Bug 179144

Confirmed on Kubuntu KDE 4.2 Beta 2 packages.

This started to happen after I enabled the screensaver for the first time on the system. Since then the screensaver is set to be off, but still comes on.

I can confirm this. the screensaver settings are off, but it comes on anyway and demands a password to deactivate. very annoying when watching a film...

It seems, on further investigation, to be a result of the power-management properties. Check this out:

- System Settings - Advanced - Power Management
- Edit Profiles
- Check what's set in "When the system is idle for more that $n minutes" in all of the profiles, especially "Performance" (the default?).
- I suspect it's probably set to "Lock screen" -- change it to "Do nothing" and all should be fine.

This seems to be a design flaw and a difficult one to find. But I'm not sure what the solution is.

That's it. Thank you, Mary Ellen, your solution works! 

kscreensaver and solid settings should be synchronized. Anyway the initial problem has been fixed in solid (now the default settings doesn't activate the screensaver).

I move this bug to solid/powermanagement because them could know if it is possible to have a more uniformed configuration management.

I'm running 4.2.1 from Debian/experimental. This bug has been around for a while. 

  I did rm -rf ~/.kde*, and changed every setting I could find to get rid of the screensaver. No luck. Functionality I don't want, can't turn off, can't remove (because "powerdevil" is not a separate package) doesn't work, keeps locking the screen. Very annoying.

  I just found mef's comment #3, which shows how to turn off the locking on lid-close (it was locking whenever I did that also). That's way too MSFT, forcing a screen-lock on lid-close by default and burying the setting deep in 'advanced'. If I have screensaver disabled, and also have 'lock screen' disabled, am I really likely to want the screen to lock when I close the laptop lid far enough to powerdown the screen? Not so much...

Somewhat confirmed on kde-4.2.2 (gentoo)
My screen went black after 5 Minutes of inactivity, too. I was starting from a fresh profile, and the bug was there. I tried to bug the people in the IRC channel, but I resorted to activating the screensaver with a long timeout, which also fixed the problem for me. Even after disabling the screensaver again the problem did not return.
There was no password lock involved, though.

*** Bug 187916 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

I've had this bug for ages, on gentoo.

I've juste updated to 4.2.4 and it's still there. I fix it by doing 

sudo rm /usr/kde/4.2/lib64/kde4/libexec/krunner_lock

I had this bug also, but removing the krunner_lock file works like a charm as mentioned in comment #9. Activating the screensaver with a long timeout as mentioned in comment #7 works also but it is annoying that the screensaver starts in the first place.

Anyway confirmed on gentoo at least from KDE 4.2.0 to KDE 4.2.4

*** This bug has been confirmed by popular vote. ***

This bug is still present in 4.3. The filename has changed since #8, now i need to do 

sudo rm /usr/kde/4.3/lib64/kde4/libexec/kscreenlocker

confirmed in 4.3.1

Is that SO hard to fix...... ?

(In reply to comment #13)
> Is that SO hard to fix...... ?

Quite, as the problem it's not strictly in powerdevil's code. But a patch is welcome, in any case

still there in 4.3.2... guys, doesn't it look like a BIG showstopper ? Shouldn't kscreensaver be removed until this bug is fixed..... ? it's blocking the whole screen in a rather unwanted way for users. This is not a small glitch...

(In reply to comment #15)
> still there in 4.3.2... guys, doesn't it look like a BIG showstopper ?

no

> Shouldn't kscreensaver be removed until this bug is fixed..... ?

no, but you can disable it if you feel like doing so

> it's blocking
> the whole screen in a rather unwanted way for users. This is not a small
> glitch...

I'll try to make this one clear once again: the problem is quite deep inside KDE's internals, and needs discussion. Just coming here ranting about that does not really help the situation, whereas some concrete suggestions or patches would be more than welcome. In a different case, just wait for this bug to be closed. Really, we don't need people bumping up stuff

wait... i'm DREAMING of disabling the screensaver, that's what this bug report is all about.. and you tell me i should "just" disable it... ?? i'm not getting it.

Maybe there's a misunderstanding here. All i'm wanting is the button saying "Start automatically" in the 'screensaver' part of 'systemsettings' to be followed. It's disabled here, but the screensaver keeps on starting.

I'd love to be able to provide a patch, trust me, but i have no clue about this, and even more, you tell me that what seemed to be a trivial issue is actually a lot more difficult to understand.

