Sony Vaio E-Series Brightness Issue

[KarlMax]

Hi everyone!

I hope to find help here!

I have similar problems like the others here on my Sony Vaio E-Series.
It looks like my laptop has nearly the same behavior like dsuresh's.
So I tried the solution of matt_symes. (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...5&postcount=10)

After that I have also 2 entries in /sys/class/backlight
acpi_video0 has changed to sony.

I know that my Fn-keys control the "brightness" file within acpi_video0 or sony folder.

Via terminal I'm able to control the brightness within the intel_backlight folder and it works!

How can I teach my Ubuntu 12.04 to control via Fn-Keys the brightness with the intel_backlight - driver?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Toz]

Hello and welcome to the forums. I created a new thread for your issue as the other thread was old and dated.

Can you try matt_symes' suggestion again, and after reboot, post back the results of:

cat /proc/cmdline

Also, does this laptop have an intel video card? Can you run the following command and post back the results:

sudo lspci -vnn | grep -A12 VGA

[KarlMax]

Hi Toz!

Thanks for your reply and sorry that i didn't open a new thread!

So, my results:

max@Sony-Vaio:~$ cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-27-generic root=UUID=f8ff59d6-fae1-47ed-99f6-9bc5fe1e1773 ro acpi_backlight=vendor quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7

The video card is an Intel HD Graphics 3000 which is integrated into the CPU. That's the only one built-in in my laptop.

max@Sony-Vaio:~$ sudo lspci -vnn | grep -A12 VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0126] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:90ac]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 44
Memory at c4000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
I/O ports at 5000 [size=64]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [a4] PCI Advanced Features
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915

[Toz]

No worries. Can you also post back the contents of /etc/default/grub and the results of the following commands:

ls /sys/class/backlight

lsmod

sudo dmidecode -s system-manufacturer

sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name

[KarlMax]

/etc/default/grub

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="acpi_backlight=vendor"

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

ls /sys/class/backlight

intel_backlight  sony

lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by
pci_stub               12622  1 
vboxpci                23200  0 
vboxnetadp             25670  0 
vboxnetflt             23441  0 
vboxdrv               287130  3 vboxpci,vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt
parport_pc             32866  0 
ppdev                  17113  0 
rfcomm                 47604  0 
bnep                   18281  2 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     32474  1 
snd_hda_codec_realtek   223962  1 
joydev                 17693  0 
acer_wmi               28418  0 
sparse_keymap          13890  1 acer_wmi
uvcvideo               72627  0 
videodev               98259  1 uvcvideo
v4l2_compat_ioctl32    17128  1 videodev
btusb                  18288  0 
bluetooth             180104  11 rfcomm,bnep,btusb
snd_hda_intel          33773  3 
snd_hda_codec         127706  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13668  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                97188  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi           13324  0 
arc4                   12529  2 
snd_rawmidi            30748  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event     14899  1 snd_seq_midi
psmouse                87692  0 
serio_raw              13211  0 
snd_seq                61896  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
sony_laptop            45393  0 
snd_timer              29990  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         14540  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
ath9k                 132390  0 
mac80211              506816  1 ath9k
wmi                    19256  1 acer_wmi
ath9k_common           14053  1 ath9k
ath9k_hw              411112  2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath                    24067  3 ath9k,ath9k_common,ath9k_hw
snd                    78855  16 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
cfg80211              205544  3 ath9k,mac80211,ath
rts_pstor             445196  0 
mac_hid                13253  0 
soundcore              15091  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         18529  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
i915                  472897  3 
drm_kms_helper         46978  1 i915
mei                    41616  0 
drm                   242038  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit           13423  1 i915
video                  19596  1 i915
lp                     17799  0 
parport                46562  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
usbhid                 47199  0 
hid                    99559  1 usbhid
r8169                  62099  0

sudo dmidecode -s system-manufacturer

Sony Corporation

sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name

SVE1711C5E

[Toz]

Okay. A few things to try.

1. Try changing acpi_backlight=vendor to acpi_backlight=video. In your /etc/default/grub file, you only need one entry:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_backlight=video"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

...save file, run sudo update-grub and reboot.

If that doesn't work...

2. Try unloading the sony_laptop module:

sudo modprobe -r sony_laptop

Does this remove the sony backlight interface? Do the brightness keys work?

If that doesn't work...

3. Here is a workaround that you could use that should at least control the brightness (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...5&postcount=50)

[KarlMax]

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_backlight=video"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

didn't work!

sudo modprobe -r sony_laptop

has no effect on /sys/class/backlight. And no, the Fn-Brightness-keys don't work anymore.

So I tried that workaround: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...5&postcount=50

I'm very sorry to say that it had absolutely no effect!
I also tried to manipulate the script brightdown.sh in etc/acpi to see if there's any effect:

#!/bin/bash

curr=`cat /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/actual_brightness`
if [ $curr -gt 0 ]; then
curr=$((curr-1));
echo $curr  > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness;
fi

I changed acpi_video0 into intel_backlight because if I try to set brightness-levels via terminal (which works), I have to manipulate files in that directory.

So, nothing has changed since my first post.
Is it possible, that there is a problem with the brightness-levels inside /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0 and /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight?
File max__brightness inside intel_backlight-directory contains 4882.
File max__brightness inside acpi_video0-directory contains 15.

I tried the original scripts from fugu72's post and my edited script. There's no different effect within acpi_video0 and intel_backlight-directories, as the scripts won't exist.

Ah, and I checked if my keycodes are the same as in fugu72's post. (acpi_listen) They are!

[Toz]

File max__brightness inside intel_backlight-directory contains 4882.

What is the value of actual_brightness?

What happens if you set /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness to 2441 (half of max_brightness)? Does the brightness dim in half?

If it does, perhaps try this version of the scripts would work:

/etc/acpi/brightdown.sh

#!/bin/bash

curr=`cat /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/actual_brightness`
if [ $curr -gt 0 ]; then
curr=$((curr-610));
echo $curr  > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness;
fi

etc/acpi/brightup.sh

#!/bin/bash

curr=`cat /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/actual_brightness`
if [ $curr -lt 4882 ]; then
curr=$((curr+610));
echo $curr  > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness;
fi

[KarlMax]

I'm able to set any brightness-level from 0 - 4882 via terminal as I mentioned above. Maybe not elaborately enough. Sorry!

I use the following code to set brightness:

echo XXXX | sudo tee - /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

XXXX stands for any value from 0 - 4882
And that works!!!

The problem is, that I need root-privileges to set my screen-brightness. That's a bit too heavy secure for me.

Your scripts don't work!
I think I need a technique to set a value in /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness without needing root-privileges.

The Fn-brightness-keys are able to do that in /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness.
I checked that!

[Toz]

From that previously-linked post, can you post back the contents of these files:
- /etc/acpi/events/sony-brightness-up
- /etc/acpi/events/sony-brightness-down
- /etc/acpi/brightdown.sh
- /etc/acpi/brightup.sh

and the results of this command:

ls -l /etc/acpi/bright*