Can't get brightness controls to work on E7440

I am struggling to get the brightness controls to work on the E7440, they aren't doing anything.

I know some laptops have a driver with a name like "hotkeys", but I didn't see any drivers with a name like "hotkeys".

I found this thread.

https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-General-Read-Only/e7440-Brightness-Adjustment/td-p/4419250

that mentions

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=MHVWP

But it doesn't work for me. I get a thing appear when I do Fn+up/down, but no change in brightness.

I read that closing and opening the lid would help but it doesn't make a difference. I notice that closing the lid doesn't make the display turn off. And figured that maybe if the screen were to flick off and on then that might help but it doesn't help. e.g. I set the screen to turn off after 1 minute. But when it does and turns back on, the brightness is the same.

If this is normal for this model, then I don't know how a laptop got as far as getting to the market when it has such a big blatant fault.

 

w7, 8, 10 ? fresh os install ? upgrade ? modified os ? drivers ok ?

Try win mobility center, or adjust screen brightness in power menu. If working there you got a somewhat useable way to control brightness while researching the keyboard problem. If none of these works, then...
btw, does other Fn keys work (f.ex. project, print screen, key backlight etc),

As a start, can only recommend to reinstall the basic drivers.

Got 2x 7440, brightness key ctrl 100% working (for 6 years !), from w7 to 8.1 & 10 (& even when playing with linux).

 

Thanks.. Now that you mention it works for you.. I tried some other Windows 7 installs on that laptop.

One of them it works! A) Mobility centre shows brightness control B) Power plan screen that has the option of balanced and power saver, that has the brightness control.

But in another Windows 7 installation on that laptop, there is a windows mobility centre, but no brightness control. And the power plan screen doesn't have the brightness control either.

Then I looked at a VM I set up. and not only does that have no brightness control, that has no mobility centre either.

So I wonder what windows updates contain a)mobility centre and b)brightness control!

I want to be able to get Windows 7 installed quickly so want to avoid the waiting 1.5 hours for security updates. So i'm interested in what are the minimal updates I need to get things working. I got as far as getting the Internet going. I just want the brightness control!

Added

Got it.. Of all the 150-200 Windows7 updates offered, it's Intel WDDM Graphics adaptor.