HamClock/RP-3 screen blanks

[N9JIG]

I dug out my old Raspberry Pi 3 with HamClock running on it and connected to a TV. It started up just fine but there were updates. HamClock updated to v3.01 and the Pi itself to Pi OS 4.3, December 2022.

HamClock boots fine and after a few minutes however the screen blanks and the Pi's spinning wheel comes up for a few seconds and the HDMI feed goes away. The TV indicates the source is gone and eventually it will shut off as well.

In the Raspberry Configuration screen, under the Display Tab the "Screen Blanking" switch is off. That should be what would keep this from happening I would think but for some reason no... I can wiggle the mouse and wake up the screen again but after a few more minutes it would go away again.

Any ideas on how to keep the screen from blanking?

 

[vagrant]

It sounds like you made the correct adjustment to disable it. Also, while this may seem obvious and you should have been prompted if you did this with the GUI, did you reboot your Pi after you set it to disable?

Worse case you should be able to adjust the amount of time before the blanking kicks in. This would be done via command line and you could set it to however many hours/days that makes you happy. I don't know the command right off, but there must be something.

 

[sallen07]

There should be a file /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

That's probably where hamclock is getting started. Add these commands before the command to start hamclock. Don't forget to reboot!

xset s off
xset -dpms
sleep 5

I had to add the sleep to get it to reliably start hamclock.

Good luck. What this does is disable the screensaver, which by default is ... a blank screen.

 

[N9JIG]

It sounds like you made the correct adjustment to disable it. Also, while this may seem obvious and you should have been prompted if you did this with the GUI, did you reboot your Pi after you set it to disable?

Worse case you should be able to adjust the amount of time before the blanking kicks in. This would be done via command line and you could set it to however many hours/days that makes you happy. I don't know the command right off, but there must be something.

Yes, I did reboot it and the toggle remained off after the reboot.

There should be a file /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

That's probably where hamclock is getting started. Add these commands before the command to start hamclock. Don't forget to reboot!

xset s off
xset -dpms
sleep 5

I had to add the sleep to get it to reliably start hamclock.

Good luck. What this does is disable the screensaver, which by default is ... a blank screen.

Thanks, I will try this in the AM!

 

[N9JIG]

There should be a file /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart

That's probably where hamclock is getting started. Add these commands before the command to start hamclock. Don't forget to reboot!

xset s off
xset -dpms
sleep 5

I had to add the sleep to get it to reliably start hamclock.

Good luck. What this does is disable the screensaver, which by default is ... a blank screen.

OK, I had to set a root password in order to edit (and save) the startup file. I did so, rebooted and it still blanks after a few minutes. I verified the items remained in the startup file.

The display returns when moving the mouse so there is something making the HDMI output go away. I get the same twirling action for a few seconds after removing the HDMI cable so that is coming from the TV. The AppleTV box seems to hold the HDMI so I am certain that it is the Pi or HamClock not keeping the display on.

I might snag a monitor out of the garage next to see if that works better with the Pi.

 

[N9JIG]

OK, update: On a computer monitor the same behavior exists. The screen blanks after 10 minutes. There has to be a setting someplace set to 10 minutes...

 

[sallen07]

So I noticed that mine blanked every night ... right about this time. Have you looked at this screen?

 

[N9JIG]

So I noticed that mine blanked every night ... right about this time. Have you looked at this screen?

View attachment 151064

I went thru the menu 2 or 3 times and it went from page 6 back to 0, then Page 7 magically came up. I set it to 0700-2200, it seems to be working now.

Thanks!!!!