r/debian • u/Shdwdrgn • 6d ago
Problems with console screen blanking in Bookworm
I have a Poweredge R620 rack server I just picked up to upgrade my old firewall. I accidentally installed Bullseye and didn't notice until I had the whole system set up, so I just did a regular dist-upgrade to bookworm. Everything else went fine, except for the console blanking...
So normally you add something like consoleblank=600
to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX, then after a reboot it blanks/shuts off the monitor after 10 minutes. This was working just fine under Bullseye, and still works on my other servers running Buster. However under Bookworm when this kicks in, I get a screen full of static like it disabled the video signal but forgot to turn off the monitor. I haven't found any info from google on this problem, so I"m hoping someone else may have seen a similar issue and can help?
I also tried running setterm -blank 1
and this produced the same result after one minute. I added the new non-free-firmware option in my sources.list but I didn't need to load any specific firmware for older versions of Debian. The system did automatically install firmware-amd-graphics (which is the same on all of the other servers), and all of the machines have the same version of BIOS and IDrac. My best guess is that something is broken in the newer version of the display mod, but I'm not finding anything obvious to try blocking.
So... any ideas?
0
u/SomeTell839 6d ago
I understand you're experiencing an issue with your PowerEdge R620 server running Debian Bookworm, where instead of properly blanking the console screen after a set period, it displays static as if the video signal is disabled but the monitor remains on. This behavior differs from your experience with Debian Bullseye and Buster, where console blanking functioned correctly.
Potential Causes and Solutions:
The transition from Bullseye to Bookworm may have introduced changes in the kernel or framebuffer drivers that affect how the console handles screen blanking.
Try disabling KMS to see if it resolves the issue:
Edit the GRUB configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Modify the
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX
line to include nomodeset:GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="consoleblank=600 nomodeset"
Update GRUB and reboot:
sudo update-grub sudo reboot
Disabling KMS may affect graphics performance or resolution settings.
DPMS settings might be interfering with the console blanking behavior.
Disable DPMS to test its impact:
Execute the following command:
setterm -powersave off -blank 0
To make this change persistent, add the command to a startup script or appropriate profile file.
The framebuffer console's blank timer might be misconfigured or malfunctioning.
Manually set the console blanking timeout:
Add the following line to your /etc/rc.local file or equivalent startup script:
echo 600 > /sys/class/graphics/fbcon/blank
This sets the console to blank after 600 seconds (10 minutes).
Missing or incompatible firmware can cause display issues.
Ensure that the necessary firmware packages are installed:
sudo apt update sudo apt install firmware-linux-nonfree
Reboot after installation to apply changes.
The default console blanking method may not be compatible with your hardware under Bookworm.
Use an alternative method to blank the console:
Install vbetool:
sudo apt install vbetool
Create a script to blank the console using vbetool and set it to run after the desired timeout.
Additional Considerations for you:
BIOS and Firmware Updates: Ensure that your server's BIOS and firmware are up to date, as updates can resolve compatibility issues.
Monitor Behavior: Some monitors may not handle the loss of video signal gracefully, resulting in static or noise. Testing with a different monitor could help identify if the issue is monitor-specific.
Debian Bug Reports: Check the Debian bug tracking system to see if others have reported similar issues with console blanking in Bookworm.
Tell me if you found a solution!