[mythtv-users] Messed up xorg configuration

Hika van den Hoven hikavdh at gmail.com
Thu May 26 23:13:32 UTC 2022


Hoi Kenneth,

Friday, May 27, 2022, 12:50:00 AM, you wrote:




> On Sun, May 22, 2022 at 2:32 AM Stephen Worthington <stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz> wrote:

> On Sat, 21 May 2022 19:16:49 -0500, you wrote:
>  
 >>While trying to solve another issue, I've created a new one for myself.
 >>While playing with different themes, I forgot that I had made a custom
 >>theme from one of the existing ones.  When I tried to upgrade and/or change
 >>the theme I ended up in a deep hole.  Nothing would work except the
 >>myth-center-wide.  Every other one gave me errors regarding the video.
 >>
 >>In trying to fix this, thinking it really was a video issue, I upgraded my
 >>Nvidia driver, which worked (the driver did) but of course, it didn't solve
 >>the problem.  Once I got my head out of my arse, I realized what I had done
 >>and restored the custom theme in my home directory.  That fixed theme
 >>problem and then the problem I currently have:
 >>
 >>The frontend works fine when the TV is turned on and the AVR is switched to
 >>the correct HDMI input (the mythtv server).  But as soon as I either turn
 >>off the TV or the AVR, the NVIDIA driver or the GUI kills the HDMI output
 >>and my only recourse is to restart the GUI (I'm using lightdm). I've set up
 >>what I thought used to work in the xorg.conf file:
 >>
 >>Section "ServerLayout"
 >>    Identifier     "Layout0"
 >>    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
 >>    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
 >>    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
 >>    Option         "StandbyTime" "0"
 >>    Option         "SuspendTime" "0"
 >>    Option         "OffTime" "0"
 >>    Option         "BlankTime" "0"
 >>    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
 >>EndSection
 >>
 >>Section "Files"
 >>EndSection
 >>
 >>Section "InputDevice"
 >>
 >>    # generated from default
 >>    Identifier     "Mouse0"
 >>    Driver         "mouse"
 >>    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
 >>    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
 >>    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
 >>    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
 >>EndSection
 >>
 >>Section "InputDevice"
 >>
 >>    # generated from default
 >>    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
 >>    Driver         "kbd"
 >>EndSection
 >>
 >>Section "Monitor"
 >>
 >>    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
 >>    Identifier     "Monitor0"
 >>    VendorName     "Unknown"
 >>    ModelName      "DENON, Ltd. DENON-AVR"
 >>    HorizSync       30.0 - 255.0
 >>    VertRefresh     24.0 - 120.0
 >>#   ModeLine       "3840x2160_60" 593.41 3840 4016 4104 4400 2160 2168 2178
 >>2250 +hsync +vsync
 >>    Option         "DPMS"
 >>EndSection
 >>Section "Device"
 >>
 >>    Option         "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP-1"
 >>    Option         "CustomEDID" "DFP-1:/etc/X11/edid.bin"
 >>    Option         "IgnoreEDID" "FALSE"
 >>    Option         "UseEDID" "TRUE"
 >>    Identifier     "Device0"
 >>    Driver         "nvidia"
 >>    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
 >>    BoardName      "GeForce GT 1030"
 >>EndSection
 >>
 >>Section "Screen"
 >>    Identifier     "Screen0"
 >>    Device         "Device0"
 >>    Monitor        "Monitor0"
 >>    DefaultDepth    24
 >>    Option         "Stereo" "0"
 >>    Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-1"
 >>    Option         "metamodes" "3840x2160 +0+0"
 >>    Option         "SLI" "Off"
 >>    Option         "MultiGPU" "Off"
 >>    Option         "BaseMosaic" "off"
 >>#    Option         "ModeDebug" "TRUE"
 >>    SubSection     "Display"
 >>        Depth       24
 >>    EndSubSection
 >>EndSection
 >>
 >>I've tried several different drivers (430, 450, 470, 510) and currently
 >>have 470 installed, but they all produced the same problem.  So the
 >>configuration is a PC with a GT 1030 video card, HDMI out to a Denon AVR
 >>and HDMI from Denon to an LG TV capable of 3840x2160.  I've set the power
 >>options in lightdm to all off for the monitor (no sleep, no auto off,
 >>etc).  Either turn off the TV or the Denon and I cannot get a signal out of
 >>the GT 1030 card that either the Denon or the TV sees ( I'm assuming it's
 >>the Denon that needs to see the signal and if the TV is turned off, the
 >>Denon switches off the HDMI input.  There are no errors shown in the
 >>Xorg.0.log and it does show the DFP-1 is connected to the LG even if they
 >>are turned off (both DVR and TV) which, I assume, is because I am using a
 >>custom edid.bin file.
 >>
 >>Any thoughts as to what I'm forgetting to do?
 >>
 >>Regards,
 >>
 >>Ken Emerson
>  
>  I am also using an Nvidia GT1030 card, with the 470 drivers and
>  updated to the 510 drivers today.
