Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

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Oni45

Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

Dear all,
I am a new user of Linux Mint.
I have got a Dell Inspiron 13z (or 1370), before I was using it on Ubuntu 14.04 but for some reasons, I had to change it to Linux Mint 17. I install it, everything is running except the brightness... which was also a problem on Ubuntu 14.04 and previous versions, but through this solution, it is possible to solve it.

On my new installation (Mint 17), I tried this solution, but it didn't solve the problem. Does anyone have got a solution, or an idea to test it?
Is it better to use Nvidia drivers or the Xorg drivers?

Regards
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
JeremyB
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Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by JeremyB »

Oni45 wrote:Dear all,
I am a new user of Linux Mint.
I have got a Dell Inspiron 13z (or 1370), before I was using it on Ubuntu 14.04 but for some reasons, I had to change it to Linux Mint 17. I install it, everything is running except the brightness... which was also a problem on Ubuntu 14.04 and previous versions, but through this solution, it is possible to solve it.

On my new installation (Mint 17), I tried this solution, but it didn't solve the problem. Does anyone have got a solution, or an idea to test it?
Is it better to use Nvidia drivers or the Xorg drivers?

Regards
What was the solution in Ubuntu 14.04? It should work in LM 17 too, as long as it is the same kernel version- Ubuntu will update the kernel through update manager but LM 17 will not
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

Hello, sorry, I didn't saw your message.
I use this method (see into the pdf document which is in the message): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... omments/16
Yes, I was thinking exactly the same, as it is based on the same base! It works fine on XUbuntu 14.04 32 bits but not with LM17 64 bits. I tried it alone, in double boot etc. but nothing change.
JeremyB
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Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by JeremyB »

Look at post 19 here https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1248274

It shows what to put in a file that might get backlight working with nvidia
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

Hi, Ok, it looks nice, but how to create the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nouveau.conf ? there is a specific command?
I tried one, but when I save in Gedit, it says that "it is impossible to save the file" and propose to check the path and to try again.
Have you got a command line to advice (I am not expert in Linux).
JeremyB
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Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by JeremyB »

Oni45 wrote:Hi, Ok, it looks nice, but how to create the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nouveau.conf ? there is a specific command?
I tried one, but when I save in Gedit, it says that "it is impossible to save the file" and propose to check the path and to try again.
Have you got a command line to advice (I am not expert in Linux).
The command to create the file and be able to paste the info in would be

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nouveau.conf
After copying the info into gedit, click save, exit gedit and reboot
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

JeremyB wrote:The command to create the file and be able to paste the info in would be

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    sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nouveau.conf
After copying the info into gedit, click save, exit gedit and reboot
Yes, it is that command I tried too but which didn't work.
I had to do before this command:

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    sudo mkdir /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/
Then

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 sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf
I copy past this file the following lines :

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Section "Device"
   Identifier     "Device0"
   Driver         "nvidia"
   VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
   Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"
EndSection
Then Save and Reboot, but there is still nothing happening.... Grrrr.....
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

I don't know if it can help, the references of my graphic card: Nvidia GT218M [GeForce G 105M]
JeremyB
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Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by JeremyB »

Oni45 wrote:I don't know if it can help, the references of my graphic card: Nvidia GT218M [GeForce G 105M]
I guess you could try editing grub

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sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
Find the line with "quiet splash" and change it to

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quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor
save and exit gedit then

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sudo update-grub
and reboot
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

I just tried it, nothing happened :-/
JeremyB
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Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by JeremyB »

Any result from pressing brightness keys when running

Code: Select all

acpi_listen
in terminal- press CTRL+c to quit acpi_listen

And run

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for interface in /sys/class/backlight/*; do echo $interface; cat $interface/brightness; cat $interface/max_brightness; done
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

Any result from pressing brightness keys when running acpi_listen
in terminal- press CTRL+c to quit acpi_listen
I get this:

Code: Select all

video/brightnessup BRTUP 00000086 00000000
 PNP0C14:00 000000d0 00000000
video/brightnessup BRTUP 00000086 00000000 K
video/brightnessdown BRTDN 00000087 00000000
 PNP0C14:00 000000d0 00000000
video/brightnessdown BRTDN 00000087 00000000 K
and for
And run

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for interface in /sys/class/backlight/*; do echo $interface; cat $interface/brightness; cat $interface/max_brightness; done
I get:

