x201s screen dims & recovers despite power saving settings

I've noticed something odd happening with my x201s the past few days. It randomly seems to have the screen dim then recover a few seconds later. I have dimming turned off in power management. I've confirmed this numerous times. It has no relation to any period of being idle, as it occurs as I am actively using the laptop. When the screen dims, manually adjusting the brightness has no effect (I've been leaving it on 15/15).

Has anyone else run into this? I suspect I have a hardware issue.

 

I'm not having that issue at all.

 

I saw the regular X201 on display in Hong-Kong doing this as well. Does it have something to do with the the screen saver being used

 

I suspect not as the OP said "It has no relation to any period of being idle, as it occurs as I am actively using the laptop." It might be time for a call to Lenovo support.

 

I assume your x201s has Intel Graphics. There is a setting in the Intel Graphics Control Panel for turning off "Display Power Management", which may play a role here. Not sure if you found this during your configuration.

For my T510, using the latest Lenovo-supplied Display driver, this is found at:

Intel Graphics Control Panel -> Power -> Power Features -> Graphics Plan Power Setting -> On Battery -> (de-select) Display Power Saving Technology

 

FWIW, I also have this issue. Even after disabling the power saving option in the Intel Graphics control panel, I just experienced this phenomenon a couple minutes ago.

 

For a short time that I had my W510, it would do this. The white bar whould pop up and show me my brightness and the screen would dim, seconds later it would go back. Looked like power management to me, almost like it thought it went on battery for a few seconds and then was back to being plugged in. Wasn't a hardware problem it appears, at least not related to the LCD itself. It was as if the power management software dimmed the screen. I don't recall if I heard the 'beep' as if the power adapter was removed, but try it yourself. Remove the power adapter, the white bar showing your current brigntess setting will pop up. Plug it back in, it'll pop up again. That's what it was doing, but the power adapter was securely plugged in and I wasn't moving the machine at all, I know it had a good connection. It did it quite a few times for me.

 

@LeMarcus: The x201s has an LED backlit screen, so it's not that.

@tobyg: This happens while on battery though. I do agree that power management is the culprit since this happens more frequently when I'm using battery stretch.

 

OK, so I am not alone. I suppose that is somewhat reassuring.

Now we'll have to figure out what the problem is here.

 

What happens if your settings for dimmed display brightness = normal brightness?

I realize this is not a solution, but if these 2 are the same (i.e. 15/15), and the dimming still happens, you might be able to rule out Power Manager.

 

I was thinking the same thing and set it this way on Saturday. The issue doesn't occur consistently but I haven't had it happen since I made the change. So I hope you're right but it may take a few more days to confirm.

 

If the changes no longer happen, I would venture to use "reset to defaults" in Lenovo Power manager. I would also use default BIOS Power setting for anything related to Intel graphics. And (finally) I would look at the "Advanced power plan settings" in Windows Power management, which has settings that Lenovo does not, and reset that too.

Between the 3 of these, with each selectively over-writing the settings of the others, I loose track of which does which for what, and just reset.

 

Looks like it's still happening.

 

Upgraded to the latest Intel HD graphics driver (8.15.10.2086). Not an "official" Lenovo version but hopefully it solves the problem. I'll report back in a few days.

 

That didn't take long. I've actually figured out how to reproduce it consistently. When I launch Lightroom, the screen dims. It stays dim as long as Lightroom has window focus. The screen returns to normal brightness if I switch out of it back to a browser.

Perhaps it has to do with Lightroom being such a "dark' theme by default, triggering dynamic contrast? Is this software/config or does it sound like the behavior of a bad screen?

 

Well, I think you've answered your own question. Especially since you can reproduce it. I wouldn't worry about it personally.

 

Solved my own problem. It is a power saving option. "Intel Graphics Power Plan" needs to be set to "Maximum Performance" to avoid any sort of dimming. It's quite misleading, as I'd expect graphics power saving options to impact GPU performance, not screen brightness.

Having Lightroom open, I can actually see the screen dim in "Balanced" or "Maximum Power Savings" modes versus having it stay bright with "Maximum Performance".

Hope this helps someone else.

 

One more note to add. The new Intel drivers I mentioned are also required to fix this problem.

I reverted to the official Lenovo version and had the issue re-occur even with "Maximum Performance" set. New drivers + "maximum performance" and the issue is gone.

 

Curious fix...How does this affect battery life-friendly options? Thanks for keeping us posted.

 

Definitely impacts battery life. I think the most important point to considering here is that our hardware is fine. Now it becomes a decision of whether or not we're willing to deal with some dimming to save battery or not.

I still think this will be corrected with drivers somewhere along the way. Having the screen dim to reduce GPU power seems like an unintended side effect.

 

How about not installing the Power Manager software? I don't have it installed (only the driver) and I'm not having this issue at all.

This isn't the first time Thinkvantage stuff has caused issues. It has a long memorable history of driver conflicts and bugs. The more you can strip them away, the better off you are.

 

How did you get around the 'Driver is not validated with this system' error?

Did you just install by manually upgrading the Video driver from within device manager rather than using the setup.exe to install?

How about the Video BIOS? For instance in the new driver it is version 1994. The BIOS from the current driver is 1960.

Also there is the Intel(R) Turbo Boost Technology Driver and Control Panel too.

Just wondering if these were all correctly updated and worked ok?

 

I only updated the graphics driver. It's a bit of a manual process but isn't too bad.

First, remove the old graphics driver via device manager. Just right-click on the Intel HD Graphics entry under "Display Adapters" and select uninstall. Once it's done, Windows will want to reboot.