>  
>  The usual cause for your problem is that X is trying to read the EDID
>  data and is unable to when the AVR is off or switched to a different
>  video output, or the TV is off.  If the AVR is doing its job properly,
>  it will be doing EDID passthrough and emulation where it reads and
>  saves the EDID data whenever it is read from the TV and when the TV is
>  unavailable, will provide that saved EDID data instead.  However, it
>  looks like the AVR is not doing that.  The next thing is the TV.  Good
>  TVs (like my Sony Bravia KDL-32V5500) will provide the EDID data even
>  when they are switched off completely (and unplugged from the wall).
>  They do this by taking power from  the HDMI input and using that to
>  power the EDID circuit.  However, there are lots of TVs (and most
>  monitors) that do not do this and will only provide EDID data when
>  they are on.  Some will not even provide EDID data when they have
>  power but are in standby.  And for everything to work properly, when
>  the AVR is in standby, it should also be providing the EDID data, or
>  connecting to the TV to get it to provide it.
>  
>  The solution to EDID problems is normally to take a copy of the EDID
>  data and use the CustomEDID option in xorg.conf.  However, you seem to
>  already have done that, but you should check that it is working by
>  checking the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file to see where the EDID is coming
>  from.  I am not exactly sure how you tell that, but if it is working,
>  you should be able to unplug the HDMI cable from the PC to the AVR and
>  boot and it should boot up correctly with a full desktop and you
>  should be able to use VNC (if you have that set up) to see that
>  desktop from another machine.  My guess is that, despite your
>  CustomEDID option, the custom EDID is not actually working - maybe
>  there is a permissions problem on the EDID file, or something like
>  that.
>  
>  One other thing to check for is screensaver problems.  I have a
>  problem at the moment that my video is going into a screensaver mode
>  (blank screen) after a timeout.  This did not used to happen before a
>  couple of months ago, so it is likely some recent change in the Nvidia
>  drivers or Xorg that is causing it.  My guess is Xorg, as I saw a new
>  version of it being installed around the time the problem started. In
>  my case, the screen unblanks if I use the keyboard (the shift key is
>  sufficient).  I can disable this screensaver using this command:
>  
>  xset s off
>  
>  If I do the "xset q" command before "xset s off", I see that the
>  "Screen Saver: timeout:" setting is 600.  After "xset s off" it is 0.
>  
>  I have not found any setting for xorg.conf that affects this screen
>  saver, so I have just now set up a systemd user service to run the
>  "xset q" command at user startup:
>  
>  root at mypvr:~# cat /home/stephen/.config/systemd/user/startup.service
>  [Unit]
>  Description=JSW user startup
>  
>  [Service]
>  ExecStart=/home/stephen/bin/jsw-user-startup.sh
>  
>  [Install]
>  WantedBy=multi-user.target
>  
>  root at mypvr:~# cat /home/stephen/bin/jsw-user-startup.sh
>  #!/bin/bash
>  
> 
> ##############################################################################
>  # Commands to be run at startup by a systemd user service.
> 
> ##############################################################################
>  
>  # Prevent screensaver from blanking screen.
>  xset s off
>  
>  # Show that this file has been run.
>  echo "$(date) $0 ran" >>/tmp/$(basename "$0").log
>  
>  To do this fix, create files equivalent to the above and make sure
>  they have the correct permissions.  Then do:
>  
>  sudo systemctl daemon-reload
>  systemctl --user enable --now startup.service
>  
>  I have not tested this by rebooting yet, but it works when the unit is
>  run manually (systemctl --user start startup) and should work at boot
>  time or when the desktop is restarted.
>  
>  There appear to be three different screensavers that can blank the
>  screen.  The other two are the xscreensaver program, and DPMS.
>  
>  To disable xscreensaver, you can just stop it from being started. With
>  the XFCE4 desktop, go to Applications > Settings > Session and Startup
 >> Application Autostart and find the Screensaver line and untick it.
>  
>  To disable DMPS, you can do "xset -dpms", or you can put:
>  
>  Option "DPMS"   "false"
>  
>  in xorg.conf in Section "Monitor".  However, there seems to be
>  something the re-enables DPMS periodically, so I have found it better
>  to do as you have already done and put:
>  
>  Section "ServerFlags"
>          Option "BlankTime"      "0"
>          Option "StandbyTime"    "0"
>          Option "SuspendTime"    "0"
>          Option "OffTime"        "0"
>  EndSection
>  
>  in xorg.cong and leave DPMS enabled.  Those settings turn off all the
>  timeouts that control DPMS.





