Ubuntu 9.04 - Keep Screen from Blanking?

Ubuntu 9.04 - Keep Screen from Blanking? - Printable Version

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Ubuntu 9.04 - Keep Screen from Blanking? - myk.robinson - 2009-05-26

I am running XBMC on top of a clean Ubuntu 9.04 installation. My video card is an nVidia FX5200 256MB ( i know, it aint the best)

My question is this.. Is there some way to keep my screen from blanking? After a certain amount of time, my TV will show "No Signal", I have to wiggle the mouse or something to activate it again. I have power management set to never turn off the screen, and I turned off the screensaver option by unchecking the "regard computer as idle" option in the screensaver settings.

Not sure why this is still happening, but is there perhaps a plugin for XBMC to generate "ghost keyboard presses" or something to where the computer thinks there is always some activity going on?

I have also considered that there may be somethign in the nVidia settings that could be causing it.

One more thing, I wrote a small bash script to run on startup that I thought would help:

Code:
#!/bin/bash

xset s off &

xset -dpms

maybe I'm just grasping at straws here.. This same machien was running Windows and this didn't happen. I prefer it in Linux because it is more stable and faster, but I need to resolve this screen blanking issue.

Thanks for your help,

Thanks,
-myk

- Maxim - 2009-05-26

Are these any help?

Screen keeps going off

Weird problem: Screen turns off after x minutes

In short, it's probably X that's blanking the screen, you're on the right track.

- johan77 - 2009-05-26

I have the same problem. Jaunty 9.04, XBMC Babylon, 180.35 Nvidia drivers. I haven't been able to fix it, at least not following the suggestions under the "Screen keeps going off" thread.

If I remember correctly (right now I temporarily installed Win 7 to be able to run EAC) the screen blanks after the time specified in the power management settings. So if you change this to say two hours, the screen won't blank before that, but then the screen won't power save until two hours in any application.

- myk.robinson - 2009-05-27

Interesting. At least I am not alone.

Any ideas on a script or plugin for xbmc that generates "ghost clicks" or something so that it registers a keypress or something that doesn't effect XBMC but keeps Ubuntu from blanking the screen?

- FishOil - 2009-05-27

Click screen saver then power management then set "Actions" and "Display to never" (Far Right)

- myk.robinson - 2009-05-28

any other suggestions? Is this just some type of bug in Ubuntu 9.04?

- Maxim - 2009-05-29

What's the output from the command

Code:
xset q

What's your Window Manager?

- myk.robinson - 2009-05-29

Running Gnome/Nautilus/Metacity

I do have compiz enabled, if that matters.

I will get back to you with the output, not at that computer right now.

Thanks,

- myk.robinson - 2009-05-29

Here ya go:

Quote:media@mediaOne:~$ xset q
Keyboard Control:
auto repeat: on key click percent: 0 LED mask: 00000002
auto repeat delay: 660 repeat rate: 25
auto repeating keys: 00ffffffdffffbbf
fadfffefffedffff
9fffffffffffffff
fff7ffffffffffff
bell percent: 50 bell pitch: 400 bell duration: 100
Pointer Control:
acceleration: 2/1 threshold: 4
Screen Saver:
prefer blanking: yes allow exposures: yes
timeout: 0 cycle: 0
Colors:
default colormap: 0x20 BlackPixel: 0 WhitePixel: 16777215
Font Path:
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled,/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled,/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi,/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi,/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType,built-ins
DPMS (Energy Star):
Standby: 0 Suspend: 0 Off: 0
DPMS is Enabled
Monitor is On

Looks like my edits have not disabled DPMS.

I am going to try the flags recommended and remove my "xset" script, because apparently it does nothing

- Maxim - 2009-05-30

Compiz + XBMC != Best scenario. XBMC isn't designed with composting in mind. They may consider it for basic functionality, but for the most part XBMC is expected to be used in X without anything on top of it.

Additionally if X is set to not blank the screen which it looks like it is (except that line that says "prefer blanking: yes"), then it's most likely Gnome that's activating the blanking.

I'm not entirely familiar with starting X from the prompt, but if you killed GDM, which would drop to a prompt, and then ran

Code:
startx xbmc

I think this would start X with xbmc as the shell. This would result in using xorg.conf and applying any settings there, but eliminating the Window Manager/Desktop Environment.

You can narrow down your search to what's causing your screen to blank.

- myk.robinson - 2009-06-05

still looking for more info. This is very curious. If i run xset -dpms in the terminal followed by xset q, it shows dpms as disabled. but if I come back in about three hours or so, and check xset q, dpms has enabled itself again.

There has got to be a way to keep the window manager but permanently disable dpms.
I'd like to still be able to use the system as an extra web browser for the kids and stuff..

Thanks,
-myk

- johan77 - 2009-06-09

I'm using the Nvidia 185.18.14 drivers, and latest XBMC PPA (9.04.1). Unfortunetaly, the problem remains.

Interestingly, the screen also goes to sleep if my only interaction with the computer/XBMC is via the remote control. If I use the mouse however, the timer will be reset and the screen won't go to sleep.

The screen also goes to sleep if I'm viewing flash-based content (in this case, SVT play).

- sparkyhall - 2009-06-09

Check your xorg.conf for Option "DPMS" if this option is there then simply change the line to read # Option "DPMS" I beleive this will disable DPMS.

Chris

XBMC startup script - Turniphead - 2009-06-09

Not sure if you are having a similar problem to what I had a while back but give this script a try. It worked for me.

Code:
#!/usr/bin/python

import subprocess

# close gnome-screensaver

subprocess.Popen(["gnome-screensaver-command", "--exit"])

# run application (put command which runs your application) 

player = subprocess.Popen("xbmc")

# wait till mplayer exits

player.wait()

# start gnome-screensaver again

subprocess.Popen("gnome-screensaver")

Ubuntu is normally fine but can occasionally have a special moment.

Hope it helps.

- opex - 2009-08-25

I recently had to do a fresh install and was once again plagued by the screen shutting down after about 20 minutes.

My setup more or less follows this thread http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=38473 and reading threw this thread and the mentioning of no gdm and xorg.conf. Reminded me to check my backed up version of my old xorg.conf.

Thought I'd post it since it now works flawlessly.

Code:
Section "Monitor"

    Identifier    "Configured Monitor"

EndSection

Section "Screen"

    Identifier    "Default Screen"

    Monitor        "Configured Monitor"

    Device        "Configured Video Device"

    DefaultDepth    24

EndSection

Section "Module"

    Load    "glx"

EndSection

Section "Device"

    Identifier    "Configured Video Device"

    Driver    "nvidia"

    Option    "NoLogo"    "True"

    Option    "RenderAccel"    "True"

    Option    "AllowGLXWithComposite"    "True"

EndSection

Section "Extensions"

    Option    "Composite"    "Enable"

EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"

    Option    "IgnoreABI"    "True"

    Option    "BlankTime"    "0"

    Option    "StandbyTime"    "0"

    Option    "SuspendTime"    "0"

    Option    "OffTime"    "0"

EndSection

What should catch your attention are the "ServerFlags"
I can't tell you what it does except what's obvious from the commands.

Hope it helps if it's still unsolved for you.