[solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

Misfit138 · 2007-05-28 00:40:41

Arch puts my monitor to 'sleep', or 'blanks' or suspends by default, in 20 minutes or so. It ihappens even without X installed. Where or how do I tweak it to never go to sleep?
I have tried
xset s off
as well as disabling DPMS in xorg.
Couldn't find anything in the wiki pertaining to this exactly.

Last edited by Misfit138 (2007-06-03 12:32:01)

iBertus · 2007-05-28 02:56:19

Take a look in the system BIOS menu and see if it has any special power saving settings. Perhaps something weird is going on with that. Also, you could try setting the delay to some huge number (999) in xorg.conf. I'm not sure of the proper names for the settings but you can look at the man page.

Misfit138 · 2007-05-30 00:42:40

Hmmm...Even from a base install with just command line, on every machine I install Arch on, the monitor goes to sleep, or to a black screen after 15 or 20 minutes...pressing a key wakes it right back up again, but I want to disable this completely.
Any other thoughts?

harlekin · 2007-05-30 05:23:29

No thoughts, sorry. But I can confirm this behavior. It's somehow annoying that my monitor goes to sleep after about 30 minutes even if I disabled dpms via xset.

Either I can confirm that this is not X relating as it happens out of X, too. Didn't found a BIOS option for that.

Zaffe · 2007-05-30 06:07:03

Well with Xorg i know that u can stop that with

Section "ServerLayout"
                Option         "BlankTime" "0"

Outside xorg.. mabye u can try

setterm -blank 0

setterm -powersave off

or dpms off

xset -dpms

(dpms on: xset +dpms)

But im just guessing.

H-man · 2007-05-30 07:19:59

May be this can help:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-dis … blank.html

Misfit138 · 2007-05-30 12:33:39

Thanks for all the replies. I will try and report back.

RaisedFist · 2007-05-30 12:44:01

In my case the situation is exactly the opposite: I would like the monitor to go off after 15 minutes of idleing, but I don;t know how to do this. Xscreensaver is set to go on after 10 minutes, but the monitor never goes on standby.

harlekin · 2007-05-30 14:57:29

xset works pretty well for that.

To control Energy Star (DPMS) features:
-dpms Energy Star features off
+dpms Energy Star features on
   dpms [standby [suspend [off]]]
   force standby
   force suspend
   force off
   force on
   (also implicitly enables DPMS features)
   a timeout value of zero disables the mode

edit: thanks Zaffe, will try that later. (:

Last edited by harlekin (2007-05-30 15:00:14)

RaisedFist · 2007-05-31 15:32:31

Thanks!

ezzetabi · 2007-06-01 14:34:57

give a look to the end of /etc/rc.sysinit ...

RaisedFist · 2007-06-02 07:03:03

If anyone has problems with the monitor not going to standby or hibernation, check the .xscreensaver file for this option:

dpmsEnabled:    True

In my case this was set to False so that's why the monitor never went in standby mode.

Last edited by RaisedFist (2007-06-02 07:03:48)

harlekin · 2007-06-02 13:36:50

ezzetabi wrote:

give a look to the end of /etc/rc.sysinit ...

Thanks a lot! (:

Misfit138 · 2007-06-03 12:39:22

Well I have tried editing xorg with:

Section "ServerLayout"
Option "BlankTime" "0"

And also,

setterm -blank 0

setterm -powersave off

xset -dpms

And removing the command at the end of /etc/rc.sysinit

But while I am watching a DVD on VLC, my screen still goes black.

Last edited by Misfit138 (2007-06-03 12:40:53)

ataraxia · 2007-06-03 15:55:08

You don't happen to have xscreensaver or something similar running, do you? It could just be a screensaver running in "draw black screen" mode.

Ramses de Norre · 2007-06-03 17:08:12

I've got the same problem, I turn my screensaver off (killall gnome-screensaver) and disable dpms (xset -dpms) and still my screen goes blank... Really annoying when you're trying to watch a movie from your bed or sofa...
I'm now running a java app which uses the Robot class to move my mouse a pixel every ten minutes as a workaround, but a real solution would be nice.

Misfit138 · 2007-06-04 20:15:48

ataraxia wrote:

You don't happen to have xscreensaver or something similar running, do you? It could just be a screensaver running in "draw black screen" mode.

No, I did not intend or specifically install it.

stingray · 2007-07-13 04:25:20

ezzetabi wrote:

give a look to the end of /etc/rc.sysinit ...

I tried changing this, rebooted, but my screen still goes to sleep for me...

# Screen blanks after 15 minutes idle time
#/usr/bin/setterm -blank 15
/usr/bin/setterm -blank 0

man page for setterm

-blank [0-60] (virtual consoles only)
Sets the interval of inactivity, in minutes, after which the
screen will be automatically blanked (using APM if available).
Without an argument, defaults to 0 (disable console blanking).

Misfit138 · 2007-07-13 12:27:26

I finally found a workaround for this through xorg.conf. I will post my tweak when I get home this evening.
As for the console, I haven't tested the 15 minutes yet.

stingray · 2007-07-14 13:57:43

Misfit138 wrote:

I finally found a workaround for this through xorg.conf. I will post my tweak when I get home this evening.

Thank you! That would be a great!

Misfit138 · 2007-07-14 21:33:21

Ok, this is how I fixed mine in /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Evdev Mouse" "CorePointer"
Option "BlankTime" "0"
Option "StandbyTime" "0"
Option "SuspendTime" "0"
Option "OffTime" "0"

I just added the 4 options you see there. Test it out and post back. Good luck.

stingray · 2007-07-15 13:22:08

That works! Thank you!

satanius · 2007-07-15 23:38:27

Definitely works. Thanks man.

antis · 2007-07-19 21:22:59

This is what's great about good forums. You ask a question... doesn't get the problem solved... find the solution on your own... AND post the answer in your own thread.
Good work Misfit138! This has been an anoying issue for me as well. Looking forward to getting rid of it.

Misfit138 · 2007-07-21 12:15:06

antis wrote:

This is what's great about good forums. You ask a question... doesn't get the problem solved... find the solution on your own... AND post the answer in your own thread.
Good work Misfit138! This has been an anoying issue for me as well. Looking forward to getting rid of it.

Glad you appreciated that. Welcome to the best distro, with the best community and forum.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-05-28 00:40:41

[solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#2 2007-05-28 02:56:19

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#3 2007-05-30 00:42:40

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#4 2007-05-30 05:23:29

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#5 2007-05-30 06:07:03

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#6 2007-05-30 07:19:59

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#7 2007-05-30 12:33:39

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#8 2007-05-30 12:44:01

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#9 2007-05-30 14:57:29

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#10 2007-05-31 15:32:31

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#11 2007-06-01 14:34:57

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#12 2007-06-02 07:03:03

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#13 2007-06-02 13:36:50

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#14 2007-06-03 12:39:22

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#15 2007-06-03 15:55:08

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#16 2007-06-03 17:08:12

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#17 2007-06-04 20:15:48

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#18 2007-07-13 04:25:20

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#19 2007-07-13 12:27:26

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#20 2007-07-14 13:57:43

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#21 2007-07-14 21:33:21

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#22 2007-07-15 13:22:08

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#23 2007-07-15 23:38:27

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#24 2007-07-19 21:22:59

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

#25 2007-07-21 12:15:06

Re: [solved]How to stop monitor from going to sleep

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