[Dell Precision M4800] Regression: screen brightness control broken in 15.04

[Marius B. Kotsbak]

In Ubuntu 15.04, I no longer am able to control the screen brightness. See possible similar bug #1411514 for 14.04.1.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+7ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-16.16-generic 3.19.3
Uname: Linux 3.19.0-16-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 346.59 Tue Mar 31 14:10:31 PDT 2015
 GCC version: gcc version 4.9.2 (Ubuntu 4.9.2-10ubuntu13)
ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop:

Date: Wed May 6 10:12:03 2015
DistUpgraded: 2015-04-24 01:12:19,566 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistributionChannelDescriptor:
 # This is a distribution channel descriptor
 # For more information see http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DistributionChannelDescriptor
 canonical-oem-somerville-precise-amd64-20130203-1
DistroCodename: vivid
DistroVariant: ubuntu
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation GK106GLM [Quadro K2100M] [10de:11fc] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:05cc]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-03-12 (419 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 "Precise" - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20130203-13:50
MachineType: Dell Inc. Precision M4800
PlymouthDebug: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/plymouth-debug.log'
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-16-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=61c860cd-d55d-4e70-85a3-615b677b5811 ro nomodeset=1 splash quiet plymouth:debug=1
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to vivid on 2015-04-23 (12 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 12/03/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A11
dmi.board.name: 077KCT
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 9
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA11:bd12/03/2014:svnDellInc.:pnPrecisionM4800:pvr01:rvnDellInc.:rn077KCT:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct9:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Precision M4800
dmi.product.version: 01
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.1+15.04.20150410.1-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.60-2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.5.2-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.5.2-0ubuntu1
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.5.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917-1~exp1ubuntu2build1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.11-1ubuntu2build1
xserver.bootTime: Tue May 5 22:22:48 2015
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors: open /dev/fb0: No such file or directory
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:

xserver.version: 2:1.17.1-0ubuntu3

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Marius B. Kotsbak (mariusko)]

No, it did not change anything:

$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
A13
01/29/2015

But thanks for pointing out my outdated BIOS. It might solve other issues.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Marius B. Kotsbak, anything change for you using the latest nvidia driver via http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/84043/en-us ?

[Marius B. Kotsbak (mariusko)]

No, I installed version 349.16 using xorg-edgers, but it did not change anything. I guess this is an regression issue with the kernel instead.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Marius B. Kotsbak, unfortunately at this point, as nvidia drivers are proprietary, it's an issue for nvidia to fix in their driver, versus one to fix in the linux kernel.

Despite this, does this issue not occur in you use nouveau?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for nvidia-graphics-drivers-346-updates (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]