Screen Dimming Problem

[ElectroGoofy]

Hello, all

Here where I work in the IT department we are trying to figure out a problem with a laptop we have. It is a Toshiba Satellite M30-S309. It is running XP.

Here is the situation: It is running fine. If we unplug it from power, the screen goes dim to conserve battery power, nothing unusual here, but when we plug it back in the screen does not return to the original brightness setting. We have to shut it down, plug it in, then start it up to get the screen back to the original brightness.

We have searched and searched for an answer on how to change the power settings to disable the screen dimming even when it is unplugged so that it will always be bright, but have had no success so far.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Saga Lout]

Hello, all

Here where I work in the IT department we are trying to figure out a problem with a laptop we have. It is a Toshiba Satellite M30-S309. It is running XP.

Here is the situation: It is running fine. If we unplug it from power, the screen goes dim to conserve battery power, nothing unusual here, but when we plug it back in the screen does not return to the original brightness setting. We have to shut it down, plug it in, then start it up to get the screen back to the original brightness.

We have searched and searched for an answer on how to change the power settings to disable the screen dimming even when it is unplugged so that it will always be bright, but have had no success so far.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Toshiba laptops are a pain in the rear simply for having their own Power Options facility which takes over and cancels out the Windows version. Apart from that and if you can't configure it the way you want, the setting you need to nobble may be in the BIOS menus.

 

[hang-the-9]

Go in the BIOS and shut of the power saving features, that should fix things. There should also be shortcut keys on the laptop to turn up/down the brightness at any time manually. You may need to update the BIOS and / or the power management software.

 

[ElectroGoofy]

Thanks for the replies!

I checked, but there is no option that has anything to do with screen brightness or power management of any sort in the bios.... I also checked and couldn't find any power management software on the computer. Something happened to it a year or so ago and the drive wiped and XP was reinstalledrom a Windows XP installation disc (not the one from the manufacturer).

Will probably try downloading power management software first, then might try updating the bios if needed... feel free to post any more suggestions in the meen-time

 

[Saga Lout]

Thanks for the replies!

I checked, but there is no option that has anything to do with screen brightness or power management of any sort in the bios.... I also checked and couldn't find any power management software on the computer.

Are you sure there's no Power Options icon in Control Panel?

 

[ElectroGoofy]

Yes, there is, the Windows Power Options, but it has nothing in there about changing the screen brightness, just how long the screen and hd stays on when idle if plugged in or unplugged.

Also, the function (fn) key combos for making the screen darker or brighter do not work...

 

[Saga Lout]

Yes, there is, the Windows Power Options, but it has nothing in there about changing the screen brightness, just how long the screen and hd stays on when idle if plugged in or unplugged.

Also, the function (fn) key combos for making the screen darker or brighter do not work...

It seems you won't be able to prevent this behaviour then. Toshiba always overarches Windows own Power Options settings but as yours are missing, you won't be able to configure more than you can now.

 

[hang-the-9]

Thanks for the replies!

I checked, but there is no option that has anything to do with screen brightness or power management of any sort in the bios.... I also checked and couldn't find any power management software on the computer. Something happened to it a year or so ago and the drive wiped and XP was reinstalledrom a Windows XP installation disc (not the one from the manufacturer).

Will probably try downloading power management software first, then might try updating the bios if needed... feel free to post any more suggestions in the meen-time

Definately download the manufacturer's power software, and there should be some software for controlling the keyboard function keys.

 

[ElectroGoofy]

Ok. I downloaded the power software and tried to install it, but alas, there was an error when I try running it.... been googling it for some time, but am unable to find a way to fix it as of yet.

 

[hang-the-9]

Ok. I downloaded the power software and tried to install it, but alas, there was an error when I try running it.... been googling it for some time, but am unable to find a way to fix it as of yet.

If you get an error running the software, there may be some pre-reqs that were not loaded. Some need a BIOS update, or motherboard/chipset drivers, things like that, before you can load the power manager software. Since the software ties into some low-level settings it needs to have the proper "hooks" to the hardware before it will work.

 

[ElectroGoofy]

If you get an error running the software, there may be some pre-reqs that were not loaded. Some need a BIOS update, or motherboard/chipset drivers, things like that, before you can load the power manager software. Since the software ties into some low-level settings it needs to have the proper "hooks" to the hardware before it will work.

Yea, that's one thing that I have heard from the many google searches that I have done... have been wanting to try other possibilities before I start installing some potentially unneccesary software. Looks like that will be the next thing I am going to try.

I am off work from now until monday, so will try then.

 

[ElectroGoofy]

Success!

I installed some drivers, including the chipset driver and some other driver, then installed the ACPI Common Module, then tried the power utility. It worked (and now so do the function keys).

I believe it was the ACPI Common Module because I read that this controlled things like screen brightness etc. But since I installed multiple things before trying the power saver utility, I am not 100% sure.

Thanks to everyone for all the replies!

EDIT: Arg... apparently you can't mark "Best Answer" on this particular forum... sorry, hang-the-9.

 

[Saga Lout]

Success!



EDIT: Arg... apparently you can't mark "Best Answer" on this particular forum... sorry, hang-the-9.

Well done, and to hang-the-9. There's a Useful Answer button on top and to the right if that helps reward his contribution.