Disabling apmd during boot

[seranmca]

Hello,
I have a Red Hat Linux release 9 (Shrike) machine with X Server (XFree86 Version 4.3.0) and window manager as fvwm (FVWM version 2.4.19). My system boots into runlevel 3 (id:3:initdefault) and I am calling startx from my .bash_profile. I did not wanted to see my screen going blank if I keep the machine idle for a long time so I disabled "dpms" and screensaver options inside .xinitrc-fvwm script.

Let me just summarize...

Operating System:
[root@bulls root]# cat /etc/redhat-release
Red Hat Linux release 9 (Shrike)

XServer:
[root@bulls root]# XFree86 -version
XFree86 Version 4.3.0 (Red Hat Linux release: 4.3.0-2)
Release Date: 27 February 2003
......

Window manager:
[root@bulls root]# fvwm -version
FVWM version 2.4.19 compiled on Sep 30 2004 at 20:30:39
with support for: ReadLine, Stroke, XPM, GNOME WM hints, Shape, SM, Xinerama

.xinitrc-fvwm contents:
[root@bulls root]# cat .xinitrc-fvwm
#FvwmScript-ScreenSetup,1449
#ScreenMark
xsetroot -solid "#0EC4B8"
xset s 0 0 s blank
xset -dpms
#end

Now my problem is, if I keep my system idle for a long time (for 3 to 4 hours) the XServer doesnot response immediately if I try to move the mouse cursor or if I try to click on some buttons. The display takes few seconds to respond, then it becomes normal. This behaviour occurs only for the first time, then the system comes back to normal speed. This goes on in a cycle(Again if I leave the machine for some time period...).

I did not wanted to see this behaviour.

After doing some R&D I had a belief that apm is creating this situation. So, I disabled both ACPI and APM in my grub.conf file(appended "apm=off acpi=off" at kernel line). Here is my grub.conf(comments ommitted)

[root@bulls root]# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
....
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-8custom)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-8custom ro root=LABEL=/ quiet vga=788 splash=silent apm=off acpi=off
initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.20-8custom.img

But in BIOS->Power Management Setup->ACPI Function is Enabled. After booting I tried to see if apmd is running or not.

[root@bulls root]# ps -aef | grep apmd
root 909 787 0 12:33 pts/0 00:00:00 grep apmd

So, apmd is not running and if I run "apm"...

[root@bulls root]# apm
No APM support in kernel

After completing all these steps I left the machine idle for more than 8 hours(whole night), and then in the morning I tried to click on some buttons, surprisingly I DIDN'T SEE ANY KIND OF DELAY.(Sorry for shouting!!).

My machine is not a laptop.

I am looking for some more suggestions, please provide me. Did I followed the right steps? Is there anything more to be done? Sorry for the lengthy explanation.

Please give me some more ideas so that I can try to finish this immediately.

Thanks
Seran

[serz]

To disable the "apmd" service so it doesn't start when your system boots, as root do:

chkconfig --del apmd