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Bug 589736 - External monitor output is switched off when closing the laptop lid
External monitor output is switched off when closing the laptop lid
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Product: gnome-power-manager
Classification: Deprecated
Component: gnome-power-manager
2.27.x
Other All
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: GNOME Power Manager Maintainer(s)
GNOME Power Manager Maintainer(s)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2009-07-26 05:24 UTC by Scott Ritchie
Modified: 2010-07-12 16:21 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: 2.27/2.28



Description Scott Ritchie 2009-07-26 05:24:29 UTC
Please describe the problem:
Original report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-power-manager/+bug/390816

In order to use my docking station I have to plug in my computer and then hit the "switch displays" button, requiring me to open my laptop. Once it's no longer outputting to the laptop screen I then close the laptop, but my monitor output goes dark until I move the mouse a bit.

Gnome-power-manager shouldn't turn off the output when using an external monitor.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Have "blank screen on closing" setting enabled
2. Plug into docking station or external monitor
3. Switch output to external monitor
4. Close laptop lid


Actual results:
Screen blanks

Expected results:
Nothing

Does this happen every time?
Yes

Other information:
I'm not quite sure how to handle the twinview case - perhaps then only blanking the laptop screen (disabling twinview) would be the best solution.

Thank you!
Comment 1 Raphaël 2010-04-05 13:12:28 UTC
I don't think it is a bug, I'm happy to have this functionality : when I leave my room I close the lid of my laptop and my external screen goes to sleep saving energy :)
And as you said, if you want to use it even with the lid closed, you just have to move the mouse.

And when you close the lid, you cannot use the keyboard anymore, so it's usually not to continue using the computer.
Comment 2 Raphaël 2010-04-05 13:13:33 UTC
and this is a duplicate to https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=575559
Comment 3 István Kondor 2010-06-04 13:29:43 UTC
Dear  Raphaël,

What about this case:
- You have a notebook and want to watch a movie.
- Your monitor is small (whatever you consider too small to watch a movie on).
- You have a nice big screen or HDTV.
- You connect your notebook to this display and set up the position, resolution, etc. You are lucky and your video driver works. You feel happy.
- You start the movie and close the laptop lid since it is completely unnecessary.
- Your external monitor goes blank.
- You spend some minutes/hours on how to get back the "Nothing" option. This happens to most people when they first encounter the situation.
- You are not so happy anymore...

All in all watching a movie on an external display is not a usual use case in your opinion. It's OK as long as you keep in mind that others may want to do this.

Thanks for your help and understanding!
Comment 4 Raphaël 2010-06-06 02:22:11 UTC
Hello, 
I do watch movies on my external screen, but what I do then is that in the display manager I just deactivate my laptop lid, so it's not producing light, and I let it open so that I still have the controls to pause/backwards/volume.

But your case shows that this behavior is maybe not the first that comes to mind, maybe an option in power saving with keeping the screen alive by default could be a good idea.
Comment 5 István Kondor 2010-06-08 14:23:47 UTC
Hello,

Your idea would work great, but unfortunately I don't have that much space on my desk, so my notebook is between me and the external monitor. Consequently, I have to close the lid.
There are no problems with the controls since I have an external mouse so I can do everything with SMPlayer.

Yes, my expectation is that the lid should blank while the other monitor should not. I would really appreciate a solution for this bug/behaviour.
Comment 6 Pasi Kärkkäinen 2010-07-12 12:23:49 UTC
Any updates on this? 

My setup is like this:

- laptop on a docking station, with external DVI display connected.
- when I'm in X, and I close the laptop lid, BOTH displays go blank!

Only the internal laptop LVDS should go blank, not the external display.
Or at least there should be option "Do nothing" for "When laptop lid is closed" in gnome power manager.

I'm using Fedora 13.
Comment 7 Richard Hughes 2010-07-12 15:46:24 UTC
(In reply to comment #6)
> Any updates on this? 

You can manually set "/apps/gnome-power-manager/buttons/lid_ac" to "nothing" using gconf-editor.

I'll probably bring back the option in the GUI as Xorg hasn't been fixed, and I don't think there is a timeline for doing so.
Comment 8 Richard Hughes 2010-07-12 16:21:50 UTC
commit 00618df34dfd21203e136eb356d32ffe4da251fc
Author: Richard Hughes <richard@hughsie.com>
Date:   Mon Jul 12 17:10:33 2010 +0100

    Allow 'Do nothing' as an option as Xorg is still broken. Fixes #589736

:100644 100644 45f74e4... f64d0a9... M  src/cc-power-panel.c