Lenovo: cannot change brightness with kernel 2.6.31-4-generic

[Ofir Klinger]

I am running kubuntu 9.10 alpha 3 on Lenovo 3000 N100 and I can't change the brightness of the screen.

When trying to change it using the fn keys, dmesg says:
ACPI Failed to switch the brightness

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Jul 30 13:27:18 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=7172bf9b-ef7d-474f-8c07-1abf7f011cf0
MachineType: LENOVO 0768FPG
Package: linux-image-2.6.31-4-generic 2.6.31-4.23
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-4-generic root=UUID=0c51004d-9046-483a-8f09-268de9356ecc ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-4.23-generic
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-4-generic N/A
SourcePackage: linux
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-4-generic i686
dmi.bios.date: 01/24/07
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 63ET59WW
dmi.board.name: CAPELL VALLEY(NAPA) CRB
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: No Enclosure
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr63ET59WW:bd01/24/07:svnLENOVO:pn0768FPG:pvr3000N100:rvnLENOVO:rnCAPELLVALLEY(NAPA)CRB:rvrNotApplicable:cvnNoEnclosure:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: 0768FPG
dmi.product.version: 3000 N100
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Ofir Klinger (klinger-ofir)]

Is there a way to change the brightness other then with the fn keys?

The screen is too dark and it is very hard to work with it.

[Ofir Klinger (klinger-ofir)]

I found out that the fn keys can change the brightness right when ubuntu boots.

[Arnd (arnd-arndnet)]

Maybe this is related to the bug in jaunty-proposed:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/423296
as there seems to be a similar commit for karmic?
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git?p=ubuntu/ubuntu-karmic.git;a=commit;h=74a365b3f354fafc537efa5867deb7a9fadbfe27

Best regards,
Arnd

[Samuel Mehrbrodt (sam92)]

I've just installed Ubuntu 9.10 beta and I've got this bug, too.
Is there any way to change the brightness? Till when will this be fixed?
Any news here?

[Alessio Bolognino (themolok)]

I've got the same problem with my MacBook 2,1 , I'll attach logs

[Alessio Bolognino (themolok)]

I can't find a way to post more than one attachment per comment, I'll spam a bit the bugreport :/

[Alessio Bolognino (themolok)]

I have this problem with the 2.6.31-14-generic kernel.

[Samuel Mehrbrodt (sam92)]

Today I've made an update and I've got the 2.6.31-14-generic kernel now.
The problem is fixed, on Lenovo 3000 N100 it works great now (That means you can change the brightness in 4 steps, of course it would be better if you could change it step-less, but thats ok for me)

Thank you for you good work (whoever has done it).

[Ruben (tk421-1)]

I am using Lenovo N500, 2.6.31-14-generic at Ubuntu 9.10

The problem is not fixed for me.

[Ryan Hamilton (rthamilt)]

Lenovo Y450 with nvidia GeForce GT 130M graphics, not fixed for me either.

[Gergely Csépány (cheoppy)]

It's the same for me on a Lenovo Y450 with Intel Mobile 4 graphics, but I can change the brightness with setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=FF where FF is a brightest mode and 00:02.0 is from lspci | grep VGA.
I found this wokraround here: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=73889
How could I set acpi to execute this command on the keypress? (which is detected by acpi_listen)

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Ofir,

If you could also please 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.]

[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.