Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

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wpshooter
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Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by wpshooter »

Can anyone give me a hint as to why my monitor goes blank after a period of 10 minutes of inactivity after either a cold boot or a warm boot. ALL of the settings in both screensaver and power management are set so there should be no blanking of the screen. The "regard computer as idle parameter" is set to 2 hours, The "activate screensaver when computer is idle" is NOT checked, the "lock screen when screensaver is active" is NOT checked. All of the power management settings are set to either DO NOTHING or NEVER.

The screen going blank after 10 minutes only happens once after either a cold boot or warm boot, once I move mouse to reactivate the screen the screen does NOT go to blank any time after that initial blanking.

I have checked the BIOS, and I see no parameter which would explain this screen blanking behavior.
I have also looked at the menu/hardware functions on the monitor (a Samsung SynchMaster model 940BX) and the only parameter anything remotely akin to screen blanking is "DISPLAY TIME" and it is set to 200 seconds, which would be approx. 3 minutes, which seems to eliminate it as far as the 10 minute blanking is concerned.

This oddity has existed in every version of Linux Mint I have ever used and this has been quite a few of them, I am currently on 20.1 mate.

Anyone have any ideas ?

Thanks.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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wpshooter
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by wpshooter »

I found another Mint forum post which suggested that perhaps the screensaver launcher listing as found in the startup applications may be what is causing this 10 minute activation of the blank/screensaver. However, when I go into startup applications and UNCHECK that launcher, it just comes back as being checked upon rebooting.

If I instead of UNCHECKING this launcher, I just choose the REMOVE function, will that cause any problems ???

But what I don't understand is that if this IS what is causing the problem, then why would this launcher in startup applications not default to the settings that I had made for the screensaver and power management via those listings as found on the applications menu, i.e. menu as found at bottom left hand corner of mate desktop, i.e. panel ?

Hmmmmmm, I removed both the screensaver and the power dameon from startup applications and the screen STILL goes blank after 10 minutes.

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wpshooter
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by wpshooter »

Perhaps this is the answer, will give it a try.

Unread post by Dusenberg » Wed Jun 20, 2018 2:44 pm
...but I was too quick - it did not work. Next reboot and it was the same problem..... It seems xset only changes settings for the currrent session... and I was working over ssh.

I eventually found the right info in ArchLinux (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Di ... _Signaling) but had to figure out which file to use in 18.2. Adding the following entry into /etc/X11/xorg.conf retained the dpms and screensave settings across boots:

Code: Select all

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "ServerLayout0"
Option "StandbyTime" "0"
Option "SuspendTime" "0"
Option "OffTime" "0"
Option "BlankTime" "0"
EndSection

The first three are the dpms settings, the last the screensaver.

So far it seems to have worked.......

But really don't think I should have to do all of this to get the screen to not go blank !!!

I tested it several more times and so far this seems to fix the problem, so if she don't jump, I think we may have a winner.

HOWEVER, users should not have to go to this extent to find and fix this type of problem, some developer of this operating system needs to fix this.
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by SMG »

wpshooter wrote: Sun May 16, 2021 9:44 pmI eventually found the right info in ArchLinux (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Di ... _Signaling) but had to figure out which file to use in 18.2. Adding the following entry into /etc/X11/xorg.conf retained the dpms and screensave settings across boots:
The link seems to be missing characters and goes to an error page, so we do not know what you found.

What do you mean by "which file to use in 18.2"? If you mean Linux Mint 18.2, that went end of life in April and is no longer supported.
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by wpshooter »

All this information comes from another Linux Mint post, i.e.

viewtopic.php?t=268697

Read near the end of the thread for the correct information about the cure for this ill.

Those words you are referring to were from another poster, not me.

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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by SMG »

wpshooter wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 1:26 pmThose words you are referring to were from another poster, not me.
That was not clear from your post, especially since you did not provide information about your system.
wpshooter wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 1:26 pm All this information comes from another Linux Mint post, i.e.

viewtopic.php?t=268697
Thanks for the link as that may help others with DPMS issues on MATE.
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by wpshooter »

How would I go about requesting that this problem be considered for fixing on Mint 20.2 ?

I have some friends that I would like to start on Linux Mint and it is sort of a problem explaining to them why it is that their screen would be going blank after 10 minutes of inactivity when they have set the parameters in screen saver and power management interfaces so that this should not be happening. For me to tell them that even after having set the parameters so that this should not be happening, that they need to manually edit a configuration file via the terminal is likely to be an instance turn off to Mint operating system to them.

