Backlight level too low on Asus Z71V

[Nat Tuck]

After upgrading to Hardy, my Asus Z71V laptop started over-aggressively dimming the brightness based on the built in light sensor. I could read the screen comfortably if I shined a light *on* the sensor, but in low light conditions the screen was significantly too dim.

The brightness keys (Fn + F5 / Fn + F6) have no effect at all.

I've disabled the ambient light sensor and turned the brightness back up using the instructions in this thread:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=38935

It would be nice if the dynamic brightness were set a bit higher and the keys worked, but if that's not possible then it might be a good idea to ignore the light sensor by default.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thanks for your report. Can you test the solution proposed in this report and tell if it works for you ?

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Posting to fast :S.
Here is the link https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/222171

[Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus)]

Yea, I had already been setting the brightness level on boot with

nat@icewing:~$ cat /etc/rc.local
...
echo 12 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop/ls_level
echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop/ls_switch

The hotkey settings are new and help. Those settings invert brightness up / down compared to the key caps on my machine - but they do make it work.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Ralph Janke (txwikinger)]

The Intrepid Ibex 8.10 Beta release was most recently announced - http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/intrepid/beta . It contains the 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. It would be great if you could test and verify if this is still an issue. The status is being set to Incomplete until we receive further feedback. Thanks.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

[Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus)]

This bug still appears with the Intrepid (final) LiveCD.

[Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus)]

After playing with it a bit more, the brightness levels are actually reasonable with Intrepid. The brightness keys still don't work, but Intrepid is usable by default.

[Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus)]

Although the default light levels are reasonable with Jaunty, the brightness keys still don't work, and in some light conditions the automatically set screen brightness is unreadably dim.

[kernel-janitor (kernel-janitor)]

Hi nat-ferrus,

Please run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux-image-`uname -r` 219463

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus)]

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=326a4b89-fbd5-4746-93d9-edfc1df37446
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. M7V
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: linux-image-2.6.28-11-generic 2.6.28-11.42
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=f78e32d9-80a9-4c54-9ff9-6f12b6c8f163 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-11.42-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

[Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus)]

The main remaining issue here is the brightness buttons on the keyboard not working. My guess is that that's just a hotkey config problem.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.