How to deal with a laptop that turns permanently black?

[pusha]

On a Thinkpad W530, running Debian 10 (with XFCE):

The screen turns black after closing and opening the lid, and stays black. The computer remains on and is working, it is possible to SSH in over the network, no errors in dmesg.

After closing the still black screen for a second time, the computer enters into sleep mode (the sleep LED turns on).

Opening the lid the second time makes the display turn back on. This happens fast, hence I believe the sleep mode is ACPI S3 (suspend to RAM).

I've attempted to install the nvidia prorpietary drivers, sadly, same problem.

What should I do? I've tried to poke around in systemd's logind.conf, as well as in XFCE's power management settings, it is set to "lock screen" both on battery and on AC power.

The first time the lid is closed, if I attempt to switch to a virtual terminal with ctrl+alt+f1, this succeeds. I am able to switch back to X with ctrl+alt+f7, but then I'm greeted with "This session is locked", and it is completely unresponsive.

I've actually seen this on several laptops lately, on other thinkpads of different models, what the heck is causing this?

[Deb-fan]

Unless you really want/use it would track down the package that's locking it and remove it. Not sure what that likely is in xfce. Would start trying "dpkg -l | grep lock" in terminal, see which packages come up in the output as installed. Then just to be anal "apt show packagename" info will tell you yep that package is a screen lock deal or not. Also just to be on the safe side(really anal again) test what's going to happen when you go to remove it with the -s switch, "sudo apt remove packagename -s" it'll simulate doing it but won't actually do anything. Output says it wants to remove a bunch of stuff along with that problem child pkg come back here and ask if you need help.

PS, dammit I'm stuck on an Android ph, between autocorrect and this teenie, tiny, tappy keyboard a guy don't stand a chance! I HATE YER GUTS AUTOCORRECT!!!

[pusha]

Unless you really want/use it would track down the package that's locking it and remove it. Not sure what that likely is in xfce. Would start trying "dpkg -l | grep lock" in terminal, see which packages come up in the output as installed. Then just to be anal "apt show packagename" info will tell you yep that package is a screen lock deal or not. Also just to be on the safe side(really anal again) test what's going to happen when you go to remove it with the -s switch, "sudo apt remove packagename -s" it'll simulate doing it but won't actually do anything. Output says it wants to remove a bunch of stuff along with that problem child pkg come back here and ask if you need help.

PS, dammit I'm stuck on an Android ph, between autocorrect and this teenie, tiny, tappy keyboard a guy don't stand a chance! I HATE YER GUTS AUTOCORRECT!!!

But the locking behavior isn't the problem, that's just a symptom.

It isn't an acceptable solution to have to hit ctrl+alt+f1 and then ctrl+alt+f7 to get back to X every time I just close the lid of the laptop.

[Deb-fan]

Might very well clear up your whole issue getting rid of the thing. Played with xfce here and there over the years always end up just ditching the thing. Causes one irritation or another. Seen plenty of others reporting issues due to such stuff. Don't recall xfce power manager layout been awhile and never use it long, am an openbox guy. Still should be settings in there for do x when lid yadayada. If you've got lock set there then yeah getting rid if the PKG doing it as good a place as any to start. Good a place regardless imo though.

[stevepusser]

Can you manually put it into sleep mode with a hot key or with XFCE's exit dialog?

Does the same thing happens with MX 19's XFCE 4.14 on a Buster base in a Live session? (I have backports of 4.14.2 to Buster and Stretch in a separate repository.)

[pusha]

Might very well clear up your whole issue getting rid of the thing. Played with xfce here and there over the years always end up just ditching the thing. Causes one irritation or another. Seen plenty of others reporting issues due to such stuff. Don't recall xfce power manager layout been awhile and never use it long, am an openbox guy. Still should be settings in there for do x when lid yadayada. If you've got lock set there then yeah getting rid if the PKG doing it as good a place as any to start. Good a place regardless imo though.

Thanks, but as I said:

XFCE's power management settings, it is set to "lock screen" both on battery and on AC power.

And no, I'm not getting rid of the laptop over this issue, are you serious?

[Deb-fan]

Dude ya might want to take a reading comprehension course or something. I said get rid of (uninstall) the stupid application-pkgs that's locking your PC when you close the lid or change those settings to do something else. How you possibly got getting rid of the laptop out of it, I'll never know. Jebuz!

[camobrite]

The problem might be this issue, as I'm experiencing it as well:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=249053
light-locker, the screen locker xfce uses, does not play well with the version of systemd that comes with Debian 10 (v241). This issue is fixed in systemd v243. If you are brave, you either try building and installing the new version of systemd. I was lazy and don't have much need for physical security on my laptop, so I just turned off screen locking in xfce power settings. And fwiw, XFCE rules!

[Deb-fan]

That's what I was trying to advise, ditching light-locker. Ah no biggie, should've typed more plainly and op probably figured it out. When do dork with a graphical interface ie, Xfce4 etc. Never do the meta-package route, only install the components wanted so don't end up with chuff like light-locker. Whenever do install something with things like it already pre-installed quickly wind up removing it, as I don't use the thing and it's only ever caused headaches anyway.

Just a FYI, plenty of ways to get newer pkgs, someone doesn't have to build a newer version. Comes to something like the init(Systemd) would tend towards leaving it alone unless there's a valid reason to care anyway. Either way, not really a big deal. More tech awesomeness, anything a user does should be no harm/foul, with reasonable cyb (cover your boot) precautions the do-over or undo button is always easy to push. Break it ? Can easily-quickly un-break it, restore a backup etc. Do tend to keep latest versions of systemd and doesn't cause issues but it's more for the sake of it vs any real need or benefit.

[stevepusser]

MX Linux developer here--does it have the same behavior with the Live session of Buster-based MX Linux 19.1? It has XFCE 4.14.2 and xfce4-screensaver, and may have a different result.