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doodloo

Member

From: London

Registered: 2015-09-11

Posts: 59

Brightness stuck once reached zero.

I have an issue that's really annoying with my laptop.
Basically, if the brightness reaches zero, there's no way to bring it back to any value - the screen just remains black.
And since it's an OLED screen, there is no actual "picture" to try and see with a strong source of light - so I have to find a way to reboot when I can, otherwise it's a forced shutdown.

Any idea how to diagnose?
Thanks!

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Brightness stuck once reached zero.

Have a read through this thread for information on how to set a minimum brightness level.

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doodloo

Member

From: London

Registered: 2015-09-11

Posts: 59

Re: Brightness stuck once reached zero.

Good morning @ToZ and thanks a lot.

I'm sorry - I forgot to mention that I tried this - and it works when using the "power applet" little slider in my task bar.
But I'm rarely using it - instead I use the "Fn + F4" and "Fn + F5" key combination, and it doesn't seem affected by the power manager settings.

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Brightness stuck once reached zero.

If you use the function keys to lower and raise the brightness, could you not use them to increase the brightness if the screen turns blank?

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doodloo

Member

From: London

Registered: 2015-09-11

Posts: 59

Re: Brightness stuck once reached zero.

No, that's what my issue is all about Once it reaches zero, there's no way for me to increase it again.

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Brightness stuck once reached zero.

I see. Have a read through Arch Wiki's Backlight page. There is states:

Note: Since OLED screens have no backlight, brightness cannot be controlled by changing backlight power on laptops equipped with an OLED screen. In this case, perceived screen brightness can be adjusted with a PWM control (not implemented in the Linux kernel) or via software color correction.

Later in the article, it lists some utilities that might be helpful. If you can get one to work, you could bind a shortcut key to a command to restore the backlight.

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