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#1 2010-06-16 20:37:19

starfox
Member
Registered: 2010-04-24
Posts: 16

Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

Hey all,

I have the latest and greatest arch installed (Linux 2.6.33-ARCH i686) with xfce4 and SLiM. I'm running in on a Dell Inspiron 9400 (Core2Duo 2.16 GHz w/ 2GB RAM).

I'm trying to get the monitor to shut off when the power manager for xfce4 tells it to turn off. Instead of the backlight turning off and the screen going blank, the screen turns white... quite the opposite.

Other points:
1. The screen stays on when I shut the lid.
2. I can adjust the screen brightness with the keyboard or the brightness plugin on the panel.

Thanks for your help!

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#2 2010-06-17 15:49:12

starfox
Member
Registered: 2010-04-24
Posts: 16

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

bump

Is this obvious? Or unsovable? Why are there no responses?

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#3 2010-06-17 16:09:52

brebs
Member
Registered: 2007-04-03
Posts: 3,742

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

Google it first.

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#4 2010-06-17 16:25:51

demian
Member
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 709

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

Use acpid to execute an action when you close/open the lid.
If you have FN keys that give acpi events, you can use e.g. FN+F2 to execute xset dpms force off.
As for point 2. I don't know what you want.

no place like /home
github

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#5 2010-06-17 19:17:49

starfox
Member
Registered: 2010-04-24
Posts: 16

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

demian wrote:

Use acpid to execute an action when you close/open the lid.
If you have FN keys that give acpi events, you can use e.g. FN+F2 to execute xset dpms force off.
As for point 2. I don't know what you want.

Thanks for your reply! I have tried your first suggestion. However, just like when the powermanager tells the screen to turn off, executing "vbetool dpms off" or "xset dpms force off" also turns the screen white instead of turning black and killing the backlight.

Point 2 was just to let you know that, somehow, I do have control over the brightness of the screen, even though the powermanager is messing something up.


brebs wrote:

Google it first.

Perhaps this isn't obvious, since this is the Newbie Corner, but I already googled it. Comments like this are not constructive. However, thanks for your effort.

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#6 2010-06-17 19:28:24

sHyLoCk
Member
From: /dev/null
Registered: 2009-06-19
Posts: 1,197

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

Using Dell Inspiron here and xfce4-power-manager works fine. Try gnome-power-manager and see if it makes any difference.

~ Regards,
sHy
ArchBang: Yet another Distro for Allan to break.
Blog | GIT | Forum (｡◕‿◕｡)

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#7 2010-06-17 19:41:44

starfox
Member
Registered: 2010-04-24
Posts: 16

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

sHyLoCk wrote:

Using Dell Inspiron here and xfce4-power-manager works fine. Try gnome-power-manager and see if it makes any difference.

Are xset and vbetool xfce-specific? These seem to be the weak link. I'll try this, though.

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#8 2010-06-17 19:48:22

starfox
Member
Registered: 2010-04-24
Posts: 16

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

Tried uninstalling xfce4-power-manager and installing gnome-power-manager and upower, but the result was the same.

Could it be an issue with the driver? I'm using the proprietary nvidia driver.

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#9 2010-06-18 14:48:14

starfox
Member
Registered: 2010-04-24
Posts: 16

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

I've also tried Ubuntu 10 and it seems to have the same problem.

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#10 2010-06-18 14:51:09

sHyLoCk
Member
From: /dev/null
Registered: 2009-06-19
Posts: 1,197

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

Did you install nvidia and nvidia-utils packages and run nvidia-xconfig? [I think you have Nvidia 7900GS?]

~ Regards,
sHy
ArchBang: Yet another Distro for Allan to break.
Blog | GIT | Forum (｡◕‿◕｡)

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#11 2010-06-18 16:16:24

brebs
Member
Registered: 2007-04-03
Posts: 3,742

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

starfox wrote:

Comments like this are not constructive

Rubbish! I gave you the search terms to use, to get useful search results. The answer to your question is right there on a web page already, many times over, waiting to be googled by you, yet you're too lazy, and would prefer to moan to people you hope to work for you for free. Good luck with that.

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#12 2010-06-18 17:21:39

starfox
Member
Registered: 2010-04-24
Posts: 16

Re: Dell Laptop - Screen won't turn off

sHyLoCk wrote:

Did you install nvidia and nvidia-utils packages and run nvidia-xconfig? [I think you have Nvidia 7900GS?]

I have both installed and have run the nvidia-xconfig app, but the results are the same. Here's my xorg.conf file for reference. 

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "SynapticsTouchpad" "SendCoreEvents"
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           "dbe"
    Load           "glx"
    Load           "record"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "dri2"
    Load           "synaptics"
EndSection

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

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "SynapticsTouchpad"
    Driver         "synaptics"
    Option         "AlwaysCore" "true"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto-dev"
    Option         "SHMConfig" "false"
    Option         "LeftEdge" "1700"
    Option         "Right Edge" "5300"
    Option         "Top Edge" "1700"
    Option         "BottomEdge" "4200"
    Option         "FingerLow" "25"
    Option         "FingerHigh" "30"
    Option         "MaxTapTime" "180"
    Option         "VertEdgeScroll" "true"
    Option         "HorizEdgeScroll" "true"
    Option         "CornerCoasting" "true"
    Option         "CoastingSpeed" "0.30"
    Option         "VertScrollDelta" "100"
    Option         "HorizScrollDelta" "100"
    Option         "MinSpeed" "0.10"
    Option         "MaxSpeed" "0.60"
    Option         "AccelFactor" "0.0020"
    Option         "VertTwoFingerScroll" "true"
    Option         "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "true"
    Option         "TapButton1" "1"
    Option         "TapButton2" "2"
    Option         "TapButton3" "3"
EndSection

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

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Monitor Vendor"
    ModelName      "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"

    # AC settings:
    Identifier     "Card0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "nVidia Corporation"
    BoardName      "G71 [GeForce Go 7900 GS]"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Card0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    Option         "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerLevelAC=0x1"
    # Battery settings:
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       4
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       8
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       15
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       16
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection
brebs wrote:
starfox wrote:

Comments like this are not constructive

Rubbish! I gave you the search terms to use, to get useful search results. The answer to your question is right there on a web page already, many times over, waiting to be googled by you, yet you're too lazy, and would prefer to moan to people you hope to work for you for free. Good luck with that.

I am not too lazy, as I had spent a number of hours (before posting here) searching through google and this forum to see if anyone had a similar problem (screen goes white instead of black when xset or vbetool is used). I even tried a few different "fixes" even though they did not strictly apply.

Thank you all again for your opinions and your help.

Is there anyway to edit what xset/vbetools is doing?

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