Re: Laptop update...

> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 19:09:15 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Robert Watson <rwatson_at_freebsd.org>
> Sender: owner-freebsd-current_at_freebsd.org
> 
> 
> On Sun, 20 Apr 2003, Ben Laurie wrote:
> 
> > so, where does this leave me? Well, the display still dies if I am in X
> > and the screen times out - I can reboot blind, but I can't get the
> > screen back - am I missing a trick? 
> 
> When you wake the box up again, try switching to another virtual console
> and back again, and/or changing the display resolution using
> ctrl-alt-[keypad + or -].  I've noticed similar things with my Dell
> notebook, and seem to recall a discussion of this issue previously.
> Basically, when things wake up, some piece of something forgets to power
> the backlight back on again.  There may have been a kernel option floating
> around to deal with this, but it's worth a try to see if that can kick
> things into action.  If your notebook supports a CRT/LCD function key, you
> could try fiddling that a few times to see if it jogs things back to life. 
> Killing and restarting X might also do it?

Killing X and re-starting will not do the trick, I'm afraid. I have had
mixed success switching resolution and you need to modify the keymap to
do this on ThinkPads as the NumLock must be on and the key that SHOULD
turn it on is not mapped to do so.

The work-around I have reported to other forums for users of Radeon
Mobility M7 graphics at 1400x1050 is:

Switch to a text display (CTRL-ALT-F2) (Display will still be bad.)
Turn off the display (Fn-F3 on my T30, but check the doc for your laptop)
Turn the display back on (press any key)
Switch back to the X display (ALT-F9, by default)

I have found this sequence quite reliable on many different laptops with
this graphics system, although some laptops seem unable to turn off the
display. But the ThinkPads should work just fine.

R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
E-mail: oberman_at_es.net			Phone: +1 510 486-8634