[ltp] Thinkpad T40 screen goes dead under Red Hat 9 ..

[Neil Weisenfeld]

This has been discussed quite extensively with no real consensus.

It seems that this is an X server bug with some interaction with the
kernel.  I've run 3 different X servers and about four or five kernel
versions and different combinations have different quirks.  This
probably explains the range of responses you see here.

With a "stock" RedHat 9 installation, I *think* that you will see the
following: 

- If the screen is blanked by the BIOS while an X server is active
on-screen, you will not be able to return.  The LCD light will come on,
but the screen will remain black.  You should be able to get it back by:
Ctrl-Alt-F1 (to switch to a console), Fn-F3 (blank LCD), any key to
resume.

- If the screen is blanked by the BIOS while you're on a console (e.g.
VT 1), you're fine.


You have a choice: either do the procedure outlined above each time the
screen blanks or enter the BIOS setup (during boot) and shut off the LCD
off timer.

I'm using the ATI driver, which does not exhibit this, however it also
doesn't survive suspends.


Neil




On Mon, 2003-09-22 at 17:42, Mark G. Spencer wrote:
> My company recently purchased three new Thinkpad T40's with the ATI Radeon
> 9000 video chipset.  I got lucky enough to score one.
> 
> A very aggravating problem has been found when running Red Hat Linux 9 on
> these notebook computers.  The screens go into some kind of power saving
> that we can never get them out of.  When running on battery it only takes
> what seems like a few minutes of inactivity.  When running on AC power, it
> takes longer to happen, but eventually the screens go dark.  As far as I can
> tell, the hard drive and cpu are still operating, but the screen just goes
> dark.
> 
> The screensaver power management functions are not enabled in Red Hat for
> these machines, the default setting.  This behavior does not occur on these
> Thinkpad T40 notebooks when running Windows XP Professional, and we do not
> get this problem on any of our other make notebooks (Sony, Fujitsu, etc.)
> when running Red Hat Linux 9.
> 
> I'm hoping I do not have to kill all power saving features in the BIOS and
> can instead come to some kind of solution within Red Hat 9 to keep these
> machines from going into the terminal blank screen .. 
> 
> Thanks for the advice,
> 
> Mark