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/sys/class/backlight/dell_backlight
6
15
/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight
43
100
JeremyB
Level 21
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Posts: 13771
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:17 am

Re: Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by JeremyB »

Oni45 wrote:
Any result from pressing brightness keys when running acpi_listen
in terminal- press CTRL+c to quit acpi_listen
I get this:

Code: Select all

video/brightnessup BRTUP 00000086 00000000
 PNP0C14:00 000000d0 00000000
video/brightnessup BRTUP 00000086 00000000 K
video/brightnessdown BRTDN 00000087 00000000
 PNP0C14:00 000000d0 00000000
video/brightnessdown BRTDN 00000087 00000000 K
and for
And run

Code: Select all

for interface in /sys/class/backlight/*; do echo $interface; cat $interface/brightness; cat $interface/max_brightness; done
I get:

Code: Select all

/sys/class/backlight/dell_backlight
6
15
/sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight
43
100
Does

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echo 7 | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/dell_backlight/brightness
or

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echo 60 | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/brightness
result in any changes?
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

Nothing happen with

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echo 7 | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/dell_backlight/brightness
but with

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echo 60 | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/brightness
the brightness change. And if I replace the value (60) by other value, the brightness change!
JeremyB
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Posts: 13771
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Re: Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by JeremyB »

Oni45 wrote:Nothing happen with

Code: Select all

echo 7 | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/dell_backlight/brightness
but with

Code: Select all

echo 60 | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/nv_backlight/brightness
the brightness change. And if I replace the value (60) by other value, the brightness change!
Good, if we can't get the brightness keys to work, a script bound to a keyboard combo will control backlight.

Code: Select all

cat /proc/cmdline

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dmesg | grep backlight
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

I don't know exactly what it was supposed to do, but nothing happen, here the result I get from the command lines:
Good, if we can't get the brightness keys to work, a script bound to a keyboard combo will control backlight.

Code: Select all

cat /proc/cmdline
I get

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BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=a1613fec-5ea5-4ef6-ad1b-9827473588a7 ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7
And for

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dmesg | grep backlight
I get

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[    0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=a1613fec-5ea5-4ef6-ad1b-9827473588a7 ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=a1613fec-5ea5-4ef6-ad1b-9827473588a7 ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7
JeremyB
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13771
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:17 am

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by JeremyB »

Oni45 wrote:I don't know exactly what it was supposed to do, but nothing happen, here the result I get from the command lines:
Good, if we can't get the brightness keys to work, a script bound to a keyboard combo will control backlight.

Code: Select all

cat /proc/cmdline
I get

Code: Select all

BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=a1613fec-5ea5-4ef6-ad1b-9827473588a7 ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7
And for

Code: Select all

dmesg | grep backlight
I get

Code: Select all

[    0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=a1613fec-5ea5-4ef6-ad1b-9827473588a7 ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=a1613fec-5ea5-4ef6-ad1b-9827473588a7 ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7
Just more info like this command

Code: Select all

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep backlight
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

Just more info like this command

Code: Select all

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep backlight
I have this:

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[    29.362] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=a1613fec-5ea5-4ef6-ad1b-9827473588a7 ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor vt.handoff=7
JeremyB
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Posts: 13771
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:17 am

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by JeremyB »

According to a bug report https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1241745
It says that nvidia drivers 304.116 and 304.121 allow the backlight to work
Oni45

Re: Brightness on Inspiron 13z or 1370 with Mint 17

Post by Oni45 »

JeremyB wrote:According to a bug report https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1241745
It says that nvidia drivers 304.116 and 304.121 allow the backlight to work
In my driver manager, I have got these drivers:
  • nvidia-331 (recommanded) - Version 331.38-0ubuntu7
    nvidia-331-updates - Version 331.38-0ubuntu7
    nvidia-304-updates - Version 304.117-0ubuntu1
    xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
    nvidia-304 - Version 304.117-0ubuntu1
I was looking for the nvidia drivers 304.116 and 304.121 in synaptics, but I don't find it.
Then I found this link: http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/201 ... cy-ubuntu/
but when I do Ctrl+Alt+F1 nothing happen (I think it is because the F1 button need to press the Fn button).
When I enter this command:

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sudo service mdm stop
I get a black screen which ask for a user name, I enter mine, then my password but it says that it is not the good one!!

It become crazy with this problem... I think I will leave LMint with this computer and stay with XUbuntu.
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