PSA: Contact HP Support about brightness issue in Windows 8!

For those of you unaware, there's an annoying problem with HP laptops when upgrading to Windows 8 - the brightness can't be lowered; you're stuck at max the whole time. It kills battery life. The rest of the process was relatively painless. Windows 8 just came out, but it's still HP's job to fix this, sooner rather than later. It's on them. The only way to get this fixed early is to let them know about it. Should be relatively simple on their end as well.

Contact HP / Customer Service | HP

Contact them with the above - phone, email, whatever. The sooner they're aware that a portion of their base has this issue, the sooner it will be fixed! I know it may sound meager, but it's how things get done. I already did my part.

 

Is this happening on model's without discrete graphic?

 

Not sure. I know it's happening on mine that has the switchable graphics.

 

Some models work fine. Its definitely not all models, but its quite a few.

I have a solution, but it so far only works for the HP Envy 3000 and 3200 series.

The Ramblings of Adrynalyne: Fix Brightness Control for Windows 8 AMD SG Drivers (HP Provided)

 

Hey adrynalyne, I havent signed in here in months i'd become a lurker again but I decided to sign in today to personally thank you for the solution you provided! I'd been running Win8 since 10/25 on my 17-3200 CTO and since then my PC's screen has been eating away at my poor pupils day after day after day maxed out on brightness. All I did was download your fix, added it to my registry and after a reboot I was able to toggle brightness just like new again! So thanks so much for taking the time out to put this out there, I hope it helps a lot more people than just me!

 

Glad I could help out!

The 100% brightness really is a killer on the eyes. I swear I could feel the heat on my face!

I really feel that the brightness issue for HP and other companies is due to them not taking the time to properly setup the inf. Intel has an excuse, because they are reference drivers, but HP does not. I feel like there is a certain amount of apathy because they don't support Windows 8 being installed on machines shipping with Windows 7 past a "best effort" attempt.

 

You know, that really sucks completely. I wonder how long it will take for an official fix to be released. These are billion dollar companies and their customers are shelling out no small amount of money for their products. It sucks that there isn't a strict attention to detail. This is in no small part the reason why apple is eroding PC market share. Again, thanks man. I woke up this morning and its really a blessing to turn on my PC and not have my retinas scorched into submission haha

 

FYI: The HP Probook/Elitebook lines work perfectly fine with Windows 8.

 

For the record, I have MacBooks and Apple has their share of issues as well. Just look at the recent fiasco with the new "Maps" app on iPhone for an example. Apple fans continue buying their products in part because they are very loyal. OS X is a very nice operating system too.

 

Absolutely true, there's no disputing that! But when I say "in no small part" I mean there are other reason too. Optics, advertisement, public perception, and as you mentioned, brand loyalty are others. My point is that Apple is usually quick in addressing these issues. Another, quality control. When I received my envy there was a dent by the vent near the back but I had to live with it because I wanted to avoid the 3-4 week turn over time in returning and exchanging with HP. How does that even happen? a dent?! I have had 0 problem, software or hardware wise with my iPhone 5. Just my experience.

 

A dent could have happened in shipping or an accident at the final moment when it was being boxed that the Chinese person making $1 a day didn't notice. I took VERY good care of my 2011 Pavilion but it still ended up with a small dent on the back that I have no idea how it got there. Most likely it was when I was transporting it between places, even though I carry it in a case.

I don't think you can fault HP one bit for their 21-day no questions asked return policy. Sorry you are not getting your instant gratification and satisfaction, but life's not fair sometimes. When our MacBook Pro died, it still took several days for the Apple Store to fix it.

I hope you find that perfect computer you are looking for! ;-)

 

My two front speaker grills have dents....I have no idea how, but I know I caused them. My friend's MBP also has dents. Metal is attractive, but not a good idea on a laptop.

 

Haha! Yeah, the metal part on the back of my Pavilion has a little pinpoint dent and I have no idea how that happened. Thankfully it's on the back so I don't see it too often. Trying to keep my ENVY 17 dent-free. Regardless, it's not HP's fault if it got dented in shipping or if I dent it. I would have sent it back if it arrived dented and let HP and FedEx sort it out. I don't "need" a computer so bad I can't do without it for a few weeks.

 

Ehh not into playing politics. I listed this as one reason among others. I'm fairly sure it was an HP quality control issue as many others had been making the same claims as their new laptops arrived, unless fedex is playing soccer with HP boxes somewhere out in anchorage. "Instant gratification"? "Life's not fair sometimes"? By the sound of it I guess you feel i'm being petty or asking for too much but i'm not Elon Musk, I'm not Bill Gates and i'm not Warren Buffett, if I spend upwards of a thousand dollars, that I worked very hard for, on something I DO expect it to be perfect as a starting point since it will be with me for YEARS. I love the PC and I love my ENVY but that doesn't mean HP can't be better in controlling a ton of these issues. How can you attempt to lecture someone into being passive on an extremely expensive piece of hardware? Anyways whatever, just came here to thank a guy haha back to lurking

 

I think part of the problem is that the packing wasn't sufficient for the material used. Just a bump on the metal makes it dent.

Anyway, I digress.

