Intel Graphics Dimming problem

For some reason when im using my Intel Graphics mode I cannot dim the screen the OSD box pops up but no bars move when pressing FN F4 or F5.

Works fine on the Nvida Mode

 

I also experience this. Reboot the system - I assume this happens to you after closing the lid to suspend the system.

 

I wish it was that easy rebooting does not help and its like this all the time closing or opening the lid doesn't matter.

 

It happens to me too. Often, it dimmed and restored a few times already and after the next dimming it refuses to respond to the brightness controls. Even when it does respond, it isn't supposed to require me to adjust it again to turn it back up... it should "snap" to it based on what it was before it detected inactivity.

 

Can you guys tell me what version of the BIOS and OSD you are running? Make sure you have the most recent updates. I can't reproduce this on my M11x here at Alienware.

Thanks!

 

Im running OSD 0.0.0.15C,A03

BIOS A04

 

I have this issue too. I go into the Power Options in the control panel, and I have to bump the brightness. It will randomly just go down to either very little or nothing. I've had the laptop for a week, and I've had to re-adjust the brightness slider (it affects the "battery" setting only) about 6 times. It just refuses to save the brightness setting for some reason.

 

Oh, and which version of the video driver as well please?

 

8.16.11.8855

 

I found the problem finally

While the Intel Graphics mode is enabled

go to the device manager

go to the Monitors section expand that

make sure all you have there is the Generic PNP monitor uninstall any others if they are there make sure its enabled.

Problem solved

 

I'm having this problem too. Screen dims properly when comp is idle, but the brightness won't "snap" back and reset to normal when I start using the machine again. I have tried changing the screen brightness / dim timer settings in both Windows Power Options and Alien Fusion power management settings. Rebooting the machine, driver re-installs, BIOS updates, and clean reformats of Windows do not resolve this problem.

Running an Alienware M11x R2 on the factory BIOS (A01). Using Intel driver 8.15.10.2119, and nVidia driver 258.96. I am running Alienware Command Center 2.5.54.0, and OSD 0.0.0.12C

 

Same here. I have an R1 with the latest BIOS (A04), display drivers (197.72) and CC (2.5.54.0)

 

Engineering is looking into this to see if this is something that could be resolved with a future driver. The solution posted below seems to work - anyone continuing to have issues after following the recommended steps?

 

If you're talking about removing all monitors except Generic PnP, then yes, I am having issues on my R2. The only monitor in my list is Generic PnP, even when I enable the setting to Show Disconnected Devices.

 

I'm having a worse version of this problem. Whenever my LCD dims, the brightness is reduced to the lowest level and even when the notebook recovers from suspend it does not recover the 6 or 8 bars that it was at originally.

I don't have any other monitors installed.

 

This is exactly my situation too, as I described a few posts up.

Imbroglio - could you please post your M11x model (R1 or R2), hardware config, BIOS version, and driver versions (Intel graphics, nVidia graphics, Alienware Command Center, and Alienware On-Screen Display)? When I posted my response, the support rep reading these forums asked me for that.

 

Try out the latest drivers from Intel to see if they help.

 

As silly as it sounds, I think your suggestion worked.

I went to download drivers directly from the Intel site, instead of using the garbage on Dell's support site. After installing the latest drivers, my screen will dim after an idle period, and then correctly return to the original brightness once I am no longer idle.

For anybody who has the problem where your screen dims after an idle period, and does not return to normal brightness, try updating drivers directly from Intel. The driver package I used can be found here.

 

Hey Kent, I tried the suggestion below and it still doesn't work. Actually, earlier yesterday I thought I solved the dimming problem by changing all power settings in aw fusion, but when I solved that problem, I began tackling how to keep my spyder2 calibrated profile to stick; once the screen blanked out I would lose all my calibration settings. I finally solved that problem by disallowing igfxpers.exe from loading.

However, I began getting the dimming problem again, and installing the new drivers didn't help. After it dims, it stays that way.

I have an R2 with A01 bios with Intel 8.15.10.2141 and Nvidia Verde 258.96 drivers and samsung panel (just replaced; the last AUO would turn white when it was supposed to turn off!).

Does anybody know what the different dim timer and dim value does? Those two options seem superfluous.

 

Yeah, I haven't really had a chance to sit down and run my laptop through all the paces to see if this new driver fixes our problem. I will let you know what I find out once I play around with it from my end.

BTW, I was just thinking... as annoying as this problem is, I wouldn't trade any of my PC's for any "it just works" Apple computer. Having problems, and tinkering around to solve them, is half the fun of owning a PC to me.

 

For what it's worth, I solved this problem by uninstalling Command Center. Now dimming works correctly and "snaps back" as it should (even from sleep mode). I think it's a CC issue not graphics driver.

 

Hrm. Interesting.

I will try uninstalling Command Center, and just letting Windows Power Management do whatever it needs to do to manage power settings. The only thing I use Command Center for anyway is the Alien FX lighting color, and I think there's a program called "FX Lite" that does the same job.

I will let you guys know what happens.

 

I can confirm that uninstalling Command Center fixed the problem with screen dimming.

 

I take it you're using AlienFX Lite then?

 

Yes, using AlienFX Lite.

Command Center was a much better editor / config tool for the AlienFX effects. But since I already know what I want my laptop to look like, I just needed a quick and simple tool that can do it for me. I don't plan on changing the color scheme any time soon.

