[Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430] "thinkpad unsupported brightness interface" message is showing while booting up

[TARUNPRAKASHT]

While I have no actual problem with adjusting the brightness, I've noticed a message that displays while booting up:
"thinkpad unsupported brightness interface"

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: linux-image-3.13.0-24-generic 3.13.0-24.47
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.47-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: tarunp 2026 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun May 18 21:18:35 2014
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=7769c1de-f761-42a1-841a-41dd723f7046
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-21 (26 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
MachineType: LENOVO 3254T1Q
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=5d9a6cf6-1023-43f0-82b8-7df33d90132e ro acpi_osi=Linux quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.13.0-24-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.13.0-24-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.127
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/22/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: H0ET72WW (2.06 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 3254T1Q
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrH0ET72WW(2.06):bd10/22/2012:svnLENOVO:pn3254T1Q:pvrThinkPadEdgeE430:rvnLENOVO:rn3254T1Q:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 3254T1Q
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad Edge E430
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

TARUNPRAKASHT, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. As per http://download.lenovo.com/express/ddfm.html an update to your BIOS is available (2.55). 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

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful.

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

Thank you for your understanding.

[TARUNPRAKASHT (tarunprakasht)]

Hi Christopher,

  Thanks for your valuable information. I was totally unaware the things which you have mentioned regarding the bug reporting.
As per your information, i have updated my BIOS version to available latest (2.55)

sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
the output is as given below

HOET95WW (2.55 )
01/20/2014

Please inform me updates on the bug

Regards,
Tarun

[penalvch (penalvch)]

TARUNPRAKASHT, just to clarify:
1) Can you actually adjust your brightness of your laptop display?
2) Were you able to adjust your display brightness in 12.04?

[TARUNPRAKASHT (tarunprakasht)]

Hi Christopher,

  I am able to adjust my laptop brightness in 12.04 and 14.04 also using the fn key. But the brightness would be maximum even after set to low and restart the system.

The "thinkpad unsupported brightness interface" message shows while booting up starts to show after installing the 14.04

Regards,
Tarun

[penalvch (penalvch)]

TARUNPRAKASHT:
>"But the brightness would be maximum even after set to low and restart the system."

This would be a different problem, covered under a separate report. This report is only focused on:
"thinkpad unsupported brightness interface" message is showing while booting up

Given how your brightness works irregardless, this would be an innocuous problem, with no actual impact on brightness. I'll mark it Confirmed for now.

[TARUNPRAKASHT (tarunprakasht)]

Hi Christopher,

 Thank your for your information.
 I posted this bug to improve the Ubuntu os and developers to notify this kind of issue.

[Jingguo Yao (yaojingguo)]

I also have this problem. I am using Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit with a Thinkpad T440S.

At the beginning, I have the following four problems:

1. After every boot, the brightness is set to maximum.
2. The brightness can't be adjusted smoothly. Only 4 brightnesses can be achieved with Fn keys.
3. After recovering from dimming, the brightness is set to maximum.
4. The following error message is printed during the boot:
[ 12.843633] thinkpad_acpi: Unsupported brightness interface, please contact <email address hidden>

The following workaround fixes 1 for me.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/151651/brightness-is-reset-to-maximum-on-every-restart

I add "acpi_backlight=vendor" kernel parameter according to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Debugging/Backlight. This fixes 2 and 3 for me.

But 4 still exists.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Jingguo Yao, thank you for your comment. Unfortunately, this bug report is not scoped to you, or your problem. So your hardware and problem may be tracked, could you please file a new report with Ubuntu by executing the following in a terminal while booted into the default Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline one) via:
ubuntu-bug linux

For more on this, please read the official Ubuntu documentation:
Ubuntu Bug Control and Ubuntu Bug Squad: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/BestPractices#X.2BAC8-Reporting.Focus_on_One_Issue
Ubuntu Kernel Team: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/KernelTeamBugPolicies#Filing_Kernel_Bug_reports
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Policies/DuplicateBugs
Ubuntu Community: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette

When opening up the new report, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

As well, please do not announce in this report you created a new bug report.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[chenjun (junxuelian)]

I also havbe the problem.I am using Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit with a Thinkpad E545."thinkpad unsupported brightness interface" message is showing while booting up.I think this problem because of our computer'GPU is AMD.