can't adjust brightness for screen

I have an Alienware 17x notebook, when I try to adjust the brightness for my screen using the Fn + F4 or F5 to dim or brighten the screen it doesn't work, I thought that the function keys weren't working so I checked but the rest of them respond. I have all the updated drivers, updated the BIOS to current, checked the power settings and I still can't adjust the brightness, any suggestions?

 

Right click on the battery icon in your task bar. Then go to adjust screen brightness. What do you see there?

 

i had the same problem with my last system with nvidia 280's, i solve that installing different display drivers

 

I installed the video drivers several times but I will do that again, I have also reinstalled the o/s several times for other issues. I have dual nvidia 260's I followed batboy's guide for the M17x drivers.

 

As far as I know, it's a matter of the specific drivers you're using. Try different ones.

 

you need to have the 9400 (integrated) gpu active to adjust the brightness. either by using only discreet, hybrid sli, or putting it in stealth mode. some drivers will only let you control brightness in only discreet or stealth mode and not in hybrid sli.

for some reason the brightness adjustment won't work with sli only option.

 

I will check this when I get home, I was pretty sure that I had it active. Thanks for the help.

 

You need both the good driver and the 9400 enabled to be able to adjust it.

 

HybridSLI/Integrated Graphics do not need to be active in order to adjust screen brightness. I have both options disabled in the BIOS and am running the 186.82 driver. I am able to adjust screen brightness via the FN+F4/F5 keys without issue, both on AC as well as Battery power.

Not sure if what you are seeing is a driver problem or a config problem as I have never run into an issue with this, regardless of display driver version under Vista. It could be a Win7 only issue.

Be sure that the current version of OSD is installed.

Alienware Onscreen Display - v2.21 A03, Last Updated: 09/18/2009

 

hey thanks for all the replies and help but apparently my mainboard is defective and has to be replaced according to alienware tech support, I tried to get them to exchange it as I am within the 30 days of receiving it but after spending several hours on the phone getting tranferred from dell to alienware and no one willing to do anything except transfer me I will have them replace the mainboard.

 

I'm only able to adjust brightness if the hybrid mode is on. Can't do it if hybrid and integrated are disabled in the bios. Do you keep re-installing osd when you install a new driver? I'm using 186.82.

 

You should not have to reinstall OSD after a display driver change. You may want to contact support and see what they are able to find. Not being able to change brightness is not normal behavior regardless of GPU/SLI configuration.