I then tried setting the display power management settings as per this image just to see what happened. When I returned after about 10 mins the display was off (yellow light), the CPU was on (as expected) but the display wouldn't come back up when a key was pressed or if I turned it off and on (shows 'No HDMI Signal' message). I know there's nothing wrong with the monitor, it has to be something else.
Just a thought - I don't know anything about these things in detail but would it be worth trying Fluxbox instead of XFCE or is that unlikely to be where the problem lies?
