OLED Brightness Stuck on Precision and XPS Laptops after Installing Linux

The OLED screen brightness cannot change after installing a Linux operating system such as Ubuntu

A screen brightness issue can occur on your Precision or XPS laptop if it has an OLED screen. The screen brightness cannot be adjusted after installing Ubuntu or another Linux operating system.

There is no method native to the Linux operating system to change the brightness on an OLED panel. This is because OLED panels do not use a backlight for luminance.

This is not a problem with the laptop as it works with the Windows operating system. That does not mean that you cannot install and use another operating system. However, Dell only supports the operating system that is sold with the laptop.

This article uses the xrandr Linux-based tools to adjust the brightness as a workaround.

1. Go straight to a Terminal window by using the CTRL+ALT+DEL keyboard shortcut in most Linux operating systems.

   Note: Starting any command with sudo means that the following command has administrator privileges. An Administrator account on this laptop is required to use sudo, as it asks for an administrator username and password.

2. Find your displays name by typing the following command in Terminal and pressing the Enter key:

   xrandr --current

3. Your screen name may report as something like: eDP-1

4. Test running xrandr to adjust the screen brightness from the Terminal:

   1. The following command in the terminal drops the brightness around 50%:

      xrandr --output eDP-1 --brightness .5

   2. This command increases the brightness to around 75%:

      xrandr --output eDP-1 --brightness .75

Look for other methods of accomplishing this task on Ubuntu support sites such as: AskUbuntu 

Dell, other OLED vendors, and our competitors all work with Canonical  to provide more solutions.

Links to further information about this subject:

• A Guide to Video on Dell Computers with an Ubuntu Operating System

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