AMD Radeon HD 8210[1002:9834] Brightness cannnot be adjusted without fglrx driver

[Po-Hsu Lin]

CID: 201308-14057 Dell Inspiron 3135

Brightness cannot be adjusted if the proprietary fglrx video driver is not installed.
Module "radeon" cannot be found in lsmod, it seems that this graphic chip is not supported

Steps:
1. Install 12.04.3, and boot to desktop.
2. Try to adjust screen brightness with hotkey
3. Try to adjust screen brightness in "Brightness and Lock"

Expected results:
1. Brightness could be adjusted by the hokey
2. Brightness could be adjusted in "Brightness and Lock"

Actual Results:
1. Hotkey event was correctly captured, brightness indicator level will change accordingly, but the brightness won't be altered.
2. Brightness cannot be adjusted in "Brightness and Lock" as well

Update to 3.8.0-33 still not helping with this.

However, acpi_backlight=vendor in grub can make it work.
So as the proprietary fglrx driver.

Debugging information:
$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -c -p
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.2, 128 bits)
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 9.1.7

Not software rendered: no
Not blacklisted: yes
GLX fbconfig: yes
GLX texture from pixmap: yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes

Compiz supported: no

$ /usr/share/checkbox/scripts/graphics_driver
------------- VIDEO DRIVER INFORMATION -------------
ERROR: No video driver loaded! Possibly in failsafe mode!
------------- HYBRID GRAPHICS CHECK ----------------
Graphics Chipset: AMD (1002:9834)
Loaded DDX Drivers: ati, radeon, vesa, modesetting, fbdev
Hybrid Graphics: no

$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 3.8.0-33-generic (buildd@toyol) (gcc version 4.6.3 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.6.3-1ubuntu5) ) #48~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 24 16:28:06 UTC 2013

$ dmesg | grep 'ACPI: Video'
[ 9.979714] ACPI: Video Device [VGA] (multi-head: yes rom: no post: no)

$ ls /sys/class/backlight
dell_backlight

=== After the "acpi_backlight=vendor" was added into grub===
$ ls /sys/class/backlight
dell_backlight

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.8.0-33-generic 3.8.0-33.48~precise1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-33.48~precise1-generic 3.8.13.11
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-33-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version k3.8.0-33-generic.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.6
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC283 Analog [ALC283 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: ubuntu 1735 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 1735 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Generic'/'HD-Audio Generic at 0x90240000 irq 81'
   Mixer name : 'ATI R6xx HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100500'
   Controls : 7
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card0.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'Generic_1'/'HD-Audio Generic at 0x90244000 irq 82'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC283'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0283,10280614,00100003'
   Controls : 16
   Simple ctrls : 7
CurrentDmesg: [ 18.795370] init: anacron main process (1061) killed by TERM signal
Date: Fri Nov 8 05:43:59 2013
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=ac9c1dd5-27db-4d5d-be59-744320e42db0
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20130820.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 3135
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 VESA VGA
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.8.0-33-generic root=UUID=8ec40ec2-ac0a-457e-9879-4dce08e1c15f ro quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.8.0-33-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.8.0-33-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79.7
SourcePackage: linux-lts-raring
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/13/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: X11
dmi.board.name: BNE3A1
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: X02
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: X11
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrX11:bd08/13/2013:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron3135:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rnBNE3A1:rvrX02:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrX11:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 3135
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Also affects 201308-14155 Dell Inspiron 3135 (Same chip)

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Note: VESA driver is in use, display cannot be rotated by xrandr

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Verified with 12.04.1 + update (3.2.0-56) on 201308-14057
This issue also affects Precise, series nominated.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Po-Hsu Lin, as per http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/inspiron-3135/drivers an update to your computer's buggy and outdated BIOS is available (A02). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BIOSUpdate does it change anything?

If it doesn't, could you please both specify what happened, and provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette .

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful. As well, you don't have to create a new bug report.

Once the BIOS is updated, if the problem is still reproducible, and the information above is provided, then please mark this report Status Confirmed. Otherwise, please mark this as Invalid.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Verified on 14.04.3 stock image on 201308-14057, brightness works as expected.
With flgrx 2:15.200-0ubuntu0.5 installed, the brightness control still works as expected.

For those who are affected by this, please give 14.04.3 a try.
I will mark this bug as Fix-released, thanks.