You keep saying "patch it or shut up" and "it's deep in kde internals". I think we could go forward in a lot more friendly and effective manner if you told us some more about what the bug really is, and where in "kde internals" we should look at. What is it that "needs discussion" ?? Has it been discussed already ? where ? If not, why is it so ? are you the only one aware of this problem ? if so, i'd really urge (beg? yes, I beg) you to tell us more about it, at least there would be some trace of that somwhere so that someone can start looking. 

Or tell us "dummies, wait for us to care"

I'll try to explain how my 'naive' way of thinking see things: When the screensaver is about to start, it checks whether or not the user actually wants it. If not, just do nothing. And this boolean in systemsettings should be what the screensaver stuff looks at to know about whether to start or not. I dont know what powerdevil is or how if fits there.

(In reply to comment #17)
> wait... i'm DREAMING of disabling the screensaver, that's what this bug report
> is all about.. and you tell me i should "just" disable it... ?? i'm not getting
> it.

System Settings>Desktop>Screensaver

> 
> Maybe there's a misunderstanding here. All i'm wanting is the button saying
> "Start automatically" in the 'screensaver' part of 'systemsettings' to be
> followed. It's disabled here, but the screensaver keeps on starting.

Here as well, and the screensaver does not start. The problem is that screen locking is handled by the screensaver itself, and until this does not change, if you have a screensaver set it will start up.

> 
> I'd love to be able to provide a patch, trust me, but i have no clue about
> this, and even more, you tell me that what seemed to be a trivial issue is
> actually a lot more difficult to understand.

Exactly

> 
> You keep saying "patch it or shut up" and "it's deep in kde internals". I think
> we could go forward in a lot more friendly and effective manner if you told us
> some more about what the bug really is, and where in "kde internals" we should
> look at.

I'm not saying that. I'm saying: if you want to add comments like "Oh shit has to be fixed or everyone will die", then yes, you'd better shut up. I welcome constructive comments

> What is it that "needs discussion" ?? Has it been discussed already ?
> where ? If not, why is it so ? are you the only one aware of this problem ? if

This needs to be discussed into KDE, as screen lock handling has to be reworked

> so, i'd really urge (beg? yes, I beg) you to tell us more about it, at least
> there would be some trace of that somwhere so that someone can start looking.

No discussion has yet been started on this side
 
> 
> Or tell us "dummies, wait for us to care"
> 
> I'll try to explain how my 'naive' way of thinking see things: When the
> screensaver is about to start, it checks whether or not the user actually wants
> it. If not, just do nothing. And this boolean in systemsettings should be what
> the screensaver stuff looks at to know about whether to start or not. I dont
> know what powerdevil is or how if fits there.

I think you will be able to reproduce this bug by using the "Lock screen" option in Kickoff, since it uses the very same way of locking the screen. That's why I'm saying the solution is not easy. This is not about the screensaver from a technical point of view, but about locking the screen. Since both are handled by kscreensaver, it thinks that whenever the screen gets locked it should start the screensaver as well. Hope this gives you a better explaination

In data domenica 11 ottobre 2009 19:14:03, Dario Freddi ha scritto:
> > wait... i'm DREAMING of disabling the screensaver, that's what this bug
> > report is all about.. and you tell me i should "just" disable it... ??
> > i'm not getting it.
> 
> System Settings>Desktop>Screensaver
> 
> > 
> > Maybe there's a misunderstanding here. All i'm wanting is the button
> > saying "Start automatically" in the 'screensaver' part of
> > 'systemsettings' to be followed. It's disabled here, but the screensaver
> > keeps on starting.
> 
> Here as well, and the screensaver does not start. The problem is that
>  screen locking is handled by the screensaver itself, and until this does
>  not change, if you have a screensaver set it will start up.
> 

Trust me, i dont want to be rude. But i really think there's a 
misunderstanding here. My problem is that the screensaver starts _whatever_ I 
do. What you seem to speak about in your comments is something else, probably 
more complicated/difficult. 

I'm trying NOT to have any screensaver or lock or whatever. I just want to use 
my computer, and not be bothered with such things.

Maybe the bug you are considering is "when screensaver starts it always asks 
for password", but this it not what this bug report is about (re-read title 
and/or description?)

