Arch Linux

alfmel

Member

Registered: 2010-01-10

Posts: 17

Screen does not turn off

I've been using Arch on a Samsung N130 netbook for over a year now. Over the last few weeks (perhaps with the 2.6.39 kernel upgrade) I've been having a problem that is really starting to annoy me: my screen won't turn off. At first I thought it was a problem with Powerdevil, or screensaver, or with DPMS, but it is not. Running "xset dpms force off" will turn off the screen for about a second, but then it just turns back on. It doesn't matter if I'm running on battery or AC power. I even turned off X and used setterm to turn off the monitor, and nothing.

Any ideas on how to solve this problem?

lagagnon

Member

From: an Island in the Pacific...

Registered: 2009-12-10

Posts: 1,087

Website

Re: Screen does not turn off

On many systems "xset" needs the Xorg server process to be quiet for a while or it fails. You can get around that problem with:

sleep 2 && xset dpms force off

Try that and see if it works.

---

Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a dark room. Metaphysics is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there. Religion is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there and shouting "I found it!". Science is looking for a black cat in a dark room with a flashlight.

alfmel

Member

Registered: 2010-01-10

Posts: 17

Re: Screen does not turn off

On many systems "xset" needs the Xorg server process to be quiet for a while or it fails. You can get around that problem with:

sleep 2 && xset dpms force off

Try that and see if it works.

No good. Same result. The screen turns off for about 1 second and then turns back on.

alfmel

Member

Registered: 2010-01-10

Posts: 17

Re: Screen does not turn off

Any ideas about this? I've also noticed that the system won't go to sleep when idle. I have Powerdevil configured to put the system to sleep when in battery and idle, and it won't go to sleep. However, sleep works when I close the lid.