[CentOS] Repost ----DPMS or hardware

Sat Sep 24 22:46:54 UTC 2005
Sean O'Connell <oconnell at soe.ucsd.edu>

On Sat, 2005-09-24 at 18:05 -0400, Sam Drinkard wrote:
> List,
> 
> 	Did not get any response from the first attempt, so thought I'd ask again.
> 
>     I've been bugged by the fact that the dpms function will not work on
> this machine, and perhaps now I have some clue as to why.  Looking at
> the Xorg.0.log, I see where "Open APM failed (/dev/apm_bios) (No such
> file or directory)" which tells me perhaps this is the reason why it
> won't turn off the monitor.  Also, this line prior to the other.
> `fonts.dir' not found (or not valid) in
> "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/".  That part I can maybe fix, but I
> have no clue what should be in the /dev/apm.  The only thing that will
> happen is the monitor will go into screeensaver mode, or if no saver
> selected, it will do nothing, not even blank.
> 
>     What should the /dev/apm contain?  Where does it pick up the info as
> to what should be in there, from a probe of the hardware?  That said,
> does the fact that I'm using a custom video driver from ATI make any
> difference?
> 
> Thanks for any help.....

Sam-

On my laptop, which is using ACPI (default with the newer
distros/kernels), I see see the same message in my Xorg.0.log

(WW) Open APM failed (/dev/apm_bios) (No such file or directory)

However, I do see the following from DPMS

(II) Loading extension DPMS
(**) Option "dpms"
(**) RADEON(0): DPMS enabled

Do you have

        Option      "dpms"

in your monitor line of xorg.conf?

Alternatively, if your computer has apm bios, you can add

acpi=off 

to the kernel entry in /etc/grub.conf and reboot. Some server class
hardware (machines with ServerWorks chipsets) don't have an apm bios.


Also, Are you running the screensaver? If you are running Gnome, go to
Preferences > Screensaver and in the Advanced tab, make sure that Power
Management Enabled is selected.

Hope this helps.
-- 
Sean