Black Screen with Mouse Pointer only, after screensaver

[WynnSmith]

I'm guessing this is a hardware/driver issue and so, posting here.

I've wiped the drives, reinstalled MX Linux, and installed all updates. This problem also appeared in my original install. The screen goes black after returning from the screensaver. I've turned off all the sleep and suspend options, so I believe it's the screensaver that is triggering the problem. The screen goes black with a fully functional mouse pointer... except there's nothing to click on.

In researching on the web, I found this suggestion. I don't know what it is, but it sounded promising after reading through many different web pages. I understand I simply need to type this into a commandline and then reboot. Your advice and explanations are welcomed.

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 sudo echo "options i915 enable_psr=0" >> /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf

Here is my QSI

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System:    Host: <filter> Kernel: 4.19.0-12-686-pae i686 bits: 32 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-12-686-pae 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.5 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
           Distro: MX-19.3_386 patito feo November 11  2020 base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Other-vm? System: Acer product: Aspire one v: V1.13 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Acer model: Aspire one v: V1.13 serial: <filter> BIOS: Acer v: 1.13 
           date: 01/19/2010 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 67.9 Wh condition: 67.9/73.3 Wh (93%) volts: 12.2/11.1 
           model: Simplo UM08A71 type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Full 
CPU:       Topology: Single Core model: Intel Atom N270 bits: 32 type: MT arch: Bonnell 
           family: 6 model-id: 1C (28) stepping: 2 microcode: 218 L2 cache: 512 KiB 
           flags: nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 6383 
           Speed: 815 MHz min/max: 800/1600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 815 2: 893 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass status: Not affected 
           Type: spectre_v1 status: Not affected 
           Type: spectre_v2 status: Not affected 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Mobile 945GSE Express Integrated Graphics 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           chip ID: 8086:27ae 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: intel unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
           resolution: 1024x600~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 945GME x86/MMX/SSE2 v: 1.4 Mesa 18.3.6 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:27d8 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-12-686-pae 
Network:   Device-1: Broadcom Limited BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY vendor: Foxconn driver: wl 
           v: kernel port: 5000 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4315 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: ATL1E v: N/A port: 1000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
           chip ID: 1969:1026 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 178.46 GiB used: 5.98 GiB (3.3%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: MK1652GSX size: 149.05 GiB block size: 
           physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 1.5 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 0J scheme: MBR 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Transcend model: JetFlash Transcend 32GB 
           size: 29.41 GiB block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B serial: <filter> rev: 1100 
           scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 34.18 GiB size: 33.39 GiB (97.70%) used: 5.91 GiB (17.7%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda1 
           ID-2: /home raw size: 30.76 GiB size: 30.15 GiB (98.02%) used: 67.1 MiB (0.2%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 29.41 GiB used: 520 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap 
           swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache pressure: 100 (default) dev: /dev/sdb1 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 182 Uptime: 19m Memory: 1.96 GiB used: 429.2 MiB (21.4%) Init: SysVinit 
           v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: quick-system-in 
           running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36
           

[Huckleberry Finn]

That's a known issue of the new Xfce 4.14 (the most frustrating) from the 1st day :)

(Not only after screensaver, but also after suspend & wake up even when screensaver was disabled)

Though there's a workaround (we can try if you like) :

Uninstall the xfce4-screensaver

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sudo apt purge xfce4-screensaver -y

and also from Power Manager - Security tab: Uncheck "Lock screen after sleep" .

[WynnSmith]

Huckleberry, I removed xfce4-screensaver as per your suggestion. Thank you for that. Earlier I had unchecked "Lock screen after sleep", before posting.

Please tell me more about the workaround. Also, the fix mentioned in my original post, is it related?

[manyroads]

So here is a pretty geeky workaround... I use it & like it. It is VERY light on resources.

First you need to install the following:

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sudo apt install xautolock i3lock-fancy

Next add the following in your autostart....

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xautolock -time 8 -locker i3lock-fancy &

You'll also need to tick/check Lock your screen when system is going to sleep (assuming you use xfce-power-manager)

When your screen locks (the above is set for 8 minutes) you'll see a blurred version of your last desktop.

Just begin typing your user password to re-enter. Don't look for afancy form or anything, you'll see a small circle go Green as you correctly re-enter your desktop. Le voilá. :lipsrsealed:

If you like this you can uninstall light-locker, xfce4-screensaver as they do not play in this setup. Or you can keep them around if you feel lonely for them.

[Huckleberry Finn]

Please tell me more about the workaround. Also, the fix mentioned in my original post, is it related?

Since you removed the screensaver, now it should be fine :)

But in case you say there's still freezing (after suspend) which's not expected now, ok we'll go on :)

The one you mentioned (Panel Self Refresh (PSR), a power saving feature used by Intel iGPUs ) is generally used to prevent "flickering". (But the "freezing" issue I mentioned was a general one no matter what card it is).
You don't need that for now :)

[dreamer]

I have found Xscreensaver (screensaver, screen locker and screen power manager) reliable in MX 19.

I set my desktop monitor to Blank screensaver and then Xscreensaver basically uses zero system resources. I use:
Screensaver Blank screen: 10 minutes
Lockscreen (uses your chosen screensaver as background): 15 minutes
Screen Power Off: 20 minutes

I don't use suspend or hibernate. There is an auto-start item that needs to be checked in Xfce Settings Manger > Session and Startup
(Make sure you don't use Xfce Screensaver at the same time).

I didn't have much luck with Xfce Screensaver in MX 19, but upstream things seem better. Xfce 4.16 and latest Xfce Screensaver seem to work (at least in a virtual machine).

Maybe the more difficult problems relate to suspend/hibernate, but I would suggest to try Xscreensaver if you need this functionality.

[Huckleberry Finn]

Yes. The "buggy" one is just the xfce4-screensaver. Also in case you need to just lock the screen (either manually or after suspend, with no screensavers) you can install light-locker from MX Package Installer.

[jdailey]

Thanks for this post. I'm going to delete this, as it activated twice when installing updates on my old 2009 sandbox machine. I thought it was my browser since the system is so stinking old, but this time I got the mouse and black screen.

Edit: deleting the screen saver didn't work, but I put Power Manager in presentation mode and moved the screen saver to 60 minutes. Changed System sleep mode to Hibernate, removed lock screen when system is going to sleep.