# [HOWTO] Automatically Turning Off your Monitor

## locke2053

ACPI Monitor Mini-HowTo

or Automatically Turning Off Your Monitor with Linux

by Nick Brown (http://nick-brown.us)

I got a new LCD monitor for my Linux system, however I was concerned I would burn out the backlight because Linux would only blank the screen when the computer was not in use, rather than turn off the monitor completely like Windows did. After some searching, I found out how to make Linux do this very easily. Just follow these three steps:

1) Compile your kernel with ACPI enabled.

    I use Gentoo Linux, and the default kernel comes with this already enabled. To check if you have ACPI complied and enabled, see if the file "/proc/acpi/info" exists.

2) Install and run acpid.

    On Gentoo, you can install this by running the command "emerge acpid". Then, make it run whenever you boot with the command, "rc-update add acpid default". So that you don't have to reboot, you can now start acpid manually with the command "/etc/init.d/acpid start".

3) Configure XFree86 to use DPMS.

    Edit /etc/X11/XF86Config. Add the line 'Option "DPMS"' to the 'Monitor' section of the file. Then add the line 'Option "OffTime" "20"' to the 'ServerLayout' section of the file. The number 20 is the number of minutes of inactivity before the monitor is turned off. It will be turned on when you use the mouse or keyboard again. Optionally, you can use "StandbyTime" for minimal power saving, or "SuspendTime" for moderate power saving. I use "SuspendTime" with my LCD, because they all turn off the backlight, but the other two cause my monitor to say "Lost Signal" for a few seconds first.

    To test if everything is working without restarting X and waiting 20 minutes, you can use the command "xset dpms force off" from an xterm. "standby" and "suspend" may be used in place of "off" in that command.

    For more detailed information, see the Battery Powered Linux Mini-HOWTO available at http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Battery-Powered/.

Update: You don't need to install the acpid package if you are using the 2.6 kernel.

Copyright notice: I grant everyone the right to use this information however they wish, as long as they give me credit.Last edited by locke2053 on Tue Jun 15, 2004 1:18 am; edited 2 times in total

----------

## DArtagnan

Great,

Thank you!

----------

## aroben

 *locke2053 wrote:*   

> 
> 
>     To test if everything is working without restarting X and waiting 20 minutes, you can use the command "xset dpms force off" from an xterm. "standby" and "suspend" may be used in place of "off" in that command.
> 
> 

 

I believe you do have to restart X, since you've just added the 'Option "DPMS"' line.  Otherwise xset won't have any effect.

Great HOWTO Locke.  I'd been looking for something like this for a while.

-Adam

----------

## EvilSporkMan

Can you turn the screen off at the command line too?

----------

## aroben

 *EvilSporkMan wrote:*   

> Can you turn the screen off at the command line too?

 

DPMS can't turn off the power to your screen like pressing its power button would do.  It can power down the screen into a "sleep" mode to save power, but the screen will never be fully off.  I don't know if there's any way to fully power down a monitor other than pressing the power button, although that would be useful for a shutdown script.

-Adam

----------

## MartinP

I don't know about your monitor but standard monitors can at least switch to a state which is the same as if you power down you computer and the monitor goes off because of no VGA signal. Try "xset dpms force off".

In that state most monitors typically consume less than 0.5W which is something one doesn't really have to bother about IMHO.

----------

## aroben

 *MartinP wrote:*   

> 
> 
> In that state most monitors typically consume less than 0.5W which is something one doesn't really have to bother about IMHO.

 

That 0.5W is what I was talking about.  The monitor isn't technically "off," but it's practically the same thing.

-Adam

----------

## snakattak3

Awesome. This is something i've never even realized you could do so easily. Thanks for the post and +1 more for the Documentation, Tips & Tricks section  :Smile:  A hint for other users, don't use DMPS like I did, and cause yourself unwanted troubles. Thanks again.

----------

## Kryptik

I love you folks... 

why is it that always when I have an idea to enhance my gentoo install, the solution is being posted in the forum some days before?

gentoo rocks, but you people rock the fucking hell.

kisses,

Kryptik

----------

## ILikePi

er.....so does this solution require X to be running or will it work from just the console?

----------

## marshall_j

Cheers for this.

I'm trying on my R40 and it still won't turn off the backlight tho.

