How to fix decreased screen brightness after updated BIOS?

[kc]

My T42 was just repaired by EZServ (new system board) and they also installed the latest BIOS. On battery power, my screen (at maximum brightness setting -- 7 green bars) is significantly dimmer than the AC level.

I assume this is power management related and have tried two fixes to no avail:

1. Changed power mangement settings from max battery to max performance

2. Turned off Powerplay to the Radeon 9600 graphics card.

I'm obviously missing something and would welcome advice. Glad to provide additional information.

Thanks.

Ken

[kc]

Sorry. Just found the answer after some additional playing around.

Using the Thinkpad Configuration utility, in the LCD section, there is a "screen on battery" pull down menu with a default value of normal. The other choice is "high" -- and that did the trick. The screen is now at maximum equivalent brightness in both AC and battery modes.

Just wondering? Is this an IBM feature, or is it part of XP.

Thanks.

[davidspalding]

I suspect it's part of the IBM power management schtuff, but I could be mistaken.

[scrible88]

The thinkpad configuration utility option is one setting, and also the bios in my x22 has a setting for "display brightness on battery" and you can choose either "full brightness/high" or "normal/medium"

[christopher_wolf]

That part of it is done through the IBM Power Manager; XP has an option to something like that, but it is hidden and not easy, by any means, to change. I have a Dell with Win2K and it does a similar thing although it doesn't have its own nice little utility...It just dims the screen.

[davidspalding]

I'd forgotten. my T43's latest BIOS has that screen brightness toggle, too.