R31 Screen Brightness Problem

[moxlos]

I own an R31 and lately iam facing some problem. When i start the laptop the brightness of the screen is almost set to 0 and i cannot see anything. Immediately iam pressing Fn+End(the down key for brightness) and then it is restoring the brightness to a normal set. I tried rolling back or even updating the Vga drivers from Intel site or IBM but nothing worked. Any ideas?I read something about omega drivers.Where can i download them from?
Thank you for any answers

[slagmi]

check the BIOS (press <F1> at power on) for a power management brightness control that maybe set to 'low' rather than your preferred 'normal'

[SeanM]

Did you recently replace the screen or system board?

[moxlos]

First of all Thanks to all of you for your kind replies.
The BIOS setting is set on high brightness but the problem still exists.And i didnt change any screen or motherboard.Any other suggestions?

[slagmi]

then I would consider the possibility that it is strictly a software issue - likely a preference you or someone else has set and saved with the battery maximizer wizard.

can you reprodce the problem if booting from a CD or floppy?

[SeanM]

1 - If you don't boot into the operating system, if you just boot straight into the bios, do you still have this problem? i.e., you have to hit Fn+End in order to see the bios screen?

2 - If you unplug the machine from power, then plug it back in, does it fix the problem, just as Fn+End does?

[moxlos]

The problem exists no matter if i enter Bios directly,boot from the CDROM or unplugged.I also believe that there is a connection with the power managment but i reinstalled it without any improvement.I used to believe that i may have some kind of virus-trojan or keylogger because i faced some other strange behaviour of the laptop but although i scanned my hd with all! the available antivirus-antitrojan programs, the resault was always 0 infection.Before continuing to formatting any other suggestion?
Thanks to everybody.

[SeanM]

2 - If you unplug the machine from power, then plug it back in, does it fix the problem, just as Fn+End does?

[moxlos]

No it doesn't.

[SeanM]

Since you see the problem in the bios, it probably has nothing to do with your power management driver.

If it had ever had the display or system board replaced, I'd say that the inverter ID might be set incorrectly.

Odds are you need a new inverter. Try going into the bios and setting the brightness to normal (This is the brightness setting your machine uses on battery power only). Then, the next time you boot the machine and see the problem, just unplug and plug the machine in a few times. If the screen comes on, my bet is it's your inverter.

There's some chance it might be the LCD itself, but I doubt it.

[moxlos]

Sorry for the delayed answer. I did set brightness to normal and then plug and unplug the power cord but nothing.I only noticed that sometimes when i boot instead of IBM logo the system starts wih selfpost(reading system memory. identifying MY HD ,DVD etc) without make any changes in BIOS.
Any way what the inverter does?Is it
hardware driven by some short of software?

[SeanM]

Wow, sorry mox I don't think there is a very good clean-cut answer for you.

You might want to check the inverter ID using the CE utility disk (Check the HMM for more information). If that's ok, then it could be your inverter, LCD, or even your system board -- but my bet's on your inverter.

[moxlos]

Where can i find this CE utility Disk. I search to IBM site but it was imposiible to find.Sorry but my computer skills are limited. I read HMM but it was mentioned about a diskette i dont have ( Idont enen have a disk drive in my laptop!). I will appreciate your help.