Laptops General - Read Only

tohan · ‎01-22-2015

I am unable to disable the adaptive brightness on the i5 HD 5500 1080p version of the new XPS 13.

When I view a dark page, the screen will dim, and when I view a bright page, the screen will get brighter. This is extremely annoying and all the options I've tried have not fixed this issue at all.

Turning off the enable adaptive brightness option in the advanced power settings does nothing. I have this done on all power plans.

The option for disabling it that should be in the Intel Graphics Driver does not exist.

Disabling the Sensor Monitoring Service doesn't fix it either.

I have the latest version of the Intel Graphics drivers. Uninstalling it doesn't fix it either.

Installing another operating system doesn't fix it either, so I'm assuming this is some sort of hardware problem.

Does anyone have a solution to this annoying issue?

soren121 · ‎06-03-2015

To be clear, there is no solution to this problem. No amount of software configuration will fix it. Dell engineers have confirmed that this behavior is controlled by the display firmware.

Last I heard, Dell is working on exposing a switch in the BIOS that would disable the adaptive contrast feature, although they would not give an ETA on when that BIOS update would be available. (source)

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soren121 · ‎12-14-2015

There is an optional firmware update available for the QHD+ model that allows you to disable the adaptive contrast feature. You will have to contact ProSupport to get it.

For the FHD model, it is not possible to disable it since the display firmware for the FHD panel is not updateable. Dell will not repair it or replace it since the engineering team says that it is functioning as designed and therefore, not a "problem".

Source: https://github.com/advancingu/XPS13Linux/issues/2#issuecomment-151708470

(Jared Dominguez is a Dell employee who works on their Linux team for consumer products [Project Sputnik.])

Edit: Note that the above applies only to the XPS 13 (9343), i.e. the model with a 5th-gen Broadwell processor.

For the new XPS 13 with 6th-gen Skylake processors, the adaptive contrast feature is disabled by default on the QHD+ model only. The FHD model of the Skylake XPS 13 still has it enabled, and the situation for that model is identical to the Broadwell FHD model.

Edit 2: Whoops, I should've read more carefully. This situation applies to both the XPS 13 (9343) with 5th-gen Broadwell processors and the new XPS 13 (9350) with 6th-gen Skylake processors.

However, it is disabled on the new XPS 15 (9550) with 6th-gen Skylake processors.

Employees within Dell had requested that it be disabled on the new XPS 13 too, but that model was too far into development/production to be changed.

View solution in original post

dallascowboyswo · ‎01-23-2015

Check to see if there are any BIOS setup settings you can adjust. It is usually F2 at boot when you see the Dell Logo to get into the Setup Menu.

Sam

Own: Dell Chromebook 11, Alienware M11xR2

Forum Member since 2004

"If your issue was resolved, please click Yes ".

#idoNOTwork4Dell

tohan · ‎01-23-2015

Unfortunately, no, none of the BIOS options looks like it can disable this.

Rouge Recon · ‎01-29-2015

I have the same exact issue. According to Dell tech support (who had remote access of my XPS), they said it was a feature that couldn't be adjusted. They couldn't elaborate which tells me their not sure of the cause.

Sometimes monitors have hardwired features. I wonder if these new Sharp monitors on our XPS have something physically installed that controls this.

Check something for me, the brightness only adjusts when I'm on the two lowest brightness settings. If I run the brightness high, the adaptive brightness problem goes away. Is that the case for you too?

tohan · ‎01-29-2015

The adaptive brightness issue still persists for me on higher brightness levels. If this is truly a hardware issue then I guess I will probably have to return it. This is simply too distracting.

apex27 · ‎02-01-2015

Has anyone figured this out? It is driving me crazy.

Raddish · ‎02-04-2015

I'd also be interested to hear if anyone has solved this yet.

I got my XPS 13 yesterday and I'm considering returning it because I cannot stand the Adaptive Display.

laserman778 · ‎02-04-2015

Check to see if there is a graphics update on Intel's website. I am running version 10.18.10.3574 on an XPS 12, and I do have the option. What version are you running?

-Brandon

Forum Member Since 2010
I, like others, am a forum member and not an employee of Dell

apex27 · ‎02-04-2015

I installed the latest off the Intel website already.

kristof1234 · ‎02-05-2015

I suggest that as much people as possible keep on contacting Dell to fix this issue.

For now, the general consensus of people is that it is a hardware setting that is enabled by Dell and purposely locked away from the user. The setting for "Display Power Saving Technology" in the Intel graphics control panel is not available (at least not in the Dell-provided gpu drivers nor with Intel's latest v4080 release), and it is the one that controls dynamic contrast (at least it is for all my other laptops that use the integrated Intel graphics).

The problem is independent of the OS. People have encountered the issue on Win 7, Win 8 and Ubuntu. Hopefully Dell can release a BIOS update or small program that lets the user turn this setting on or off.

(If you are a Dell employee reading this analysis, please send the information to your tech team.)

I have already seen a dozen of people on other internet boards returning their laptop for this reason. It would save Dell a lot of money to just work on a fix.

Laptops General - Read Only

New XPS 13 unable to disable adaptive brightness