Abrupt dim to dark in KDE Plasma (AMD)

While the screen is inactive, the brightness gradually decreases but at the last stage the screen becomes black (backlight still on) with a cursor and after that screen turns off. [Also I have EndeavourOS installed in a laptop with Intel, there the screen brightness decreases gradually and the screen turns off].
Any help is very much appreciated.

System Information:

$ inxi -Fazy

System:
  Kernel: 6.1.51-1-lts arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
    clocksource: hpet available: acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts
    root=UUID=ce9995b5-a28c-4c70-9ccc-04acf5b0ba4c rw rootflags=subvol=@
    nowatchdog nvme_load=YES loglevel=3 zswap.enabled=0
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.7 tk: Qt v: 5.15.10 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM
    Distro: EndeavourOS base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP 245 G7 Notebook PC v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: HP model: 85B1 v: 84.50 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: AMI
    v: F.64 date: 09/22/2021
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 14.7 Wh (38.7%) condition: 38.0/38.0 Wh (100.0%)
    volts: 11.1 min: 11.3 model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion
    serial: <filter> status: discharging
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard
    serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
    status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 3 3300U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx bits: 64 type: MCP
    arch: Zen/Zen+ note: check gen: 1 level: v3 note: check built: 2019
    process: GF 12nm family: 0x17 (23) model-id: 0x18 (24) stepping: 1
    microcode: 0x8108109
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 384 KiB
    desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x64 KiB L2: 2 MiB desc: 4x512 KiB L3: 4 MiB
    desc: 1x4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1355 high: 1400 min/max: 1400/2100 boost: enabled
    scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 1223 2: 1400
    3: 1400 4: 1400 bogomips: 16774
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: untrained return thunk; SMT disabled
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: SMT disabled
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, STIBP:
    disabled, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Picasso/Raven 2 [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Mobile Series]
    vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: GCN-5 code: Vega
    process: GF 14nm built: 2017-20 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
    active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:15d8
    class-ID: 0300 temp: 40.0 C
  Device-2: Cheng Uei Precision Industry (Foxlink) HP TrueVision HD Camera
    driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0
    bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 05c8:03d2 class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.0
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu unloaded: modesetting
    alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.21x7.99")
    s-diag: 414mm (16.31")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 mapped: eDP model: BOE Display 0x0832 built: 2018
    res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 112 gamma: 1.2 size: 309x174mm (12.17x6.85")
    diag: 355mm (14") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1366x768 min: 640x480
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.1.6-arch1.4 renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 6
    Graphics (raven LLVM 16.0.6 DRM 3.49 6.1.51-1-lts) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 04:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:15de class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: snd_pci_acp3x v: kernel alternate: snd_rn_pci_acp3x, snd_pci_acp5x,
    snd_pci_acp6x, snd_acp_pci, snd_rpl_pci_acp6x, snd_pci_ps,
    snd_sof_amd_renoir, snd_sof_amd_rembrandt pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 04:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 04:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.51-1-lts status: kernel-api
    tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.79 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8822BE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi adapter
    vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: rtw_8822be v: N/A modules: rtw88_8822be pcie:
    gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:b822 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth 4.2 Adapter driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
    rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-1:2 chip-ID: 0bda:b00b
    class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 4.2
    lmp-v: 8 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 7c010c
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 8.81 GiB (0.8%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WD Blue SN570 250GB size: 232.89 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 234110WD temp: 40.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WD10SPZX-60Z10T0
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1A04 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 231.9 GiB size: 231.9 GiB (100.00%) used: 8.81 GiB (3.8%)
    fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 1000 MiB size: 998 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 576 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 231.9 GiB size: 231.9 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 8.81 GiB (3.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 231.9 GiB size: 231.9 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 8.81 GiB (3.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 5.7 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    comp: lzo-rle avail: lzo,lz4,lz4hc,842,zstd max-streams: 4 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 41.1 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 41.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 222 Uptime: 15m wakeups: 5 Memory: total: 6 GiB note: est.
  available: 5.7 GiB used: 2.09 GiB (36.6%) Init: systemd v: 254
  default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 13.2.1 Packages:
  pm: pacman pkgs: 1068 libs: 244 tools: yay Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash
  v: 5.1.16 running-in: wezterm-gui inxi: 3.3.29

