[DESKTOP] Screen completely blanks to black - sometimes occasionally, and sometimes often

[dfgrbac]

I originally entered this problem on Kubuntu 22.04 Jellyfish. After I saw a notice that Kubuntu 24.04 was available, I upgraded to Noble Numbat to see if it would fix this problem. It made no difference on this blanking screen problem.

Note: It does usually not matter what I am doing, but there seems to be some connection with content. Today I got a momentary blank screen a few seconds after logging in - before touching anything. Then the system was fine for a while.

Then later I stated reading email and browsing using Proton and Brave. I remember seeing random blanks once or twice. Then as I started reading an email from RFK Jr's teamkennedy.com, the screen blanked, then blanked again, and then started rapid blanking without moving the cursor at all. Needless to say, this is really annoying.

Is anyone else seeing this? Has malware snuck into the system.

[jlittle]

On a desktop it may be a cable issue. Back in the VGA days I'd have considered it likely, but it's worth a check that the cable is connected securely.

On a laptop there can be a hinge issue.

[dfgrbac]

It's still happening! Just this morning (9/14/24) I tried to check system settings, and when the pointer hovered over "Settings" the screen blanked out. Then started to blank out for longer periods, all without touching the mouse.

Another new development the last two days is the time is not getting set. It is 4 hours behind from New York. When I try to set it, the message says it can't be set. But the funny thing is, when I set Greenland as the location it again says it can't be set, and when I APPLY anyway it sets "Greenland" to my correct New York time.

This is really messed up. What is going on?

[amudhans]

New to this forum. So bear with me. Not sure if this is the right forum, as soon as i add any widget my application launcher disappears at the bottom and my desktop goes blank. I am able to use the already open apps though. Only way i could get back my application launcher/desktop is to edit the file under home/config directory(plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc) and remove the newly added widget related lines from there. Then reboot. i have stopped attempting to add widgets. Not sure if the OP encountered this issue or completely a different situation. Thought would put it out there. Thx

[jlittle]

...edit the file under home/config directory(plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc) and remove the newly added widget related lines from there...

That file has a convoluted structure and IME gets screwed up. I expect that removing the "newly added widget related lines" does not fix the screwiness, perhaps even makes it worse. I suggest deleting the file altogether; a lot of plasma set up will be lost, but the file will be recreated in a consistent state and following set up has a better chance of being free of trouble.

[tenplus1]

My screen would blank on desktop under wayland session and the way I fixed it was to disable variable refresh in screen settings.

[dfgrbac]

I am really busy doing other unrelated forums, but decided to check back here on the screen blanking. I keep hoping an update will fix this, and I do them all. The kubuntu system is performing well, but the annoying screen blanking is still happening.

I have no idea what a "wayland session" is.

I seem to have discovered another clue for investigation on this problem. It always happens when the mouse arrow is suddenly moved to the bottom of the screen area. I would estimate it always happens in the bottom quarter of the screen, and starts the blankity blank. Does this clue give anyone a thought? Another clue is that it will often stay blank unless I move the cursor.