Can't dim my screen anymore

[JonathanGennick]

I've a Thinkpad X30. Just recently, and very suddenly, I've lost the ability to control display brightness. When I press fn-end to dim the screen, it goes blank instead. I can only run on full brightness. What could be the problem?

[pphilipko]

Perhaps the drivers for it aren't installed properly.

[JonathanGennick]

Well, I can't think of anything I've done over the past few days that would affect the drivers. Screen dimming has worked fine for me for years.

Here's an example of what is happening to me now:

1. I click fn-home. The screen briefly flashes seven, green bars to tell me that it's at its brightest setting.

2. I click fn-end. The screen goes blank.

3. I click fn-end again. Screen stays blank.

4. I have to click fn-home twice to get back to level 7 where the screen will light up again.

It seems I can go through the motions, but any brightness level below full-on just translates to blank.

[pphilipko]

Well, I can't think of anything I've done over the past few days that would affect the drivers. Screen dimming has worked fine for me for years.

Here's an example of what is happening to me now:

1. I click fn-home. The screen briefly flashes seven, green bars to tell me that it's at its brightest setting.

2. I click fn-end. The screen goes blank.

3. I click fn-end again. Screen stays blank.

4. I have to click fn-home twice to get back to level 7 where the screen will light up again.

It seems I can go through the motions, but any brightness level below full-on just translates to blank.

Does the "blank" mean that the backlight turns off, or is it still on with just the black background?

[bhtooefr]

Shine a flashlight on your LCD to check, BTW. If you can see stuff, it's still displaying, just with no backlight.

[JonathanGennick]

The screen still displays. I can see it, dimly.

This morning, things get a little weirder:

1. I start at seven bars of brightess and all is well.

2. I can step down all the way to three bars, and the light stays on.

3. I step down one more time, and the light goes off.

4. I have to step back up to five bars to get the light back on again.

Very weird. I suppose I should call Lenovo for support. Sadly, I think my warrenty expired last year.

[pphilipko]

Best of luck. Hopefully, it's not a serious problem..

[bhtooefr]

Try it in the BIOS screen for craps and giggles. If it behaves, I'd reinstall your display drivers, the ThinkPad keyboard manager, the ThinkPad hotkey manager, and the ThinkPad OSD. If THAT doesn't fix it, try it in a Linux Live CD. If that fixes it, reinstall Windows.