Monitor won't sleep

[lsaranto]

I have build my first Unraid system. I have a monitor connected to the graphics card, because I use it also with a W10 VM. When not running the VM, I'd prefer the monitor to sleep when it sits at the login prompt. But it won't. The screen goes black, but when the room is dark you can see the backlight. Also the monitor's LED indicator stays green. And it's wasting electricity.

I've searched the forum and they offer a couple of solutions. I've tried them, but get only error messages back.
 

root@Tower: ~# setterm --powersave powerdown --powerdown 1
setterm: cannot (un)set powersave mode: Inappropriate ioctl for device

root@Tower: ~# vbetool dpms off
Failed to initialise LRMI (Linux Real-Mode Interface).

My Linux skills are not good enough to do anything else on my own.

If it's just not possible to get the monitor to sleep, then possibly even more useful thing for me would be to put the monitor power switch to good use. So maybe it is possible to detect when the monitor is turned on and then launch the VM. Either by detecting the monitor itself or the USB device(s) connected to the monitor's USB hub.

 

unRAID: 6.7.2 (Trial)

Motherboard: Supermicro X10SRA

Processor: Intel Xeon E5-1650 v4 @ 3.60GHz

Memory: 4 x 8 GB ECC

Graphics card: 2x Asus Radeon HD7750 1 GB

Monitor: Lenovo ThinkVision L220x (DVI) & Sony KD-43XF8599 (HDMI)

 

 

[mikeyosm]

On 11/1/2019 at 4:41 PM, lsaranto said:

I have build my first Unraid system. I have a monitor connected to the graphics card, because I use it also with a W10 VM. When not running the VM, I'd prefer the monitor to sleep when it sits at the login prompt. But it won't. The screen goes black, but when the room is dark you can see the backlight. Also the monitor's LED indicator stays green. And it's wasting electricity.

I've searched the forum and they offer a couple of solutions. I've tried them, but get only error messages back.
 

root@Tower: ~# setterm --powersave powerdown --powerdown 1
setterm: cannot (un)set powersave mode: Inappropriate ioctl for device

root@Tower: ~# vbetool dpms off
Failed to initialise LRMI (Linux Real-Mode Interface).

My Linux skills are not good enough to do anything else on my own.

If it's just not possible to get the monitor to sleep, then possibly even more useful thing for me would be to put the monitor power switch to good use. So maybe it is possible to detect when the monitor is turned on and then launch the VM. Either by detecting the monitor itself or the USB device(s) connected to the monitor's USB hub.

 

unRAID: 6.7.2 (Trial)

Motherboard: Supermicro X10SRA

Processor: Intel Xeon E5-1650 v4 @ 3.60GHz

Memory: 4 x 8 GB ECC

Graphics card: 2x Asus Radeon HD7750 1 GB

Monitor: Lenovo ThinkVision L220x (DVI) & Sony KD-43XF8599 (HDMI)

 

 

 2 years on and now I am having this issue. Did you ever resolve it?

[lsaranto]

I don't remember too well all the things what I tried. I wasn't (and I'm still not) too good with Linux. I think the GFX card was a factor why I din't get it to work. I'm now using a Geforce 710 card. After booting up Unraid I start the VM once so it grabs the display. When I shutdown the VM the monitor goes to power saving mode.

 

So I have access to console (or GUI) only after server reboot. This allows troubleshooting if needed, e.g. when network isn't working. Other times I use SSH or webUI anyways. This has worked for me.

 

About the second part of my original post: I was setting up smart home stuff soon after, and I setup a zigbee button to start the VM. The button is placed next to the monitor.