Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

Vins · 2007-12-09 11:35:37

Hi All,

I have recently bought a Sony VAIO FZ11S and I've successfully installed Archlinux:

Fully working:
- CPU Scaling (using cpudyn)
- Multimedia keys (mute, volume up/down, play/stop, etc. using Xmodmap)
- Wireless (using iwl3945. Can't connect with AP with hidden SSID)
- Nvidia GeForce 8400M (using latest nvidia drivers with stock arch kernel 2.6.23)
- Audio (after adding 'options snd-hda-intel model=vaio' to /etc/modprobe.conf. MIC not tested yet)

Untested:
- bluetooth
- SD/MS card reader
- Video camera

NOT WORKING:
- LCD brightness adjustment: FN+F5/F6 are detected correctly by acpid but nothing happens. I'm using the module sony-laptop included with kernel 2.6. Folder /sys/class/backlight is empty. I can use nvidia-settings to change COLOR BRIGHTNESS but this is NOT a good solution IMHO. I'd like to get the same capabilities I get running Windows Vista. (change LCD backlight).
I've read somewhere it is a problem common to all laptop with the same NVIDIA videocard. Does anyone know a fix for this? I've also tried with latest nvidia beta drivers with no success.

- Hibernate/suspend. I tried with pm-tools to suspend/hibernate laptop but nothing is working correctly. I didn't investigate further. Has anyone got a quick solution for this?

lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 PCI Express Root Port (rev 0c)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8400M GT (rev a1)
06:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 16)
09:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
09:03.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
09:03.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)

Please help

V.

Last edited by Vins (2007-12-09 11:37:08)

delphiki · 2007-12-09 19:06:35

Would you happen to have the module video loaded after the boot up process is complete?

Cheers

ibendiben · 2007-12-09 20:03:56

you could adjust your brightness/backlight using:

xbacklight -set <value>

Vins · 2007-12-09 23:22:34

Thanks for your reply.

Btw:

 lsmod | grep video
video                  15888  0
output                  3328  1 video

xbacklight -get
No outputs have backlight property

Any other suggestions?

V.

ibendiben · 2007-12-11 10:23:09

Check this out:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=38594
Hope it'll help!

Vins · 2007-12-11 16:54:03

ibendiben wrote:

Check this out:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=38594
Hope it'll help!

If I'm not wrong, that method uses the xbacklight which is not working on my laptop.
Also, all the information related to brightness under /sys are not available.

Is someone using a VAIO FZ or CR with nvidia graphic card?

Thanks!

V.

geekner · 2007-12-17 06:29:16

I recently bought a Sony FZ180, almost identical stats and hardware.

I tried all the same suggestions, which worked fine on my old laptop, but will not for this one. If anyone can think of another method to control the backlight I would be grateful.

Also, I tested the SD slot, the TI driver recognizes when a card is inserted, but no devices or mount-points are created.

tifm_core: MMC/SD card detected in socket 0:1
tifm0 : demand removing card from socket 0:1

(The second line is from me removing the card, not a defective slot.)

Everything else works great, though. Arch boots to a full KDE desktop much, much faster than my cleaned-up vista partition. I'm really happy overall.

Reasons · 2007-12-17 06:48:38

you can always

echo 50 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

Last edited by Reasons (2007-12-17 06:49:12)

Vins · 2007-12-19 17:41:25

Reasons wrote:

you can always
echo 50 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

/sys/class/backlight is empty.

Reasons · 2007-12-19 20:01:53

Do you have any brightness file? Search for any of the following files
acpi_video
acpi_video0
brightness
max_brightness

Find that and you'll find your settings.

erg0t · 2008-07-05 08:26:06

I have a vaio FZ240N and made the backlight work. If you have an 965GM (like me), you don't set the backlight with the sony-laptop module because there aren't SBRT or GBRT methods. So, you need the i915 video driver and install xf86-video-intel and xbacklight should work fine.

Last edited by erg0t (2008-07-05 08:26:40)

golfadas · 2008-12-05 12:51:40

hello this is my first post, im still using ubuntu =P but i'm thinking about changing to arch, i would like to know if i can use frank17next solution for the nvidia brightness driver. In ubuntu my brightness works just fine, im afraid to change to arch and get blind (if you know what i mean)....

Arch Linux

#1 2007-12-09 11:35:37

Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#2 2007-12-09 19:06:35

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#3 2007-12-09 20:03:56

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#4 2007-12-09 23:22:34

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#5 2007-12-11 10:23:09

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#6 2007-12-11 16:54:03

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#7 2007-12-17 06:29:16

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#8 2007-12-17 06:48:38

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#9 2007-12-19 17:41:25

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#10 2007-12-19 20:01:53

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#11 2008-07-05 08:26:06

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

#12 2008-12-05 12:51:40

Re: Sony Vaio FZ Series - LCD brightness

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