geforce2 'rapid' screen save

[Herbert Ho <hho@uiuc.edu>]

I'm not sure if this would be the right forum, but I'm wondering if
anyone has seen the same problem.

i have a geforce2 mx card, an updated sid system w/ xfree4.0.3. i've
installed the binary drivers from nvidia as specified by the faq.
works great.

but after some use in X, it will blank the screen (as if the keyboard
was inactive for a while). when i try to escape (by pressing 'shift')
the screen will return. but immediately blank again. it does so in a
continuous manner.

i have seen this problem w/ the drivers in the stock xfree86. and
console doesn't have this problem. in /var/log/XFree.0.log (or
something like that) i see these two lines after one of these blank
sessions when i switch to console to check the logs:

   (WW) Cannot open APM
   (II) NVIDIA(0): Setting mode "1152x864"

i think the nvidia drivers is turning off the video card b/c its
getting too hot. hence the apm warning. i've tried this with another
monitor with the same problem.

any clue?

thanks.


herbert