On 01/31/2011 11:30 PM, Remco Rijnders wrote:
Hi, Yesterday I upgraded my Samsung netbook running Squeeze. I got all updates released for installed packages since last thursday. After this upgrade, my desktop in X looks very dark as if the backlight is not on or strongly dimmed. I do not recall making any changes to my setup that would have caused this other than upgrading those packages above. Unfortunately I have no idea where to start to fix this issue. Any pointers on where to look or commands to try? Thanks, Remco
I've had the backlight fail on three laptops in the past year (I have a LOT of near-dead laptops; they don't last forever, that's for sure).
It was hardware every time (two LCD inverters, one bad power brick). Are you sure it's software and not hardware failure?If so, what happens when you try to increase the backlight brightness in the settings?
If you're running GNOME, you can adjust brightness via System - Preferences - Power Management with the "Set Display Brightness to" slider. Does that do anything?