Fn-Keys for adjusting brightness of the display does not work anymore in Gutsy on my Dell Inspiron 9400

I've noticed the same thing... They worked in a release of Gusty before the official beta release.

The same things occur also on Dell Inspiron 1520, (http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/122650/).

Also true on the Dell Inspiron E1505

Noticed the same problem on a Dell Inspiron 9400, too. Adjusting the brightness works using the KDE Power Manager, though.

Same Problem with Dell Inspiron 6400 under Kubuntu, under Ubuntu it works

Got it working under Ubuntu using this: http://pastebin.ca/752206

Sorry it's a big mess of console output, but basically I found that re-entering these key codes made it work. Now to test in Kubuntu.

Yes, it does work in Kubuntu Gutsy.... thanks a lot to you!

I doesn't work for me (using kubuntu). How do you know wich scancode must be used?

Can each of reporters report back the following info for their laptop:

1. Exact HW
cat /var/lib/acpi-support/system-product-name

2. Does these two command (if run from Konsole) change brightness properly on your laptop?

dcop `dcop | grep power-manager` power-manager brightnessUp

dcop `dcop | grep power-manager` power-manager brightnessDown

3. Does your laptop return same keycodes from brightness up (212) and down (101) as documented on
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KubuntuLaptopKeycodes page? If not, what does it report and what does "lshal -m" report when key is pressed?

1. MP061
2. Works like a charm. Even a small popup shows up in the taskbar with the new brightness level.
3. Yep. I get 212 and 101 when pessing up and down.

The given command returns:
Start monitoring devicelist:
-------------------------------------------------
23:13:55.797: platform_i8042_i8042_KBD_port_logicaldev_input condition ButtonPressed = brightness-up
23:13:55.821: platform_i8042_i8042_KBD_port_logicaldev_input condition ButtonPressed = brightness-up
23:13:58.028: platform_i8042_i8042_KBD_port_logicaldev_input condition ButtonPressed = brightness-down
23:13:58.054: platform_i8042_i8042_KBD_port_logicaldev_input condition ButtonPressed = brightness-down

Hope this helps.

I have the same problem on Dell Inspiron 6400. As with others, it worked fine in Feisty.
I get exactly the same results as Oliver when running those command. Also changing the brightness from the Power Manager (via the slider) works just fine.

Running a latitude d830 without any problems using the Fn+ arrows to increase/decrease the brightness of my computer

@Luka Renko:

1. cat /var/lib/acpi-support/system-product-name gives a:
XPS M1330

2. these 2 commands
(dcop `dcop | grep power-manager` power-manager brightnessUp
dcop `dcop | grep power-manager` power-manager brightnessDown)
work

3. Yes, the keycodes are 101 and 212

@anyone who has the same problem
There's a little bit dirty workaround: I just added the 2 commands above to the files
/etc/acpi/video_brightnessup.sh and /etc/acpi/video_brightnessdown.sh
and restarted the acpid (sudo /etc/init.d/acpid restart) and everything's fine.

You called the workaround " a little bit dirty". Why? Is there any downside to it?

I can confirm that Luka's workaround works on a "MP061".

Thanks a lot!

Thanks for reporting and supplying debugging info.

This bug was nominated for Gutsy but does currently not qualify for a 7.10 stable release update (SRU) and the nomination is therefore declined.
According the the SRU policy, the fix should already be deployed and tested in the current development version before an update to the stable releases will be considered. With 7.10 now released, that policy applies to this bug. See: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates .
The bug is not being closed as work will continue on fixing it for the next release, Hardy Heron (8.04). If the state of this bug should change such that it qualifies for the SRU process, please contact the person who originally declined it and ask them to re-evaluate it. To help improve the state of this bug see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTriage .

Try typing this command in a terminal

 xgamma -gamma 0.75

 I have posted my own solution here:

 http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4168042#post4168042

Having the same problem in Dell 640m, (Kubuntu 7.10). The keys worked fine in Feisty. And sometimes, in Gutsy, after restoring from hibernate mode, the keys work again.

1. Exact HW
MXC061

2. Does these two command (if run from Konsole) change brightness properly on your laptop?
YES

3. Does your laptop return same keycodes from brightness up (212) and down (101) as documented on
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KubuntuLaptopKeycodes page? If not, what does it report and what does "lshal -m" report when key is pressed?
YES:
Start monitoring devicelist:
-------------------------------------------------
14:16:51.564: platform_i8042_i8042_KBD_port_logicaldev_input condition ButtonPressed = brightness-up
14:16:52.460: platform_i8042_i8042_KBD_port_logicaldev_input condition ButtonPressed = brightness-down

BUT I have found that the /usr/share/acpi-support/key-constants, says another thing:
KEY_BRIGHTNESSDOWN=224
KEY_BRIGHTNESSUP=225
this file is imported (?) when the scritps video_brightnessup.sh and video_brightnessdown.sh are run. I manually changed the values of those constants to 212 (up) and 101 (down), but it did not work.

