After an evaluation, GNOME has moved from Bugzilla to GitLab. Learn more about GitLab.
No new issues can be reported in GNOME Bugzilla anymore.
To report an issue in a GNOME project, go to GNOME GitLab.
Do not go to GNOME Gitlab for: Bluefish, Doxygen, GnuCash, GStreamer, java-gnome, LDTP, NetworkManager, Tomboy.
Bug 554247 - Dual Monitors won't SLEEP in TwinView mode
Dual Monitors won't SLEEP in TwinView mode
Status: RESOLVED NOTGNOME
Product: gnome-power-manager
Classification: Deprecated
Component: gnome-power-manager
unspecified
Other All
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: GNOME Power Manager Maintainer(s)
GNOME Power Manager Maintainer(s)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2008-09-29 03:03 UTC by BassKozz
Modified: 2012-03-23 09:33 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: 2.6.next
GNOME version: 2.25/2.26



Description BassKozz 2008-09-29 03:03:38 UTC
Please describe the problem:
Using Ubuntu 8.04.1 (up to date)
I have a dual-monitor setup and in the past I was using "Separate X-Sessions" for each monitor. I recently switched to "TwinView" and now my monitors won't go into sleep (power saving) state. I've tried changing the settings in System>Power Management>Display> "Put display to sleep when inactive for" but no matter what I set it to (for a time limit) it NEVER goes into sleep mode. I've left the computer on for hours on end, and they never go into sleep. But when I switch from "TwinView" to "Separate X-Screens" the monitors go to sleep right on time, EVERYTIME.

So something is wrong with TwinView. I am fairly new to the Linux and Ubuntu community, so I don't know how to self-diagnose this issue, but if someone can point me in the right direction I don't mind posting log files etc.
Thanks,
-BassKozz

p.s. I am NOT using Compiz (don't know if that makes a difference or not).
System>Preferences>Appearance>Visual Effects = NONE.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Setup a Dual-Monitors in TwinView mode
2. Set the gnome-power-manager to put the displays in sleep after x amount of time
3. Wait to see if the displays are put to sleep


Actual results:
The monitors DO NOT go to sleep as they should

Expected results:
The monitors should go to sleep

Does this happen every time?
Yes, everytime when in TwinView mode... yet it works when in "Separate X-Screen" mode

Other information:
Comment 1 BassKozz 2008-09-29 03:05:16 UTC
This bug was also filed on LaunchPad: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/275308
Comment 2 BassKozz 2008-11-04 04:52:09 UTC
I just upgraded to Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10) and the issue remains 
I was hoping the upgrade would fix it, but I guess not :(
gnome-power-manager --version = 2.24.0
Comment 3 Richard Hughes 2008-11-04 12:48:29 UTC
gnome-power-manager just issues DPMS requests. Does "xset dpms force off" work?
Comment 4 BassKozz 2008-11-04 16:44:12 UTC
"xset dpms force off" & "sudo xset dpms force off"
Just turn the screensaver off, I get a blank black screen but the monitors remain ON (not standby)
Comment 5 gnome 2008-11-10 16:17:23 UTC
I'm using dual-head TwinView and see (only DPMS portion of xset output shown):

  $ xset +dpms 600  # from ~/.xsession
  $ xset dpms 600   # from ~/.xsession
  $ xset q
  DPMS (Energy Star):
    Standby: 600    Suspend: 0    Off: 0
    DPMS is Enabled
    Monitor is On
  $ gnome-power-preferences
  (modify slider "Put display to sleep when inactive for" on tab "On AC Power")
  $ xset q
  DPMS (Energy Star):
    Standby: 0    Suspend: 0    Off: 0
    DPMS is Enabled
    Monitor is On

It doesn't matter what I set the slider to, always the three numbers are reset to zero. This happens for me with TwinView enabled also when only one screen is present on both a laptop (nvidia driver 177.80) and desktop (nvidia driver  173.14.12).
Comment 6 BassKozz 2008-12-03 01:46:47 UTC
Here are the results for "xset q" on my rig:
Keyboard Control:
  auto repeat:  on    key click percent:  0    LED mask:  00000002
  auto repeat delay:  500    repeat rate:  30
  auto repeating keys:  00ffffffdffffbbf
                        fadfffdfffdfe5ef
                        ffffffffffffffff
                        ffffffffffffffff
  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:
  /home/chris/.gnome2/share/cursor-fonts,/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,/home/chris/.gnome2/share/fonts
Bug Mode: compatibility mode is disabled
DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 0    Suspend: 0    Off: 0
  DPMS is Enabled
  Monitor is On
File paths:
  Config file:  /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  Modules path: /usr/lib/xorg/modules
  Log file:     /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Comment 7 BassKozz 2009-05-03 17:33:17 UTC
Still having this issue in Jaunty... I was hoping upgrading to Jaunty would fix it, but it's still there :(

Any idea's?
Any/All comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

gnome-power-manager --version
Version 2.24.2
Comment 8 BassKozz 2009-05-04 15:12:06 UTC
After some googling I found this page: http://www.shallowsky.com/linux/x-screen-blanking.html
According to this page "vbetool" seems to be the solution.

Quick description of vbetool: "vbetool uses lrmi in order to run code from the video BIOS. Currently, it is able to alter DPMS states, save/restore video card state, and attempt to initialize the video card from scratch. It exists primarily in order to increase the chances of successfully recovering video state after an ACPI S3 suspend."
- http://freshmeat.net/projects/vbetool/

So I tried what it said and used: vbetool dpms off
And it Worked :-D !!!
Wait a minute not so fast...
I can't break out of it :-(
The monitors are stuck in standby mode... I tried moving the mouse, slamming my keyboard against my head, ctrl+alt+del... nothing seems to break it out of standby mode.  It seems that the GPU's BIOS is stuck in Standby Mode... I had to manually press the reset button on the box to get it to restart.

Hmm, off to do some more research.
Any idea's out there?
Comment 9 BassKozz 2009-09-23 18:08:45 UTC
Yeah, I upgraded to Jaunty 9.04, and it still remains.
I have a feeling it has something to do with the fact that I installed xscreensaver a while back. I have since removed xscreensaver, but the problem remains.

The work-around I am currently using is I created two small bash scripts:
#!/bin/sh
# dpms-off.sh
vbetool dpms off

&

#!/bin/sh
###
# dpms-on.sh
vbetool dpms on

And then I setup desktop shortcuts for each script and then keyboard shortcuts for each script:
Ctrl+Alt+0
Ctrl+Alt+1
Respectively. And now when I want to manually put my monitors in sleep I use "Ctrl+Alt+0" and to wake them up when I return I use "Ctrl+Alt+1"
Comment 10 BassKozz 2009-11-30 22:09:03 UTC
Still Broken in Karmic :(