login.service and now suspend works fine.

Since I started exploring Arch a few months ago, I've been diligent at writing a journal, noting all the configuration changes I made, and noting the results. My only explanation is that I made this change without noting it, reinstalled the OS, and installed gnome before I noticed that suspend was not working.

Thanks for all your help!

seth · Yesterday 17:22:12

diligent at writing a journal, noting all the configuration changes I made

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dotfil … y_with_Git
You can also track /etc w/ git and generally want to prefer using the *.conf.d drop-in overrides for everything supporting that (because you can run backups on those)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-06-29 23:43:15

[SOLVED] system used to automatically suspend but no longer does

#2 Yesterday 05:20:26

Re: [SOLVED] system used to automatically suspend but no longer does

#3 Yesterday 12:40:43

Re: [SOLVED] system used to automatically suspend but no longer does

#4 Yesterday 14:51:14

Re: [SOLVED] system used to automatically suspend but no longer does

#5 Yesterday 15:22:43

Re: [SOLVED] system used to automatically suspend but no longer does

#6 Yesterday 15:56:40

Re: [SOLVED] system used to automatically suspend but no longer does

#7 Yesterday 17:10:08

Re: [SOLVED] system used to automatically suspend but no longer does

#8 Yesterday 17:22:12

Re: [SOLVED] system used to automatically suspend but no longer does

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