[SOLVED] PCLinuxOS Full Monty, monitor goes off after 10 mins after upgrade

[Big_al]

Hi everyone,

Im running full monty 09-2011.  I recently did the KDE upgrade to 4.8.3.  In my previous install, I had an issue where my monitor would blank off after 10 mins of no mouse/keyboard activity.  Old Pollack helped me out with that one by changing a setting in my X11 conf file....see link below.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,106097.0.html

Well, the problem is back.  I have already checked the same config file and the 'dpms' is still showing as "false".  All screensavers are diabled and no Xscreensaver daemon is running.  I know this is not a mojor issue but I use my PC to watch alot of movies due to my having a large monitor.   Any help appreciated.    
P.S. - It does the same in 'root' account.

Graphics card - Nvidia Gforce FX5600
AMD Sempron 3.2Ghz


Thanks in advance

Big Al.

[Just17]

Seems to be the same problem as here ....

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,108220.0.html

[Big_al]

Hi,

I just read the link....seems other KDE4.8 users are suffering the same issues, they have tried various things similar to what is described in the link you gave me (i.e. xset dpms 0 0 0 ) in a terminal...

I did find one that suggested editing the ~/.bash_profile file

I'm a little wary of doing that though....I've done the above xset command for now and see how it goes....will let you know.

Big_al

[Just17]

Thanks 

[Big_al]

OK,

This is a wierd one!!
As I said in my previous post, I did the terminal command 'xset dpms 0 0 0'  .  Although DPMS stays on, the tree states are disabled by the zero's, im assuming.  I watched some video for around 20 mins or so and checked the settings with 'xset q' in terminal.  There were different settings for dpms  in the states where I had originally put '0 0 0'.

I decided to try editing the ~/.bash_profile text file as I had read on another forum for another KDE4.8 distro...

The info there was to add the following 3 lines to the file:

xset dpms 0 0 0
xset -dpms
xset s noblank

I did this (after backing up the original).  Rebooted and logged into user, checked settings with xset q in terminal and it showed '0 0 0' for dpms and dpms disabled.

I started watching a movie in vlc, checked xset q after about 10 mins, and the zero's were still there but dpms was enabled!  I continued watching the movie, after about 15 mins, I checked again and this is what I get:


DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 0    Suspend: 0    Off: 0
  DPMS is Enabled
  Monitor is On

So something is turning dpms back on, but this time at least the zero's are still there, disabling the dpms stages.....If anyone else can shed light on this, please do.....


I will leave this run the movie now for an hour or 2 and see what happens.

Big_al

[Just17]

This is a wierd one!!
As I said in my previous post, I did the terminal command 'xset dpms 0 0 0'  .  Although DPMS stays on, the tree states are disabled by the zero's, im assuming.  I watched some video for around 20 mins or so and checked the settings with 'xset q' in terminal.  There were different settings for dpms  in the states where I had originally put '0 0 0'.

......  but it did not blank the screen?

[Big_al]

This is a wierd one!!
As I said in my previous post, I did the terminal command 'xset dpms 0 0 0'  .  Although DPMS stays on, the tree states are disabled by the zero's, im assuming.  I watched some video for around 20 mins or so and checked the settings with 'xset q' in terminal.  There were different settings for dpms  in the states where I had originally put '0 0 0'.

......  but it did not blank the screen?

No....the settings for the standby were in the high thousands of seconds....which could be as much as an hour I guess.
As for the results of the editing of ~/.bash_profile, this seems to work......over an hour with no screen blank.  Xset q returns still all zero's even though dpms is enabled.  I have rebooted also and still seems ok. 

This only seems to be for the user account as root has the original 10 min issue.

I think I'm going to leave it like this for a few days to see what happens.

Big_al

[Just17]

The present  noblank  script has

Code: [Select]

xset s off
xset -dpms
so maybe editing that to read

Code: [Select]

xset dpms 0 0 0
xset -dpms
xset s noblank
would be the way to go?

Located in ~/.kde4/Autostart/

[Big_al]

Yeah,

My noblank.sh reads the same in /.kde4/autostart.  I think the xset -dpms sets dpms off, but when I do the xset q command, dpms is enabled, but the setting of zero's would disable the standby even if dpms is enabled.

I think the ~/.bash_profile and the noblank.sh editting would accomplish the same.  Im no linux expert, I am learning.  Let me know what you discover?

Cheers,

Big_al

[kjpetrie]

When settings change to default automatically, look in PCC -> Security. Msec is the program that monitors system settings and either reports to you or puts them back the way it's configured. Why would dpms be a security issue? Because it's what would lock your account in a busy office if you left your computer unattended, so passers by couldn't interfere with your private work, I suppose.

Msec runs hourly. It's worth a check, anyway.

[Just17]

I watched some video for around 20 mins or so and checked the settings with 'xset q' in terminal.  There were different settings for dpms  in the states where I had originally put '0 0 0'.

Did something occur that might have caused noblank to run ......  such as logging out and in again?

[Big_al]

I watched some video for around 20 mins or so and checked the settings with 'xset q' in terminal.  There were different settings for dpms  in the states where I had originally put '0 0 0'.

Did something occur that might have caused noblank to run ......  such as logging out and in again?

Nothing happened to the system to cause noblank to run.   As I said, I was watching a movie, and did not touch a thing.

As an update for you....This is the first time I have used my PC since approx 10pm (local time UK) last night.  IT's gone 3 pm the next day here now, switched my monitor on and still no blanking!!   

Just checked 'xset q', and this is what I got:

DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 0    Suspend: 0    Off: 0
  DPMS is Disabled
Font cache:
  Server does not have the FontCache Extension
[alun@localhost ~]$


The states are still zero's, but dpms is disabled this time.  I cant explain why it changes from enabled to disabled, but at least the states are still disabled by the zero's.  I think I am going to keep my system this way with an edited ~/.bash_profile file, as previously described by adding the 3 lines mentioned above.   Its not perfect, I know, but at least the behavior allows me to watch movies unhindered.

I did check out Msec as suggested, but could not see anything related to dpms, but then again this is still relatively new to me so I could easily miss something.

If you guys find anything more, let me know.  I'll leave this open a day or so (if thats ok?)

Cheers

Big_al

[Just17]

I have changed  noblank.sh

from

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh
xset s off
xset -dpms
to

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh
xset s off
xset dpms 0 0 0
xset -dpms
Which gives the following  ( do the settings and then turn off DPMS)

Code: [Select]

DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 0    Suspend: 0    Off: 0
  DPMS is Disabled
Something is timing out though .....  because having watched a movie I again checked the settings and found DPMS is Enabled again! The settings were not altered.

[Big_al]

Just18

Seems this thread is now quiet, and I am not having any problems, hope your not either.  I am happy to leave my system as it is now, since its been a good few days with no side effects..  I'm marking as solved.


Best wishes,

Big_Al