I'm running through a bundle of tricks to find something that will turn it off but the only thing so far that works under linux is actually pressing the lid switch itself. 

Ideas? It seems to be bios controlled....

----------

## Biker

This all works great as root, but I can't get it to work as ordinary user.

I set it all up as described. When I log in as root with X, which I do only very rarely, the screen turns off both manually (using xset) and automatically (by X).

But when I login under X, gdm and Gnome with my ordinary login it wont work. (The normal screensaver pops in, though.)

Makes me think of access rights, but I don't know where to look or what to verify. Any ideas? Does it work for anyone else as 'ordinary' user?

Biker

----------

## MartinP

Biker: I guess the XF86Config settings are overriden by gnome. Have a look at the gnome screensaver menu. It's in "Desktop-Settings->Complex->Screensaver" (or something similar, mine is in German so I'm not really sure if my back-translation is right  :Wink: ). In that menu there is a tab called "Complex" again in which you can set your power management preferences for gnome.

marshall_j: on my ThinkPad X30 it works without any problems. Maybe you have set your system to first use one of the "higher" power save states? I think the first one only blanks the screen on my X30 but the "off" states switches the backlight off.

----------

## brooney

hey, thanks forthe posts on how to do this.

however, i have followed the directions and i'm not sure that it is actually being used.  my acpid starts fine but if i do a lsmod, none of the acpi modules are loaded.  if i modprobe them and then do a lsmod, they all say they are unused....even after restarting the acpid.

i've also tried to just let it sit and wait to see what happens and i don't seem to get any love there either.

i compiled the acpi drivers as modules and i'm running on an inspiron 8600.

Ben

----------

## brettski

For me (as with biker) DPMS only works if I login as root. It also works in GDM. But not as a regular user. I tried changing the Xscreensaver settings as suggested but no luck.

Help!

----------

## Biker

Furthermore, I've noticed that logged in as an ordinary user under Gnome, it is possible to execute 

```
xset dpms force off
```

 in xterm.

The monitor does turn off. But it automagically goes on again after about two seconds...

I can repeat this as much as I want (even though I don't want it  :Wink:  as any ordinary user in this system.

Biker

----------

## Biker

 *locke2053 wrote:*   

> ACPI Monitor Mini-HowTo

 

BTW, how does one pronounce "ACPI" ?

Biker

----------

## bludger

Thanks for this tip.  I found that when I set things up as you said, the display would automatically turn off when I was in the kdm logon screen, but once I was logged on (to kde in my case), "dpms q" showed that it was disabled.  

The solution I found was that you have to go into the "control panel.>power control ->display power control" and set it up there.  This overrides the settings from XF86Config.

----------

## atdsm

 *locke2053 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> 1) Compile your kernel with ACPI enabled.
> 
>     I use Gentoo Linux, and the default kernel comes with this already enabled. To check if you have ACPI complied and enabled, see if the file "/proc/acpi/info" exists.
> ...

 

Um, I get stuck on this step. I'm using the 2.6 beta kernel, and I compiled in ACPI. But I still get the system telling me:

```
steve # cat /proc/acpi/info

cat: /proc/acpi/info: No such file or directory

```

Here's the appropriate part of my kernel config:

```

#

# Power management options (ACPI, APM)

#

CONFIG_PM=y

# CONFIG_SOFTWARE_SUSPEND is not set

# CONFIG_PM_DISK is not set

#

# ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) Support

#

CONFIG_ACPI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BOOT=y

CONFIG_ACPI_INTERPRETER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP_PROC_FS=y

CONFIG_ACPI_AC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BATTERY=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BUTTON=y

CONFIG_ACPI_FAN=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR=y

CONFIG_ACPI_THERMAL=y

# CONFIG_ACPI_ASUS is not set

# CONFIG_ACPI_TOSHIBA is not set

# CONFIG_ACPI_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_BUS=y

CONFIG_ACPI_EC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_POWER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PCI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SYSTEM=y

# CONFIG_ACPI_RELAXED_AML is not set

#

# APM (Advanced Power Management) BIOS Support

#

# CONFIG_APM is not set

```

Any ideas?

Steve

[/code]

----------

## angryelephant

 *Biker wrote:*   

>  *locke2053 wrote:*   ACPI Monitor Mini-HowTo 
> 
> BTW, how does one pronounce "ACPI" ?
> 
> Biker

 

aye-see-pee-eye

----------

## GentooBox

xset have no affect on my box.

no matter what i do, it wont do what i tell it to do.

