Screen Energy Saving and Dim Screen do not work reliably

[Leon Maurer]

(The following is a bug I reported to KDE some time ago, but no one has replied and it may be a Kubuntu problem rather than a KDE problem. I'm not sure where the problem is, so I just chose the kubuntu-meta package. The KDE bug report is at https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=349344 )

The Power Management module in KDE system settings has an options named Screen Energy Saving (which is meant to put the screen into power saving mode when not in use) and Dim Screen (which is supposed to dim the screen after inactivity).

However, neither of them work reliably. Even with the Screen Energy Saving option enabled, the screens will usually not go into power saving mode. I have observed this on three computers (one laptop, two desktops) with a total of 5 monitors. For reasons I don't understand, sometimes it works -- usually on my laptop screen, but sometimes on screens attached to the desktops. However, in the vast majority of cases, nothing happens and the screen stays on.

The Dim screen option on my laptop is also unreliable. Sometimes it does not dim. Sometimes it does. Sometimes, after dimming or putting the screen into energy saving mode, the laptop screen will not undim.

I haven't figured out a pattern to any of this. These features worked before I upgraded to Kubuntu 15.05 and KDE 5.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: kubuntu-desktop 1.323
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-21.21-generic 3.19.8
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-21-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1.1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Tue Jul 14 15:01:28 2015
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-06-05 (1134 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120423)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: kubuntu-meta
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to vivid on 2015-05-04 (71 days ago)

[Leon Maurer (leon-n-maurer)]

Really, no one else has this problem. FWIW, it's not a hardware problem. If I run:

sudo sh -c 'vbetool dpms off; read ans; vbetool dpms on'

Then the screen turns off and then turns back on when I hit enter. (See http://askubuntu.com/questions/62858/turn-off-monitor-using-command-line ) So, there must be a problem in some higher level piece of software .

[William Scheidegger (william-scheidegger)]

I recently upgraded from Kubuntu 14.04 to 16.04 and I am now also having this problem.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[William Scheidegger (william-scheidegger)]

This may need filed against: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/powerdevil

[KINGSABRI (king-sabri)]

I have almost the same issue except the dim starts working after 20 seconds. I tried many solutions

Kubuntu 16.04 64-bit

1. Using GUI:
1.1. System Settings >> Energy Saving >> Uncheck Dim screen
1.2. System Settings >> Energy Saving >> Dim screen (360 min)
1.3. Disabling Power Management service: System Settings >> Autostart >> Background Services >> Uncheck Power Management

2. Using command line
2.1. Installing xscreensaver and configure the screensaver duration for longer period or disable it
2.2. xset s off
2.3. xset s noblank -dpms
2.4. Add the following to ~/.kde/share/config/powermanagementprofilesrc
[Battery][RunScript]
idleTime=60000
scriptCommand=/usr/local/bin/batgoverner
scriptPhase=0

[Battery][SuspendSession]
idleTime=3600000
suspendType=2

[LowBattery]
icon=battery-low

[LowBattery][BrightnessControl]
value=30

[LowBattery][DPMSControl]
idleTime=120

[LowBattery][DimDisplay]
idleTime=60000

[LowBattery][HandleButtonEvents]
lidAction=1
powerButtonAction=2

I saw poeple complain this issue since 2013!

[KINGSABRI (king-sabri)]

I tried this too
http://pastebin.com/5UusLpdh

Nothing works

[Jonathan Neufeld (jonath2n)]

I'm running into this issue as well on Kubuntu 16.04

[Tharwat Abouhelal (tharwat96)]

I have this issue on 3 laptops running Kubuntu 16.04

[Piotr S (szponiasty)]

I can confirm this problem too. Stationary PC with Radeon HD6800, Kubuntu 16.04. Monitors do not turn off after certain set time. Only user session locks and goes to login screen.

I've tried Leon's Murer's command "sudo sh -c 'vbetool dpms off; read ans; vbetool dpms on'" and it turns off screens.

[wolfv (wolf-volpi)]

This may have something to do with kdeconnect https://community.kde.org/KDEConnect
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/kde-power-saving-not-working/12207/6

My screen switches off when Chrome browser is closed, but not when Chrome is open.
Other applications like file browser and editor have not effect if they are open or closed.

[Daniel Smedegaard Buus (danielbuus)]

Well, to be fair, this is beta software, and the disclaimer is "do not use for work or production," right? I mean, that's what it was in 2000, when I used it first, and it's only gotten more beta since then, so clearly, this is expected behaviour.