[SOLVED] Screen saving issues

[mark9117]

I have a desktop and a home theater PC sitting here fairly close to one another. They are both running Mageia release 2 (Official) for i586.

Here's my issue: I never want my HTPC to blank the screen, but I do want my desktop to display a screensaver after a few minutes of inactivity. Neither of these conditions is being met.

When I tune to my HTPC after some inactivity, I have to move the mouse to get the desktop to appear. I've disabled everything I can find -- chiefly screensaver and power-saving mode. I have not succeeded.

As of a few weeks ago, my screen saver (Media Screensaver) stopped displaying the .png file it was configured for. I just saw a dark gray screen that was neither an image, nor blank. I futzed around and found that the Slideshow screensaver would accomplish essentially the same thing. As of last week, that has stopped working, as has the Blank Screen option. At this point, the display is on all the time despite my configuring the power saving mode to go switch the display off after 15 mins.

I can only believe that either this whole screen saving thing is broken, or I'm doing it very wrong. I can't find anything about breakage or services that should be running and aren't. Does anybody know something I don't?

I would appreciate some pointers here.

Thanks.

Edit: I've seen information indicating that KDE may be giving up the whole screensaver thing, but the energy saving stuff should be blanking the screen as configured, right?

[doktor5000]

So you're running KDE? Which screensaver have you selected via systemsettings, and which energy saving settings?

[mark9117]

KDE 4.8, yes.

On the desktop, any screensaver I set fails to start. Ever. Regardless of settings. The power management settings are set to switch off after 15 mins. I've adjusted that setting, it made no difference.

On the HTPC, the screensaver is set to disabled. I don't think this is a screen saver (screen blank) kicking in. It's more likely power saving, but I can't for the life of me figure out what to do about it. All the Energy Saving Settings are unchecked.

No clue.

[isadora]

In /etc/X11/xorg.conf add the following to disable the screensaver:

Code: Select all

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "suspend time" "0"
Option "standby time" "0"
Option "blank time" "0"
Option "off time" "0"
EndSection

Standby Time
In a CRT, this turns off the electron gun, but leaves everything else powered on so that the screen can recover quickly.
Suspend Time
This turns off the monitor power supply in addition to the electron gun.
Off Time
This turns off all power to the monitor and is the most power conservative state.

xorg.conf needs times specified in minutes, I hope this is of some help.

[mark9117]

I've been playing around with those settings and noticed a kernel upgrade (3.4.45-server-1.mga2) in a routine update today. I don't have much to report, but I have noticed that occasionally I see the slideshow screen saver come up on the desktop. It sits there for about 30 seconds and then just shifts back to the workspace.

Still looking for a resolution.

Mark

[yankee495]

Mark, simple as it sounds a goofy mouse can stop the screen saver!

Clean your optic lens with a Qtip. If you have a ball mouse get an optic mouse.

Surly it is not that simple but I have seen it.

Also Mark, try preview when setting up the screen saver. If that kicks it in, then all we have to do is see what is interrupting it.

[yankee495]

I forgot Mark, broken mouse wires can cause problems like that and if it is wireless it is possible there may be some interference.

I think you're not getting much help because no one has this problem.

Try a different mouse and use the test button (preview) when you select the screen saver.

[mark9117]

I forgot Mark, broken mouse wires can cause problems like that and if it is wireless it is possible there may be some interference.

I think you're not getting much help because no one has this problem.

Try a different mouse and use the test button (preview) when you select the screen saver.

I appreciate the attention Yankee. The mouse I'm using here is a Logitech that is about a year old. It's a USB mouse plugged directly into the machine - no kvm switch, no adaptor, just a simple usb connection. It sits on the desk and is not subject to any vibration that I can detect, or any other environmental conditions that would affect it.

I went ahead and cleaned it and it seems to work just fine. I can see how a mouse could foil the screen saver, but I kind of doubt it's the culprit here. This started a couple of ugrades ago and I'm wondering if there isn't some issue between my hardware (it's just the onboard graphics on an Intel 82G965 chipset).

I should also say that all of my screensavers except one configure and test (preview) just fine. Around the first of the year, the Media Screen Saver stopped working (produced only a dark gray screen) and I switched to Slideshow screensaver. That would fine for a couple of months, then just stopped. I can't get the blank screensaver to work, nor can I get powersaving to shut the screen down.

I don't know. Wait for Mageia 3 and cross my fingers?

Mark

[mark9117]

In the post above, I said that my screen savers test (preview) ok, but let me be clear: the preview shows the screensaver image ok, but when I do something as simple as set the screensaver to start automatically in as little as 1 minute, I sit and watch it, it never kicks in. It doesn't matter what the "Start automatically after:" field is set to.

Just wanted to be clear about that.