----------

## darkweaseljedi

gentoobox, same here.  I'm going to go mess in the bios and see if that has any impact.

----------

## darkweaseljedi

Nope, bios didn't have any impact.  (dpms was already enabled).

----------

## darkweaseljedi

ha!  after reading some more:

I needed to put Option "DPMS" in the device section of XF86Config as well as the monitor secion.

In case anyone else finds this post, i have a geforce4 4200 dual head, driving 2 sony monitors, so it works in this config.

----------

## hulk2nd

i have another question. you can do things like this:

```
xset -d <display> dpms <standby in s> <suspend in s> <off in s>
```

so for example

```
xset -d 0:0 dpms 600 0 0
```

 to standby the display after 10 minutes. the off option does not work in my case, it resumes immediatly after it blanked. the standby option does the same for me as the off option is supposed to be - it blanks the screen.

but i have problems with the display syntax: 0:0 does not work for me. for some it works, for some not, dunno why. i tried :0.0 instead, but this works only sometimes, only god knows why. the man page could not help me so maybe you have a solution for this.

i'm asking cause i want to use this for acpi events. i dont whant the display to blank if the ac adaptor is connected, but i want it to blank if it is disconnected.

greets,

hulk

----------

## hulk2nd

hah, found the solution immediatly after my first post. just leave the display thing away (who needs it anyway    :Very Happy:  )

so for example

```
/usr/X11R6/bin/xset dpms 600 0 0 
```

cool!

greats,

hulk

----------

## Doxer

It's possible to deactivate the mouse for switching on the monitor?

So every little move of the mouse turns my TFT on.

----------

## irf2003

acpid is not needed with the 2.6 kernels

HTH

----------

## plasmatic

Many thanks to you and the great Gentoo community! To almost all problems I have found a solution here.

It worked out for a iiyama AU5131DT

Greetings from Cologne/Germany

Norman

----------

## DeathAndTaxes

 *irf2003 wrote:*   

> acpid is not needed with the 2.6 kernels
> 
> HTH

 

When I stop acpid, 'xset dpms force standby' and suspend have no effect, whereas with acpid running, they turn my monitors off.

xset dpms force off has the effect of the screens coming back on after a couple of seconds.

I run a gf4600 dual head, and only my first monitor goes off.  I'm using the TwinView method for running dualie screens.

Any thoughts on clearing up any of these issues?

----------

## evoweiss

Hi all,

Just a quick note on something to keep an eye out for with ACPI.

If you don't exit out of some programs correctly (mplayer being a biggy), ACPI won't be able to shut down the monitor as, I believe, mplayer suspends the operation of ACPI. I've noticed advmame will do this as well.

If you find that ACPI has stopped working, just restart X and it should work again.

Best,

Alex

----------

## daymon

mabe itś time to upgrade my computer ?

I was looking forward to be able to suspend my monitor  :Sad: 

ACPI disabled because your bios is from 99 and too old

ACPI: Subsystem revision 20040326

ACPI: Interpreter disabled.

----------

## GMFTatsujin

I followed this to the letter and it worked the first time! Whahoo, Gentoo forums!

Here's a question tho. I have a dualhead monitor setup with one big desktop stretching across two monitors.  In the step involving xset dpms force off,  only the first monitor shuts down, even though I put the Option "DPMS" in both monitor sections of XF86Config.  I haven't left my computer alone for 20 minutes or restarted X, so that may fix it right off, but are there ideas about this?

----------

## scaba

 *Biker wrote:*   

> Furthermore, I've noticed that logged in as an ordinary user under Gnome, it is possible to execute 
> 
> ```
> xset dpms force off
> ```
> ...

 

when i do 'xset dpms force off' as a regular user, the backlight is switched off, but after 1sec the monitor is back to normal.

when i use the same command as root, it only blanks the screen, but doesn't turn it off. when i touch the mouse the backlight is switched off but comes on again right after that (returning to normal mode).

'standby' and 'suspend' only blank the screen. only 'off' actually turns the backlight off on my machine.

----------

## locke2053

Maybe you have some program like KDE trying to control DPMS on its own and it is interfering? What if you just start X with like twm or something?

