[mythtv-users] Black screen after idle

[Stephen Worthington]

On Sun, 16 Aug 2020 21:06:22 -0700, you wrote:

>
>On 8/16/20 4:25 PM, Jim Abernathy wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 8/16/20 6:57 PM, DryHeat122 wrote:
>>> I recently upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04/Myth 31.  I leave the frontend
>>> running all the time and just turn off the monitor when I'm not
>>> watching anything.  Twice now, the following has happened.  After the
>>> system has sat idle for some time (overnight this time) I turn on the
>>> monitor and the screen is black.  I cannot change to a terminal
>>> window with ctl-alt-F2.  However, I can SSH to the myth box from
>>> another machine and issue terminal commands just fine.  Rebooting
>>> fixes the problem.  I have all the screen-saver and sleep
>>> functionality turned off, and the monitor works fine on other inputs,
>>> so I don't think it's either of those things.
>>>
>>> I have searched the black screen symptom and the threads I find (for
>>> example this one
>>> <https://askubuntu.com/questions/1085807/black-screen-after-installation-of-ubuntu-18-04>)
>>> are about this problem happening at boot, not after the machine has
>>> been sitting idle for some time.  It also doesn't happen
>>> consistently, maybe twice in the last couple weeks.
>>>
>>> Has anyone experienced this problem before?  Any pointers for how to
>>> fix or troubleshoot? Thanks......Steve
>>
>> I've fought this problem off and on for many years and releases of
>> *buntu and mythtv.
>>
>> IMHO it's a linux problem. too many things control the power options.
>> On some systems I install the screensave and then disable it.  On
>> others I use the power settings. Generally I've found that I enable
>> the screensaver but set the time to never works the best.
>>
>> There are just too many things that seem to have access to control the
>> screen off and on.
>>
>> I have on occasions control-alt-F1 then logged in and restarted
>> lightdm to fix it without rebooting. sudo systemctl restart lightdm
>>
>> Jim A
>>
>> ***
>
>I have the same issue (Ubuntu 18.04/Myth30) but in my case hitting the
>Enter button on the remote restores normal operation so I haven't paid
>much attention.
>

I have had this one once recently.  It went away when I hit the shift
key, which is what screen savers do.  I had to reboot to stop it
happening all the time, so it must be something that only happens on
occasional boots as I have not seen it before.

Apart from the power and screen saver settings, the other thing that
needs to be set off is the DPMS option in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier "Sony TV"
        Option "DPMS"   "false"
EndSection