[SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 12:37:50

Hi, I recently installed a program called brillo to adjust my laptop screen brightness.

After a couple of minutes installing and giving my user permission to use the edit the brightness file, I rebooted my laptop, but now the screen is pitch black.

Luckily I have an external monitor that works well and that I can use.

What I know

1. It is not an LCD issue, I can still exit X and it prompts me into the tty on my laptop.
2. Setting my brightness with the following command does nothing, since it is already at the max brightness by default.

echo <value> > /sys/class/backlight/amdgpu_bl0/brightness

Here is what the current brightness is set at:

$ cat /sys/class/backlight/amdgpu_bl0/brightness
225

And here is max brightness:

$ cat /sys/class/backlight/amdgpu_bl0/max_brightness
255

3. The display is connected and active

My laptop display is still connected and active. I can see it using xrandr and I can even record it with OBS.

I think the issue is that it is stuck with a brightness value of zero, even though it is specifically set to the max value.

4. Removing brillo does not help, rebooting does not help.

Last edited by turtlesoup (2023-06-29 17:17:57)

Trilby · 2023-06-27 13:18:07

First can you do another confirmation that it is really just he backlight that is off: angle the screen to a light (or best, have a flashlight shining from the side / sharp angle), can you see that a GUI is actually rendered to the LCD?

Also the following might be useful:

cd /sys/class/backlight/amdgpu_bl0
grep . actual_brightness device/enabled power/*

Last edited by Trilby (2023-06-27 13:31:34)

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 13:41:07

Hi,

So seems like the backlight is just off. There is nothing rendered on the LCD it's really just black.

Here is the output of the suggested command:

actual_brightness:96
device/enable:1
grep: power/autosuspend_delay_ms: Input/output error
power/control:auto
power/runtime_active_time:0
power/runtime_status:unsupported
power/runtime_suspended_time:0

I have no idea how to interpret this, but keep in mind that I have an external monitor plugged in.

Thank you.

Trilby · 2023-06-27 13:45:38

turtlesoup wrote:

So seems like the backlight is just off. There is nothing rendered on the LCD it's really just black.

That's something entirely different then: it's not (just) the backlight that is off, the display is disabled - so the values for the backlight are irrelevant. If it was just the backlight being completely off, you'd be able to make out the rendered GUI in the LCD with the right lighting (a bright light at a sharp angle makes this easy to detect). So trying to "fix" the backlight is a red herring, the problem is elsewhere.

seth · 2023-06-27 15:46:17

It is not an LCD issue, I can still exit X and it prompts me into the tty on my laptop.

Ie. the problem is limited to X11 and doesn't exist on the console?
Can you switch the VT while X11 is running (ctrl+alt+f2, f3, …) and there

DISPLAY=:0 xrandr -q

?
Post that

DISPLAY=:0 xrandr -q | curl -F 'f:1=<-' ix.io

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 16:21:42

Trilby wrote:

That's something entirely different then: it's not (just) the backlight that is off, the display is disabled

I can still access the display with xrandr so it's the physical LCD that is turned off when I start X?

How do I turn it back on then?

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 16:23:17

seth wrote:

Ie. the problem is limited to X11 and doesn't exist on the console?
Can you switch the VT while X11 is running (ctrl+alt+f2, f3, …) and there
DISPLAY=:0 xrandr -q
?
Post that
DISPLAY=:0 xrandr -q | curl -F 'f:1=<-' ix.io

Exactly, I can switch the VT and the display is acting normal. The issue does not exit on the console.

Here is the requested output: http://ix.io/4zfC

NOTE: The issue is with eDP-1

Last edited by turtlesoup (2023-06-27 16:24:32)

seth · 2023-06-27 16:30:19

eDP-1 is enabled at 1920x1200, the default would be 2880x1800
Also DP-4 is placed to the right of eDP-1

xrandr --output eDP-1 --mode 2880x1800

(Since you've the other output in parallel, we don't need to do this from the VT)

Also what DE/WM/compositor do you run and does the black output still show the mouse pointer?

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 16:40:52

It's my usual settings. The default resolution on the laptop screen is 1920x1200 according to Lenovo. I've always ran it like that without any issues.

I am using picom as a compositor, and no, there is nothing. My mouse can still go over to the screen but I don't see the cursor since it seems the screen is turned off.

The issue appeared when I started tinkering with screen backlight.

seth · 2023-06-27 16:58:28

The backlight would affect the other VTs as well.
Kill picom (just to be sure) and post your xorg log, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#General (mostly whether this is a hybrid system and maybe reverse prime)

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 17:30:07

You're right changing the backlight works on the other VT. At least i got that right lmao.

picom is now killed, issue persists.

