This is a really odd and annoying problem and it's driving me nuts.

When I'm watching a movie in full-screen mode using Kaffeine, MPlayer, VLC, etc., the monitor just flicks off for a couple of seconds and then comes back on. It's as if it's going into standby mode but corrects itself within a couple of seconds. It occurs at specific parts in the movies. I think it happens only during dark parts, or parts where there isn't a lot of movement. This doesn't happen when I boot into windows so I know the video file is fine. Also, if the mouse cursor is moved or is displayed on the screen, it doesn't blank out. In fact, if any kind of on-screen display or controls are showing, the movie runs normally.

I have no idea what's causing the problem. I can go to the exact part of the movie, have it play and sure enough, at that exact spot, the monitor just flicks off, goes into standby mode for a second and then goes back to normal.

Anyone experienced the same problem? I've tried googling and searching but I've not been able to find a solution to this problem.

Oh, and this is occuring on my P2-450 dell with a Voodoo3 card and a Nanao T2-17 monitor. I'm using SuSE 10.2. Everything works perfectly on Win32, but in Linux, I keep getting these screen blankings.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Check your "screen saver" settings, and the inactivity time-out that's set. The fact that moving the cursor prevents the screen blanking suggests that at least part of your problem may be there. Note that "screen saving" can be triggered by your BIOS as well as your windowing system, so you need to check both places.

I have no real idea as to why the specific movie section could be causing the problem. Unless it's somehow sending a "suspend" key sequence to the BIOS or windowing system. If you have a "suspend" sequence defined, try changing it to something else (or disabling it) to see if that helps. (Of course, the idea that playing a movie could generate a keyboard event seems rather implausible.)

I don't think it's the screensaver. I disabled it and the powersave daemon. I disabled power management in bios. The thing is that at a particular dark and static part in a movie, the monitor goes into standby, as long as it's in fullscreen mode and there are no controls or cursors present. I can play the movie for 1 minute, 10minutes, 15 seconds. As soon as that part comes, the monitor blanks out.

I didn't even define a suspend sequence. Ugh. Ok, I'll try messing around with it tonight.

Thanks for the reply.

D