Redhat 9 on Thinkpad A31p: LCD sometimes unexpectedly goes blank during normal use???

From: tempo (pxt_at_ph.adfa.edu.au)
Date: 03/10/04

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    Date: 9 Mar 2004 20:25:08 -0800

    Hi all,

    I've recently installed Redhat 9 on my A31p (Model 2653XX6, 1.7 GHz,
    Display Adapter name: MOBILITY FIRE GL 7800, type: Mobility Radeon
    7500 AGP, Video RAM: 64 MB), dual-bootable with XP Pro. The laptop is
    connected with an external USB keyboard and a USB mouse. Everthing
    works fine except two related, annoying problems:

    (i) During normal operation, the LCD sometimes unexpectedly goes
    blank, and neither the external mouse movement nor external keyboard
    action can turn it back on. To bring the display back, I have to use
    the trackpoint or press any key on the laptop keyboard. Please note
    that my screensaver is set to `blank after three minutes', but I've
    confirmed that the unexpected blanking of the LCD is not due to the
    screensaver, as it ususally happens while the system is active (e.g.
    while I'm typing stuff, surfing the net, etc).

    (ii) After the screensaver has been active for an extended period of
    time, say 20 minutes or so, neither the external mouse movement nor
    external keyboard action can turn the LCD back on. Again, I would
    then have to either press a key on the laptop keyboard or move the
    trackpoint to turn the LCD on.

    I should mention that during the installation of Redhat 9, the LCD
    also went blank in the middle disc 2. Nonetheless, I managed to
    continue the installation until the end of disc 3 because each disc
    was automatically ejected at its completion. After disc 3 was ejected
    (and the LCD was still blank), I had no option but to press the
    restart button on the laptop. Then, Grub bootloader allowed me to
    choose between XP Pro and Redhat, and I chose Redhat. That brought me
    to a command line interface because I didn't have a chance to set up
    X. I logged in as root and typed a command startx, which led me to
    the graphical interface. From there, I went to Start -> System
    Settings -> Display, and configured the display.

    I've included my XFree86config (XFree86-4.3.0-2.90.55):

    #----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # XFree86 4 configuration created by redhat-config-xfree86
     
    Section "ServerLayout"
            Identifier "Default Layout"
            Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
            InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
            InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
            InputDevice "DevInputMice" "AlwaysCore"
    EndSection
     
    Section "Files"
            RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
            FontPath "unix/:7100"
    EndSection
     
    Section "Module"
            Load "dbe"
            Load "extmod"
            Load "fbdevhw"
            Load "glx"
            Load "record"
            Load "freetype"
            Load "type1"
            Load "dri"
    EndSection
     
    Section "InputDevice"
            Identifier "Keyboard0"
            Driver "keyboard"
            Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
            Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
            Option "XkbLayout" "us,th"
            Option "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle"
    EndSection
     
    Section "InputDevice"
            Identifier "Mouse0"
            Driver "mouse"
            Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
            Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
            Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
            Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    EndSection
     
    Section "InputDevice"
            Identifier "DevInputMice"
            Driver "mouse"
            Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
            Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
            Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
            Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    EndSection
     
    Section "Monitor"
            Identifier "Monitor0"
            VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
            ModelName "Generic Laptop Display Panel 1600x1200"
            DisplaySize 305 229
            HorizSync 31.5 - 90.0
            VertRefresh 60.0 - 60.0
            Option "dpms"
    EndSection
     
    Section "Device"
            Identifier "Videocard0"
            Driver "radeon"
            VendorName "Videocard vendor"
            BoardName "ATI Mobility FireGL 7800"
            VideoRam 65536
    EndSection
     
    Section "Screen"
            Identifier "Screen0"
            Device "Videocard0"
            Monitor "Monitor0"
            DefaultDepth 24
            SubSection "Display"
                    Depth 16
                    Modes "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024"
    "1280x960" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
            EndSubSection
            SubSection "Display"
                    Depth 24
                    Modes "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024"
    "1280x960" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
            EndSubSection
            SubSection "Display"
                    Depth 8
                    Modes "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024"
    "1280x960" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
            EndSubSection
    EndSection
     
    Section "DRI"
            Group 0
            Mode 0666
    EndSection
    #----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    and also my grub.conf (I've added apm=off)

    #----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # grub.conf generated by anaconda
    #
    # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this
    file
    # NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
    # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
    # root (hd0,4)
    # kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda7
    # initrd /initrd-version.img
    #boot=/dev/hda
    #default=1
    default=4
    timeout=10
    splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
    title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-8)
            root (hd0,4)
            kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-8 ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi apm=off
            initrd /initrd-2.4.20-8.img
    title Windows XP Professional
            rootnoverify (hd0,0)
            chainloader +1
    #----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Can somebody help me, please? Thanks in advance!!

    Cheers
    Tempo

    ps. Just for an idea, the LCD went blank once while I was typing this
    mail.

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