> Stephen:


> This is getting even more frustrating.  I've cleaned up my
> xorg.conf file, remade the edid.bin file from the nvidia-settings
> program, doing everything that I think is correct and it works as
> long as I don't disconnect the video feed from the TV (via the Denon
> AVR).  As soon as I do that the video signal from the graphics card is gone.  But . . .


> Here is some more interesting data.  If I leave the Denon
> connecting the PC to the TV (where I'm getting 'No Signal' from the
> TV) and then shutdown X (via service lightdm stop), I see the PC
> console vt #5 (dedicated to the graphical UI IIRC.  From there, I
> can open another console VT and restart X (service lightdm start)
> and viola! The output comes back on.  But if I repeat turning the TV
> off and back on, I'm back to square one and I can't open another VT
> because I'm actually still connected, somehow, the the UI but the video is turned off.


> So in my opinion, it's either X or lightdm that shuts off the video
> output when it sees there isn't a monitor connected.  Now the
> Xorg.log.0 file shows the TV is connected via DFP-1 (and it never
> goes disconnected) so I'm leaning towards the problem with lightdm
> or some configuartion I have that causes it to act this way.  I did
> do your 'xset s off' and checked that the timeout was set to zero, but that didn't help.


> Maybe you or someone else reading this thread can come up with some
> other ideas that I can try.  I guess I could try getting xfce to run
> or some other window UI, but I've had this system running for 2
> years now with no problems.  Obviously, I changed something but I have no idea what it could be.


> Regards,


> Ken Emerson 

It took me some time to remember, but I think it is the kernelmodule
that shuts down (in its opinion) unused ports. But you can override
this through mode setting. This is my kernel line:

append="root=/dev/sda2 dolvm modeset=1 video=VGA-0:1280x960-32 at 85 video=HDMI-0:1920x1080-32 at 60 video=DVD-D-0:1280x1024-32 at 60"

See more at: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel_mode_setting


Tot mails,
  Hika                            mailto:hikavdh at gmail.com

"Zonder hoop kun je niet leven
Zonder leven is er geen hoop
Het eeuwige dilemma
Zeker als je hoop moet vernietigen om te kunnen overleven!"

De lerende Mens



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