Screen Brightness & Charging Status

[Jator]

I have problems with my laptop when I disconnect the charging cable the brightness goes super low. If I were outside in the sun I wouldn't be able to see the screen to make the change. When I'm inside I can make out the screen and can go into settings to adjust the brightness.

I uncheked the dim brightness when on battery and not acitvely being used, but it still changes when I unplug the charger. Any suggestions on how I can force the brightness to never dim?

Here's the specs:

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System:
  Kernel: 5.11.0-36-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.5 wm: muffin 5.0.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Convertible System: LENOVO product: 81X2 v: IdeaPad Flex 5 14ARE05 
  serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 31 v: IdeaPad Flex 5 14ARE05 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0J40709 WIN serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: LENOVO v: EECN35WW date: 04/16/2021 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 19.6 Wh condition: 53.6/52.5 Wh (102%) volts: 11.9/11.6 
  model: LGC L19L3PD6 type: Li-poly serial: <filter> status: Charging 
  cycles: 24 
CPU:
  Topology: 6-Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 4500U with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 
  type: MCP arch: Zen rev: 1 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm 
  bogomips: 28447 
  Speed: 1368 MHz min/max: 1400/2375 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 1741 2: 1397 3: 1397 4: 1463 5: 1412 6: 1397 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Renoir vendor: Lenovo driver: amdgpu v: kernel 
  bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 1002:1636 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: amdgpu,ati 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RENOIR (DRM 3.40.0 5.11.0-36-generic LLVM 12.0.0) 
  v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.3 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 04:00.1 
  chip ID: 1002:1637 
  Device-2: AMD Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor 
  vendor: Lenovo driver: N/A bus ID: 04:00.5 chip ID: 1022:15e2 
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 04:00.6 chip ID: 1022:15e3 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.11.0-36-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Lenovo driver: rtw_8822ce v: N/A port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  chip ID: 10ec:c822 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 19.48 GiB (4.2%) 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Crucial model: CT500P5SSD8 size: 465.76 GiB 
  speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> rev: P4CR311 scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 456.96 GiB used: 19.47 GiB (4.3%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 47.8 C mobo: 41.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 38 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nm-l2tp-network-manager-l2tp-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/nm-l2tp/network-manager-l2tp/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nordvpn.list 
  1: deb https://repo.nordvpn.com/deb/nordvpn/debian stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com uma main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teams.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/ms-teams stable main
Info:
  Processes: 265 Uptime: 8m Memory: 15.08 GiB used: 1.17 GiB (7.8%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 

[Quinton McLeod]

Why not just manually make it brighter each time?

I ask, because, if one of us tells you how to permanently make it bright all the time, and one day you want to make it dim, you may end up breaking something.

Think of it like this. Let's say you're grandmother drives an exotic super car, but she wants the car to go faster, so you walk her through tweaking her suspension, breaks, engine and everything so she can get that - but then she complains that the car is __too__ fast, and wants you to readjust it. A week later, she wants the car to be faster again, and then a week after that, she wants you to adjust the smoothness of the ride.

What am I getting at? It's a never-ending spiral of maintenance. This is probably why people may be reluctant in helping you permanently set something that you may eventually change your mind on.

Anyway, here's the answer you want.

Run this as root:

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echo 10 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

Adjust the number as you see fit.

[SMG]

I have problems with my laptop when I disconnect the charging cable the brightness goes super low. If I were outside in the sun I wouldn't be able to see the screen to make the change. When I'm inside I can make out the screen and can go into settings to adjust the brightness.

I uncheked the dim brightness when on battery and not acitvely being used, but it still changes when I unplug the charger.

That is how you are supposed to make that happen in Mint. I am not sure why it is not working properly.

Have you checked in BIOS/UEFI to make sure there are no settings related to battery use that might be affecting this setting? Sometimes those settings can override the settings in the operating system.

[Jator]

Thanks quinton. Tried running the commany you mentioned, however I get the following error:

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jay@flex5:~$ echo 10 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
bash: /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness: No such file or directory

Although conceptually I get what you are saying, 99% of the time, I always have the laptop at about mid-point of brightness. Having the lapptop go to least brightness just because I unplug the charger doesn't make sense for me.


SMG, checked bios, couldn't find any settings that applied to display setting. This uses the EUFI bios which is not what I am used to, most of my PCs are 8+ years and use the old fashioned bios (I won't age myself, but let's just say I remember when ABIT was a popular motherboard line).

It's not a show stopper, but certainly if I ever "loan" this to my wife, it will be called out quickly.

[SMG]

Having the lapptop go to least brightness just because I unplug the charger doesn't make sense for me.

I just did a search and found ArchLinux: Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14ARE05. Under the "Issues" section I see:

Screen brightness sometimes goes down to minimum brightness when device charger is pluged in or unplugged (tested on arch install iso 5.12.8-arch1-1 kernel). (Seems to be fixed in newer 5.12 kernels)

There is a 5.13-oem kernel available if you want to give that a try.

You can install the latest 5.13-oem kernel with sudo apt install linux-oem-20.04c and then reboot for it to take effect.

If that does not help or you run into other issues with that kernel, you would boot into grub and select Advanced Options to select a 5.11 kernel (such as the one you are currently using) to continue booting. Then you would go into Update Manager and remove the 5.13 kernel. (Select View > Linux Kernels and click Continue. Select 5.13 on the left and click the kernel number on the right to make the Remove button visible.)

[Jator]

Having the lapptop go to least brightness just because I unplug the charger doesn't make sense for me.

I just did a search and found ArchLinux: Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14ARE05. Under the "Issues" section I see:

Screen brightness sometimes goes down to minimum brightness when device charger is pluged in or unplugged (tested on arch install iso 5.12.8-arch1-1 kernel). (Seems to be fixed in newer 5.12 kernels)

There is a 5.13-oem kernel available if you want to give that a try.

You can install the latest 5.13-oem kernel with sudo apt install linux-oem-20.04c and then reboot for it to take effect.

If that does not help or you run into other issues with that kernel, you would boot into grub and select Advanced Options to select a 5.11 kernel (such as the one you are currently using) to continue booting. Then you would go into Update Manager and remove the 5.13 kernel. (Select View > Linux Kernels and click Continue. Select 5.13 on the left and click the kernel number on the right to make the Remove button visible.)

Much appreciated. Getting ready to (hopefully) go to Italy so won't have time to test until I return, but that sounds exactly like my problem. I'll report when I get back.

[Jator]

Never got a chance to try this fix, but just noticed after updating the laptop (now at Kernel 5.13.0.27-generic), I still have the same issue. Not a deal breaker, will make sure my wife never tries to use my laptop (other than she has no clue how to navigate in Linux).

[SMG]

Never got a chance to try this fix, but just noticed after updating the laptop (now at Kernel 5.13.0.27-generic), I still have the same issue.

You could try the 5.14-oem kernel if you want.

Install the latest 5.14-oem kernel with sudo apt install linux-oem-20.04d and reboot.