*** Bug 196611 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 186400 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Well, there seem to be two different issues discussed in this bug ... the way the duplicates are assigned, and taking into account the last comments, I assume that this is now about the following phenomen which I experience with KDE 4.3.2:

When running on AC power, the screen is locked randomly by Power Devil during normal activities, which is very annyoing ...

This does not happen if I use a power profile which does not specify some action to be performed after a certain amount of inactivity.

(answer to #22) :

Not at all. This bug is about what the title says : Screensaver enabled even though "start automatically" is unchecked.

It has nothing to do (afaics) with laptops or AC power. i created the bug while experiencing the bug on a desktop computer, and i still do.

My guess is that it is a trivial issue with the screensaver not reading the systemconfig variable. Nobody seems to care to what i say :-(

Could then someone please unravel this and reopen one of the bug reports that have been incorrectly marked as 'duplicates' of this one?

bug confirmed with kde 4.3.3

I think Bug 186908 is probably a duplicate. I did quite a big of investigation of this, and I posted and confirmed a couple of ways to reproduce it. I also tracked it down to a probable issue in krunner.

@Andy it might be. We also (together with ossi) found out a possible problem in Debian packages which might be the cause. It would be interesting to know if any of the reporters reproduced it in non debian based distros, and to check if there is not an XScreensaver process going on in the background

I have the problem on gentoo, and i dont use xscreensaver.

Ok, I'll check with KRunner guys then

I reported this issue as Bug 196611, and I use openSUSE.

(In reply to comment #28)
> I have the problem on gentoo, and i dont use xscreensaver.
>
the point is that you don't have to be using it - just installing it is sufficient on the affected systems. run "ps x|grep [x]screensaver" to find out whether you got one running behind your back.

(In reply to comment #31)
> the point is that you don't have to be using it - just installing it is
> sufficient on the affected systems. run "ps x|grep [x]screensaver" to find out
> whether you got one running behind your back.

I mean : it is not even installed on my computer. Just to be sure, i did 'ps aux | grep -i screen', and the only process that appears is 'kscreenlocker'

kde 4.3.4 is out. I confirm the bug is still there. And my new fix for is now....

sudo rm /usr/kde/4.3/lib64/kde4/libexec/kscreenlocker

(the file name has changed, beware)

I think https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211620 is duplicate

I have the same problem on my Gentoo system.
It's important to notice that it's triggered when some application goes in fullscreen mode. i.e. Gwenview

Confirming that after using Gwenview in fullscreen mode, the system behaves as if the "enable screensaver" checkbox were ticked in systemsettings. Sidux with KDE 4.3.4.

comment 36 and possibly others are bug 186908 and have nothing to do with this problem, so don't allow them to confuse you. :)

Confirmed in 4.4.3

Very annoying thing :(

confirmed in kde 4.4.4
Is KDE competing for some kind of world record for how long it takes to fix a basic bug ?

yes. currently, we are winning. it would be a shame to give up that position, wouldn't it?

Still a problem in 4.5.0.
Symptoms: Watching a video in Kaffeine, which should disable the screensaver, but after a while it still directly jumps into the lock-screen mode.
If it was just the regular screensaver, I'd at least have a minute of unlocked screensaver where moving the mouse would be enough to reactivate the system. With a locked screen this is much more annoying.

Confirmed in 4.5.0
wrt to comment #41, on the contrary, starting mplayer does work here, and i can watch a movie without being annoyed by the screensaver. It is even the best workaround for this bug i've found so far : i start whatever video with mplayer, pause it, and forget about it : the screensaver wont come to bother me.

Answering various other comments : i've disabled everthing i can in systemsettings, which includes of course all stuff related to 'screensaver', but also everything in 'energy settings', for every 'profile' (even though this is a desktop and i only use 'performance' i think).

In KDE 4.5.0 (and 4.4.5) the behaviour is slightly different : this is not the screensaver which comes after few minutes of inactivity, but the screen are completely switched off, which is worse because the sound is stopped as well. I think this is related to "DPMS", but i'm not a specialist.

(In reply to comment #42)
> wrt to comment #41, on the contrary, starting mplayer does work here
I just had the problem yesterday using media-video/mplayer-1.0_rc4_p20100612.

*** Bug 254927 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Is this still happening in 4.9 or 4.10?

No, I don't experience this bug in KDE 4.10.

I confirm. I dont experience the bug anymore here with 4.10.

*** Bug 159272 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***