[r300] Screensaver will not complete screensaver to sleep mode, PC freezes and must be hard rebooted

[FiremanEd]

Binary package hint: xscreensaver

Xubuntu 11.04 beta.
Screen saver is set to 'Random Screen Saver'. "Blank After 10 minutes", "Cycle After 10 minutes". Power Manager: "Put display to sleep when computer is inactive for" '10 minutes', Switch off display when computer is inactive for" '11 minutes'. Screen saver activates and never goes into sleep mode, or following action, switching off. The screen saver freezes and locks up computer. Must hard reboot.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xscreensaver 5.12-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-7.39-generic 2.6.38
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-7-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Apr 3 20:04:27 2011
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta i386 (20110330)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_CA:en
 LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xscreensaver
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Thanks for your report. Does the same happen if you set it to "Blank screen" instead? What if you set screensaver delay to 9 minutes, so we can see if "put display to sleep" causes the problem? Please also attach your /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

[FiremanEd (firemaned)]

I am working on running various tests with the screen saver at different time intervals and settings. Will post results at conclusion.

[FiremanEd (firemaned)]

In the "blank screen" setting in screen saver. It was set to blank after 2 min. Put display to sleep when computer is inactive for 3 min. Switch off display in 4 min. Result: screen went blank but did not go into sleep and display did not turn off.

In the "random screen saver" setting in screen saver. Again, same settings as above. GL Text froze and computer became unresponsive.

It appears to be GL Text that seems to be an issue. In opening screen saver preferences, and selecting one screen saver, GL text in this case, in running only the preview affected memory and swap (as seen in screen shot with Conky on the right). I captured the screen shot moments before sending my computer unresponsive before exiting it. I repeated the same previews with the other "GL's". GLcells, GLblurs, GLmatrix etc, no problem with these.

[FiremanEd (firemaned)]

Running GLMatrix as a screen saver crashed to unresponsive black screen with text.

[Andrew Heil (heilandrew)]

My vote would also be for an issue with the GLText screensaver module.

This is running from the Xubuntu 11.04 Live CD (Beta 1, i386), with a laptop using an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M chipset (using the "radeon" driver), running on AC power.

First, I left everything (i.e. Power Manager and Screensaver) settings at their defaults. The result was a hang to hard reset displaying the GLText screensaver on the monitor. (Doing nothing, of course; the laptop had crashed.)

Next (after rebooting) I left everything in the Screensaver settings at their defaults, and turned both of the "Power Manager > On AC > Monitor" sliders ("Put display to sleep" and "Switch off display") down to "Never". The result: another hang to hard reset with the GLText screensaver displayed.

Finally, I unticked the GLText screensaver from the list of random screensavers, so it wouldn't be used, and left everything else at their defaults. The system's still up and running.

(Nice work with Xubuntu's look 'n' feel, by the way.)

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Please run these screensaver "hacks" directly from a Terminal window, i.e.:
 /usr/lib/xscreensaver/gltext
to see if it locks up.

[arm-c (arickmcniel)]

I am having a similar problem with screen saver. left for long periods of time, it locks computer and doesn't resume. I was using floating ubuntu as screensaver.... Running defalut 11.04 Ubuntu

It is on a Panasonic CF-30, Pentiul Core2 Duo.

Multiple issues with this... May not be just the GL screensavers causing problem.

[Pieter Engelbrecht (chesedo)]

The same thing happens to me too, display freezes put mouse movement is registered (the mouse moves on the screen).

I have Ubuntu 11.04, screensaver set to GLSlideShow only the same thing happens with gnome-screensaver. I think it might have something to do with Lock screen, will test and post again.

[Pieter Engelbrecht (chesedo)]

It definitly has is not Lock screen being active that causes the screen to freeze

[Patrick Kenlock (patrick-abssoftware)]

Just upgraded to 11.04 on Dell Latitude D520, Freezes whenever screensaver active, tried blank screen and fish both freeze no mouse hard reset.

deactivated screensaver no freeze so far.

[Patrick Kenlock (patrick-abssoftware)]

The Plugin-Container appears to be using a lot of resources even when nothing is happening and doesn't leave enough CPU or memory for other applications including Screensaver. Just an observation.

Currently running at over 40-55% CPU even with no applications running.