----------

## Apocalypse

 *DeathAndTaxes wrote:*   

>  *irf2003 wrote:*   acpid is not needed with the 2.6 kernels
> 
> HTH 
> 
> When I stop acpid, 'xset dpms force standby' and suspend have no effect, whereas with acpid running, they turn my monitors off.
> ...

 

I confirm this, when you don't have acpid with the 2.6 kernel the monitor doesn't turn off and xset dpms force standby doesn't really work. I'm getting another problem too. Though I'm afraid it's my ghetto 2mb trident card  :Sad:  When I come back and turn my monitor back on by moving my mouse or keyboard, I get this: http://www.uranther.com/ghetto_video_card.png

It goes away if I open a program or basically move anything on the screen. I fix it by fullscreening Opera =/ Still annoying though.

----------

## BlindSpy

Awesome guide! I was just wondering how I could do this!

----------

## scaba

 *locke2053 wrote:*   

> Maybe you have some program like KDE trying to control DPMS on its own and it is interfering? What if you just start X with like twm or something?

 

same behavior using twm :/

xorg.conf

```
Section "ServerLayout"

        [...]

        Option          "OffTime"       "5"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

        Identifier      "Monitor0"

        Option          "DPMS"          "true"

        [...]

EndSection

```

Xorg.0.log

```
(**) Option "dpms" "true"

(**) NVIDIA(0): DPMS enabled
```

# xset -q

```
DPMS (Energy Star):

  Standby: 1200    Suspend: 1800    Off: 300

  DPMS is Enabled

  Monitor is On
```

----------

## frameRATE

I have dual monitors, this only blanks the left one... suggestions?

----------

## wpoely86

Does anyone know how to turn off or blank your screen under console ?

It must be possible but i can't find it.

----------

## Insanity5902

 *Apocalypse wrote:*   

>  *DeathAndTaxes wrote:*    *irf2003 wrote:*   acpid is not needed with the 2.6 kernels
> 
> HTH 
> 
> When I stop acpid, 'xset dpms force standby' and suspend have no effect, whereas with acpid running, they turn my monitors off.
> ...

 

I use all these commands w/out acpi being emerged or in the kernel.  I have tried it on my 2.6.8.1, but worked with 2.6.4

----------

## sameerd

I have a desktop machine and I didnt know how to get the montor to turn off.  However the information about the DPMS options in the config file were a great help. I did not need ACPI or acpid. (just in case acpi does not run on your machine)

----------

## frameRATE

 *wpoely86 wrote:*   

> Does anyone know how to turn off or blank your screen under console ?
> 
> It must be possible but i can't find it.

 

if you're in x you can do

```
xset dpms force standby
```

or change standby with suspend...

Hope that helps.

----------

## wpoely86

 *frameRATE wrote:*   

>  *wpoely86 wrote:*   Does anyone know how to turn off or blank your screen under console ?
> 
> It must be possible but i can't find it. 
> 
> if you're in x you can do
> ...

 

I had already discovered that. Now i'm trying to put my monitor

in standby under a virtual console. I found that with

```
setterm -blank 1
```

you can blank your screen. With

```
setterm -powersave powerdown
```

 you should be able to powerdown your monitor but it doesn't work here.

----------

## RexM

I've been wondering how to do this.  It hasn't really bothered me too much that my monitor stays on, but I guess I'll look into doing this when I get home.  Just got bored here at school and decided to check out the Gentoo Forums, like I always do when I get bored at school.  :Wink: 

----------

## RexM

I did this and it was working perfectly, when all of a sudden my monitor started spazzing out last night.  The green light would go off, then come back on, then go off, then go back on, then go off... etc. finally i just hit the button to shutoff power to it, lol.  Any ideas?

----------

## wpoely86

 *RexM wrote:*   

> I did this and it was working perfectly, when all of a sudden my monitor started spazzing out last night.  The green light would go off, then come back on, then go off, then go back on, then go off... etc. finally i just hit the button to shutoff power to it, lol.  Any ideas?

 

What kind of monitor ?

Are you using a framebuffer ? On which resolution and wich one ?

----------

## tkoster

For those struggling with turning the screen off with gnome, xscreensaver has the power management turned off as the default. To turn it on, go to:

start here--> Desktop Preferences -->Advanced --> Screensaver -->Advanced -->Display Power Management 

In that menu you can both enable the powermanagement and tell it when to kick in.