Please tell if any other system related data is needed.

hello @shirshendu
welcome to the purple universe :enos: :enos_flag: :penguin_face: :rocketa_purple: :purple_heart:

It would probably be more helpful if the behavior you described happened again, then run the following command (if the incident occurred within 5 minutes, otherwise adjust) and then post the link here. So we could then evaluate the logs.

journalctl --since "5min ago" | eos-sendlog
1 Like

Here are the logs

Sep 08 06:37:41 Morrowind systemd[872]: app-brave\x2dbrowser-0f75a054f7824b7b8c52cf5a7578c91b.scope: Consumed 36.467s CPU time.
Sep 08 06:37:42 Morrowind plasmashell[1014]: trying to show an empty dialog
Sep 08 06:37:48 Morrowind org_kde_powerdevil[1045]: QObject::disconnect: Unexpected nullptr parameter
Sep 08 06:37:48 Morrowind org_kde_powerdevil[1045]: QObject::disconnect: Unexpected nullptr parameter
Sep 08 06:38:47 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Activating service name='org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper' requested by ':1.32' (uid=1000 pid=1045 comm="/usr/lib/org_kde_powerdevil") (using servicehelper)
Sep 08 06:38:47 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper'
Sep 08 06:39:17 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Activating service name='org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper' requested by ':1.32' (uid=1000 pid=1045 comm="/usr/lib/org_kde_powerdevil") (using servicehelper)
Sep 08 06:39:17 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper'
Sep 08 06:39:47 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Activating service name='org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper' requested by ':1.32' (uid=1000 pid=1045 comm="/usr/lib/org_kde_powerdevil") (using servicehelper)
Sep 08 06:39:47 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper'
Sep 08 06:40:32 Morrowind kernel: rtw_8822be 0000:03:00.0: firmware failed to leave lps state
Sep 08 06:41:11 Morrowind systemd[872]: Starting EOS update notifier service...
Sep 08 06:41:18 Morrowind eos-update-notifier[2137]: Checking for updates ...
Sep 08 06:41:31 Morrowind plasmashell[1014]: Could not find the Plasmoid for Plasma::FrameSvgItem(0x562830b61ab0) QQmlContext(0x56282fcd0340) QUrl("file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.notifications/contents/ui/global/Globals.qml")
Sep 08 06:41:31 Morrowind plasmashell[1014]: Could not find the Plasmoid for Plasma::FrameSvgItem(0x562830b61ab0) QQmlContext(0x56282fcd0340) QUrl("file:///usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.notifications/contents/ui/global/Globals.qml")
Sep 08 06:42:00 Morrowind systemd[872]: Finished EOS update notifier service.
Sep 08 06:42:00 Morrowind systemd[872]: eos-update-notifier.service: Consumed 2.286s CPU time.
Sep 08 06:42:48 Morrowind kscreenlocker_greet[2259]: Qt: Session management error: networkIdsList argument is NULL
Sep 08 06:42:51 Morrowind kscreenlocker_greet[2259]: kf.kirigami: Failed to find a Kirigami platform plugin
Sep 08 06:42:51 Morrowind kscreenlocker_greet[2259]: file:///usr/share/plasma/look-and-feel/org.kde.breeze.desktop/contents/components/VirtualKeyboard.qml:8:1: module "QtQuick.VirtualKeyboard" is not installed
Sep 08 06:43:00 Morrowind kernel: hid-generic 0005:046D:B016.0006: unknown main item tag 0x0
Sep 08 06:43:00 Morrowind kernel: input: Bluetooth Mouse M336/M337/M535 Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:04:00.4/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.0/bluetooth/hci0/hci0:2/0005:046D:B016.0006/input/input36
Sep 08 06:43:00 Morrowind kernel: input: Bluetooth Mouse M336/M337/M535 Consumer Control as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:04:00.4/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.0/bluetooth/hci0/hci0:2/0005:046D:B016.0006/input/input37
Sep 08 06:43:00 Morrowind kernel: input: Bluetooth Mouse M336/M337/M535 Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:04:00.4/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.0/bluetooth/hci0/hci0:2/0005:046D:B016.0006/input/input40
Sep 08 06:43:00 Morrowind kernel: hid-generic 0005:046D:B016.0006: input,hidraw4: BLUETOOTH HID v12.03 Mouse [Bluetooth Mouse M336/M337/M535] on 28:cd:c4:b1:04:f2
Sep 08 06:43:00 Morrowind systemd-logind[636]: Watching system buttons on /dev/input/event17 (Bluetooth Mouse M336/M337/M535 Keyboard)
Sep 08 06:43:01 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.home1' unit='dbus-org.freedesktop.home1.service' requested by ':1.77' (uid=1000 pid=2259 comm="/usr/lib/kscreenlocker_greet --graceTime 5000 --ks")
Sep 08 06:43:01 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.freedesktop.home1.service': Unit dbus-org.freedesktop.home1.service not found.
Sep 08 06:43:01 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Activating service name='org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper' requested by ':1.32' (uid=1000 pid=1045 comm="/usr/lib/org_kde_powerdevil") (using servicehelper)
Sep 08 06:43:01 Morrowind dbus-daemon[633]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.kde.powerdevil.backlighthelper'
Sep 08 06:43:02 Morrowind kcminit[2318]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_mouse.so"
Sep 08 06:43:02 Morrowind kcminit[2318]: Initializing  "/usr/lib/qt/plugins/plasma/kcms/systemsettings/kcm_touchpad.so"
Sep 08 06:43:02 Morrowind kcminit[2318]: kcm_touchpad: Using X11 backend
Sep 08 06:43:04 Morrowind kwin_x11[958]: kwin_core: XCB error: 3 (BadWindow), sequence: 7770, resource id: 14680081, major code: 129 (SHAPE), minor code: 6 (Input)
Sep 08 06:43:05 Morrowind systemd[872]: Started WezTerm.
Sep 08 06:43:06 Morrowind plasmashell[2323]: 06:43:06.400  WARN   window::os::x11::connection > Unable to resolve appearance using xdg-desktop-portal: get_appearance.read_setting: Reading xdg-portal org.freedesktop.appearance color-scheme: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop was not provided by any .service files