This bug was fixed in the package kde-guidance - 0.8.0svn20080103-0ubuntu8

---------------
kde-guidance (0.8.0svn20080103-0ubuntu8) hardy; urgency=low

  [ Andreas Wenning ]
  * Added kubuntu_18_kde-powermanager_unique-check.patch:
    - Fixed guidance-power-managers check for being a unique app.
  * Added kubuntu_19_kde-powermanager_gpmhelper.patch
    (LP: #151444, #111143, #128666):
    - Added gpmhelper.py to listen for HAL button-events and issue
      dcop calls to guidance-power-manager.
    - guidance-power-manager will now start gpmhelper.py.
    - Patched setup.py to build/install gpmhelper.py
  * Changed debian/rules and debian/kde-guidance-powermanager.install
    to install gpmhelper.py
  * Added depends for kde-guidance-powermanager to python-gobject as
    this is the only mainloop to work with DBusGMainLoop.

  [ Scott Kitterman ]
  * Update kubuntu_12_powermanager_survive_no_brightness.patch so it correctly
    catches the error (LP: #183656)
  * Add kubuntu_20_displayconfig_no_resolutions.patch so displayconfig doesn't
    crash if current display size or refresh rate can't be fetched and similar
    changes for displayconfig-restore(LP: #147721, #110853)
  * Add kubuntu_21_powermanager_new_names.patch to use new hal keys
    (LP: #204768)
    - Patch thanks to Mikael Gerdin

 -- Scott Kitterman <email address hidden> Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:04:50 -0400

This bug was fixed in the package kdeutils - 4:3.5.9-0ubuntu3

---------------
kdeutils (4:3.5.9-0ubuntu3) hardy; urgency=low

  * Edited debian/patches/kubuntu_14_kmilo_powermanager.diff:
    Brightness, suspend and hibernate events removed. (LP: #151444)

 -- Andreas Wenning <email address hidden> Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:44:17 +0100

Now that this is fixed in Hardy, I'll comment that the fix is pretty invasive and not something that I'd consider in any way appropriate for an update to a stable release.

I've updated the system and it doesn't work for me.

@pukyxd
Check that "dpkg -l kde-guidance-powermanager" shows that you have version 0.8.0svn20080103-0ubuntu8 installed.

If that is the case issue the command:
"for i in `hal-find-by-capability --capability button`; do hal-device $i; done > button.log"
and attach the generated button.log

Yes I have this version. Here you have the log.

@pukyxd
Your brightness buttons isn't recognized by HAL. You should file this as a seperate bug against hal about your particular laptop model.

Preferably also look at helping to get your laptop into upstream HAL: http://people.freedesktop.org/~hughsient/quirk/quirk-keymap-index.html

@awen
My brightness keys are recognized by hal.
The brightness adjustment works when using the nv-driver (nvidia kernel module loaded).
But when the nvidia-driver is loaded (' Driver "nvidia" ' under ' Section "Device" ' in xorg.conf) the adjustment doesn't work!
The nvidia-driver seems to block/break the brightness adjustment.

kde-guidance-powermanager: 0.8.0svn20080103-0ubuntu8
Kubuntu: 8.04 (with patchlevel from 2008-03-27)
notebook: Samsung P55-Pro (Bengy)
video: nVidia Geforce 8600M GS
nvidia-glx-new: 169.12+2.6.24.11-12.31
xserver-xorg-video-nv: 1:2.1.8-1

some additional notes related to the driver nvidia:
- when booting with AC adapter plugged in the display switches from max. brightness to min. brightness when the bootmessage "Loading Hardware Drivers" is displayed
- after waking up from standby (suspend to ram) the brightness is always at max. level (adjustment still not possible) no matter if AC adapter is plugged in

@Zem
Run the attached python script in a terminal.
1. Download
2. "chmod +x buttontest.py"
3. "./buttontest.py"
4. Test your brightness buttons, and see what is output in the terminal. Does the events appear? Does the next line say ".. ok"?

If the events appear, but the next line is not "ok", please copy a brightness up and down event into your answer.

the hal events are ok,
otherwise brightness adjustment wouldn't work with driver nv

@Zem
Try running this:
"/usr/share/python-support/kde-guidance-powermanager/powermanage.py"
This will try to adjust the brightness; does this work?

Also try to attach the output of this command:
"for i in `hal-find-by-capability --capability laptop_panel`; do hal-device $i; done"

@awen
"/usr/share/python-support/kde-guidance-powermanager/powermanage.py"
- brightness adjustment works with driver nv
- brightness adjustment does not work with driver nvidia

I found a link wich probably relates to my problem.
This seems to be a known bug in the nvidia driver.
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=100494
But unlike the posters in this thread switching to a vt, adjusting the brightness and switching back doesn't work for me :-(

@Zem
You should report it as a seperate bug (probably already exists in launchpad) regarding the problem in the nvidia driver.