Brightness settings don't work on Lenovo Ideapad 5 15ARE05

[Simon]

After installation, the notebook brighness buttons change brightness
settings, but settings are not applied on the screen.

In the log files I can see something like this:
Failed to start Load/Save Screen Backlight Brightness of backlight:amdgpu_bl0.
amdgpu_bl0: Failed to write system 'brightness' attribute: No such device or address
amdgpu_bl0: Failed to write system 'brightness' attribute: No such device or address
Failed to get backlight or LED device 'backlight:acpi_video0': No such device

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+19ubuntu14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-33.37-generic 5.4.34
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-33-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.2
Architecture: amd64
BootLog: Error: [Errno 13] Keine Berechtigung: '/var/log/boot.log'
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: X-Cinnamon
Date: Sun May 31 10:43:17 2020
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: focal
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Renoir [1002:1636] (rev ce) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Renoir [17aa:381b]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-05-29 (1 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
MachineType: LENOVO 81YQ
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-33-generic root=UUID=94ab3768-11c5-4582-9374-578128353e38 ro quiet splash amdgpu.exp_hw_support=1 vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 03/25/2020
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: E7CN24WW
dmi.board.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: LNVNB161216
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: No DPK
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: IdeaPad 5 15ARE05
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrE7CN24WW:bd03/25/2020:svnLENOVO:pn81YQ:pvrIdeaPad515ARE05:rvnLENOVO:rnLNVNB161216:rvrNoDPK:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrIdeaPad515ARE05:
dmi.product.family: IdeaPad 5 15ARE05
dmi.product.name: 81YQ
dmi.product.sku: LENOVO_MT_81YQ_BU_idea_FM_IdeaPad 5 15ARE05
dmi.product.version: IdeaPad 5 15ARE05
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.101-2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 20.0.4-2ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.20.8-2ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:19.1.0-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20200226-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.16-1

[Simon (sputty)]

Solved this (and some other issues) for me by installing the mainline kernel
Used the "mainline" script for that
e.g. with instructions from https://www.linuxuprising.com/2018/10/2-utilities-to-install-latest-kernel-in.html

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks for figuring that out. We should keep the bug open though, as other Ubuntu users may experience it.

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Simon (sputty)]

Just noticed that with the mainline kernel 5.7.0 there is only a visible change of brightness from Setting 50% to 100%. Settings from 0% to 50% will have no effect.

[sulliwane (sulliwane)]

Hey @Simon, I also installed 5.7 from mainline (https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.7/) but Brightness still not working for me.

I notice that adjusting the brightness using the keys or the mouse will change the number from 1 to 21 in this file: cat /sys/class/backlight/ideapad/brightness (but without any real impact on the screen brightness)

[Simon (sputty)]

My installation with mainline 5.7.0 uses /sys/class/backlight/amdgpu_bl0/brightness and it works partly, but not perfect.
Screen reacts for values from 123 to 255...
Have you executed "update-grub" and running the correct kernel (check with uname -r)?

[Paul (etimoz)]

The kernel fix by updating to 5.7 from mainline does work for me. I get the same result as @Simon, brightness change from 50-100% is working. A proper fix would be nice because 50% brightness is in my opinion still too bright in a dark environment.

[Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng)]

Please test latest drm-tip kernel:
https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/drm-tip/current/

If it doesn't solve the issue, please file an upstream bug at
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/issues

[Simon (sputty)]

I am willing to test this on my machine, but cod/mainline/cod/tip/drm-tip/2020-06-17 and also the older ones failed to build at the moment for AMD... The regular mainline build seems to fail also for AMD.
I'll try this as soon the build is working again.

[Paul (etimoz)]

I updated now to kernel 5.7.9 and brightness can now be reduced to less than 50%. Only thing I noted is that setting brightness to zero does not turn off the screen as it is when running windows on the machine.

[sulliwane (sulliwane)]

I updated my IdeaPad-5-15ARE05 to 5.7.10 (https://kernel.ubuntu.com/%7Ekernel-ppa/mainline/?C=N;O=D) with NO LUCK! Brightness isn't working at all.

The brightness buttons change the value in this file: "/sys/class/backlight/ideapad/brightness" (from 1 to 21) but not effective.

I noticed that when I hit the brightness button (either - or +) sometimes the icon of the microphone appears on the screen instead of the brightness icon (see attached)

Finally, on this page > https://askubuntu.com/a/1251189/70172 one user suggests that updating the BIOS solved the issue for him (But I'm on Ubuntu, and Lenovo only provide Windows .exe updater > https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/5-series/ideapad-5-15are05/downloads/DS544050)

Any help would be much appreciated, as with max brightness makes it impossible to use the laptop in the evening.

[sulliwane (sulliwane)]

Oh and here is my BIOS version:

# sudo dmidecode -s bios-version

>> E7CN24WW

I'd be interested to see if someone with the same BIOS versino managed to solve his brightness issue :) Thanks all!

[Aru Bhoop (arupy)]

Running kernel 5.8 and have this issue. I'm currently using xrandr (I have bash scripts if wanted) mapped to the brightness keys to adjust the brightness using software but this causes issues with other display software (such as f.lux). I am desperately looking for a fix for this.

[MarcoB (marcobnn)]

same situation on kernel 5.4.0 on lenovo ideapad L340 with bios BGCN31WW

[MarcoB (marcobnn)]

on my setup, solved by this: https://www.sentinelstand.com/article/ubuntu-1910-on-lenovo-legion-y540

[Sambit Kumar Panda (sambit-kumar)]

@Sulliwane did you find the solution? If yes can you please let me know. I am gettting the same issue in my Lenovo legion 5i.

[sulliwane (sulliwane)]

@Sambit Kumar, no still didn't find a solution (other than installing Windows over Ubuntu just to be able to update the BIOS, and then reinstall Ubuntu...way too troublesome and time consuming).

I wish Lenovo could provide a way to update the Bios from Linux.