no brightness hotkeys on sony pcg-tr3a

[taka k.]

after upgrading to jaunty, the brightness hotkeys no longer work on this sony pcg-tr3a laptop. the default behavior, when using ms windows and the ms windows hotkey driver, is for Fn+F5 to activate the brightness control, then use left and right arrows to adjust. in intrepid, it was simply Fn+F5 to lower the brightness and Fn+F6 to raise the brightness. not such a big deal, since Fn+F6 is not needed for anything. now, Fn+F5 and Fn+F6 do nothing. gnome-power-manager can adjust the brightness fine, it seems, as when i unplug the AC power the brightness is reduced, and raised again when plugged back in.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=905382c4-e9c7-462e-9db0-4d11b107c9a2
MachineType: Sony Corporation PCG-TR3A(UC)
Package: linux-image-2.6.28-11-generic 2.6.28-11.42
ProcCmdLine: root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu-root ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-11.42-generic
SourcePackage: linux

[taka k. (scar)]

forgot to mention that most of the other Fn hotkeys work:

Fn+ESC = suspend
Fn+F3 = lowers volume / mutes
Fn+F4 = raises volume
Fn+F7 = appears to try to switch displays (don't have an external display to test with but the screen flickers)
Fn+F12 = hibernate
Fn+up = Pg Up
Fn+down = Pg Down
Fn+left = Home
Fn+right = End

these don't work:

Fn+Num Lock = Scroll Lock

not tested:

Fn+Print Screen = Sys Rq
Fn+Insert = Pause
Fn+Delete = Break

additionally, there are some other buttons on the right side of the screen, none of which function:

capture = load web cam
vol+ = increase volume
vol- = decrease volume
magnify = reduce screen resolution

[mattm (mmatchen)]

     I also have this issue as I have a PCG-TR3A.

[taka k. (scar)]

i wanted to add, that, thanks to Intertricity in this[1] thread, i was able to manually adjust the brightness using the spicctrl command. better than nothing.

sudo apt-get install spicctrl
sudo spicctrl -b#

where # is {0...255}

1. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7772041

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi scar,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/lucid.

If it remains an issue, could you 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 374571

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.]

[taka k. (scar)]

is this something i can do with the live cd? or i need to install the OS to the hard disk in order to test?

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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