Once Windows is back up, you'll have an ugly low resolution screen. Go back into device manager and update driver. Browse to wherever you extracted the Intel drivers (C:\Users\Whatever\Desktop\WinVista7_64_15171\Graphics). It should install and reboot.

That's it! I didn't bother with any of the other packaged drivers.

 

Interesting. I've actually been wondering what the benefit of it is these days, being that the built-in Windows 7 options are more robust. Do you omit the power management driver as well?

 

ok, thanks. That's what I thought you might be doing. I wondered if you knew some neat way around the compatibility check to get a full install.

 

I just installed the new Intel HD drivers, and this step:

is unnecessary if you use Lenovo's System Update -- it automatically does it for you. Just makes it a little bit easier.

Also, I'd feel very uncomfortable uninstalling PM. I've grown quite reliant on PM to keep my battery healthy.

 

The only downside of the non official drivers is that we lose the on screen brightness indicator. Anyone know how to get that back?

 

hey ddensity, good to see ya again. have you tried external monitor with high resolution? do you have this problem?

Problems

x201s with 24" external monitor@1920*1080 (ultrabase docked, displayport to HDMI converter) starts very slowly, often stuck at the windows 7 welcome screen, sometimes the screen went totally black. the display driver crashed/recovered several times. I believe this problem is caused by the display driver. The driver from Lenovo website is not the latest (Version: 8.15.10.2025 Release Date: 2010/01/29). I downloaded the latest one from Intel(Version: 8.15.10.2086 Release Date: 2010/03/04) but I couldn't install it properly.

I tried many other ways, even re-installed the whole system. At last I found a setting in the BIOS "Config---Display---Boot display device", the default setting is "thinkpad lcd", i changed it to "Digital on Thinkpad (displayport)". The slow booting problem is solved, but the screen went black during the booting process for a few times. This is the best solution at this moment. Since Intel's generic driver won't install, we have to wait for lenovo's new driver.

 

Removing the Lenovo Power Manager makes no difference. In other words, removing it and setting Intel Graphics power management to anything but "Maximum Performance" still causes dimming.

 

I just had the dimming happen even with new drivers and maximum performance set.

 

I don't have the dimming happening. I installed the PM driver but not the software. You still have the on screen brightness display through the hotkeys application.

 

I did notice the flickering/dimming on the X201 screen. One needs to have an eye for detail to notice it though. The salesman siad there was nothing wromng with the screen until I pointed it out to him and even then it took him a while to see it.

 

I'm not sure what the cause is yet.

I can tell you guys how to reproduce it consistently. Bring up any screen which is predominantly dark/black. For example, if I RDP into a system with backgrounds off (which makes it black), my screen dims. It'll recover as soon as I task switch back to something bright.

 

Yeah I think this is a hardware problem.

It's off to the depot.

 

No trust me this is not flickering or dirty power. The screen literally loses substantial brightness for 5 seconds then recovers gradually.

It's a defective screen, I am almost certain of it. I plugged the laptop into an external LCD panel and ran the same test with no loss in brightness, which should eliminate the video adapter.

I'm sending the unit into the depot, where I suspect it's going to get an LCD replacement. I'll report back the results.

 

I received my laptop back from the depot today (shipped it on Monday). They replaced the system board, which did NOT fix the problem. So, at this point it only leaves the screen or software issue.

I haven't contacted support yet to let them know the problem persists. I'm actually debating whether to send it in again because it could very well be an Intel driver issue.

 

Hi ddensity,

Have you managed to solved this problem? I am having the same issue as you, except that it comes even without having to switch from a dark background application....

 

So far I have not noticed the dimming on my X201s so far. Will pay closer attention to it to see what I notice.

 

I'm having this problem as well. It seems like it mostly occurs when on battery, but I haven't confirmed that. You can actually see it happening. It will take a few seconds and gradually step down the brightness but also it looks like it increases the contrast (the whites get washed out and the darks get really dark). Interested in hearing any solutions folks have found.

 

Yes, I've solved this.

Right click the desktop and select "Graphics Properties", which should bring up the Intel configuration tool. Select "Power", then "Power Features", and select "On battery" from the drop down and uncheck "Display Power Saving Technology".

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/1160/capturesos.png

 

If that doesn't do it, one thing to try is turning off the power saving feature that lowers the refresh rate.

 

Thanks ddensity.

Has anyone tried this over the past several days, any comments if it works or not?

 

Just got my x201s - no dimming problem here but interestingly that option "Display Power Saving Technology" does not exist. Under power features all I see is "Graphics Power Plan Settings"

Mine has the i7-640LM cpu and intel display driver 8.15.10.2025 (read from device mananger)

 

Switched the settings suggest by ddensity. So far, so good. I'll update in a few days.

 

That is exactly what I see on my X201s as well I have the same laptop configurations you have.

 

I am also having this problem on a clean install of Windows 7 Pro x64.

I was worried that maybe something was wrong with the laptop, but now that I see it's a driver issue I don't think it'll bother me since it only happens while on battery! (I'm assuming that it will eventually be fixed.. so I'd rather not disable the power management feature)

Have you guys tried the latest version of the driver straight from Intel instead of using the one provided by Lenovo?

Edit: Never mind, I just noticed ddensity's post saying that he tried it already. Has this bug been reported to Lenovo and Intel? Hopefully it gets fixed in the next driver release!

 

just wondering but does this also happen with anyone's x200?

 

It never happened to me on my X200 (at least I don't remember it ever happening)

 

Yep, I tried it and it works!

 

I am now also having this problem with the screen dimming on its own with my X201s. Really startingto bug the hell out of me