Screen brightness doesn't work on Vaio Y

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and help to improve Ubuntu.

This is nothing to do with acpi-support, which is a deprecated package for handling only those ACPI events that aren't handled by the standard kernel input layer. Reassigning to gnome-power-manager, which I believe is the package that handles these events in GNOME; though this may also be a bug in the video driver, as there are regressions in backlight handling on some platforms in connection with the conversion to KMS.

Thank you for your bug report. Please run "killall gnome-power-manager && gnome-power-manager 2>&1 | tee ~/gpm.log", press the buttons a few times and then attach the resulting log file to this bug report

Sorry, I meant "killall gnome-power-manager && gnome-power-manager --verbose 2>&1 | tee ~/gpm.log" in my last comment there

Here goes the log file. I have pressed the buttons several times to cover the entire scale shown in Gnome.

Hi;
I am using VPCYS1E (Y Series) Sony Vaio notebook, I am using Ubuntu 9.04 with 2.6.31-20-generic kernel. I am also experiencing same issue, i couldn't control screen brightness with any of gnome and linux tools . I have tried disabling Acpi from kernel also tried acpi_backlight=vendor but nothing changed. I have tried 2.6.32 kernel but again no result. Now my boot log shows me the log below.

Thanks
Özhan

[ 15.538551] sony-laptop: brightness ignored, must be controlled by ACPI video driver

I have the same problem with karmic on my sony series Y.
I can get the brightness level and change it with:
sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B

values are hexadecimal, and vary from 00 to FF.

I have prepared a couple of file to let ACPI catch FN5 and FN6, and a couple of scripts to increase and decrease the brightness level. I have also introduced catch of FN9 and FN10 keys to disable/enable touchpad.

I attach the patch I have prepared for myself, hope it helps while waiting for an official solution.

Cheers

Francesco

The scripts fixed the issue for me.

Thanks a lot!

Daniel

Hi Francesco;
Script solved my issue in Ubuntu 9.10. I hope that they have solved the issue or added your script to upcoming 10.04 version. Thanks for your effort.

Özhan

Happy that works for both of you too :-)

I have noticed that sometimes (I think if keys are pressed many times quickly), acpid stops working, and FN keys does not work anymore. No time to investigate it now.

Cheers, and happy ubuntu! ;-)

Francesco

I installed the fix on my VPCY11S1E Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 Gnome.

Fn F5 and F6 seem to give me a brightness bar now at the right top of the screen but is doesn't change the brightness although the bar slides.

How do I uninstall the fix, please. I want to wait for the official "gnome-power-management fix"

bas, to remove the patch you have to remove the files that are in the "script" subfolder of the patch from /etc/acpi/ and the files that are in the "events" subfolder of the patch from /etc/acpi/events/

Then reboot your laptop and... patch is gone ;-)

Dear Francesco,

Do you know when there is going to be a proper fix for this issue? It seems
to be present since ubuntu 8.04 and still isn't fixed.
I'm pretty newbe when it comes to launchpad and bug fixing so could really
appreciate your input.

This issue seems to be on lots of notebooks. Dell's, Sony's etc.

Thanks in advance,
Bas

On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 10:14 AM, Francesco Giudici
<email address hidden>wrote:

> bas, to remove the patch you have to remove the files that are in the
> "script" subfolder of the patch from /etc/acpi/ and the files that are
> in the "events" subfolder of the patch from /etc/acpi/events/
>
> Then reboot your laptop and... patch is gone ;-)
>
> --
> Screen brightness doesn't work on Vaio Y
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/524967
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “gnome-power-manager” package in Ubuntu: In Progress
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: acpi-support
>
> On a Sony Vaio VPCY115FX (Y series) with the Intel Corporation Mobile 4
> Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (Mobile Intel GS45 Express
> Chipset) running Karmic 64-bit, the screen brightness control doesn't work,
> although the Fn keys seem to be sending the right signals (and also being
> correctly interpreted by Gnome).
>
> The output of acpi_listen is
>
> sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 00000011 (Fn+F6 struck - brightness +)
> sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 0000003b (Fn+F6 released)
> sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 00000010 (Fn+F5 struck - brightness -)
> sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 0000003b (Fn+F5 released)
>
> I have tried the following procedures, with no effect.
>
> - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2877962
> - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=733322
>
> This problem has also been reported for previous and current versions of
> Ubuntu, on different Vaio laptops with different graphic cards.
>
> - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1404806
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> Architecture: amd64
> Date: Sat Feb 20 14:54:25 2010
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
> Package: acpi-support 0.129
> ProcEnviron:
> LANGUAGE=pt_BR.UTF-8
> LANG=pt_BR.UTF-8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-19.56-generic
> SourcePackage: acpi-support
> Uname: Linux 2.6.31-19-generic x86_64
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-power-manager/+bug/524967/+subscribe
>

Dear bas,
I really don't know when an official fix will be available.

I think that the problem is related to the change in the way fn keys are dealt with: the new trend is to manage the events generated by the key pressure using gnome power management (or something like that, I don't remember exactly).
I have fixed the problem just adding the key pressure events in the "old" acpi management mode (acpid I think). Then I have binded the managed events with custom scripts that use the setpci utility to manipulate video brightness.