Glad everything (brightness wise) worked out

 

yo the brightness fix didnt work i had to install win8 because my win7 currpted when i tried installing hp's old audio drivers -___-. ANyone else got a fix? im stuck with win8 until atleast thanksgiving

 

You need properly installed Win HP graphics drivers first.

 

i did install hp's drivers then i tried ur brightness fix, didnt work, and i went on to install the leshcatlab's drivers.

 

So just to be clear, we need to install the "display" drivers from that site? Then apply the fix? I guess that means they won't work with Catalyst 12.11 beta then...

 

The fix deals with the Intel driver. If you don't install the correct Intel driver, you can forget about the fix working. I know there is a user here who has it working with Intel supplied drivers, but I have not been able to reproduce his results.

Leshcat's drivers apply the very same fix within the inf for the HP Envy, so if they work, then it was like I said. The drivers beforehand were not properly installed or not from HP.

From the leshcat inf:

HKR,, FeatureTestControl,%REG_DWORD%, 0xF940 ;

Looks familiar

This is the crap one that HP uses:

HKR,, FeatureTestControl,%REG_DWORD%, 0xF842

 

May be a blonde moment here or something, but the only Intel drivers on the driver page for my laptop Software & Driver Downloads HP ENVY 17t-3200 CTO Notebook PC | HP® Support are the "Smart Connect" and "Bluetooth" drivers. The "Graphics" drivers are AMD - I assume catalyst 12.10. Would those be the ones I'd need to download (both or just one, what's the diff?)? That would make sense to me. I downloaded the Smart Connect driver, installed and rebooted, downloaded your fix, added it to the registry, rebooted, and still can't adjust brightness.

I'm running Catalyst 12.11 beta 4 on an HP Envy 17 3200 CTO.

 

hmm soo what does that mean for me?

 

Hey, i'm using the beta AMD drivers as well so I don't think that's your problem. After you updated to w8, did you use your HP Support Assistant to upgrade your drivers? Also Windows Update has a few files for you as well. Worst case scenario, if the brightness is really getting to you, reinstall, re-update the drivers using system tools not manually, then reapply the reg fix. Hope that helps!

 

You do not have the correct drivers installed. Specifically, these: http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp58501-59000/sp58812.exe

Those AMD drivers are what you are supposed to install first. They contain an Intel driver as well.

Uninstall all of your drivers, anything AMD or Intel related for now.

Then install the AMD drivers listed for Windows 8 from HP. Verify they install, and switchable graphics work.

THEN install the reg fix. If you decide to update to 12.11b4 after that point, be my guest

 

If Leshcat's drivers worked, then it means your previous ones weren't installed correctly. Its kind of tricky editing the registry after drivers are installed, and is better to do it via inf. However, I don't want my drivers unsigned.

If Leshcat's drivers work for you, roll with them. They are probably better performing than the HP drivers anyway. As for stability, well, that wasn't the case for me, but might be perfectly fine for others.

 

This is exactly true and what I did to get the brightness fix to work. Uninstall every video driver and run Driver Sweeper to remove all traces of AMD video drivers. Then install the HP driver, then the reg fix, and brightness control should work. The 12.11b4 runs fine after this is done and does not change the brightness control since they are AMD-only and do not touch the Intel drivers.

 

Thanks guys!

What's the diff b/w the two provided drivers on HP's site? Does one include the NET 4.0 stuff?

 

That I don't know. I am thinking the second one doesn't contain Net 4.0 stuff or Intel driver. I haven't had a chance to download and check.

 

I do not know either. I used the larger one.

 

This should be useful to most of you:
Updating AMD+Intel Enduro drivers (Cat 12.11 and newer) + Brightness adjustment fix

 

I just figured out another potential solution to the Brightness issue.

I have an HP Envy 14 CTO 1000 or so, early model, and upgraded to Windows 8 as soon as it became available. I've been enjoying it however the inability to adjust the brightness has finally gotten to me and it didn't seem like a google solution was going to come soon enough. To clarify, the brightness buttons would make the onscreen brightness bar appear and go up and down, but the screen brightness would never change. Same thing goes for the controls in the power settings. I found this post and Adrynalyne's blog. I do not have HP drivers or an intel video card in my system, just the straight ATI 5600 so I figured that the solution given would not work however I went into the same Registry chain and started looking around. Comparing it to my old Windows 7 Registry values, I found only 3 or 4 discrepancies. The one I changed worked fixed the brightness not working issue. Here it is.

In: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> ControlSet001 ->Control -> Class -> {4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} -> 0000

I found: KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2 REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (1) <---- I then changed the 1 to a 0.

Rebooted, and it finally worked!

Thank you to Adrynalyne for leading me in the right direction.

 

Nice! This is for the 1000 series? I'll make a regfile for folks to try!

Thanks for the tip!

 

I got a sleekbook with windows 8 and the brightness level can be adjusted in the control panel in power save option

 

My laptop Envy 17-3270nr encountered this problem since I upgraded the OS to Windows 8 by end of October 2012. Last night, I had a chat with an HP technician and was instructed to re-install the above driver, but no success. The problem still exists!

Update on 27 Dec 12': I followed the instructions here and it fixed the problem!
The Ramblings of Adrynalyne: Fix Brightness Control for Windows 8 AMD SG Drivers