----------

## wpoely86

 *tkoster wrote:*   

> For those struggling with turning the screen off with gnome, xscreensaver has the power management turned off as the default. To turn it on, go to:
> 
> start here--> Desktop Preferences -->Advanced --> Screensaver -->Advanced -->Display Power Management 
> 
> In that menu you can both enable the powermanagement and tell it when to kick in.

 

Actually, we were trying to turn off your monitor from a virtual

console. For those of you who have an ATI card can use:

```

radeon light off

```

----------

## l0calh05t

I have a thinkpad R51 and xset dpms force off only blanks my screen (backlight stays on), so i can only switch it off by closing the lid or by switching to the vga output. Does anybody know how to turn it off?? (automatically and with Fn+F3)

EDIT: I just upgraded to a newer version f x.org, now i can't switch back and forth between lcd and vga because it leaves me with tons of graphical errors. (some random stuff at the top of the screen and the image is shifted downwards)

If it is of any help, my laptop has an intel graphics chip

EDIT2: I also tried ibm-acpi and tpctl to control the backlight. It worked a few times with tpctl but after a reboot it quit working. It didn't work at all with ibm-acpi (neither with 0.3 nor with 0.4). And since trying this my monitor/graphicscard/bios behaves very strangely when booting, it automatically switch to 1024x768 mode as a standard system resolution but only a 640x480 part at the center of the screen is used (even when going into the BIOS setup).

----------

## RexM

 *wpoely86 wrote:*   

>  *RexM wrote:*   I did this and it was working perfectly, when all of a sudden my monitor started spazzing out last night.  The green light would go off, then come back on, then go off, then go back on, then go off... etc. finally i just hit the button to shutoff power to it, lol.  Any ideas? 
> 
> What kind of monitor ?
> 
> Are you using a framebuffer ? On which resolution and wich one ?

 

It's an older monitor, I'm at school again so I can't really go check.  It's using 24 depth and is running at 1024x768.  I don't think I'm using framebuffer, how would I check?

My monitor has been flickering a lot lately, I have to turn it off, then turn it back on every few minutes to fix it.  I think it may have something to do with this, but I could be wrong.

----------

## kundor

The blinking power light is a normal way for a monitor to indicate that it's in power-saving mode -- ie, it's off, but will come back on when you hit a mouse or whatever, as opposed to the "completely off" mode when the light is off.  All my monitors do that.

Does anyone know how to ignore the mouse, and let the monitors stay off even if the mouse is moved?

----------

## [sinz]

Worked perfectly for me, thanks.   :Very Happy: 

----------

## gmcle454

Works great for me too. Thanks a lot for this how-to. I've been fighting with apm for a couple days now, but this is exactly what I wanted.  :Very Happy: 

----------

## Bob P

--> Screen Blanks Even While Typing!

i am using KDE 3.3.x and the lastest version of X11.  i had an odd problem that would pop-up with power management:  i had power management set to blank the screen at 5 minutes.  much to my surprise, the screen would go blank at 5 minutes, even if i was typing an e-mail or replying to a thread!  

i could re-activate the display by using either the keyboard or mouse.  it was as if power management wasn't watching the keyboard interrupts until after it had blanked the screen.  i have never figured out why this was happening.

the fix?  i disabled power management in KDE and used this command:

```
xset dpms 30 60 120
```

so far, it seems to be working fine, so i'll increase the time periods.

i'm left with two questons:

1  can anyone explain why i was having that problem where the screen would go blank after 5 minutes, even while i was typing?

2.  is the execution of "xset dpms 300 600 1200" transient or persistent?  that is to say, will these settings remain in effect even if X is shutdown and later restarted?

----------

## Tamerz

I set this up on two different computers.  Both using the 2.6 kernel.  Neither one goes off into power saving mode.  It just blanks the screen like it always has.  You can see on the LCD screen the backlight is still on, and on the CRT the power light stays solid and you can tell it is still on.  Any ideas?

----------

## dr_Funfrog

 *Tamerz wrote:*   

> I set this up on two different computers.  Both using the 2.6 kernel.  Neither one goes off into power saving mode.  It just blanks the screen like it always has.  You can see on the LCD screen the backlight is still on, and on the CRT the power light stays solid and you can tell it is still on.  Any ideas?