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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by all41 »

also see this thread, this sounds similar
viewtopic.php?p=1885712#p1885712
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by wpshooter »

all41 wrote: Thu Jul 01, 2021 8:38 pm also see this thread, this sounds similar
viewtopic.php?p=1885712#p1885712
Yes, definitely on the same wavelength, but question is how you get this fixed (from the git/go), so everybody that runs into this problem does not have to reinvent the wheel to get it fixed ?

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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by Moonstone Man »

wpshooter wrote: Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:13 pm ... but question is how you get this fixed (from the git/go), so everybody that runs into this problem does not have to reinvent the wheel to get it fixed ?
Rail at the manufacturer, which is where the problem emanates from due to their being very sloppy with adhering to standards. Just consider yourself fortunate that Linux has the flexibility to work around it at least somewhat.
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by wpshooter »

Kadaitcha Man wrote: Thu Jul 01, 2021 10:21 pm
wpshooter wrote: Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:13 pm ... but question is how you get this fixed (from the git/go), so everybody that runs into this problem does not have to reinvent the wheel to get it fixed ?
Rail at the manufacturer, which is where the problem emanates from due to their being very sloppy with adhering to standards. Just consider yourself fortunate that Linux has the flexibility to work around it at least somewhat.
Are you saying that the base problem is in the hardware, i.e. monitor/display ?

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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by Mik3e »

Mint comes with xset pre-installed and the defaults for xset are 'Screen Saver: timeout 600' and DPMS could be either enabled or disabled. Check the settings in a terminal with the command:

Code: Select all

xset q
Change from the defaults with the commands:

Code: Select all

xset s off
xset -dpms
These changes do not survive a reboot so, if this is the problem, add the commands in 'Startup Applications'.

A long time ago I suggested that the Mint team fix this but they just haven't gotten to it yet.

Mike
Last edited by Mik3e on Fri Jul 02, 2021 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by all41 »

wpshooter wrote: Fri Jul 02, 2021 4:32 pm

Are you saying that the base problem is in the hardware, i.e. monitor/display ?

Thanks.
Yes--and there is very little support for Linux.

You just need to mitigate the issue for your hardware and to your preferences.
Try running the suggested xset instructions and if that solves your issue in your current session
then you can add this to your Startup Applications.
You can read about those instructions in a terminal:

Code: Select all

man xset
Been doing this forever on this LG across many distros and has always worked perfectly
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by all41 »

suggested that the Mint team fix this
You are suggesting:
Mint team should circumvent DPMS in your behalf?
You should read more about this
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by Moonstone Man »

Mik3e wrote: Fri Jul 02, 2021 5:28 pm A long time ago I suggested that the Mint team fix this but they just haven't gotten to it yet.
That comment completely misses the point. It isn't the Mint team's responsibility, nor the responsibility of any of the numerous upstream Linux teams to fix a manufacturer's shoddy implementation of a standard. The responsibility lies solely with the manufacturer. It never ceases to amaze me how many people point the finger at Linux Mint for something that is clearly and unequivocally not Linux Mint's problem.
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by wpshooter »

Kadaitcha Man wrote: Fri Jul 02, 2021 11:18 pm
Mik3e wrote: Fri Jul 02, 2021 5:28 pm A long time ago I suggested that the Mint team fix this but they just haven't gotten to it yet.
That comment completely misses the point. It isn't the Mint team's responsibility, nor the responsibility of any of the numerous upstream Linux teams to fix a manufacturer's shoddy implementation of a standard. The responsibility lies solely with the manufacturer. It never ceases to amaze me how many people point the finger at Linux Mint for something that is clearly and unequivocally not Linux Mint's problem.
Has any attempt been made by the developers of Linux Mint to point out this problem to the hardware manufacturers ?

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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by Moonstone Man »

wpshooter wrote: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:04 am Has any attempt been made by the developers of Linux Mint to point out this problem to the hardware manufacturers ?
It's highly unlikely that anyone here would know, or even turn their thoughts to it, to be frank. This is a user forum where users help users. Consequently there are no developers here, except on very rare occasions. The corollary is that it is unwarranted to assume that anyone here knows what the developers do or do not do, and it is out of place to rail against Linux Mint for something that Linux Mint is clearly not responsible for anyway.
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by Mik3e »

The point of my remark is that xset defaults conflict with the installed screen saver and power manager, and it would be reasonable for the Mint team to set their own 'vendor defaults', as has been done for other applications.
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Re: Why does my monitor go blank after 10 minutes ?

Post by Moonstone Man »

Mik3e wrote: Sun Jul 04, 2021 8:41 pm The point of my remark is that xset defaults conflict with the installed screen saver and power manager, and it would be reasonable for the Mint team to set their own 'vendor defaults', as has been done for other applications.
The point of my remark is that this forum is not the place for those types of requests. Find the appropriate application section for Linux Mint on github and report it there.
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