old fc8 laptop power management strangeness

[Dave Burns]

I have to use an old laptop running fc8 today. I opened the power
management panel and set it to never go to sleep when on AC power. It
goes to sleep anyhow. Does anyone remember how to make this work in
fc8? HW is dell latitude d410?

I set the "put computer to sleep when inactive for" and "put display
to sleep when inactive for" both to 'never' and set "when lid is
closed' to 'do nothing'. But if I leave it alone for a while it goes
to sleep (logging me out completely) and also if I close the lid.

I'd settle for a way to get it to ask me to authenticate rather than
logging me out. That's what I expect from my desktop system, and while
the laptop is plugged into a power outlet I'd expect it to do the
same.
mahalo,
Dave