 

Same thing here, monitor just goes blank (backlight still on) when i do

```

/usr/X11R6/bin/xset dpms force off

```

I'm using x.org 6.8.0-r3 and gnome 2.8.0-r1 on kernel 2.6.9. My monitor is a Philips 170C.

I've tried using acipd, no efect. Does anyone have an idea?

grtz!

----------

## immudium

I'm using kde so I don't know if that makes a difference but both "xset dpms force off" and "xset dpms force standby" just blank my monitor while leaving the backlight on.  However, 

```
xset dpms force susend
```

turns everything off for me.  Perhaps it would be the same for you.

----------

## Tamerz

 *immudium wrote:*   

> I'm using kde so I don't know if that makes a difference but both "xset dpms force off" and "xset dpms force standby" just blank my monitor while leaving the backlight on.  However, 
> 
> ```
> xset dpms force susend
> ```
> ...

 

You have a type-o there but yes, with suspend that works.  Thanks!  Also the screen does blank after the amount of time specified in xorg.conf so now everything is working great.

----------

## dr_Funfrog

 *dr_Funfrog wrote:*   

>  *Tamerz wrote:*   I set this up on two different computers.  Both using the 2.6 kernel.  Neither one goes off into power saving mode.  It just blanks the screen like it always has.  You can see on the LCD screen the backlight is still on, and on the CRT the power light stays solid and you can tell it is still on.  Any ideas? 
> 
> Same thing here, monitor just goes blank (backlight still on) when i do
> 
> ```
> ...

 

Apparently I had forgotten to restart x.. nice  :Razz: 

----------

## sharmay

Hi,

I have KDS 17" monitor bought in 2002, GeForce2 Graphics Card. No X windows. This box is now a production server. Console goes blank after some time but I have never seen monitor power light to go Amber, it is always green. (Amber is when it goes in standby)

How do I suspend or poweroff monitor when I don't have X windows.

I have tried following:

```
setterm -blank 1
```

 return no message

```
setterm -powersave powerdown
```

 return "cannot (un)set powersave mode"

```
setterm -powersave on
```

 returns "cannot (un)set powersave mode"

```
setterm -powerdown 1
```

any of above commands were able to switch monitos in standby.

Thanks

----------

## airwin

 *DeathAndTaxes wrote:*   

>  *irf2003 wrote:*   acpid is not needed with the 2.6 kernels
> 
> HTH 
> 
> When I stop acpid, 'xset dpms force standby' and suspend have no effect, whereas with acpid running, they turn my monitors off.

 

Acpid is not needed at all.

Acpid does only one thing: catches ACPI events and runs programs respective to the events.

On your system however starting acpid might pull in the acpi modules, and this could be the reason why doesn't blank your screen without acpid.

----------

## shinewu

This is by far the most useful tip I ever read.

I just want to point out:

0 You MUST recompile kernel as required;

1 You just need to add the DPMS option to the xorg.conf;

2 You may set the timeout in xorg.conf or with a screensaver program;

3 You MUST restart your X server!!!

Thanks a lot!

----------

## dreamer

thanks for the tip, this will help me to save even more power  :Smile: 

Just wondering if switching the backlight off and on could harm it in any way?

I've set the suspend and off times to 10 minutes, so the backlight will switch off (and on) quite frequently.

----------

## Xithix

 *angryelephant wrote:*   

>  *Biker wrote:*    *locke2053 wrote:*   ACPI Monitor Mini-HowTo 
> 
> BTW, how does one pronounce "ACPI" ?
> 
> Biker 
> ...

 

Most people say "ACK pee" where I live =p

Maybe it's just a regional thing

----------

## rosslaird

Both of these work:

xset dpms force suspend

xset dpms force off

But after two or three seconds, my monitor shows a little box that cycles between "Digital" and "Analog". This is the same thing it does when my computer is off but the monitor is on. It's evaluating, I suppose, the connection to the video card. (At bootup, eventually -- after two or three seconds -- it settles on Analog and gets out of the way.)

(Samsung 193P LCD display)

Any idea how to prevent it from doing this?

Ross

----------

## G2k

 *airwin wrote:*   

>  *DeathAndTaxes wrote:*    *irf2003 wrote:*   acpid is not needed with the 2.6 kernels
> 
> HTH 
> 
> When I stop acpid, 'xset dpms force standby' and suspend have no effect, whereas with acpid running, they turn my monitors off. 
> ...