 

Yeah, after uninstalling Command Center from my M11x, I can definitely confirm that the problem was related to Command Center. Now that I have it uninstalled, I don't have any graphics dimming problem. Everything dims and un-dims as it should.

 

Well, I changed my mind again - AlienFX Lite doesn't seem to be that user-friendly to use or configure. I decided to go back to Alienware Command Center.

What I am trying this time is disabling the Alien Fusion service under Windows Services. Alien Fusion is Alienware's power management tool, which is my best guess as to what is causing the graphics dimming problem.

I'll give it a few days, and see if there is any improvement.

 

I will try disabling Alien Fusion when I get home

 

Having same problem with an out of the box R2 i7... Waiting on any solutions, don't want to uninstall the command center yet.

 

Have you tried disabling the AF service like kent1146 recommended?

 

No since they said it didnt fix it, but I've noticed it only happens when the power cable is unplugged.

 

Try this:

In Windows, go to Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Services.
Find the service called "Alienware Fusion Service". Double-click on it.
Change Startup Type to "Disabled".
Reboot your machine.

That seems to have done the trick for me, in my very limited testing so far.

 

Ok, I'm trying it now! I suppose I'll have to edit my power settings directly in windows.

 

Just to report that it seems the issue was fixed by disabling that service! thanks.

However I did experience something weird, don't know if it's related:

I have my laptop set to "Don't turn off anything when closing the lid".
After leaving my laptop on for a while and closing the lid, when I opened it again the screen was black and I could hear the fan and the hard drive, but it wouldn't turn on.

I had to hard-reset it to bring it back up, don't know if that's related or just some coincidence.

 

I've had that happen to me once since I disabled that service too.

Alienware, did we really need you to dink with power plan settings in the first place?

 

Hi, i have an R1 with the same problem, i just noticed know that it doen not dimm at all with intel graphics, i switched back to discrete and it does dimm, someone with R1 do know how to fix it?

Thanks
Have Bios 04 and latest drivers froom dell.

 

I've isolated the dimming problem to one part of alien fusion. For some s***** reason, there are two settings related to when the display dims.

1. Dim display after
2. Dim timer <---- the problem is here.

Set the "dim timer" to the highest number you can get which is 30 minutes. Afterwards, if you set the "dim display after" to say 5 minutes and "turn monitor off" to 8 minutes, and you make a gesture on the touchpad or tap the keyboard before 30 minutes your display will recover to the regular setting normally.

If you wait past 30 minutes, then the "dim timer" resets the display to the lowest level. This includes time spent in sleep or hibernate mode.

If AW would just get rid of "dim timer" then everything would work properly. For right now, if you don't want to uninstall alien fusion and can work within the 30 minute time limit of the *#%! dim timer, then you can recover from dim/display out.

Also, if anyone knows what "dim value" is for, I'd love to find out. "Dim timer" and "dim value" appear to be the completely superfluous creations of a greenhorn engineer that never heard of Occam's razor .

I hope erawneila reads this.

 

Wow. That's a great catch, Imbroglio. +1 rep to you for doing the research.

And yes, I agree with you... I don't understand why AlienFusion exists. It makes the whole issue of power management so much more complicated than it needs to be.

 

Brian,

The problem is with Command Center. Specifically, Alien Fusion. If you uninstall CC it resolves this issue completely. Could you please pass this on to the CC developers?

Thanks,
mario64

 

Brian,

It would also be nice if you or they could explain what the extra Display power options are that you all have added to the default Windows 7 settings. Those marked (I think I got them right...) seem like they're redundant unless I'm completely not getting what their purpose is.

 

Excellent point slickie!

 

You don't even need to uninstall Command Center - all you need to do is to disable the "Alienware Fusion" service from Windows Services, and just handle all of the power management through Windows 7.

I can confirm that you can leave Command Center installed (for handling LED lighting effects), and simply disable Alienware Fusion service. That will avoid all of the screen dimming problems that are discussed in this thread.

 

You should be able to find those in the registry located at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\7516b95f-f776-4464-8c53-06167f40cc99

Make sure you make a backup if you are going to change registry settings. Advanced users only.

Those settings do seem redundant since Windows 7 has the same thing built in.

 

There are reports in this thread of negative side effects from disabling the Fusion service so until Alienware gets CC fixed I'm staying away from it.

 

What reports?

I disabled the Fusion service as mentioned but left the CC to control my system lights. I don't have the dimming issue anymore.

 

Go back to page 4 and read your own post:
"However I did experience something weird, don't know if it's related:

I have my laptop set to "Don't turn off anything when closing the lid".
After leaving my laptop on for a while and closing the lid, when I opened it again the screen was black and I could hear the fan and the hard drive, but it wouldn't turn on.

I had to hard-reset it to bring it back up, don't know if that's related or just some coincidence."

...and the next one:
"I've had that happen to me once since I disabled that service too."

 

Yeah, I'm not sure I can attribute it to disabling the Fusion service. It only happened that one time.

 

Read it again?


"However I did experience something weird, don't know if it's related:

There's also the theory that it has to do with file transfers. It hasn't happened since, however.

 

You're not going to change my mind dude so stop trying. LOL The point is that we need a fix from Alienware.

 

Actually, I was just trying to help you avoid the dimming issue, but you're free to do as you will, not my problem.