KDE 4.8.5 12.2 Screen blanking. ARG!

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1

I recently did a zypper dup to 12.2 from 12.1
Somewhere along the process this intermittent problem has surfaced.
My screen is blanking after a very short time.
I gone into configure desktop and deselected that process in both on AC and on Battery but it still is happening randomly.
When I did a reboot just now the battery icon showed up in the system tray. I went back in and verified the screen blanking in Battery and verified it was off on AC.
This is a desktop machine not a laptop. Last night it was blanking the screen while I was trying to watch a stream off Crunchyroll. I did a reboot and it stopped.
How can I stop this behavior from occurring completely and permanently?

I am turning to the forums first and I am hoping this is a openSUSE issue not a KDE issue and that it can be fixed

2

did you turn off the screensaver?
I think be default it blanks the screen.

configure desktop > display and monitor . . .

3

Check these settings
Obviously make sure you also turn off screensaver
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/SUSE%20Misc/powersettings.jpeg

4

Yea they are all off and I double checked the screen saver too.
doing that and a reboot seems to have stopped it for now.

The screensaver screen locker all that stuff disabled to begin with just started out of the blue.

5

OK. No reboots but this screen blanking behavior is back after just normal operations and the system sitting over night running. I checked all the setting they are all disabled.
to say the least I don;'t like this as I can’t watch videos which is one of the main things I do besides the internet on this machine.
Is there a configuration file somewhere I can look at and edit?

6

OK I found a thread on this @ https://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/hardware/468526-annoying-kde-blanking-out-solved.html

I added consoleblank=0 to /boot/grub/menu.lst as a attempt to stop this in 12.2

I never got bit by this in 11.4 or 12.1 but as we know doing upgrades with zypper dup can leave these small issues to deal with. I can’t just move the stuff on this machine easily because of the multiple drive (six devices) set up would make it hell with my limited knowledge and multiple partitions so zypper dup is the way I go. Clean installs are always the way to go if you can.

7

I was fighting that problem for a long time, very bizarre I must say.
What finally did it (I hope, been a week at least without blanking) is to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and to set DPMS to false.

Like this :


Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
    Option        "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
    Option        "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS" "false"
EndSection

Of course, along with that you have to also disable screensaver and everything in power options.
Also check this file : .kde4/share/config/kscreensaverrc , and put this in the first line :

DPMS-dependent=false

Good luck.

8

I’ve got an Nvida card with the Nvidia blob :stuck_out_tongue:

I was gone for over 4 hours and when I came back I turned on the monitor and it wasn’t blanked so I “might” have licked it.
I will take your xorg.conf into advisement gzenum

9

Yeah, never mind the ATI and the rest of the lines , what you need to do is to locate and edit that file, then look for :

Section “Monitor”

After that , whatever is in there leave it and just put this :
Option “DPMS” “false”

in the line above EndSection

btw I had the exact same problem like you, it was completely random, can be 15 minutes, 1hr, 2hrs, 4hrs, 10hrs, 2 days … completely crazy and very annoying.

I think its been maybe 2 weeks now (can’t tell for sure, but 10 days minimum) since I edited that xorg.cong file and it finally stopped.
Before that edit with everything else tried to stop that blanking, record was maybe 3 days tops.
So I guess it’s good now :slight_smile:

10

Where would you put that here as there are two sections “Monitor” and “Screen” I have two monitors but only one is defined.

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings# nvidia-settings:  version 290.10  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-07.nvidia.com)  Wed Nov 16 18:46:42 PST 2011




Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection


Section "Files"
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"


    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"


    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection


Section "Monitor"


    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
#    DisplaySize     508 285
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "LG Electronics E2340"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
     EndSection


Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8600 GT"
EndSection


Section "Screen"


# Removed Option "metamodes" "CRT-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, CRT-1: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0"
# Removed Option "metamodes" "CRT-0: 1920x1080 +0+0, CRT-1: 1920x1080 +1920+0"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT-0: 1920x1080 +0+0, CRT-1: 1920x1080 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection
11

In Monitor, you already have DPMS there, just add “false” , like this :

Option        "DPMS" "false"
12

Did that yesterday. No blanking since then. When I turned the monitor on this am the display was there
and it usually is blanked.

Thanks for the tip.

13

CODE} Option “DPMS” “false”

 
Is set and has been in xorg.conf and verified again today. After yesterday kernel update the screen blanking back.
I check and re-check the KDE monitor, power and screensaver settings. It is not set to blank the screen.

What else can I do?
 
It's quite an irritation. I do not what my monitor blanked ever. 
This should not be out of the control of the user like this. 
It is wrong. Where is the KDE or power management configuration file that is causing this
14

My screen doesn’t blank
And I know I have not had a problem with this for a long time. Certainly way back before 4.8

15

It’s nutty it was gone then came back after yesterday’s updates.

I’ve turned on the screensaver for 1440 minutes to see if that stop it.

The screen saver is the only thing I can think it would be since it’s set for a blank screen and the edge lighting on the display is still lit up and the popup announcements are displayed even with the blanked but edge lit display.

16

Mine has it unchecked
http://storage4.static.itmages.ru/i/13/0314/s_1363232909_9562395_9b79c8c5dc.png](http://itmages.ru/image/view/937665/9b79c8c5)
So basically disabled

17

Yea mine is 4.8 so it “screen saver” and it was unchecked before and “blank screen”
Now it’s set for 24 hours.
I’ll see if it come on as I’ve set a screen saver that has motion to it so I’ll know that it’s it coming on.

18

Came back in after being away for about 15 minutes and the screen saver was on even though it was set for 1440 minutes.
So it now known it’s the screen saver.
Screen locking is disabled.
Seems I might get this sorted out.

19

I have now verified that the screen saver is indeed ignoring the setting for time and disabling it entirely.
What I need to know now is what configuration file actually holds these settings so I can manually over ride this rouge activity.

20

With the screensaver disabled the blank edge lit screen is back again.
Whatever is causing this is ignoring the desktop settings entirely.

What .KDE directories should be present in /home/user ?
I have
.kde and .kde4