Thinkpad X60s (also T60, R60): changing the screen brightness blanks screen

Bug #87028 reported by Timo Aaltonen
76
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux-source-2.6.20 (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Medium
Unassigned
xorg (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: linux-source-2.6.20

Changing the screen brightness with Fn+Home/End on a Thinkpad X60s makes the screen go blank, and you need to restart X to get it back (console works).

a workaround is to blacklist 'video.o' from loading and reboot:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Installing_Kubuntu_6.10_on_a_ThinkPad_X60s_2
http://<email address hidden>/msg00092.html

and it seems to be a kernel bug.

Revision history for this message
Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Kyle McMartin (kyle) wrote :

Saw something about this on LKML, will track and update status.

Changed in linux-source-2.6.20:
assignee: nobody → kyle
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: Unconfirmed → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Ben Collins (ben-collins) wrote :

Confirmed bugs need to be assigned to ubuntu-kernel-team.

Changed in linux-source-2.6.20:
assignee: kyle → ubuntu-kernel-team
Revision history for this message
Ben Epstein (superbenny) wrote :

confirmed here too

Revision history for this message
Ian Redfern (ian-redfern) wrote :

Still present in Gutsy with linux-generic_2.6.22.6.5_i386.deb, but blacklisting video now disables gnome-brightness-applet, which it didn't in Feisty.

Revision history for this message
grenness (christopher-grenness) wrote :

Confirmed in Gutsy with 2.6.22-7-generic kernel (Lenovo Thinkpad X60s).
Sometimes (like today) I forget about this bug and try to increase the brightness in meetings etc (the brightness is set to decrase on battery power) and the screen blanks. But plugging the laptop to an external monitor gives me the display there and I am able to save my work and restart X.
This however only works after the following lines has been added to the section "Device" in xorg.conf:

 Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT,LFP"
 Option "Clone" "true"
 Option "DevicePresence" "true"

(this clones your monitor output, great to hotplug a projector, for instance)

Revision history for this message
Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor) wrote :

Blacklisting the video module is a better and cleaner approach to workaround this bug.

Revision history for this message
Nathan Collins (ntc2) wrote :

For me the buttons (Fn+Home and Fn+End) actually do adjust the brightness, but need to be pressed *three* times. I can wait a long time a long time between presses and the screen just stays black until the third press.

Feisty on an x60s.

Revision history for this message
Ben Epstein (superbenny) wrote : Re: [Bug 87028] Re: Thinkpad X60s (also T60, R60): changing the screen brightness blanks screen

Nathan Collins wrote:
> For me the buttons (Fn+Home and Fn+End) actually do adjust the
> brightness, but need to be pressed *three* times. I can wait a long
> time a long time between presses and the screen just stays black until
> the third press.
>
> Feisty on an x60s.
>
>
Yes, confirmed on my R60 (Feisty also).

Revision history for this message
Gregory Oschwald (osch0001) wrote :

My machine is still experiencing this using an up-to-date Gutsy install with linux-image-2.6.22-9-generic.

Revision history for this message
Ante Karamatić (ivoks) wrote :

Looks like this is resolved with latest xserver-xorg-core package in gutsy.

Revision history for this message
Ian Redfern (ian-redfern) wrote :

I can confirm the brightness keys work now correctly on my ThinkPad X60 with the latest gutsy without blacklisting.

The brightness applet also controls brightness again, but doesn't reflect changes made with Fn-Home/End.

Revision history for this message
Matthew Garrett (mjg59) wrote :

Yeah, turns out Xorg was being utterly insane. I've sent a patch upstream.

Changed in linux-source-2.6.20:
status: Confirmed → Invalid
Changed in xorg:
status: New → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote : Kernel team bugs

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

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