Laptop: Dell Vostro 3400
OS: Ubuntu 10.10 beta, x64 Maverick Meercat
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 310M (GT218)
Driver: nouveau
`uname -a`: Linux twentz-vostro 2.6.35-20-generic #29-Ubuntu SMP Fri Sep 3 14:55:28 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
When I upgraded to Maverick 10.10 (and after some initial adjustments), my brightness levels are about 50% lower than they should be -- so "0" brightness equates to literally a turned off backlight and "100%" is a dimly lit screen (probably ~50% normal brightness)
Some of the bugs related to this issue had some solutions, but I was not able to fully apply them to my problem:
using 'setpci' with the device's address didn't seem to work -- of I needed to specify a different value (other than f4.b), but I have no idea where this value came from -- it was just what was used to fix this problem on a different system.
I cannot seem to modify the "max_brightness" file in /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/ or /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/ (these directories have "./brightness" files that change when I adjust the brightness using the FN+up/down keys). I could understand why it would be unmodifiable, but I have no other ideas have to solve the problem.
twentz@twentz-vostro:/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight$ sudo setpci -s 01:00.0 f4.b=ff
twentz@twentz-vostro:/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight$ ls
actual_brightness brightness max_brightness subsystem
bl_power device power uevent
twentz@twentz-vostro:/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight$ cat max_brightness
1025
twentz@twentz-vostro:/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight$ sudo sh -c 'echo 1500 > /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/max_brightness'
sh: cannot create /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/max_brightness: Permission denied
twentz@twentz-vostro:/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight$ ls -l
total 0
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 16:11 actual_brightness
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 16:11 bl_power
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 15:57 brightness
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2010-09-12 16:11 device -> ../../../0000:01:00.0
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 15:57 max_brightness
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2010-09-12 16:11 power
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2010-09-12 15:57 subsystem -> ../../../../../../class/backlight
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 15:57 uevent
twentz@twentz-vostro:/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight$ sudo sh -c 'echo 1500 > /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/max_brightness'
sh: cannot create /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/max_brightness: Permission denied
twentz@twentz-vostro:/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight$ su root
Password:
root@twentz-vostro:/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight# sh -c 'echo 1500 > /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/max_brightness'
sh: cannot create /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/max_brightness: Permission denied
(also, other forms of 'echo' or text editing don't seem to work)
My laptop's monitor corresponds to "LVDS", but that is never specified in any of the Xorg files that any program generates, nor do I know how to correctly specify it as such (if that would even help)
twentz@twentz-vostro:/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/device/drm/card0/card0-LVDS-1$ ls -l
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2010-09-12 16:16 device -> ../../card0
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 16:16 dpms
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 2010-09-12 16:16 edid
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 16:16 enabled
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 16:16 modes
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2010-09-12 16:16 power
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 16:16 status
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2010-09-12 15:57 subsystem -> ../../../../../../../class/drm
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2010-09-12 15:57 uevent
I had to change graphics drivers from "nvidia" to "nouveau" because the Nvidia driver crashes on start-up (different, not germane issue) -- so I am using the "nouveau" driver
Attached is my xorg.conf that I'm using. It was generated automatically by "Xorg -configure" EXCEPT it initially used the "nv' driver, which failed to ever successfully load (something about "modesetting", also happens with the 'vesa' driver -- but 'nouveau' worked)
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: linux-image-2.6.35-20-generic 2.6.35-20.29
Regression: No
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-20.29-generic 2.6.35.4
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-20-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
Subdevices: 2/2
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: twentz 1594 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: twentz 1594 F...m pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfbe00000 irq 47'
Mixer name : 'IDT 92HD81B1X5'
Components : 'HDA:111d7605,10280440,00100104'
Controls : 18
Simple ctrls : 12
Card1.Amixer.info:
Card hw:1 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xfb080000 irq 16'
Mixer name : 'Nvidia GT21x HDMI'
Components : 'HDA:10de000b,10de0101,00100100'
Controls : 16
Simple ctrls : 4
CheckboxSubmission: bcb8b4c06179696af1b8bb66d96667a6
CheckboxSystem: d00f84de8a555815fa1c4660280da308
Date: Sun Sep 12 17:15:26 2010
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=4b3d5e5a-94be-4426-8f85-2620e5629680
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Vostro 3400
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-20-generic root=UUID=d10ffc55-5e23-4966-9e5c-b2cb317f3874 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
PATH=(custom, user)
LANG=en_US.utf8
SHELL=/bin/bash
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.38
RfKill:
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
SourcePackage: linux
UserAsoundrc:
pcm.teeraw {
type empty
slave.pcm "tee:default,'/tmp/out.raw',raw"
# 48000 S16_LE 2ch (aplay -t raw -f dat)
}
dmi.bios.date: 06/23/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A05
dmi.board.name: 0RXV7H
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: Not Specified
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA05:bd06/23/2010:svnDellInc.:pnVostro3400:pvrNotSpecified:rvnDellInc.:rn0RXV7H:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrNotSpecified:
dmi.product.name: Vostro 3400
dmi.product.version: Not Specified
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
For comparison, here's the xorg.conf file that is generated by running 'nvidia-xconfig' (while nvidia-current is installed). Of course, X never succeeded in loading because it appears the NVIDIA driver itself fails, but for previous NVIDIA driver versions, the generated file worked.