[G84 8600M GT] Xorg has default screen blanking value set to 600secs

[PaulW]

Binary package hint: xorg

Xorg appears to have (hardcoded) a default timeout for blanking the screen, set to 600 seconds (10 minutes)

If the user tries to disable the screen blanking using gnome-power-manager (all timeouts disabled, no screen turn off) aswell as the screensaver being disabled, the screen will go blank after 10 minutes regardless of the setting.

If you set the blank screen timeout to less than ten minutes, then this setting is used.

The following is returned when running # xset -q

---------
Screen Saver:
  prefer blanking: yes allow exposures: yes
  timeout: 600 cycle: 600
---------

Again, timeout is set at 600 regardless what the user configures within gnome.

Adding the following to the xorg.conf file solves this issue:

---------
Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "BlankTime" "0"
    Option "StandbyTime" "0"
    Option "SuspendTime" "0"
    Option "OffTime" "0"
EndSection
---------

Upon restarting gdm (logout to restart X), the values retrieved by # xset -q are now correct

---------
Screen Saver:
  prefer blanking: yes allow exposures: yes
  timeout: 0 cycle: 600
---------

Now, the screen will not blank after a default of 10 minutes.

This occurs on both amd64 based installs of Karmic 9.10 at my current location. I've also noticed quite a few threads on ubuntuforums which are also describing the same issue, but with no resolve.

Can the timeout be set during the compilation of the xorg package? Or will it require constant modification of xorg.conf file to sort this issue? (not the best idea for novice users)

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 03)
     Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:011e]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation G84 [GeForce 8600M GT] [10de:0407] (rev a1)
     Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:011e]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi paulw,

Please attach the output of `lspci -vvnn` and `dmesg`, and attach your /var/log/Xorg.0.log (and maybe Xorg.0.log.old) file from after reproducing this issue. If you're using a custom /etc/X11/xorg.conf please attach that as well.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

$ xset -q
(...)
Screen Saver:
  prefer blanking: yes allow exposures: yes
  timeout: 0 cycle: 0
(...)

So it seems I don't have hardcoded value 600. And it still is broken, though.

[Gábor Szécsi (deje07)]

I have timeout:600 cycle:600 each time I login. Issuing "xset s off" will cure this problem. I'm using Gnome, and gnome-power-manager is not affected, it works regardless of this setting.
Using nvidia closed source drivers 185.18.36. I had no such problem in Jaunty and before.

[Vikram Dhillon (dhillon-v10)]

This issue was reported against karmic, so can you confirm if this issue exists with the most recent Lucid Lynx 10.04 Alpha release? ISO CD images are available at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/lucid/ . Thanks in advance.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

It does exist with new Ubuntu Lucid edition. However, how is it connected to any specific graphic driver? It is rather a gnome-screensaver bug, killing this application restores blanking times from preferences. It is VERY annoying and should be treated similarly to Paper Cuts.

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

I don't know how to add non-upstream record for gnome-screensaver, could sb do it for me?

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

In Karmic it was enough to remove gnome-screensaver from Startup Applications, in Lucid it is not located there and still always runs at start - how to disable it?

[Chris Halse Rogers (raof)]

How are you setting the timeout? There are two different settings which affect this - System→Preferences→Screensaver sets the time until the screensaver kicks in (which is possibly just “blank screen”) and whether it locks your session, and System→Preferences→Power Management sets the time until your screen is turned off.

Are both set to the values you desire, and still being ignored? Or have you just missed one of these places?

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

@Chris Halse Rogers
Whoops! Indeed, I missed the one from screensaver preferences.

But this IMHO shows something. It is counter-intuitive to separate those two settings. They should be IMHO combined into one settings panel which lets one set:
1) if screensaver is to be used at all
2) if answer to (1) is yes, how long should it take to show the screensaver
3) how long it should take the screen to go blank (this time should be always higher than the one from the previous point, if set)

In this way it would not be misleading - now it definitely is.

[S4qFBxkFFg (s4qfbxkffg)]

Using XFCE on Oneiric 11.10 this bug still affects me - extremely annoying when watching movies.

I've fixed this on previous installs (when there was still an xorg.conf), but given that screensavers can be configured separately, it would be nice if this particular part of X could be disabled by default.