xscreensaver not working properly

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dollyp
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xscreensaver not working properly

Post by dollyp »

Since I upgraded from LM16 xfce to LM17 xfce I have been having a problem with resuming after suspend. At first nothing happens after I open my laptop lid then I get a message in yellow at the top of the screen: "xscreensaver:<current time>:authentication via PAM cancelled". If I then press Esc I get the xscreensaver login prompt and the system resumes from there. Sometimes I don't get the error message until after I press Esc but the message usually appears after 10-15 secs.

Regards
David
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gtsfer

Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by gtsfer »

What exactly did you install (what packages) for xscreensaver? See this link... http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/man1.html. Look at the part where it says "PAM Passwords". It looks like you are missing a file maybe.
dollyp
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Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by dollyp »

gtsfer wrote:What exactly did you install (what packages) for xscreensaver?

Starting with a working Mint16 xfce
1. Ran Mint17 xfce from a live USB
2. Installed Mint17 xfce
3. Ran Mint Update
4. Used Mint Backup to reinstall programs using previously saved program backup

Err That's it. Closed the laptop to suspend and the problem was there when I opened the laptop to resume.
See this link... http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/man1.html. Look at the part where it says "PAM Passwords". It looks like you are missing a file maybe.
Had a look at this. Way past my paygrade. Sorry, you might be right but I don't understand almost everything in that manual.

Thanks for trying though

Regards
David
gtsfer

Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by gtsfer »

OK I'll try again. I get that you restored installed programs with Mintbackup. But when you originally installed xscreensaver (with Package Manager I assume) did you install all these packages?

xscreensaver, xscreensaver-data, xscreensaver-data-extra, xscreensaver-gl, xscreensaver-gl-extra
dollyp
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Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by dollyp »

gtsfer wrote:OK I'll try again. I get that you restored installed programs with Mintbackup. But when you originally installed xscreensaver (with Package Manager I assume) did you install all these packages?

xscreensaver, xscreensaver-data, xscreensaver-data-extra, xscreensaver-gl, xscreensaver-gl-extra
I didn't install xscreensaver. I assume it was part of Mint16 and also part of Mint17 and was therefore installed as part of the OS. I have checked in Synaptic and I have all of these packages installed, but I emphasise these must have been installed as part of Mint17 as they worked OK in Mint16.

David
gtsfer

Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by gtsfer »

I guess it's part of Xfce by default then. You have to install it in Mate or Cinnamon. I'll take a look with a "live" boot of Xfce a little later. I know that on my system I have the file that the link above is referencing. Maybe we can fix it up, be patient, OK?
gtsfer

Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by gtsfer »

I booted up Xfce and xscreensaver seemed to be working fine, but I'm not on a laptop. I did try going into suspend and resuming and it all seemed ok. Look in Filesystem /etc/pam.d for a file named "xscreensaver". It should be there as I booted up Xfce in live mode and it was by default. I opened it with a text editor and it looks like this...
#
# /etc/pam.d/xscreensaver - PAM behavior for xscreensaver
#

@include common-auth
@include common-account
When you upgraded from 16 to 17 maybe did you leave your /home partition intact? I'm not sure why else you might be getting an error like this yet. If this doesn't help narrow it down you might try completely removing xscreensaver and all it's dependencies, and then and re-installing it. If you need help with that (the easy way) just let us know.
dollyp
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Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by dollyp »

Thank you for your help.
gtsfer wrote: # /etc/pam.d/xscreensaver - PAM behavior for xscreensaver
#

@include common-auth
@include common-account
My file is identical to that.
When you upgraded from 16 to 17 maybe did you leave your /home partition intact? I'm not sure why else you might be getting an error like this yet. If this doesn't help narrow it down you might try completely removing xscreensaver and all it's dependencies, and then and re-installing it. If you need help with that (the easy way) just let us know.
I've tried to uninstall/reinstall using Synaptic and also removed the .xscreensaver file from /home. No change. I do leave my /home partition intact - I have 2 drives in the laptop so much easier not to have to reinstall and reconfigure.

Over the weekend I reinstalled Mint17 from scratch and tried to suspend/resume immediately after reinstallation and before and after the first update. Same problem. Since others would have complained if there was a generic problem with Mint17 there must be something that is individual to my computer setup. I'll live with it for now.

Regards
David
gtsfer

Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by gtsfer »

dollyp wrote: Over the weekend I reinstalled Mint17 from scratch and tried to suspend/resume immediately after reinstallation and before and after the first update. Same problem. Since others would have complained if there was a generic problem with Mint17 there must be something that is individual to my computer setup. I'll live with it for now.
You're welcome David. Must be something tougher to track down with your setup. If I even see another one like this on Xscreensaver I'll post back to this thread.
strangedelightful

Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by strangedelightful »

I have the same issue - PAM error message, etc. etc.

I've gone through the steps in the thread.

Full install of Linux Mint 17 XFCE (blew away my old partitions, did not use backup/restore). Hardware is a Toshiba NB505.

If we can't figure out the issue, is xscreensaver the only way to have a password challenge on resume? Because I don't need the screensaver, just the lock screen. (This hardware was previously running Mint 14 XFCE, and IIRC the lock screen at resume was the same as the startup screen.)
rick2210
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Re: xscreensaver not working properly

Post by rick2210 »

Am having a similar problem. No matter what settings I use for xscreensaver or power manager, the screen will eventually go black and am unable to restore an active screen without reboot.

Wnen I disable the screensaver the problem does not occur as the screen never goes to black.

Had same problem with xubuntu 14.04 which uses light-locker screensaver. I tried using xscreensaver but had same problem.
With light-locker was able to press ctrl-alt-F1 and get a logon prompt. Logged in and executed sudo service lightdm restart and I would get back to the logon screen, logon and all was normal.


Pete Ricksecker
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