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    T61 at max brightness - can't dim the display

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by DemeraraDrinker, Jul 10, 2007.

  1. DemeraraDrinker

    DemeraraDrinker Newbie

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    OK, in the last day or two, my T61 starts at max brightness, and I can't dim it. When I use the Fn keys, the On Screen Display shows that I am dimming it (the 15 bars are there), but the display does not dim.

    Power plans can change the brightness setting in the OSD, but the actual brightness does not change.

    When I boot in Safe Mode, the Fn keys DO affect the brightness but there is no OSD (I assume this is normal).

    So something is running that is interfering with the brightness setting. Something won't let it come down from maximum.

    I called support, and they had me try System Restore (it fails), reinstall the Hotkey driver (didn't work), do a restore default in the BIOS (didn't work). When they saw that Safe Mode works, they told me to start uninstalling stuff.

    I'm doing that...uninstalling everything I've put on it in the last two days. Anyone seen this before?
     
    DemeraraDrinker, Jul 10, 2007
    #1
  2. vespoli

    vespoli 402 NBR Reviewer

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    I think the question to ask is: "what did you last do/install before the problem manifested?"

    Answer that, and I think you'll be pretty close to a solution.
     
    vespoli, Jul 10, 2007
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  3. DemeraraDrinker

    DemeraraDrinker Newbie

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    I'm not sure, but it was recent. So I'm undoing everything I did. I uninstalled 3-4 ThinkVantage applets (EasyEject, System Migration, System Update, Presentation Director). Those are back on.

    I was just hoping someone else had run into what causes it.
     
    DemeraraDrinker, Jul 10, 2007
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  4. chadwicktr

    chadwicktr Notebook Evangelist

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    I had crazy things happen to the power manager OSD. It messed up a bunch of registry entries. Not sure this is much help to you, but thought I would throw it in :) I found some resolutions on another forum...
     
    chadwicktr, Jul 10, 2007
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  5. acaurora

    acaurora Notebook Deity NBR Reviewer

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    If this has not been done already, try uninstall/reinstalling Power Manager perhaps?
     
    acaurora, Jul 11, 2007
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  6. DemeraraDrinker

    DemeraraDrinker Newbie

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    Turns out I had to reinstall from the secret ThinkVantage partition. Sucked but it works now.
     
    DemeraraDrinker, Sep 27, 2007
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  7. alphaoenz71v

    alphaoenz71v Notebook Geek

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    I just installed the 570M drivers from windows update, then installed the 163.44 over that and it works now.
     
    alphaoenz71v, Sep 27, 2007
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  8. blau

    blau Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hint: go to Control Panel, open NVIDIA Control Panel. Look at the option/setting under "Mobile", "Configure SmartDimmer", you'd probably see that the default settings there are to increase the LCD brightness to +255 (i.e. maximum).

    Good luck!
     
    blau, Sep 27, 2007
    #8