Ubuntu Brightness Level Not working - Nvidia card

I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 on my thinkpad t510 and I'm unable to change my brightness level. I was told to use the program nvclock but it's not working for me (supposedly since my graphics card is too new). How can I fix this?

 

I dual boot

 

That's a very unhelpful, and frankly stupid response.
Let's see if we can help the OP.

Have you tried right clicking the panel and adding the brightness applet and using it?

Also, have you checked here?

 

Did you try Fn+up arrow or b/c you have an nvidia card, you can install their proprietary drivers and Control centers which will let you modify it.

 

Thanks, I'll tried that once I come back home(at work right now).

 

When I press Fn + home or end, the brightness level bar appears on the desktop and I can increase or decrease it but it doesn't actually change the brightness of the screen.

 

Alright, cool, I suggest installing these packages(assuming you are using 32 bit ubuntu):

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.33.5-lucid/linux-headers-2.6.33-02063305-generic_2.6.33-02063305_i386.deb

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.33.5-lucid/linux-headers-2.6.33-02063305_2.6.33-02063305_all.deb

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.33.5-lucid/linux-image-2.6.33-02063305-generic_2.6.33-02063305_i386.deb

It should fix a few issues(information from ThinkWiki).

 

yea go ahead and do what thomas said..if that doesn't work there's a workaround for the fn keys

Open up Terminal and enter the following
gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Look for the line that says GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX and add this
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=”acpi_backlight=vendor”

Save it and then update Grub
sudo update-grub

then reboot your system

 

Actually I'm using 64 bit.

 

Ok. So one of the solutions is to append 'Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"' to the Device-Section of xorg.conf. This works but when I lower the brightness my computer starts making a high pitched noise (similar to cpu whining which I have when on battery or using my usb ports).

The other solution is to disable vt-d from bios. Anyone know how to do that?

 

That's a known issue with the first solution.

Hmm..perhaps try OpenSuSE? It just had a new release so it should support newer hardware better.

 

This supposedly happens with the W510, however on mine I do not hear this high pitched noise when I control the brightness. Just wondering if you are using the latest kernel and latest nVidia drivers.

 

Yes I'm using the latest Kernel. As for the drivers I'm not sure, but I'm sure I have the latest aswell.

 

So nobody knows how to disable vt-d from the bios?

 

vt-d control should be in your BIOS. Go into your BIOS and disable it? What is there to tell?

 

Ok. But is it safe to disable though? I don't want to compromise anything on my computer for brightness control.

 

AFAIK, vt-d is useful for virtual machines. Maybe there are other useful contribution from vt-d, but I don't know about them. Maybe someone else know better, but for your purposes, at least to see whether it is stable or not, you can just try.