Need Help Identifying Cause of Screen Blanking

ghborrmann · 12-04-2018, 11:39 AM

I'm trying to identify the software responsible for blanking my screen. I'm running Fedora 28 with the XFCE desktop, with both xscreensaver and xfce4-power-manager disabled at startup via XFCE settings. Despite the fact that neither of those executables is running (verified by ps -e), my display blanks out after about 10 minutes. Examining the journal (with journalctl -b) shows no entry for the time of the blanking. I've added pm.debug=14 to the linux command line, and the augmented journal shows what I'm guessing are display driver commands but nothing to indicate where these commands are coming from.

The reason I'm so concerned about these blankings is that the display, when restored, is shifted almost two inches to the left. The leftmost two inches of the screen is invisible. I'm hoping that if I could identify the software responsible for the screen blanking, I could figure out how to keep it from blanking. This behavior was not present in Fedora 27 or previous versions, but is still present in Fedora 29. When I am logged in, if xscreensaver and xfce4-power-manager are initiated at startup, the screen blanking occurs when specified in the settings. However, the screen recovered after xfce4-power-manager is shifted, while the screen after xscreensaver is correct. When those apps are disabled at startup, the blanking occurs after 10 minutes. It is perhaps significant that, after booting up and before logging in, the screen blanks at 10 minutes and the recovered screen is shifted.

mrmazda · 12-04-2018, 02:04 PM

If it does not already exist, try creating /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-monitor.conf containing the following:

Code:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "DefaultMonitor"
	Option	"DPMS"	"off"
EndSection

If it does already exist, add 'Option "DPMS" "off"' to it.

Also, what does

Code:

inxi -Gxx

report?

ghborrmann · 12-04-2018, 04:05 PM

I added /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-monitor.conf as suggested. No change in behavior.

Output of inxi -Gxx:

Code:

Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GK208B [GeForce GT 710] driver: nouveau v: kernel 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 10de:128b 
  Display: server: Fedora Project X.org 1.19.6 driver: modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1440x900~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NV106 v: 4.3 Mesa 18.0.5 compat-v: 3.0 
  direct render: Yes

mrmazda · 12-05-2018, 03:19 AM

I am using a GeForce 210 (GT218; 2009-10) with F28, Plasma, modesetting X driver, and the 50-monitor.conf I suggested to try. In desktop settings, power saving is entirely unconfigured. It does not blank until well over 10 minutes have passed.

Maybe there's a BIOS setting you can change. Mine is Biostar/AMI 2010-02-01 and has ACPI set to S1 and version 1.0.

ghborrmann · 12-05-2018, 10:11 AM

I went to the BIOS - found ACPI set to S3. I changed it to S1. No effect on the blanking or the shifting.

ondoho · 12-05-2018, 01:58 PM

i will try to list all things that can be responsible:

- systemd (/etc/systemd/logind.conf)
- xorg's xset
- actual screensaver (xscreensaver)
- power management

maybe i missed one.