[bendo (safelydeliver-nospam)]

On my Toshiba Satellite M305D-S4830, I get the same problem. I am using a clean install of Natty, Kernel Linux 2.6.38-8-generic 64 bit version. Before installing this version, I also used Natty 32 bit version and did not have this problem of my computer hanging after the display goes to sleep. I was able to resume use of my laptop by shaking the mouse. After replacing with the 64bit version however, anytime the display starts to dim, then goes to sleep, the computer hangs. It doesn't matter how many programs I have running. The only other problem I have had on the 32 bit and 64 bit version is getting forced-logged out randomly while I'm in the middle of working on the computer and getting returned to the log in screen, which has happened twice. Once on the 32bit version and another time on the 64 bit which I am currently running.

[bendo (safelydeliver-nospam)]

Update: I change the "Put display to sleep when inactive for" from 10 minutes to "never" under power management. My monitor still turns off when idle and the computer also eventually goes to sleep but does not hang like before.

[Brett (breusshe)]

I'm also having a problem. I'm running the Pictures Folder screensaver. My screen locks to screensaver after 5 minutes. No problem. I can unlock it and go on. However, after 15 minutes, the display is put to sleep. That is when the screen locks. Mouse and keyboard don't work within the GUI environment after this happens. However, I found that I can do a Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get a terminal window in TTY1. This at least allows me to log in to a new session and safely reboot the system.

In the meantime, I've set putting the display to sleep to "never" and after 1.5 hours, I'm still able to use the system.

[Brett (breusshe)]

One additional comment on my issue. If I lock the screen before closing my laptop (I set my system to blank the screen when the lid is closed) then I'm okay. On the other hand, if I just close the lid without locking the screen, then the screen will freeze when the screensaver tries to start. When this happens, I can move my mouse around, but clicks don't seem to be registered and keyboard shortcuts that interact with the desktop do not work. I can still use the Ctrl+Alt+F1 to get to TTY1 and safely reboot the system, though.

[Brett (breusshe)]

Okay, one final comment on my issue. As it turns out, lock the screen before closing the lid or not, it will most likely freeze the screen once the screen is blanked or suspends. With blanking, there seems to be a time issue: the longer the lid is closed, the more likely the screen will freeze. I guess I'll try turning off the screensaver all together.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Please run:
 xset dpms force off; sleep 7; xset dpms force on
This should turn off the screen (power saving) for 7 seconds, then turn it on again.

There are a lot of different issues and comments added to this bug report, and there is no feedback from the original reporter. I would suggest all of you file separate bug reports on your issues, where you focus on one issue and include all necessary information. The best way is to use "ubuntu-bug xserver-xorg-video-ati" for Radeon cards.

[Brett (breusshe)]

@Tormod:

I tried your suggestion with xset. No dice. The problem is that I can't enter that command within the session where the screen locks, I have to change to a session other than TTY7 (where the X server is running) in order to have interaction with the display. That means when I type the command string you suggested, I get a message about how xset can't interact with the display "".

I've also discovered that setting the screensaver to not turn on when idle or to not lock the desktop when the screensaver is active does not help. The screen locks after the screen blanks, though I have not pinned down exactly how long it takes to make the display freeze.

[Tormod Volden (tormodvolden)]

Brett, do this test independent of the screen saver. The idea is to see if the problem is in the dpms handling in the graphic driver.

[Brett (breusshe)]

Ah, I see. Then I can tell you that the command string turns off the display for 7 seconds and then turns it back on successfully. I have discovered that I can have the screensaver active as long as the display never sleeps, blanks, suspends, or hibernates. So, basically, I need to leave the lid open on my laptop at all times and disable the other features.

[Brett (breusshe)]

I've found a less than satisfactory, but acceptable solution until this bug is fixed. When I log in, the first thing I do is issue the command "xset -dpms" to turn off the energy star features (standby, suspend, off). This means I can now have my screensaver active and close the lid on my laptop, but the screen never turns off.

Not the best solution for the monitor, but if this bug is fixed soon, then it is acceptable for now. Has there been any headway on the root of the problem?

[Brett (breusshe)]

Well, since no comments have occurred and I got tired of my laptop running warmer than usual (due to it never going into a lower power state due to this issue) I have switched to Debian.

[tphilbri (tphilbri)]

I've just loaded 11.04 64 bit (dual booting with W7 x64). I set up random screensaver to run without requiring password on wake. It consistently locks up on gltext scrsvr. Requires hard boot.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xscreensaver (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]