Why is MBPro screen dim in LM13, but not OSX?

[este.el.paz]

Folks:

Since i finished a major project in my OSX partition recently I was spending more time in the LM13 MATE 64bit partition recently, but noticed that the screen is noticeably dimmer, and pushing the F2 screen brightness button doesn't change anything. Saturday pushing the F2 button at least showed a brightness image with a progress bar that would increase the brightness, but then it would go right back down. I did an update/upgrade on Sunday and spent some time with some post upgrade issues that were solved by a restart, e.g., Firefox would not quit, and the LM splash window with all of the forums and chat stuff also would not close or even drag out of the way. That was fixed. But this AM, screen dimness would not brighten . . . I checked the power management and it shows screen brightness bar maxed in AC power page . . . but "dim screen when idle" is checked in Battery power page. I'm in AC power, but screen is dim, view-able, but doesn't respond to keyboard buttons to increase brightness. I like a bright screen . . . any thoughts? Is this a known issue? This is MBPro 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo with 4 GB Ram.

Thanks,
e.e.p.

[bigj231]

Have you tried another desktop environment to see if it works? Does it work on the LiveCD? What's the output of inxi?

Code: Select all

inxi -G

[este.el.paz]

Have you tried another desktop environment to see if it works? Does it work on the LiveCD? What's the output of inxi?

Code: Select all

inxi -G

@bigj231:

Thanks for the kind attention, I'm working in OSX side right now and the screen brightness is OK . . . I'll flip back over to LM in a bit and check out your suggestions and post back. I don't think I have another DE in LM right now?? I can't remember if I installed cinnamon as well, I think I have the LiveDVD's for both at home . . . it'll be another half day before I can check it. But thanks for the post.

e.e.p.

[este.el.paz]

Code: Select all

~ $ inxi -G
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA C79 [GeForce 9400M]
           X.Org: 1.11.3 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: nouveau,vesa,fbdev) Resolution: 1440x900@50.0hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce 9400M/integrated/SSE2 GLX Version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 295.40


@bigj231:

Seems like it's an intermittent problem . . . after this morning's issue I restarted into an OSX partition, and screen brightness was OK, then just restarted back into LM and screen is brighter, and the F2 & F1 buttons worked as they should . . . . So, it comes and goes, as a few days ago the problem was there, etc, and then again this morning, but now seems OK. Would it be better to check the "inxi -G" command when the screen is dim? I did check and it doesn't look like I have another DE installed in the system . . . I'll have to rifle through my LiveDVD's to try to find the Cinnamon system, or try the MATE LiveDVD to see if the problem occurs there or not. Overall LM13 has been pretty impervious to breaking on updates as some other systems, and being more or less trouble free . . . . It would be nice to figure out why this is happening . . . is it software or hardware, etc?

e.e.p.

[este.el.paz]

One additional detail or thought, this morning the computer was revived from suspend after sitting all night, logged out and put into suspend from the options menu--but in LM, and the same could have been happening yesterday . . . . And that's different, because usually the computer is in sleep from OSX at night . . . and then the visits to LM have been from OSX restart and then back into OSX. It's only been for a few days that my project has been done that I've kept it in LM; so, it occurred to me that there might be some issue with reviving from suspend, or the change from battery power to AC power isn't getting recognized by LM?? and so the screen stays dim to "preserve the battery" even when it's plugged in? I just haven't noticed this problem in prior visits to LM, but now that I'm spending a bit more time . . . the flaws are starting to be more flagrant in their behavior?? The quick visits of before weren't long enough, so the flaws could hold their breath??

e.e.p.

[este.el.paz]

Yes, the issue just re-occurred . . . logging back into LM from suspend puts me into a dim screen. Brightness is set to 100%, but the screen is far from bright. I logged out of MATE and back into Cinn . . . no difference. I restarted, and lately there has been a message about "broken pipe, could not write bytes" each time I log out of a session. I restarted into OSX and the brightness is again normal . . . . Any further thoughts?

e.e.p.

[este.el.paz]

Yes, the issue just re-occurred . . . logging back into LM from suspend puts me into a dim screen. Brightness is set to 100%, but the screen is far from bright. I logged out of MATE and back into Cinn . . . no difference. I restarted, and lately there has been a message about "broken pipe, could not write bytes" each time I log out of a session. I restarted into OSX and the brightness is again normal . . . . Any further thoughts?

e.e.p.

To whom:

Yes, the issue just re-re-occurred . . . basically the same as above, except I restarted back into LM and screen was again bright . . . this was reviving from log out in Cinn to back into Cinn w/dim screen . . . . Any thoughts appreciated.

e.e.p.

[bigj231]

I wish I could say this is an isolated issue, but I've seen it before. It was an older windows laptop a few years ago. I just ended up dealing with it until I upgraded 6 months later. I don't know how to fix it, other than restarting.
You could try the latest drivers from nVidia (i.e. the ones not in the repositories yet), but there's no guarantee that it would make a positive difference. They very well could break your system.
Is the screen dim on the login screen too, or just in the DE? You could check if it's dim in another virtual console. Use [CTRL]+[ALT]+[F2] (or whatever the equivalent is on Macintosh) to switch. To go back to the graphical console, use F7 or F8 instead. I don't recall which one it is.

[este.el.paz]

I wish I could say this is an isolated issue, but I've seen it before. It was an older windows laptop a few years ago. I just ended up dealing with it until I upgraded 6 months later. I don't know how to fix it, other than restarting.

Is the screen dim on the login screen too, or just in the DE? You could check if it's dim in another virtual console. Use [CTRL]+[ALT]+[F2] (or whatever the equivalent is on Macintosh) to switch. To go back to the graphical console, use F7 or F8 instead. I don't recall which one it is.

@bigj231:

Many thanks for the reply, much appreciated, by upgrading you mean to get out of LM13 and go to 14? I'll have to check if it's dim on log in as well as DE, was going to say just DE, but I think it's both. I'll check; but right now I'm more concerned with my post in the "Wierd Touchpad issues"?? in the Newbie questions forum, where I'm talking about sudden erratic cursor movement while simultaneously erasing text, that issue is more concerning and much more interruptive, since I never know when it's going to happen and several minutes worth of work are just erased. If you have any thoughts about that I'd appreciate your time. I was thinking about starting a new thread on it since the question is jacked onto someone elses thread and hasn't gotten any attention . . . but, other things to do. Perhaps it's time to upgrade to 14?

e.e.p.

[bigj231]

You can try 14 and see if it fixes your issues. I have a similar issue with the cursor in KDE. I've just resorted to turning off the touchpad while typing. When it deletes stuff, you can usually undo with command+z. It's a pain, but it works

[este.el.paz]

You can try 14 and see if it fixes your issues. I have a similar issue with the cursor in KDE. I've just resorted to turning off the touchpad while typing. When it deletes stuff, you can usually undo with command+z. It's a pain, but it works

@bigj231:

Thanks again for your reply, yeah I also had the same problem when I tested KDE in a Kubuntu for PPC, both on my iBook & iMac . . . that steered me away from KDE. The cmd-z thing only works if you see what happened . . . the problem is really unacceptable. I may try 14, but I thought that 13 is LTS and my time isn't unfilled with other stuff to do. I was thinking that my next step is to maybe try XFCE DE, to see if that would alleviate the problem before going thru the whole re-install process. But, I'm not holding out too much hope for that since it happens in both MATE & Cinn, although it seems to happen more in MATE & FF in combo than with Midori. So far no posts over on the other thread . . . the problem isn't just that the cursor jumps around, but the data being erased that makes it so problematic . . . .

e.e.p.