[SOLVED] Disabling screen blanking


Disco Devil

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Apr 18, 2011
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Any chance someone can give me a step by step on how to do this, i have already looked at the Disabling screen saver thread, but i don't really understand the process outlined there & am a little nervous that i may screw things up if i proceed with it.


Thanks.
 
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Any chance someone can give me a step by step on how to do this, i have already looked at the Disabling screen saver thread, but i don't really understand the process outlined there & am a little nervous that i may screw things up if i proceed with it.


Thanks.


I do recall seeing a thread about that some time ago to easily disable screen blanking. I'll do some searching and see if I can dig it up because I need to do that too again since I've reflashed =)


I'll break it down for you once I find how to do so myself.


EDIT

Lomaxx from GP32X Forums said:
<snip> edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add the following to the bottom of the file


Section "ServerFlags"


Option "BlankTime" "0"


EndSection


</snip>


To fix the screen blanking issue you're experiencing all you have to do is this:


Open Terminal from the Pandora's main menu


Type the following:


[ Don't yell at me for using a GUI text editor here =P ]


"sudo mousepad /etc/X11/xorg.conf"


^without the quotes of course ;)


Scroll to the bottom and add this:


Section "ServerFlags"


Option "BlankTime" "0"


EndSection


PLEASE NOTE:


There is a certain alignment you need to put everything in with tab indents. Off the top of my head I'm not sure of the proper paragraph formatting. You will notice above the part you pasted there are things already written there, use those as a proper guideline.


Scratch that, its two tabs between each item, and one tab before Option. In other words your addition should look like this:


Section "ServerFlags"


[TAB]Option[TAB][TAB]"BlankTime"[TAB][TAB]"0"


EndSection


After you're sure you've done that properly hit file save from mousepad's menu and close out.


Reboot to test and make sure nothing went horribly wrong.


In case of emergency if your unit hangs for quite some time before dropping back to a terminal looking interface, please don't panic.


All you have to do from there is login with the same username and password you have been, and use nano to edit xorg.conf back to its original state. (or if you want, playing with it until you get the indentations right)


"sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" <-- Again without the quotations


scroll to the bottom there using the dpad and either fix the typos or undo your changes.


Once done, hit cntrl+o and Enter to save the changes and cntrl+x to exit.


After that to reboot from a command line type: sudo reboot


One way or the other all should be well. =) Good luck!


One more EDIT:


Forgot to include source:


GP32x Pandora Forum
 
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^ It doesn't seem to be, as getting this wrong will render X unable to start. I know, because that happened to me. :lol: (To the best of my knowledge, I was the one who found that it will eventually drop to a terminal if this process goes wrong.)
 
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^ It doesn't seem to be, as getting this wrong will render X unable to start. I know, because that happened to me. :lol: (To the best of my knowledge, I was the one who found that it will eventually drop to a terminal if this process goes wrong.)

Yep, Prometheus is right. Same thing happened to me when I realized after having to go into Xorg.conf again with nano, I ended up having a space somehow before the 0. Oops. At least I'm certain everything stated above is easily repeatable though. =P
 
Wow, I really need to experiment with it. I used to think that indentation was there for readability.
 
Thanks for the response, but if that is the only way to do it i think i will pass.. seems like it's way too easy to screw things up (my track record isn't good) and i am not confident that i could fix things if i did.


Guess i will just have to grin and bear it & pray that Ed deems an option to disable the screensaving worthy enough to include in an update.. never quite understood why there isn't just an on/off option for this..?
 
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Of note is that once you have successfully made this correction to 'xorg.conf' it is perfectly possible to make a copy of this file and store it somewhere, so that on a fresh reflash/hotfix install etc, you can just copy and paste this file back into the etc/X11/ directory.


Infact I will upload a copy of the file to my megaupload account shortly, so that anyone can download a FIXED version to get rid of screenblanking, without the editing issues and the minor potential to end up temporarily locked out of their Pandora. In reality it takes just 5 minutes to drop to the console log-in and carry out Prometheus instructions to re-edit the changes you made but I admit that, even those 5 minutes are a PITA and yes, the option to fully control screensaver behaviour, add your own screensavers etc would be very welcome in future HF or OS updates. It may of course not work between other peoples Pandoras but it's worth a shot.


Edit: Here's the link to a correct xorg.conf file.


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SQ0WXJ0D


It should be pasteable into etc/X11 to fix the screenblanking. BACKUP your OWN FILE first just incase. Then paste this one over the default one and reboot.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Of note is that once you have successfully made this correction to 'xorg.conf' it is perfectly possible to make a copy of this file and store it somewhere, so that on a fresh reflash/hotfix install etc, you can just copy and paste this file back into the etc/X11/ directory.


