No brightness adjustment on samsun n210 (Intel GMA 3150)

[EricDP]

OK, I've narrowed this down to kernel version and samsung-backlight module. It works fine with 2.6.35-22-generic, but it stops working with 2.6.35-24-generic. I'm running the i686 version. I've confirmed the module builds and loads with -24, but it doesn't do anything.

Other than this one thing, this netbook (Samsung NF210) seems to be working perfectly with Ubuntu Netbook 10.10.

EDIT: Solved by the method in this thread: http://www.voria.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=625

[Mawh]

Awesome man, I'm trying that fix right away. I'll tell you if it works for me (no reason that it does not though).

[Mawh]

Thank you, it works... almost ! I'm having a weird issue, which I detailed in this post on the same thread that you linked : http://www.voria.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4465#p4465

[popcornman]

Hi,
you can adjust brightness level by sending values directly to device, by setpci:

setpci -s 00:02.0 f4.b=ff

where 00:02.0 is the device address returned by lspci,and ff is a hexadecimal value <0,ff>. I have n210 running Debian, works well

Because it wasn't easy to control brightness this way, I've written a program that adjusts brightness, you can download source from here:
ftp://x.servebeer.com/bright.c
//Edit: Port changed from 51300 to default ftp 21

or here:
http://info.wsisiz.edu.pl/~sieluzyc/bright.c

It's a _very simple_ program, but it allows you to increase/decrease brightness by predefinied step, check actual brightness level and set level to a specific value.
It uses the same method that setpci does (write to file in /sys), so plz remember this can be dangerous - use at your own risk.
App does not assign any key shourtcuts, you have to do this manually.

Wcale

Hi everyone. I too am having a problem adjusting brightness on my Toshiba A665D-S6059 laptop. I made a thread recently, but it got no hits. However after reading that it was the VGA controller I needed, I ran these two commands...

root@John-Laptop:/home/john# setpci -s 01:05.0 f4.b=44
root@John-Laptop:/home/john# setpci -s 01:05.0 f4.b=00
root@John-Laptop:/home/john# setpci -s 01:05.0 f4.b=15
root@John-Laptop:/home/john# setpci -s 02:00.0 f4.b=12
root@John-Laptop:/home/john# setpci -s 02:00.0 f4.b=00

The two PCI addresses I used were from my lspci dump...

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Redwood [Radeon HD 5600 Series]

The problem is that those commands failed to to anything. They obviously did something because it didn't return a fail, but the display neither dimmed nor brightened. I'm really at a loss here and I can't use my Linux OS unplugged because my brightness is permanently on max. Any advise would be really appreciated please.

[EricDP]

Thank you, it works... almost ! I'm having a weird issue, which I detailed in this post on the same thread that you linked : http://www.voria.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4465#p4465

Actually, I had this too. I think I fixed it by disabling "dim display when idle" both when on battery and plugged in.

[Mawh]

As I said on the other thread, my checkboxes were already unchecked...

[sanurmi]

Here's another way for those still searching. All of the setpci answers say use at your own risk, I'm not sure what the danger is, but after much experimenting I got mine working this way without that setpci script. I have a N150, but it should be the same.

Here's what I did:

in synaptic package manager go to settings, go to settings>repositories and chose other software tab.
Add the following repository: ppa:voria/ppa
click reload on the main package manager screen then search for samsung
check the boxes by samsung-tools AND samsung-backlight
click apply and load the packages. close package manager and reboot

in the terminal run:
sudo gedit /lib/udev/rules.d/95-keyboard-force-release.rules
in the samsung section you will see a line with *N130*|*N140* etc. add |*N150* there
also do the same for:
sudo gedit /lib/udev/rules.d/95-keymap.rules

substitute your model for N150 above if it isnt already there.


The first part loads the samsung tools and backlight utility. this will also get some of your other function keys working. you can see the mappings in system>samsung tools preferences.
The second part gets the mappings working for the fn-up and fn-down keys. it also keeps the fn-keys from going crazy by forcing them to release after being pressed.

Hope this helps!

I made as you said, but nothing else than backlight on-off from Fn+F5 is working. I have Samsung N220 and there was N220 already in that first file. To the second file I just added line like that:

ENV{DMI_VENDOR}=="[sS][aA][mM][sS][uU][nN][gG]*", ATTR{[dmi/id]product_name}=="*N220*", RUN+="keymap $name samsung-N220"

I am really newbie with Linux and Ubuntu so I have no idea what happesn and why

Thanks,
Sami

[xheyther]

Hi there,

I manage to get the backlight adjustment working on my N210 by simply installing samsung-backlight from voria ppa. I also installed samsung-tools to get the short-keys working. I didn't had to add anything nor alter in any way the udev keyboard-force-release and keymap rules.
Thank to all of you for the pointer to voria ppa.

The issue I've now is that my track pad no longer work. I have to use a usb mouse.

Does anybody encounter this issue before and should it be related to the tinkering I did to get fn keys and backlight ?

[eveliendehoop]

Hi,
I'm absolutely new to linux. I've opened the second link you mention (http://info.wsisiz.edu.pl/~sieluzyc/bright.c) to try and solve the fact that the Fn up and down keys to adjust the screen brightness on my N120 don't work. However, I really don't know how to use your code to actually fix my problem... Can you, in a more detailed way, tell me (a total Linux newbie) what to do?
Thanks!

[fossean]

I fixed the brightness control on a Samsung N150 Plus following the info in this thread http://to.ly/9H1x

Good luck!