It's a feature of the Intel HD Graphics drivers, which can be disabled via the Intel Graphics and Multimedia Control Panel, "Power Saving" section, by not selecting the "Balanced" profile when on battery or AC power.
By default, when on battery that profile is selected so the dimming happens.
At first I thought I was losing my mind, or that perhaps my laptop was defective in some way. Your solution fixed it.
Side note - I've noticed another issue that when I hook my laptop to display on a TV through HDMI, after I disconnect it, my laptop display is very washed-out and yellowish. It looks like an old, worn out LCD display that's been on for years. A simple reboot solves the problem, but I was wondering if you (or anyone else out there) had experienced this. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate - 64-bit on my Vostro 3500.
It's a feature of the Intel HD Graphics drivers, which can be disabled via the Intel Graphics and Multimedia Control Panel, "Power Saving" section, by not selecting the "Balanced" profile when on battery or AC power.
I'm having a similar problem with my Dell Vostro 3500. I'm able to change the brightness setting using the Fn button with the up and down buttons. However, as soon as I do something like minimise or restore a window it goes back to full brightness. Is there a way to maintain the brightness level that I want?
I have changed the settings to "maximum battery life" when not plugged in and it still gets automatically brighter when I minimise programs or scroll. To me maximum battery life should encourage a dimmer screen but it keeps changing on me back to full brightness automatically.
Running from battery, I turned the brightness down via the keyboard to get longer life. I then switched windows/applications and it goes back to a higher brightness. Interesting thing is, if I use the keys to adjust the brightness up or down by one step it goes back to the previous brightness setting, so it hasn't entirely forgotten what it was set to.
To solve, go to Graphics Properties/Power/Power Features (not power plans) and select "On Battery". Untick the "Display Power Saving Technology" box. There is an issue with the Intel power saving tech functions, and it always reverts to a predefined brightness even if this is greater (asnd hence consuming more power) than the level you manually selected.
Do the same with "Plugged In" selected if you want to manually control brightness when running from power.
Thanks so much for posting the info! Previously I had turned off all power saving under both video drivers and still had the dimming problem.
I thought I was going crazy and even had Dell replace the screen under warranty! I'm very surprised they didn't catch this. Of course, after they replaced the screen the problem persisted.
I can't thank you enough for this post, I would have never guessed to look under the Intel Graphics applet.... leam something new every day. Just odd that the Dell tech on the phone never asked about this setting. They replaced the screen for nothing on their dime. I love this little 3400 and even prefer it over my MacBookPro (3400= less than 4 lbs).
giulio.vezzelli
1 Rookie
•
3 Posts
1
September 28th, 2010 12:00
If anyone is interested, I have found the answer.
It's a feature of the Intel HD Graphics drivers, which can be disabled via the Intel Graphics and Multimedia Control Panel, "Power Saving" section, by not selecting the "Balanced" profile when on battery or AC power.
By default, when on battery that profile is selected so the dimming happens.
Regards
Giulio
KevCoStudios
1 Message
0
April 22nd, 2011 00:00
Thank you, thank you, THANK you.
At first I thought I was losing my mind, or that perhaps my laptop was defective in some way. Your solution fixed it.
Side note - I've noticed another issue that when I hook my laptop to display on a TV through HDMI, after I disconnect it, my laptop display is very washed-out and yellowish. It looks like an old, worn out LCD display that's been on for years. A simple reboot solves the problem, but I was wondering if you (or anyone else out there) had experienced this. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate - 64-bit on my Vostro 3500.
Thanks again!
-Kevin
giulio.vezzelli
1 Rookie
•
3 Posts
0
February 13th, 2012 04:00
I assume you have the issue I had originally.
Answer:
It's a feature of the Intel HD Graphics drivers, which can be disabled via the Intel Graphics and Multimedia Control Panel, "Power Saving" section, by not selecting the "Balanced" profile when on battery or AC power.
Regards
Giulio
j.c.murray
2 Posts
0
February 13th, 2012 04:00
I'm having a similar problem with my Dell Vostro 3500. I'm able to change the brightness setting using the Fn button with the up and down buttons. However, as soon as I do something like minimise or restore a window it goes back to full brightness. Is there a way to maintain the brightness level that I want?
Thanks,
Joel
j.c.murray
2 Posts
0
February 22nd, 2012 02:00
I have changed the settings to "maximum battery life" when not plugged in and it still gets automatically brighter when I minimise programs or scroll. To me maximum battery life should encourage a dimmer screen but it keeps changing on me back to full brightness automatically.
Joel
Brekel
1 Message
0
March 20th, 2012 18:00
I had the same issue.
Running from battery, I turned the brightness down via the keyboard to get longer life. I then switched windows/applications and it goes back to a higher brightness. Interesting thing is, if I use the keys to adjust the brightness up or down by one step it goes back to the previous brightness setting, so it hasn't entirely forgotten what it was set to.
To solve, go to Graphics Properties/Power/Power Features (not power plans) and select "On Battery". Untick the "Display Power Saving Technology" box.
There is an issue with the Intel power saving tech functions, and it always reverts to a predefined brightness even if this is greater (asnd hence consuming more power) than the level you manually selected.
Do the same with "Plugged In" selected if you want to manually control brightness when running from power.
Brett.
1THz
1 Message
0
November 28th, 2013 10:00
Giulio,
Thanks so much for posting the info! Previously I had turned off all power saving under both video drivers and still had the dimming problem.
I thought I was going crazy and even had Dell replace the screen under warranty! I'm very surprised they didn't catch this. Of course, after they replaced the screen the problem persisted.
I can't thank you enough for this post, I would have never guessed to look under the Intel Graphics applet.... leam something new every day. Just odd that the Dell tech on the phone never asked about this setting. They replaced the screen for nothing on their dime. I love this little 3400 and even prefer it over my MacBookPro (3400= less than 4 lbs).