Not able to control Brightness in my VAIO CW15FG laptop

[wizardvenkat]

I've installed Ubuntu 12.10 recently.
When ever I press Fn keys along with F5/F6 it shows that the brightness decreases / increases accordingly. But no difference on the screen.

I tried modifying the grub , xorg.conf files as mentioned in many other posts. But none helped me. I'm new to the Ubuntu environment and I'm completely clueless about what to do.

In my /sys/class/backlight directory, I find two folders (shortcuts)
nv_backlight &
sony
And when I change my brightness I find the value changes accordingly in brightness file present inside 'sony' folder.

Earlier I tried to install nvidia driver for my G210M graphics card and failed. I get a blank screen after the boot screen after installation. So reverted the settings to work on my default driver

I even tried kubuntu 12.10 live cd (KDE environment) and found the same problem there.
Plz someone help me with this brightness issue. it is even Ok for me to work without my nvidia drivers as I'm not a big fan of games.

[Toz]

I tried modifying the grub

What modifications did you make to grub? Did you try the acpi_backlight=vendor parameter?

[wizardvenkat]

What modifications did you make to grub? Did you try the acpi_backlight=vendor parameter?

This info is available in my /etc/default/grub
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=sony"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="acpi_backlight=sony"

[Toz]

The parameter should say exactly acpi_backlight=vendor, the vendor keyword indicating to use the vendor-specific driver instead of the acpi driver.

acpi_backlight=sony is not a valid parameter.

Make sure to also run:

sudo update-grub

...afterwards to commit the edits.

If it still doesn't work on reboot, can you post back the results of:

cat /proc/cmdline

...and the contents of your dmesg log file? Use this command:

pastebinit /var/log/dmesg

...and post back the link that is generated.

[wizardvenkat]

acpi_backlight=vendor statement is also not working.

These are my results for cat proc/cmdline :

BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-18-generic root=UUID=446e1f28-d397-4eef-a7fb-fa0eda88129a ro acpi_backlight=vendor quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7

And my PasteBin URL is here

[Toz]

Can you remove both of the acpi_backlight=vendor parameters from grub and reboot the computer? This time post back the results of:

cat /proc/cmdline
lsmod

...and the links to the following two log files:

pastebinit /var/log/dmesg
pastebinit /var/log/Xorg.0.log

You also mentioned that you tried to install the nvidia driver and that it didn't work. How did you try to install it? Was it through the additional drivers tab via:

software-properties-gtk

...(or Ubuntu Software Centre, select Edit->Software Sources and on the Additional Drivers tab)?

[wizardvenkat]

The results for cat /proc/cmdline :

BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-18-generic root=UUID=446e1f28-d397-4eef-a7fb-fa0eda88129a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7

The results for lsmod :

Module Size Used by
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 32007 4
joydev 17457 0
bnep 18140 2
parport_pc 32688 0
ppdev 17073 0
rfcomm 46619 0
bluetooth 209199 10 bnep,rfcomm
binfmt_misc 17500 1
arc4 12529 2
coretemp 13400 0
microcode 22803 0
snd_hda_codec_realtek 77876 1
snd_seq_midi 13324 0
snd_rawmidi 30512 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 14899 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 61521 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_hda_intel 33491 5
snd_hda_codec 134212 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_i ntel
snd_hwdep 13602 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 96580 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_device 14497 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
uvcvideo 76749 0
videobuf2_core 32851 1 uvcvideo
snd_timer 29425 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
videodev 120309 2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
videobuf2_vmalloc 12860 1 uvcvideo
mac_hid 13205 0
videobuf2_memops 13368 1 videobuf2_vmalloc
sony_laptop 54039 0
snd 78734 20 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_rawmi di,snd_seq,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,s nd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_timer
nouveau 895609 3
psmouse 95552 0
iwlwifi 386826 0
serio_raw 13215 0
ttm 83595 1 nouveau
mac80211 539908 1 iwlwifi
drm_kms_helper 46784 1 nouveau
drm 275528 5 nouveau,ttm,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit 13413 1 nouveau
mxm_wmi 12979 1 nouveau
cfg80211 206566 2 iwlwifi,mac80211
video 19335 1 nouveau
soundcore 15047 1 snd
lpc_ich 17061 0
wmi 19070 2 nouveau,mxm_wmi
snd_page_alloc 18484 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
lp 17759 0
parport 46345 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
uas 17844 0
usb_storage 48838 0
firewire_ohci 40401 0
sdhci_pci 18616 0
firewire_core 64368 1 firewire_ohci
sdhci 32645 1 sdhci_pci
crc_itu_t 12707 1 firewire_core
sky2 58111 0

[wizardvenkat]

Pastebin for /var/log/dmesg

PasteBin for /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[wizardvenkat]

I've downloaded the nvidia drivers from Nvidia site.
I don't know the version but I hope the filename "NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.64.run" gives you the information you needed..

[Toz]

I've downloaded the nvidia drivers from Nvidia site.
I don't know the version but I hope the filename "NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.64.run" gives you the information you needed..

Try enabling the official additional drivers instead. Fire up Ubuntu Software Centre, select Edit->Software Sources, and look on the "Additional Drivers" tab (or, run "software-properties-gtk" in a terminal window instead).

EDIT: Hopefully, you can get nvidia drivers installed. If, with the nvidia drivers installed, you still don't get backlight control, you can try adding:

Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"

...to the "Device" section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf (log out and back in for it to take effect).

If still no luck, have a look at the nvidiabl driver here. According to nvidiabl-laptops.h, your system is supported. The downloadable deb file is located here