NVIDIA auto-contrast on battery issue (Precision M4700 / M6700 / M4800 / M6800 / 7510 / 7710)

Good news, this awful feature is finally gone with the 391.xx driver, and after more than 3 years, my M6700 is finally usable for graphics work in battery mode!!!

I got an M6700 with the A18 BIOS, Quadro K4000M with BIOS 80.04.5A.00.02 and Samsung SEC5044 120Hz with 3D Vision, so no Optimus support. Running Win 10 latest (10.0.16299.334). Verified on http://tylerwatt12.com/dc/ - with all recent drivers before 391 and above 350/something, the logo fades in on battery power (AC power was always fine). With 391.33 there is no fade-in. Verified in Photoshop and dark-UI apps where the dynamic contrast was really bad.

Not everything is rosy, though. All HDMI connections are failing with 391.33, either direct from the laptop or DVI->HDMI from the docking station. 377.83 is the last driver where HDMI was working.

391.03 fails to install or run properly on AC power and the machine freezes for really long times. On battery power, the dimming is gone as in 391.33.

Let's just hope the missing SmartDimmer is not a driver bug that NVIDIA "fixes" at some point.

 

Thanks for the update. This issue bugged me for a long time ... but it hasn't been an issue on my M6700 since I installed a Quadro M5000M. (Have to jump through some hoops to get the driver loaded there, and apparently the NVIDIA driver doesn't recognize it as a device that needs the display dimming.) I'll give it a test on my 7510 when I have a chance...