Infact I will upload a copy of the file to my megaupload account shortly, so that anyone can download a FIXED version to get rid of screenblanking, without the editing issues and the minor potential to end up temporarily locked out of their Pandora. In reality it takes just 5 minutes to drop to the console log-in and carry out Prometheus instructions to re-edit the changes you made but I admit that, even those 5 minutes are a PITA and yes, the option to fully control screensaver behaviour, add your own screensavers etc would be very welcome in future HF or OS updates. It may of course not work between other peoples Pandoras but it's worth a shot.


Edit: Here's the link to a correct xorg.conf file.


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SQ0WXJ0D


It should be pasteable into etc/X11 to fix the screenblanking. BACKUP your OWN FILE first just incase. Then paste this one over the default one and reboot.


Many thanks for your help, a couple of further (not too dumb, i hope) questions if i may


Where do i find the: etc/X11/ directory & how do i copy and paste the file (never done any of this before)


Cheers.
 
No problem. If you open Thunar the file manager via the menu (File Manager) or icon (on the panel to the right of the Pandora icon), you then need to highlight the 'File System' in the left hand panel of listed devices/locations. Once that's highlighted, the right hand window will have all the folders contained displayed (press ctrl+1 2 or 3 to cycle view types if you wish), here you should find bin boot dev etc. Inside etc you'll find the X11 folder and here is where to paste the xorg.conf file that you have downloaded, over the one already present.


To copy and paste is just like a normal desktop computer, so you can either highlight the file and press ctrl+c to copy it and ctrl+v to paste it to a new destination, or you can right click the file and choose 'copy' from the drop down menu and then right click in the X11 folder again to choose 'paste'. Alternatively you can also use the terminal to save time and simply download the file, open a terminal in the same folder as the downloaded file via a 'right click' 'open terminal here', then type "cp xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf" (add 'sudo' to the start of that command if it wont let you and you will need to enter your login password blindly and then hit enter) and it should copy the new file over the old one.


Note: Copy your old file first (ctrl+c) and save it to a folder somewhere, or simply rename it (right click 'rename' i.e xorgDEFAULT.conf) before you do this. That way the new xorg.conf file will simply be pasted in and your old one is still there under the new name incase things go wrong. Hopefully it will work out fine anyway. I hope that helps and feel free to ask again if not.
wink.gif
 
^ Just to add something quick: If my memory serves me correctly, you need superuser permissions to deal with files in /etc - you may need to open a terminal first and type sudo thunar in order to use the graphical approach to rename, copy, and paste files here. ;)
 
^ Just to add something quick: If my memory serves me correctly, you need superuser permissions to deal with files in /etc - you may need to open a terminal first and type sudo thunar in order to use the graphical approach to rename, copy, and paste files here. ;)

Yes apparently i do need to do this (thanks) but it's asking for a password (hope it's not one i am supposed to remember) any ideas..?


Never mind, my memory is isn't quite as dreadful as i thought.
 
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I thought this all sounded a little too 'easy' anyway done everything as you instructed and the Pandora will now not complete the boot process, hangs indefinitely (25min and counting) at around 95% on the loading bar..??


EDIT:


OK now i am scared,


I have a black screen with Angstrom etc, etc, and it is asking me to login after which i get a openpandora:"$ prompt.. what on earth am i supposed to do now?
 
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Just keep waiting. This is quite likely the same as what happened to me the first time I did the edit manually, and I have no idea how long it actually hung there for, since I had to put the Pandora down to go and eat, that day.


Eventually it should drop to a terminal, and after that you should be able to log in and perform the fix mentioned by ~Levi~ above, or at least restore the backed-up version of your original file.
 
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Sorry for your woes there Disco Devil, I was hoping the fixed file would stop that issue and Prometheus was quite right about the sudo permissions issue. That had slipped my attention but not the ever watchful deity of the boards.


It should take about 5 mins to drop to the console $ which you mentioned has already happened, so now follow what Levi said as Prometheus advises :


recreated here with emphasis:


All you have to do from there is login with the same username and password you have been, and use nano to edit xorg.conf back to its original state. (or if you want, playing with it until you get the indentations right)





"
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" <-- Again without the quotations





scroll to the bottom there using the dpad and either fix the typos or undo your changes.


Once done, hit
cntrl+o and Enter to save the changes and cntrl+x to exit.





After that to reboot from a command line type:
sudo reboot
 
Hurrah success.. phew!


Many thanks for your time (and patience) MarioPandio, Prometheus & Levi
 
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