[karmic] brightness jitter up and down at random

Bug #491595 reported by Caue Rego
This bug report is a duplicate of:  Bug #415023: brightness is broken on MSI WIND U100. Edit Remove
4
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
gnome-power-manager (Ubuntu)
New
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: gnome-power-manager

--- disclaimer
First of all, I've finally found enough info about similar bugs (while I was writing this) and I am trying the other bugs. But to do so I'll have to reboot and I don't want to lose all this, so I'll just report it and later, if I find this to be a duplicate, I'll just add it as such. Sorry for any inconvenience.

--- about the bug
Brightness level adjusts itself at random and keeps jittering until it rests on 0 (number I get with "cat /sys/devices/virtual/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness"). Sometimes it won't even rest there. If I manually set it back up to 7 or 8 (or any number) it won't last over couple minutes before flickering again. This happens even with the Karmic liveCD.

If I stop or end the gnome-power-manager process no problem occurs. Brightness level just stay normal where I left it. Once I resume or run it again, the bug also returns.

I would love to try an older version and I bet the bug would "go away". Or just maybe it wouldn't. My point is this certainly was a bug added with Karmic.

--- info about my system (that should already be included)
- I'm using Karmic Koala 9.10 - 64 bits (amazing I can't read the 64 anywhere advised to look for my release)
- My current gnome-power-manager version is 2.28.1-0ubuntu1

--- other relevant info
This is very similar to Bug #456057 ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/456057 ) and specially to Bug #415023 ( https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/415023 ) but might not be the same (as I said, I'm trying it out).

This have not happened on my MSI notebook (not wind) back with Hardy or Jaunty. I currently have upgraded my Karmic from Jaunty.

If anyone can talk to me in google talk or skype I would love to get some guidance on how to fix (at least) this one on my own. I'm also still new at the whole launchpad thing, so I'm sorry if I couldn't find this bug somewhere else, if it is already reported as I believe it might be.

One issue I'm having to fill in more info would be "the source package", which even reading the wiki I still don't know how to find it out.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed Dec 2 19:15:07 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: gnome-power-manager 2.28.1-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-15.50-generic
SourcePackage: gnome-power-manager
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-15-generic x86_64

Revision history for this message
Caue Rego (caue-rego) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Ian Turner (vectro) wrote :

What hardware is this?

Revision history for this message
Ian Turner (vectro) wrote :

This is potentially a duplicate of bug 222171.

Revision history for this message
Caue Rego (caue-rego) wrote :

@Ian Turner
Thanks for the concern. I'm still having the isse by the way. I don't think it's same as bug 222171 as you pointed, but I'll try it if my next steps, from following the news on bug 415023, don't work.

How can I tell what hardware this is / what do you want to know from it?

From the model, it is a MSI 163-A http://www.msiwhitebook.com/product_spec.asp?model=MS-163A
I'll copy hardware info from that link, juts in case:

Processor Support Intel® Merom 65nm & Penryn 45nm socket P mobile processor
Chipset Intel® PM965 + ICH-8M
Graphics & Video Module NVIDIA® 8600M-GT 512MB
Main Memory DDR2 533/667 SO-DIMM x 2 slots, MAX: 4GB
Display 17" WUXGA ( 1920 x1200 )
PC Cards Slot None
Card Reader SD/MMC/MS/MS-Pro 3-in-1 Card Reader
Hard Disk Drive Supports SATA HDD
Optical Drive Built-in Super-Multi Drive (supports DVD RAM)
LAN/Modem Built-in 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN and modem Module
Wireless LAN Supports Intel® Mini PCI-E 4965 & 3945
Bluetooth Built-in MS-6837
Built-in CMOS Camera 1.3 Mega Pixels
TPM None
Security Feature None
I/O Ports
• Express Card : 1
• Monitor ( VGA ) : 15 pin D-Sub x 1
• HDMI : 1
• USB 2.0 : 3
• IEEE 1394 : 1
• MIC-in : 1
• Headphone out : 1
• RJ11 : 1
• RJ45 : 1
• TV-Out : None
Audio Azalia interface, ALC888
Short-Cut Keys Power on, Email, Internet, Wireless LAN, Personal Setting
Battery Pack & Life Li-ion 6 cells battery (4400mAh)
AC Adapter 19V DC, 90W/Input: 100~240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
Dimension
Weight 7.60 lbs ( full system with 6 cell battery )

Maybe this is a long shot, but it might be related: I'm no longer using its "official" AC adapter, as it crashed. I got one from a very good store here in Brazil and paid big on it. I figure it's better to use local AC than from other country as its components are assembled for our local power structure and tested here as well, so are less likely to malfunction again.

Believe it or not, I had many issues with power and computers in the past (way over 5 years ago) that were really hard to diagnose. I was getting random blue screens of doom and it was proven to be due to power instability.

Revision history for this message
Caue Rego (caue-rego) wrote :

Well, for now I'll mark this as duplicate of bug 415023... Even if it's not, it's dam close enough! :D

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