 

How can I make this work without having to emerge acpid and adding it to the default runlevel? I too am using a 2.6 and `xset dpms force off` works fine. However, even though I added the appropriate lines to my xorg.conf just the normal screensaver goes on after 10 minutes, but the monitor does not shut down after 20. Ideas?

cat /usr/src/linux/.config | grep "ACPI":

```
# Power management options (ACPI, APM)

# ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) Support

CONFIG_ACPI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BOOT=y

CONFIG_ACPI_INTERPRETER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP_PROC_FS=y

CONFIG_ACPI_AC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BATTERY=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BUTTON=y

CONFIG_ACPI_VIDEO=m

CONFIG_ACPI_FAN=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR=y

CONFIG_ACPI_THERMAL=y

# CONFIG_ACPI_ASUS is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_IBM=m

# CONFIG_ACPI_TOSHIBA is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_BLACKLIST_YEAR=0

# CONFIG_ACPI_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_BUS=y

CONFIG_ACPI_EC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_POWER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PCI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SYSTEM=y

CONFIG_PNPACPI=y

# CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_ACPI is not set
```

EDIT: My bad, xscreensaver had power management disabled so I think it was blocking xorg.conf

----------

## Karsten1973

I seem to have a problem here. 

```
hagen ~ # xset dpms force suspend

hagen ~ # xset dpms force off

hagen ~ #  
```

both seem to work on the computer side. The monitor's (iiyama Vision Master 400) screen goes blank. The monitor does NOT go to powersaving mode (led stays green, no warm up time after moving the mouse; as opposed to windows standby: amber led with warm up needed).

Any ideas?

----------

## shazam75

Did u restart X?

----------

## shazam75

 *shinewu wrote:*   

> This is by far the most useful tip I ever read.
> 
> I just want to point out:
> 
> 0 You MUST recompile kernel as required;
> ...

 

thanks this worked after I started X

Shelton.

----------

## Fourbissime

```
xset dpms force suspend
```

and

```
xset dpms force off
```

cause my screen to shut down (amber light) and then turn on (green light) saying "no signal" and then shut down infinitely.

The screen is a Viewsonic VS10725. Anyone has an idea of what could be the cause of this ?

EDIT : even when I comment out DPMS options in xorg.conf, my screen start blinking after 10 minutes (or so) of inactivity.

----------

## shazam75

what does 

```
cat /usr/src/linux/.config | grep "ACPI"
```

 say?

Also FYI i also do not have DPMS in my xorg.conf file and my power saving monitor kicks in.

I have my settings in KDE

Go to Control Center (run kcontrol)

then Peripherals

then Display

then hit the Power Control tab and make ur changes there.

Remember to check the box "Enable Display Power Management"

Regards

Shelton.

----------

## Fourbissime

thanks for answer

ACPI in my kernel config gives :

```

# Power management options (ACPI, APM)

# ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) Support

CONFIG_ACPI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP_PROC_FS=y

# CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP_PROC_SLEEP is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS=y

CONFIG_ACPI_AC=m

# CONFIG_ACPI_BATTERY is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_BUTTON=m

CONFIG_ACPI_FAN=m

CONFIG_ACPI_DOCK=m

# CONFIG_ACPI_BAY is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR=m

CONFIG_ACPI_THERMAL=m

# CONFIG_ACPI_ASUS is not set

# CONFIG_ACPI_IBM is not set

# CONFIG_ACPI_TOSHIBA is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_BLACKLIST_YEAR=2001

# CONFIG_ACPI_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_EC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_POWER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SYSTEM=y

# CONFIG_ACPI_CONTAINER is not set

CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ=m

CONFIG_X86_POWERNOW_K8_ACPI=y

# CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ_PROC_INTF is not set

CONFIG_PNPACPI=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEACPI is not set

```

As I don't have KDE, I won't be able to follow your advice, though.

I wonder what could launch this powersaving thing if DPMS is not set ...

More info : The graphic card is a Matrox G550, and I'm using the framebuffer for the console.

----------

## VoiDeR

Is it possible to have xset turn the monitor back on? I have a mythtv setup in my library that is hooked up to a Computer monitor instead of a tv and it would be awsome to beable to turn the monitor back on. I use lirc and xset to turn the monitor off after im done watching tv, it would be great to beable to turn it back on with out getting up to move the mouse or hit a key on the keyboard.