Below are my Xorg logs:

Xorg.0.log => http://ix.io/4zg2
Xorg.1.log => http://ix.io/4zg3

Xorg.0.log.old => http://ix.io/4zg4
Xorg.1.log.old => http://ix.io/4zg6

(Not sure which one is relevant)

seth · 2023-06-27 20:36:22

[    39.076] Current Operating System: Linux z13 6.3.9-artix1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat, 24 Jun 2023 13:10:16 +0000 x86_64

https://bbs.archlinux.org/misc.php?action=rules

[    39.111] (II) LoadModule: "radeon"
[    39.111] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so

You seem to have a rembrandt chip, get rid of all xf86-video-* packages. If any, you'd be using xf86-video-amdgpu (you may try)

Decoding the EDID:

  Established Timings I & II: none
  Standard Timings: none
  Detailed Timing Descriptors:
    DTD 1:  2880x1800   60.000801 Hz   8:5    111.361 kHz    329.630000 MHz (289 mm x 186 mm)
                 Hfront    8 Hsync  32 Hback   40 Hpol P
                 Vfront   38 Vsync   8 Vback   10 Vpol N
    DTD 2:  2880x1800   60.000801 Hz   8:5    111.361 kHz    329.630000 MHz (289 mm x 186 mm)
                 Hfront    8 Hsync  32 Hback   40 Hpol P
                 Vfront   38 Vsync   8 Vback   10 Vpol N

the only advertised resolution is actually 2880x1800/60Hz (so I'd try that as well)

Edit: and try the LTS kernel.

Last edited by seth (2023-06-27 20:36:38)

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 21:04:59

Alright I think I just had a breakthrough

I ran startx from the default xinitrc file located in /etc/X11/xinitrc and the display now lights up.

It uses twm and this is what I see: https://pasteboard.co/dfqq3vX9TUP5.png

Here is the original xinitrc I've been using since I've gotten this computer:

#!/bin/sh

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap

#### Keyboard Parameters ####
#
#

setxkbmap -option "caps:escape" &
xset r rate 200 50 &

#### Starting Programs ####
nitrogen --restore &
picom &
xrandr --output eDP-1 --mode 1920x1200 &
updatedb &
udiskie &
pulseaudio --daemonize &
exec dbus-launch xmonad

I guess the issue is with xmonad, but I've already tried restoring from an old backup config, that didn't change anything.

Do you see something obvious in my xinitrc?

Last edited by turtlesoup (2023-06-27 21:08:46)

seth · 2023-06-27 21:08:08

Don't fork setxkbmap, xset or xrandr calls and run picom after the xrandr call
Also it obviously changes the mode…

You do realize that artix isn't supported here?

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 21:14:17

I mean... I didn't found any issues like mine anywhere on the internet, and the Arch forum seem to be the most active community where most users (from all distros) come for help.

I thought I might as well post it here so people can find it more easily since it's not really a distro-specific issue (I think).

I found the solution to most of my issues here on the Archlinux forum.

But, yes. I do realize Artix is not supported.

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 21:25:37

Changing the resolution to the suggested 2880x1800 has fixed the issue.

The display is now displaying.

However, I have a 13.4" display, this resolution destroys my already bad eyesight.

Is there a way I can revert to the old resolution without everything breaking? Any idea what caused the issue in the first place I've had this resolution for months

Thank you!

seth · 2023-06-27 21:29:16

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI - the broadsword "solution" is "xrandr … --scale"
There've recently been more threads w/ similar condition (failing to set resolutions but the advertised ones) - mesa or kernel update,

seth wrote:

try the LTS kernel

turtlesoup · 2023-06-27 22:15:04

Changing to both zen and lts works.

Thank you Seth keep saving lives!

seth · 2023-06-27 22:23:52

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

nb. that inevitably some current kernel wil become the new LTS kernel - not sure why the zen kernel wokrs (if it's as well)

Arch Linux

#1 2023-06-27 12:37:50

[SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

What I know

#2 2023-06-27 13:18:07

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#3 2023-06-27 13:41:07

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#4 2023-06-27 13:45:38

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#5 2023-06-27 15:46:17

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#6 2023-06-27 16:21:42

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#7 2023-06-27 16:23:17

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#8 2023-06-27 16:30:19

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#9 2023-06-27 16:40:52

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#10 2023-06-27 16:58:28

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#11 2023-06-27 17:30:07

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#12 2023-06-27 20:36:22

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#13 2023-06-27 21:04:59

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#14 2023-06-27 21:08:08

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#15 2023-06-27 21:14:17

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#16 2023-06-27 21:25:37

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#17 2023-06-27 21:29:16

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#18 2023-06-27 22:15:04

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

#19 2023-06-27 22:23:52

Re: [SOLVED] Brightness is set to the max value but display is still black

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