Mark

[mark9117]

Two more quick things.

1) I tried to set the energy saving settings to put the system to sleep in 1 minute. It didn't work. It seems nothing in that KDE config applet is working.

2) I should note that the command "xdg-screensaver activate" causes the screensaver to kick in for about 3 seconds, then it reverts back to the workspace.

WTH?

Please help.

Thanks.

[yankee495]

Mark, from another user:

I found the exact cause. In System Settings -> Desktop Effects -> Advanced, is a check box option "Suspend desktop effects for fullscreen windows." When enabled the screen saver does not activate. When disabled the screen saver activates as expected. This check box controls kwinrc [Compositing] UnredirectFullscreen. There is no respective help for the check box.

He is talking about KDE 4.10.1

MINE IS CHECKED and ok. Using OpenGL. I'm using KDE 4.8.5 pn Mageia 2 x64.

See here about xscreensaver:

The screensaver is an application that must be linked to X, otherwise it will not work.
http://www.ghacks.net/2009/08/11/the-li ... reensaver/

I have:

xscreensaver-common
xscreensaver-extrusion
xscreensaver-gl

Mine is 64 bit...so don't know what your packages may be named.
This looks like a possibility.

[mark9117]

I have resolved this issue by renewing my relationship with Xscreensaver. I installed it and configured it to do exactly what I want it to do. It's overkill, but it seems to be doing what I want it to do.

Thanks.

[yankee495]

Thank God you didn't say "Switched to Windows"!!! Hehehe!

Glad to hear it Mark. I hate when I am the only one with a problem and that seems to usually be the case, see my post about Kmail's Check Mail button.

So, it was something to do with xscreensaver? You should post it for others should they ever need to know.

[mark9117]

No it was something to do with xdg-screensaver. I abandoned that and am using xscreesaver.
We'll see how it goes.

Mark

[doktor5000]

FWIW, you can configure xscreensaver further with xscreensaver-demo

[mark9117]

Yup, that's how I do it. I used Xscreensaver exclusively for years. Now, I've solved this issue once and for all by installing Mageia 3!

[dedanna1029]

Another thing one can still do these days is install xset, and use it to tune these things up. I use it quite a bit when nothing else seems to do what I want it to.

Code: Select all

urpmi xset

then, as regular user,

Code: Select all

xset -q

Some settings to look at for xset:

Code: Select all

Screen Saver:
  prefer blanking:  yes    allow exposures:  yes
  timeout:  600    cycle:  600
Colors:
  default colormap:  0x20    BlackPixel:  0x0    WhitePixel:  0xffffff
Font Path:
  catalogue:/etc/X11/fontpath.d,built-ins
DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 0    Suspend: 0    Off: 0
  DPMS is Disabled

You can enable the screensaver with:

Code: Select all

xset s 600 200

This makes it start in 10 minutes, and cycle to another screensaver every 2 minutes.

Code: Select all

xset -dpms

This turns off dpms. You can re-enable it with:

Code: Select all

xset dpms

All kinds of things you can do with it. Give it a whirl.

Code: Select all

usage:  xset [-display host:dpy] option ...
    To turn bell off:
        -b                b off               b 0
    To set bell volume, pitch and duration:
         b [vol [pitch [dur]]]          b on
    To disable bug compatibility mode:
        -bc
    To enable bug compatibility mode:
        bc
    To turn keyclick off:
        -c                c off               c 0
    To set keyclick volume:
         c [0-100]        c on
    To control Energy Star (DPMS) features:
        -dpms      Energy Star features off
        +dpms      Energy Star features on
         dpms [standby [suspend [off]]]     
              force standby
              force suspend
              force off
              force on
              (also implicitly enables DPMS features)
              a timeout value of zero disables the mode
    To set the font path:
         fp= path[,path...]
    To restore the default font path:
         fp default
    To have the server reread font databases:
         fp rehash
    To remove elements from font path:
        -fp path[,path...]  fp- path[,path...]
    To prepend or append elements to font path:
        +fp path[,path...]  fp+ path[,path...]
    To set LED states off or on:
        -led [1-32]         led off
         led [1-32]         led on
        -led named 'name'   led off
         led named 'name'   led on
    To set mouse acceleration and threshold:
         m [acc_mult[/acc_div] [thr]]    m default
    To set pixel colors:
         p pixel_value color_name
    To turn auto-repeat off or on:
        -r [keycode]        r off
         r [keycode]        r on
         r rate [delay [rate]]
    For screen-saver control:
         s [timeout [cycle]]  s default    s on
         s blank              s noblank    s off
         s expose             s noexpose
         s activate           s reset
    For status information:  q

[mark9117]

Snort!

Where were you two weeks ago!?



Mark

[dedanna1029]

I was not online, sorry, elsewise you would've had that then.