[CentOS] Re: Monitor power save question

Sat Feb 2 15:59:20 UTC 2008
David G. Miller <dave at davenjudy.org>

Robert Nichols <rnicholsNOSPAM at comcast.net> wrote:

> nate wrote:
>   
>> > David G. Miller wrote:
>> > 
>>     
>>> >> I don't see anything incriminating in dmesg, /var/log/messages or
>>> >> /var/log/Xorg.0.log.  I'll switch the system to boot to runlevel 3 so I
>>> >> can see if X is spewing something to the first alternate console that
>>> >> isn't getting written to the log file.  Anyone have other any
>>> >> suggestions as to diagnosing of fixing the problem?
>>>       
>> > 
>> > Are there any DPMS options set in your xorg.conf ? What is your
>> > video card/monitor and what driver are you using in X ?
>> > 
>> > Another thing to check is see if DPMS is enabled as an extension
>> > by your setup:
>> > 
>> > xdpyinfo |grep DPMS
>> > 
>> > should return "DPMS"
>>     
>
> And, see what "xset q" has to say about whether DPMS is currently
> enabled or not.  I've noticed that mplayer disables DPMS on entry,
> but neglects to re-enable it on termination.
Answering both suggestions:

[dave at bend ~]# xdpyinfo |grep DPMS
    DPMS
[dave at bend ~]# xset q
Keyboard Control:
  auto repeat:  on    key click percent:  0    LED mask:  00000002
  auto repeat delay:  500    repeat rate:  30
  auto repeating keys:  00ffffffdffffbbf
                        fadfffdfffdfe5ef
                        ffffffffffffffff
                        ffffffffffffffff
  bell percent:  50    bell pitch:  400    bell duration:  100
Pointer Control:
  acceleration:  2/1    threshold:  4
Screen Saver:
  prefer blanking:  yes    allow exposures:  yes
  timeout:  0    cycle:  0
Colors:
  default colormap:  0x20    BlackPixel:  0    WhitePixel:  16777215
Font Path:
  unix/:7100,built-ins
Bug Mode: compatibility mode is disabled
DPMS (Energy Star):
  Standby: 0    Suspend: 0    Off: 0
  DPMS is Enabled
  Monitor is On
Font cache:
  Server does not have the FontCache Extension
File paths:
  Config file:  /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  Modules path: /usr/lib64/xorg/modules
  Log file:     /var/log/Xorg.0.log

These appear to be the same as another CentOS 5 box (but 32 bit) that 
correctly shuts down the monitor.  xorg.conf looks like:

[dave at bend ~]# cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "single head configuration"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "kbd"
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option      "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard0"
        Driver      "vesa"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1152x864" 
"1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "640x400" "640x350"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

and the video card is (this is a single card that shows up twice in lspci):

04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV516 [Radeon 
X1300/X1550 Series] (prog-if 00 [VGA])
        Subsystem: Diamond Multimedia Systems Unknown device 3000
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
        Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Memory at febf0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        I/O ports at e000 [size=256]
        Expansion ROM at febc0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [58] Express Endpoint IRQ 0
        Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ 
Queue=0/0 Enable-

04:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV516 [Radeon X1300 
Pro] (Secondary)
        Subsystem: Diamond Multimedia Systems Unknown device 3001
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Memory at febe0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [58] Express Endpoint IRQ 0

When I know I'm going to be away from the system for "a while" I use the 
KVM to point to a vacant port.  The monitor detects no signal and powers 
down but I have to remember to do this and I can't always predict how 
long I'll be away from the monitor.  This is a traditional CRT 
(ViewSonic G220fb) so I'd rather no enrich the power company by 
supplying power to it for a black screen.

Cheers,
Dave

-- 
Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
-- Ambrose Bierce