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    Screen brightness won't change!

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by DaUsedMCR, Sep 23, 2013.

  1. DaUsedMCR

    DaUsedMCR Notebook Guru

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    Hi all. I just noticed my screen brightness won't change. In all the power options, Fn F4 and F5 and in AMD settings, it claims it is at maximum brightness, but adjusting any sliders either way and applying the setting results in no brightness changes. Any help?

    EDIT: my screen would stay at the lowest brightness. now, I rewrote BIOS with the same one (A12), because other forums said that helped. Now, my brightness is at maximum, but nothing will change it.
     
    DaUsedMCR, Sep 23, 2013
    #1
  2. juliant

    juliant Notebook Deity

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    It would have been helpful if you provided more information about your system, ex. what kind of AMD graphic card you have... I am sure it has something to do with the AMD driver.
     
    juliant, Sep 24, 2013
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  3. DaUsedMCR

    DaUsedMCR Notebook Guru

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    my bad. AMD Radeon 6970m. Driver Version 12.104.0.0.
     
    DaUsedMCR, Sep 24, 2013
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  4. sigan

    sigan Notebook Enthusiast

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    That is a known issue with new AMD drivers. You have to switch to intel GPU to change the brightness and then switch back, or you have to downgrade to old Dell driver....
     
    sigan, Sep 24, 2013
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  5. utumkodur

    utumkodur Notebook Geek

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    Yep, sigan is right. Thats the only solution so far.
     
    utumkodur, Sep 24, 2013
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  6. DaUsedMCR

    DaUsedMCR Notebook Guru

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    Yep, that did it. Are the old drivers on the Dell site better to have than the latest from AMD for my video card? I know they use the same drivers for many cards, so they don't affect all cards in the same way. Should I go back to Dell's recommendation or will my gaming performance suffer?

    Also, my Intel graphics drivers are way out of date, but every time i try to update them, I lose the use of my AMD video card until i reinstall the AMD drivers. any way to update the Intel? I have Intel 3000 Driver version 9.3.0.0 and they are on 15.28.18.64.3223. Any point in updating them? The only time I use the intel is when I'm in class and I can't sit near an outlet.
     
    DaUsedMCR, Sep 24, 2013
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  7. baii

    baii Sone

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    So i guess amd is not gonna fix this brightness thing? , it had been broke since 13.1 or 13.4 iirc. It's just miracle they had to brake something for every driver release.

    Same issue on my precision blah.

    The new driver may perform better in newer game and have fix for game here and there.
     
    baii, Sep 24, 2013
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  8. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Just use the DELL ones, they are meant to work better on the platform and will show no issues. The website ones are the latest verified to work on our system, even though they look old, they are really stable and reliable.
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Sep 24, 2013
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  9. DaUsedMCR

    DaUsedMCR Notebook Guru

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    Update: Rolled back to the Dell drivers. AMD driver 9.3.0.0 and Intel 3000 driver 9.3.0.0, and still the same issue. I boot up and the screen is about the middle of the brightness range, and the brightness slider says full and brightness won't change with adjustment. When I switch back to the intel card, brightness goes to full, then I switch back to the AMD and it stays on max brightness. Is this still supposed to happen with the Dell drivers?
     
    DaUsedMCR, Nov 24, 2013
    #9