Backlight Problem with Intel Drivers on Gateway NV78

[slovenly]

Hi, I've used Linux for a few years and this is the first time I've posted. This board has been a wealth of information and thank you for all your help over the years, but I finally ran into a problem I'm unable to fix.

I have a Gateway NV78 laptop and installed 17.1 Rebecca and the backlight isn't working after GRUB boots. I realize this problem has plagued a lot of users and I've looked through all the forums and Googled for information, tried a bunch of things but haven't been able to get it fixed. The computer works with nomodeset, but obviously the graphics suck. When I load the Intel drivers I get a black screen after GRUB. It's an older laptop without windows and the bios doesn't have UEFI, but secure boot is disabled.

It uses the Intel Moble 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller so in order to actually "see" what's happening on the computer when the drivers are loaded I installed TeamViewer and I can look at what's going on, plus I can change resolutions with no problem as seen through TeamViewer, so it's gotta be the backlight. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you, Tom.

Here's how it's running with the backlight off:

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sudo lshw -C display; lsb_release -a; uname -a

*-display:0             
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 07
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:43 memory:d0000000-d03fffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:4110(size=8)
  *-display:1 UNCLAIMED
       description: Display controller
       product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2.1
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
       version: 07
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:d3400000-d34fffff
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	LinuxMint
Description:	Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca
Release:	17.1
Codename:	rebecca

Linux mint 3.13.0-37-generic #64-Ubuntu SMP Mon Sep 22 21:28:38 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

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lspci 
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 4 port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5784M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 10)

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dmesg | grep -i vga
[    0.589531] vgaarb: device added: PCI:0000:00:02.0,decodes=io+mem,owns=io+mem,locks=none
[    0.589531] vgaarb: loaded
[    0.589531] vgaarb: bridge control possible 0000:00:02.0
[    1.409545] fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device
[    3.029289] fb: conflicting fb hw usage inteldrmfb vs VESA VGA - removing generic driver
[    3.084184] vgaarb: device changed decodes: PCI:0000:00:02.0,olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=io+mem:owns=io+mem
[    4.309127] ACPI: Video Device [OVGA] (multi-head: yes  rom: no  post: no)

current (but have tried many) grub settings

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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 i915.modeset=1 acpi_backlight=vendor acpi_osi="
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

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acpi listen
Battery 0: Full, 100%

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cat /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
Section "Device"
		Identifier "Intel Graphics"
		Driver "intel"
		Option "Backlight" "intel_backlight" 
		Driver "intel"
		BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

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cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i backlight
[    23.474] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-37-generic root=UUID=a189cc4a-6cb8-4080-8c21-95c0e3de53f9 ro quiet splash i915.modeset=1 acpi_backlight=vendor acpi_osi= vt.handoff=7
[    23.641] (**) intel(0): Option "Backlight" "intel_backlight"
[    23.641] (**) intel(0): Found backlight control interface intel_backlight (type 'raw') for output LVDS1

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/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
OpenGL vendor string:   Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel® GM45 Express Chipset 
OpenGL version string:  2.1 Mesa 10.3.0

Not software rendered:    yes
Not blacklisted:          yes
GLX fbconfig:             yes
GLX texture from pixmap:  yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program:        yes
GL fragment program:      yes
GL vertex buffer object:  yes
GL framebuffer object:    yes
GL version is 1.4+:       yes

Unity 3D supported:       yes

[Pjotr]

Have you tried Linux Mint 13 Xfce yet? That lightweight version is still supported until May, 2017, because it's long term supported (LTS).

It has an older graphical system, which might work better on your old laptop. The main issue is of course, that your video card should run on the normal Intel driver and should produce a normal display then. The brightness issue can be tackled afterwards.

Get Linux Mint 13 Xfce here:
http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/linuxmint/ima ... -32bit.iso

If this produces the desired result, you might still have the brightness problem. But as said, we can try to deal with that afterwards.

[slovenly]

I haven't tried the old version yet, but what's interesting is that for a brief moment I had it working. Then I stupidly thought I'd try to change the resolution using the "monitors" tool from the menu and as soon as I clicked on another setting, the backlight flat-lined and went dark, and I haven't been able to resurrect it since. That's why I was hoping there'd be a solution. I don't know why it would work then suddenly not.

This laptop is a 17" widescreen so when it's using vesa drivers it's stretched out and overall not great, but 1600x900 can be tough on old eyes. I was hoping for something in-between.

If I have to go with an older version, I will, especially if there's no hail-marys out there which I guess I'm hoping for. I have Maya on another computer and like it.

So you're absolutely sure this won't work with 17.1? I've already downloaded Maya.

Thanks, Tom

[Pjotr]

So you're absolutely sure this won't work with 17.1?

Well, no, how could I be?

But it seems like a switch to Maya, might be a simple and quick practical solution for the biggest of the two problems.

If it does work, you can use this to-do list to give your Mint 13 Xfce a neat post-install polishing:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... -mint-xfce

[slovenly]

Well I tried mint 13 and it has the same video problems and is buggy as heck in other ways, windows won't behave, broken links to updates, downloads, etc. so I think I won't continue down this path. I felt like I was closer to a viable operating system with Rebecca.

Any other suggestions would be helpful, otherwise it's back to win7 for this machine. Tom

[slovenly]

Ok, so I made some progress with getting this working under 17.1. I followed someone else's suggestion and created a batch file which turns the backlight on. However, just like my previous experience, after I change my resolution, the backlight turns off again, but if I run the batch file again (using TeamViewer), it comes back on again. So now I just need to figure out how to have the batch file run whenever the desktop resolution is changed. Interestingly, the screen dims and will come back when you move the mouse or press a key.

write the following (the B value is brightness) to a file you create called: /usr/local/bin/set-brightness
#!/bin/sh -e
setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=60
exit 0

Make executable
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/set-brightness

Run it
sudo set-brightness

[Pjotr]

The easy way is, to add the setpci line to /etc/rc.local.

A pity that there seems to be no easy way out for the more important problem of the Intel driver.....

[slovenly]

The easy way is, to add the setpci line to /etc/rc.local.

I already tried that and it didn't work. It flashes up the Mint splash screen for a moment <1 sec and then it drops the backlight again.

I made a script and put that in the startup and it works, however, when I make changes to the resolution (which probably won't happen again) or when the computer has gone to sleep completely the backlight drops. So, I'm trying to figure out a way to run the script when these events happen. This is a little above my pay-grade so to speak and I'm fumbling with it.

[Dare_you_say_darin]

Wow thanks!

I've been struggling with the very same issue on the same machine (Gateway NV78) with 19.3 MATE and making a startup script as you described has given me an option other than booting with "nomodeset".

Have you made any further progress?

Thanks so much for sharing this solution, it is a great help already

[tekola]

I am having same issue Gateway NV78.
I fixed black screen after 3 full days of trying different posts,
but now I have this really shitty stretched resolution. (Also black screen comes back after hibernating)
I hate to go back to Windows and this is an awesome graphics machine.
I tried several distros of Linux.
I am using Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa. 20.1 did not work either. Lubuntu failed. Peppermint failed.
Windows 10 worked but is extremely slow and I don't want to go back.
I am somewhat weak on Linux, been using on other machines without issue.
I am a computer tech willing to try anything and start over. Reformat etc.
But I need instructions.
I am losing faith in Linux and Windows 11 will bring many more people over to the dark side.
Is there any video driver that works with these machines?