Today, I want to share a quick trick to anybody who have a problem with brightness buttons in Kubuntu Gutsy. The problem is known when you press Fn + Home (End) to adjust screen brightness in a Lenovo Thinkpad computer using Ubuntu Linux. You think that your screen will be darker or brighter but it doesn't work. There are a lot of questions about this bug on Ubuntu forum. So, if you have not yet found a proper answer may be this is a solution for you.
Open file:vim /etc/acpi/thinkpad-brightness-up.sh
Add this line before "exit"echo 4 > /proc/acpi/ibm/cmos
Open another file:vim /etc/acpi/thinkpad-brightness-down.sh
Also insert this line before "exit"echo 5 > /proc/acpi/ibm/cmos
Hopefully the problem will be fixed in your case.
Brightness Buttons in Lenovo Thinkpad Don't Work
12:36 AM | Kubuntu Gutsy, Thinkpad, Troubleshooting | 21 comments »
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I use an IBM Thinkpad R40 and the buttons work fine on my Kubuntu 'gutsy' installation without any tinkering!
Thanks for your comments. I think Kubuntu also works on other models as well. But the problem is found on Lenovo T61.
If you use this hack successfully on other models (e.g. Toshiba, HP, Dell), please leave your notes here. Your messages will help Ubuntu friends to save time.
On a Lenovo R61, this hack doesn't work.
Doing a echo > 5 or 4 manually worked, only in console mode (Ctrl-Alt-1).
I will show you the content of files on my case.
the first one: /etc/acpi/thinkpad-brightness-up.sh
#!/bin/bash
manufacturer=`dmidecode --string system-manufacturer`
case "$manufacturer" in
LENOVO*)
echo 4 > /proc/acpi/ibm/cmos
exit
;;
*)
. /usr/share/acpi-support/key-constants
acpi_fakekey $KEY_BRIGHTNESSUP
;;
esac
the second one: /etc/acpi/thinkpad-brightness-down.sh
#!/bin/bash
manufacturer=`dmidecode --string system-manufacturer`
case "$manufacturer" in
LENOVO*)
echo 5 > /proc/acpi/ibm/cmos
exit
;;
*)
. /usr/share/acpi-support/key-constants
acpi_fakekey $KEY_BRIGHTNESSDOWN
;;
esac
Please make a comparison with your files.
Hi,
the contents of the files are the same. My OS is Ubuntu 7.10.
Thanks.
I think it should work well with Ubuntu 7.10. I just see this problem in Kubuntu 7.10 after I have installed on Lenovo T61.
I tried it in Ubuntu 7.10 with my Lenovo T61 and my buttons are still not working. Did you have to do some extra stuff after changing the files?
You try these commands to change (up or down) 10% Brightness of your current screen.
dcop `dcop | grep power-manager` power-manager brightnessUp
dcop `dcop | grep power-manager` power-manager brightnessDown
thanks, fix worked perfectly first try on my x60s.
Hey,
this fix works perfectly on a T60 running Kubuntu 7.10.
Thanks.
Does NOT work as-is on a Dell Inspiron 9400, Kubuntu Gutsy.
Lenovo ThinkPad T61 notebook video blog at notebook blog blog
It has worked OK on a lenovo R61. Thank you
I used to use /proc/acpi/video/VID/LCD0/brightness to change my brightness but it doesn't seem working anymore for god-knows-why reason.
Your solution works for me now, thanks a lot!
yc
It works on my Thinkpad X61, thanks.
What actually happens when I say echo 4 > /proc/acpi/ibm/cmos ?
fix worked perfectly on first try with lenovo x61
Restored on lenovo R61 - Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex
Saved my eyesight!
on a x61s with kubuntu 8.10 this worked perfectly :) thank you
That did it!! Thanks
Great, I'd never been able to adjust the brightness on my r61e. I can confirm that this works for Jaunty.
Thanks,
-Ian
Thanks a lot! This really saves my Thinkpad under ubuntu