I have done it just for myself... then posted to give a quick fix to other having the same issue.

The problem is that fn keys generate custom events from one manifacturer to another and often from one model to another inside the same vendor!. So, it is almost impossible for developer to release software containing all the fn-keys events binding for all the laptop models of all the vendors.
Anyway, when the problem hits many people (i.e., the laptop is bought by many people using linux) then probably an official fix will be released.

So, I don't think that an official fix will be released very soon.

Cheers

Francesco

Dear Francesco,

Today Mr. Tovalds released the new linux kernel. It has some kind of fix for
sony. I'm going to test it this evening after work.
I'll let you know if the issue has changed/resolved. More information can be
found here http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/5/16/89

Regards,
Bastiaan

On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 11:26 AM, Francesco Giudici
<email address hidden>wrote:

> Dear bas,
> I really don't know when an official fix will be available.
>
> I think that the problem is related to the change in the way fn keys are
> dealt with: the new trend is to manage the events generated by the key
> pressure using gnome power management (or something like that, I don't
> remember exactly).
> I have fixed the problem just adding the key pressure events in the "old"
> acpi management mode (acpid I think). Then I have binded the managed events
> with custom scripts that use the setpci utility to manipulate video
> brightness.
>
> I have done it just for myself... then posted to give a quick fix to
> other having the same issue.
>
> The problem is that fn keys generate custom events from one manifacturer to
> another and often from one model to another inside the same vendor!. So, it
> is almost impossible for developer to release software containing all the
> fn-keys events binding for all the laptop models of all the vendors.
> Anyway, when the problem hits many people (i.e., the laptop is bought by
> many people using linux) then probably an official fix will be released.
>
> So, I don't think that an official fix will be released very soon.
>
> Cheers
>
> Francesco
>
> --
> Screen brightness doesn't work on Vaio Y
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/524967
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “gnome-power-manager” package in Ubuntu: In Progress
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: acpi-support
>
> On a Sony Vaio VPCY115FX (Y series) with the Intel Corporation Mobile 4
> Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (Mobile Intel GS45 Express
> Chipset) running Karmic 64-bit, the screen brightness control doesn't work,
> although the Fn keys seem to be sending the right signals (and also being
> correctly interpreted by Gnome).
>
> The output of acpi_listen is
>
> sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 00000011 (Fn+F6 struck - brightness +)
> sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 0000003b (Fn+F6 released)
> sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 00000010 (Fn+F5 struck - brightness -)
> sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 0000003b (Fn+F5 released)
>
> I have tried the following procedures, with no effect.
>
> - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2877962
> - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=733322
>
> This problem has also been reported for previous and current versions of
> Ubuntu, on different Vaio laptops with different graphic cards.
>
> - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1404806
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> Architecture: amd64
> Date: Sat Feb 20 14:54:25 2010
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
> Package: acpi-support 0.129
> ProcEnviron:
> LANGUAGE=pt_BR.UTF-8
> LANG=pt_BR.UTF-8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-19.56-gene...

I have this kind of problem on a Sony VAIO CW2C5E (nVidia 310M). The only way to control screen backlight is using nvidiabl module from

https://github.com/guillaumezin/nvidiabl

I can see gnome power monitor correctly interfaces with backlight module because changing settings in gconf works. Anyway, Fn keys do not work. In the log file there is no trace of key presses. Is there a way to check gnome-power-manager association with those keys? Other Fn keys (volume for instance) work correctly out of the box.

Update on Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric)
Hi there,
   just a quick update on screen brightness issue status, for the Vaio Y series.
The problem seems related to gnome-power-manager & intel 915 driver... Kamal Mostafa has released a path that should be already present in Ubuntu 11.10.
I don't know if this due to the Kamal patch (but I think so), but now it is possible to control our (sony Y) brightness through:
/sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

Anyway, the gnome-power-manager links to
/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/
in order to read/set backlight. Unfortunately, this control is completely void and does not produce any effect.
A suggested workaround is to start linux with boot parameter:
acpi_backlight=vendor

This produce the desired effect: /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/ disappears, BUT the sony_laptop module, as does not found acpi support to brightness, takes in care brightness management creating its own sony brightness device... and yes, gnome-power-manager prefers it than our beloved intel_backlight.
Unfortunately, we NEED sony_laptop module, because takes care of the fn keys bindings.
So, two ways are available:
1) modify and recompile sony_laptop module in order to ignore brightness control + acpi_backlight=vendor on boot
2) The old and still pretty good acpi event management through custom scripts

Solution 2 is easier and less intrusive, so I have updated the brightness scripts, in order to adopt the new brightness control interface and sync with the "void" acpi_video0 control when pressing brightness up and down keys.
The install script is now a little smarter, doing checks in order to prevent installation where not needed.

I leave here a copy of the patch, hoping could be of help

Cheers

Francesco

Exactly same problem here with Vaio-VPCY11V9E.

"acpi_video0", "acpi_video1" and "intel_backlight" folders at /sys/class/backlight and only intel_backlight works when echo'ing values to brightness with ubuntu 11.10

This is a really PITA, is there any workaround available? It would be a huge pain-saver? At least till this bug is closed...