Getting unwanted screen lock

Support & Help Requests
#1

From time to time, with no pattern that I can discern, my laptop goes into a mode in which it locks the screen whenever it becomes “idle”. (I have it set to consider itself to be idle after 30 minutes of inactivity.)

This is no big deal; I just have to key in my password and it unlocks. But it is annoying. And mystifying. What could be causing this behaviour? I have taken no overt action to initiate screen locking.

In Control Center -> Screensaver I definitely do not have the box “Lock screen when screensave is active” ticked. And I can find no other allusions to locking the screen amongst the various tools in the “Control Center”.

Can anyone suggest what might be going on and how I might stop it from happening?

Note that rebooting does not seem to help. But then, after some time (with no discernable cause) the screen locking behaviour will cease. And then after some more time (weeks, months) recommense. Weird.

I am running Ubuntu 16.04.2 and Mate 1.12.1.

#2

You could try and use dconf-editor: sudo apt-get install dconf-editor.

Then org > mate > screensaver and detick lock-enabled. This should prevent your screen from locking when it goes idle.

dconf.png800×633 70.7 KB

#3

Thanks James. However it seems that other gremlins are active. The
lock-enabled button is already not ticked here. I've attached a
screenshot of the relevant window.

cheers,

Rolf

dconfWin.png808×628 83.2 KB

#4

I just set my settings to the effect where I should get a lock screen once the screensaver becomes active - but I don’t. Something seems to be not quite right :thinking:

#5

[quote=“rolf, post:1, topic:12837, full:true”]Note that rebooting does not seem to help. But then, after some time (with no discernable cause) the screen locking behaviour will cease. And then after some more time (weeks, months) recommense. Weird.[/quote]This alone suggests to me it is not a software issue at all. Had it been a software issue, the behaviour would be more predictable. Would follow a pattern. It would not be seemingly random.

My first inkling is to look at the laptop’s battery. Tried removing it and using the laptop without it? I’m thinking – power charging issues. ie: dying battery. I might be off though; it’s just that I’m not accustomed to software behaving erraticely. Either it misbehaves or it does not. It does not randomly misbehave and then stop misbehaving. Only to resume misbehaving.

#6

At first I was very skeptical about your suggestion. My laptop is quite
new, and there are no (other) indications of battery problems. However
I recently had occasion to shut the laptop down an unplug it from the
power source (to take it to another location). When I started it up
again, the annoying screen locking behaviour no longer occurred.

So your diagnosis seems to have been spot on. It’s still all kind of
weird and mysterious, but at least the issue is to some extent narrowed
down.

Thanks.

#7

but at least the issue is to some extent narrowed down.

Thanks.
[/quote]You’re more than welcome. I hope it helps you pinpoint it exactly, so as to have it looked at and fixed. Good luck.