----------

## JeliJami

try

```
xset dpms force on
```

----------

## VoiDeR

 *davjel wrote:*   

> try
> 
> ```
> xset dpms force on
> ```
> ...

 

I tried that. The monitor wakes up but the screen is still black till i move the mouse or something.

----------

## Jedidiah

I use the following script with my mythtv box to accomplish exactly what you are trying to do:

```
#!/bin/bash

export DISPLAY=":0.0"

STATUS=`xset -q | grep 'Monitor'`

if [ "$STATUS" == "  Monitor is On" ]

then

        #uncomment next line when troubleshooting

        #echo "turning display off"

        xset dpms force off

else

        #uncomment next line when troubleshooting

        #echo "turning display on"

        xset dpms force on

        xset dpms 0 0 0

        xset dpms s off

        xset dpms s reset

fi

unset STATUS
```

then in my lircrc file i have the following which calls the script

```
begin

   prog = irexec

   button = POWER

   config = /etc/power.sh

end
```

this little script turns my monitor off (its an old CRT) to the standby state and then brings it back out of stand by. There is no need to have a keyboard or mouse attached to the computer.

----------

## VoiDeR

Thanks Jedidiah that works great.

----------

## UnoSD

Can please someone tell me why, even if xset works great with dpms, when i put "OffTime" "60" in my "ServerLayout" section in my xorg.conf, i still have Off time: 0 when I call xset -q?

P.s. it DOES work with "BlankTime" option...

P.p.s. it doesn't work either when i put xset dpms 0 0 3600 into the Gnome's autostart, works just in a terminal... (xset s X X works everywhere...)

----------

## ppurka

 *UnoSD wrote:*   

> Can please someone tell me why, even if xset works great with dpms, when i put "OffTime" "60" in my "ServerLayout" section in my xorg.conf, i still have Off time: 0 when I call xset -q?
> 
> P.s. it DOES work with "BlankTime" option...
> 
> P.p.s. it doesn't work either when i put xset dpms 0 0 3600 into the Gnome's autostart, works just in a terminal... (xset s X X works everywhere...)

 Check your powermanagment setting in Gnome's configuration.

----------

## UnoSD

 *ppurka wrote:*   

>  *UnoSD wrote:*   Can please someone tell me why, even if xset works great with dpms, when i put "OffTime" "60" in my "ServerLayout" section in my xorg.conf, i still have Off time: 0 when I call xset -q?
> 
> P.s. it DOES work with "BlankTime" option...
> 
> P.p.s. it doesn't work either when i put xset dpms 0 0 3600 into the Gnome's autostart, works just in a terminal... (xset s X X works everywhere...) Check your powermanagment setting in Gnome's configuration.

 

Probably you're right (if you meant that is gnome-power-manager which mess with the xorg.conf settings), but there's no "standby, suspend, off" choice in g-p-m, how can I handle it? Is there a way to tell it not to change my settings?

----------

## depontius

I'm running gnome-power-manager (at work, on a non-Gentoo) system, and though it says to turn off the monitor after 20 or 30 minutes, it never does.  My home systems run Gentoo and either icewm or xfce, and they all turn the monitor off correctly.  I haven't had time to debug the gnome-power-manager problem at work.

----------

## ppurka

I don't use gnome. But all the DEs do try to mess with all the system level settings, so that they can provide you a pretty GUI to configure them.

IIRC, kde did have a control which would make it stop messing with DPMS settings in X. I am not sure if it is still configurable nowadays (it's been years since I used kde). Gnome on the other hand is not too well known for providing options. You should ask in the Desktop Environments forum; you have better chance of getting pertinent reply there.

----------

## depontius

I've messed with the pretty GUI, and it says it will turn off power after 20 or 30 minutes.  It just doesn't do what it says it's going to do.  I've also done the right "xset things" in my personal .bashrc startup script, but those get overridden.  I'll see if this rings a bell over in the DE forums, though.

----------

## UnoSD

Probably, the only solution is to unmerge(/deactivate from autostart) gnome-power-manager (and it could also not work). Even looking in gconf doesn't solve anything...

However, the X blanking works without caring about g-p-m so I left it in my xorg.conf. I'm using the g-p-m standby time instead of xset dpms. So it all should work as I wanted to...

----------

