When laptop lid is closed screen locks even if it should not

[florin]

In power options the settings for When lid is closed are DO NOTHING both for on battery and on line power. But if I close the lid the computer locks.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: powerman (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.37-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon May 7 11:39:04 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
SourcePackage: powerman
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Jim Garlick (garlick)]

Hello,

You have the wrong package. Powerman is for controlling smart power
distribution units and such. For a description of the various
power management packages in Ubuntu that might apply to your problem,
please have a look at:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement

Regards,

Jim Garlick

[florin (florin-arjocu)]

I looked at that page and couldd not figure it out as I haven't seen any LID action there. I am a simple user, not a kernel/ubuntu developer. Any idea?
Thanks.

[Jim Garlick (garlick)]

I don't have a good understanding of that area either, however
if you are running Gnome, you might start with gnome-power-manager.
Sorry I cannot be of any help.

[Sep Thijssen (thijssensep)]

I am effected by this as well.

Possible workaround: In System Settings > Brightness and Lock switch off 'Lock'. The downside is that your system also cannot lock anymore after a set time.

See also:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/130645/12-04-suspending-on-lid-close-despite-current-settings
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11916932
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11916938

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[florin (florin-arjocu)]

@Sep Thijssen (#5)
Yes, I was thinking about that also, but in the end I think that security is important and I would not like the computer not to lock itself.

Do you also see another bug that sometimes prevents your computer from comming back from suspend?

[Sep Thijssen (thijssensep)]

@ Florin
In the power settings I also tested the option to suspend when the lid is closed. I tried this once and all seemed to work properly. In this test I didn't even have to give a password because I unchecked "Require my password when waking from suspend". This box apparanly only effects the suspend situation.

So there is an option to wake up without password from a suspend, but not after a simple close+open of the lid.

[amcnea (amcnea)]

I seem to have this same problem, however, I have an issue severly compounding it. In addition to the computer locking when the lid is closed, sometimes the login screen doesn't appear. All I have is a blank screen of my desktop. I haven't found a way to fix this or get around it yet. Except for a hard reboot. Although I haven't really tried pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 and killing/messing with things.

I just did an upgrade from 11.10 to 12.04 about 24 hours ago. I tried unlocking everything and hopefully that will be a quick fix for my problems. But, having about a 50% chance of having to reboot the system eveytime the lid is closed is pretty bad. I am not sure if this should be posted on a different or new bug report, but as it seemed related I figured I should start by posting it here.

[florin (florin-arjocu)]

@amcnea - I have that bug too. I think it should be a new bug report (if you post it as a new bug, please post the url to also "join"). Until these are fixed, I have disabled "Require my password when waking from suspend" (All Settings -> Brightness and Lock) and in All Settings -> Power I set it on Don't suspend.

[amcnea (amcnea)]

@florin - I went ahead and added it as a new bug which has been registered as bug #1001908

[Jasper Floor (jasperfloor)]

I have this bug as well and it really annoys me. For some reason I can't ignore a blank monitor. I'd actually prefer to use my laptop monitor, but I have two screens attached to a docking station (dell/nvidia) and that seems to preclude using three screens. So I'd really like to just be able to close my laptop without it turning off. Besides that case I actually never want my laptop to sleep without me explicitly saying so. Lid closed should do nothing at all. If I could somehow burn out the hardware which lets the laptop even know anything about the position of the lid I would. Other users want what they want, I want the lid position to be completely irrelevant to the operation of the laptop. I'd say it's in my top ten of pet peeves of things other people want with laptops and therefore I have to live with it. If any extra information could help on this issue I'd be happy to provide it. Thanks for your great work to date btw.

[haight6716 (e-launchpad-a-julianhaight-com)]

Echo Jasper's comments exactly. How many times have I seen people sitting with their laptop lid *almost* closed because they live in terror of what might happen should they actually close it.

Please please let me close my laptop lid.

I want my screen to lock on inactivity, but *not* on lid close. I cannot do this with ubuntu 12.04 and it seems like I'll see the same problem in 12.10. :(

[noname2 (noname2-deactivatedaccount)]

closing the lid does not lock the screen in 13.04

pls retest

[Adam Dingle (adam-yorba)]

I believe this is a duplicate of bug #990908 ('Won't honor "Do Nothing" when Lid is Closed'). As described in that bug, the computer suspends when the lid is closed even though you've selected "Do Nothing" in the power preferences.

[Neal Sprague (1976mreman)]

I'm running 12.04 LTS on a Dell Dimension 4600. I want to leave my computer on because I'm using it as a server. To prevent burning my monitor, I just turn the monitor off when not in use. After doing this, I can come back in a little while (not sure exactly how long) and I turn my monitor on and it's a black screen. The computer is unresponsive, just a black screen and a power indicator LED. I've deactivated suspend and screen turnoff in power, brightness and lock, and Xscreensaver, so idk why this is still happening.