Brightness controls not working on Thinkpad W510

[Elijah Lynn]

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad W510 and the hardware brightness keys activate the brightness slider but the screen does not respond. Neither does the brightness slider in the system settings. It does appear that if I set the slider and then restart the system then the display corresponds to the location of the slider just before restart.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: xorg 1:7.6+12ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.38-generic 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 295.40 Thu Apr 5 21:37:00 PDT 2012
 GCC version: gcc version 4.6.3 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.6.3-1ubuntu5)
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,decor,vpswitch,snap,move,resize,gnomecompat,grid,place,dbus,imgpng,compiztoolbox,regex,unitymtgrabhandles,mousepoll,session,animation,wall,fade,scale,workarounds,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Tue May 22 17:02:42 2012
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: precise
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 nvidia-current, 295.40, 3.2.0-23-generic, x86_64: installedError! Could not locate dkms.conf file.
 File: does not exist.

 nvidia-current, 295.40, 3.2.0-24-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, whatever it takes to get this fixed in Ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation GT216 [Quadro FX 880M] [10de:0a3c] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2145]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Beta amd64 (20120328)
JockeyStatus:
 xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, In use)
 xorg:nvidia_current_updates - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (post-release updates) (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
MachineType: LENOVO 43192RU
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-24-generic root=UUID=2fc7d468-f87f-49c5-95cd-2044ed5c49b2 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/27/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 6NET74WW (1.34 )
dmi.board.name: 43192RU
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:bvr6NET74WW(1.34):bd10/27/2010:svnLENOVO:pn43192RU:pvrThinkPadW510:rvnLENOVO:rn43192RU:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 43192RU
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad W510
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.7.8-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.32-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 8.0.2-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 8.0.2-0ubuntu3
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.11.4-0ubuntu10.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20111219.aacbd629-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20111201+b5534a1-1build2

[Ryan Lothian (ryanlothian)]

Hi Elijah,

I have the same laptop. Steps to fix are on http://www.ryanlothian.com/projects/linux/thinkpad_w510_ubuntu_12_04

Ryan

[Elijah Lynn (elijah-lynn)]

Ryan,

You are brilliant! Worked like a charm, may I also ask what "Option "NoLogo" "True"" is? Does that get rid of the Nvidia logo maybe on boot?

Thanks again,

Elijah Lynn

[Ryan Lothian (ryanlothian)]

I believe so. I already had it in there before adding the [Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"] bit but thought it may be helpful to show the whole file so it's clear where the new line should be inserted :)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.