Have a look at:

System Settings > Power Management > Energy Saving (the “Dim screen” setting for AC, battery, and low battery)

and also:

System Settings > Workspace Behavior > Screen Locking

3 Likes

Sorry for the late reply. I have the default configuration for the settings you mentioned in both the Intel and AMD laptops. But still the quirky behaviour occurs in the AMD one.



Maybe I am misinterpreting what you wrote, but it seems to me that what you are describing is exactly what the settings are configured to do - dim the screen after some minutes of activity, then turn off after a few more minutes.

For example, on AC power, the screen will dim after 5 minutes of inactivity, then will turn off after 10 minutes. On battery, the screen dims after 2 minutes and turns off after 5 minutes.

If you don’t want this, remove the check mark from the “Dim screen” and “Switch off after” boxes.

Maybe I couldn’t express it correctly :melting_face:,

  1. In the Intel system, the behaviour is just as you said - the screen dims gradually and then turns off.
    BUT
  2. In the AMD system, the screen dims gradually, then for a few moments the screen turns black with backlight on and a cursor and then the screen turns off.

The thing in the middle is the issue.

1 Like

I see.

Sorry, I don’t know why you’re having that happen. I was unable to find any bug reports or similar issues with a quick web search, but as it’s 2AM here, I am going to sleep. If no one has figured anything out by tomorrow, I will do a deeper search and see if I can find anything.

1 Like