[Natty,Maverick,Lucid] External monitor connected w/ Display Port power management not working when laptop LCD powered off

[Damon Lynch]

Binary package hint: xorg

When an external monitor is connected to my Thinkpad T400s using the Display Port connection, the monitor never goes into an energy saving state despite the Gnome power saving settings being enabled. Gnome screen saver activates, but this does not conserve energy of course.

This bug occurs only when the laptop lid is closed. The bug does not occur when the laptop lid is open.

I have seen this problem with Lucid, Maverick and now the latest daily build of Natty.

ubuntu-bug xorg crashed, so I don't know if you received the extra information you need or not. I will include some information here that might be relevant, just in case:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Lenovo Device 20e4
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 45
        Memory at f2000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
        Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        I/O ports at 1800 [size=8]
        Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
        Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 3
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
        Subsystem: Lenovo Device 20e4
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Memory at f2400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
        Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 3

Linux version 2.6.38-1-generic (buildd@allspice) (gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-2ubuntu1) ) #28-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 28 15:26:43 UTC 2011

I run the 64 bit versions of natty / maverick / lucid.

$apt-cache policy xorg
xorg:
  Installed: 1:7.5+6ubuntu8
  Candidate: 1:7.5+6ubuntu8
  Version table:
 *** 1:7.5+6ubuntu8 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xorg 1:7.5+6ubuntu8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-1.28-generic 2.6.38-rc2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-1-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
DRM.card0.DP.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 modes: 1920x1200 1600x1200 1680x1050 1600x1000 1280x1024 1280x1024 1280x960 1152x864 1024x768 1024x768 832x624 800x600 800x600 640x480 640x480 720x400
 edid-base64: AP///////wAi8PkmAQEBAQ0TAQSlNiN47s5Qo1RMmSYPUFSla4CBQIGAqQCpQLMA0QABAQEBKDyAoHCwI0AwIDYAImAhAAAaAAAA/ABIUCBMUDI0NzV3CiAgAAAA/QAwVR5eFQQRUNL4WPAAAAAA/wBDTkM5MTMwUVgyCiAgAI0=
DRM.card0.DP.2:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.DP.3:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.HDMI.A.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.HDMI.A.2:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.LVDS.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: Off
 modes: 1440x900 1440x900
 edid-base64: AP///////wAwrjZAAAAAAAASAQOAHhN46uWVk1ZPkCgoUFQAAAABAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBwSmg5FGEGjAwIDYAL74QAAAZ3iKgLFGEfjAwIDYAL74QAAAZAAAADwCVCjKVCigeCQBMo0JUAAAA/gBMVE4xNDFCVDA4MDAxAMs=
DRM.card0.VGA.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: Off
 modes:
 edid-base64:
Date: Tue Feb 1 05:22:05 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GdmLog1: Not present
GdmLog2: Not present
GraphicsCard:
 Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:20e4]
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:20e4]
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Alpha amd64 (20110131)
MachineType: LENOVO 2801CTO
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 LC_MESSAGES=en_AG.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true persistent file=/cdrom/preseed/hostname.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
SourcePackage: xorg
UnitySupportTest:

dmi.bios.date: 12/09/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 6HET34WW (1.19 )
dmi.board.name: 2801CTO
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr6HET34WW(1.19):bd12/09/2010:svnLENOVO:pn2801CTO:pvrThinkPadT400s:rvnLENOVO:rn2801CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 2801CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T400s
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.5+6ubuntu8
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.13.2+git20110124.fadee040-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu1

[Damon Lynch (dlynch3)]

A clarification: when I say the bug does not occur when the laptop lid is open, I should have added the important proviso that the laptop LCD panel should be an active display in addition to the external monitor. That is, both displays must be displaying the desktop. It is not important which mode is used, i.e. whether "Same image in all monitors" is checked in the Gnome Monitor Preferences or not.

If the lid is merely open but the laptop LCD is powered off, the bug occurs.

[Damon Lynch (dlynch3)]

Additional comment from linux thinkpad mailing list participant Alex Deucher:

"I think this may be a logic issue in gnome power manager (GPM) rather
than the driver. If the following commands executed from a terminal
blank the displays properly:
sleep 5; xset dpms force off
then the driver is working correctly. I have similar issues on fedora
on a w500 with AMD gaphics, so I suspect it's a GPM issue."

I can confirm running that command makes the external monitor sleep.

Given Alex is seeing the problem on a Thinkpad with a discrete AMD display, he is probably correct -- this bug probably needs to be assigned to another package, perhaps Gnome Power Manager.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[Moving as per last comment. Fwiw, the issue with ubuntu-bug xorg would be worth reporting separately if it still happens (it worked for me though, maybe it's fixed now)]