Full range of brightness using ACPIBacklight

[RehabMan]

RehabMan thanks.
Just / wiki / How-to-patch-your-DSDT has not been updated for a long time. In HP-ProBook-4x30s-DSDT-patch as patches + more added Laptop-DSDT-patch. Eyes run. Patches manually impose. These patches are enough?

4x30s.txt
03a_HDMI.txt
FanPatch-choice
08_AR9285.txt
"12_Brightness.txt - 12a_4x30s_BCL.txt -The main thing these patches to correct the brightness?"

If you're confused, use the ProBook Installer to patch your DSDT.

 

[Tek_No]

If you're confused, use the ProBook Installer to patch your DSDT.

Hi RehabMan,

since yesterday I'm on 10.9.2 on my 4530s.

After my 10.9.2 upgrade I booted again from USB, used ProBook Installer 6.1.12 to upgrade the OSX kexts and rebooted again.

Then I regenerated DSDT and rebooted once more

10.9.2 working fine.

Then I downloaded and installed the latest ACPIBacklight kext: running a kextstat is showing me version 2.0.2 which I think is the latest version.

Rebooted again: backlight control is working fine but it is NOT being saved when rebooting. Any ideas what I'm missing here? Am I supposed to do anything else in addition to what I have been doing so far to be able to save my brightness settings and have these restored when rebooting?

Thanks!


Tek_No

 

[RehabMan]

Hi RehabMan,

since yesterday I'm on 10.9.2 on my 4530s.

After my 10.9.2 upgrade I booted again from USB, used ProBook Installer 6.1.12 to upgrade the OSX kexts and rebooted again.

Then I regenerated DSDT and rebooted once more

Please note you must boot without DSDT in order to regenerate it. See the sticky guide for details.

10.9.2 working fine.

Then I downloaded and installed the latest ACPIBacklight kext: running a kextstat is showing me version 2.0.2 which I think is the latest version.

The latest version is already in the ProBook Installer.

Rebooted again: backlight control is working fine but it is NOT being saved when rebooting. Any ideas what I'm missing here? Am I supposed to do anything else in addition to what I have been doing so far to be able to save my brightness settings and have these restored when rebooting?

Your nvram must not be working correctly. Make sure you use the Probook Installer to install Chameleon. Or install Chameleon manually including the FileNVRAM module.

Or, if you're using Clover, make sure you installed the EmuVariableUefi-64.efi driver and that you installed the RC scripts to the boot volume.

 

[Tek_No]

Please note you must boot without DSDT in order to regenerate it. See the sticky guide for details.

Removed it first and rebooted before regenerating it so this cannot be the issue.

Your nvram must not be working correctly. Make sure you use the Probook Installer to install Chameleon. Or install Chameleon manually including the FileNVRAM module.

I'm using Chameleon and did a reinstall of it by using the ProBook Installer. I also checked my /Extra folder and there is actually a nvram...plist file in there having the date/time of my last login into Mac Os X.

Any other ideas?

 

[RehabMan]

I'm using Chameleon and did a reinstall of it by using the ProBook Installer. I also checked my /Extra folder and there is actually a nvram...plist file in there having the date/time of my last login into Mac Os X.

Check that your nvram is being correctly retained across reboot. Change your brightness level. Check nvram value with 'nvram acpi-backlight-level' in Terminal. Reboot. Check again 'nvram acpi-backlight-level' is the value retained? You can also see the level as loaded at boot by looking in ioreg (I forget exactly where right now, and it is different for Chameleon vs. Clover -- I'm using Clover). It is somewhere in IODeviceTree plane under /efi.

Also, maybe you had installed one of the previous brightness fixes prior? Check your /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons for unexpected/brightness related startup daemons.

 

[Tek_No]

Also, maybe you had installed one of the previous brightness fixes prior? Check your /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons for unexpected/brightness related startup daemons.

Well, I had a setBrightness.plist in /Library/LaunchAgents.

Deleted that one. Changed brightness. Did a shutdown and reboot.

Brightness was now saved and correctly restored.

Could this .plist remainder be the reason for this?

 

[RehabMan]

Well, I had a setBrightness.plist in /Library/LaunchAgents.

Deleted that one. Changed brightness. Did a shutdown and reboot.

Brightness was now saved and correctly restored.

Could this .plist remainder be the reason for this?

Yes. It's purpose is to set your backlight level to a fixed value.

 

[Tek_No]

Yes. It's purpose is to set your backlight level to a fixed value.

Good catch then ;-)

Appreciate your help!

 

[RehabMan]

HD4000 seems to have an issue with flickering during the transition especially at lower values. This has been previously mentioned in this thread. Eventually I'll see if I can figure out why. It seems to be a hardware issue. HD3000 is butter smooth.

Found out today that this flickering is not an HD4000 issue.

Today, I (finally) installed the 1080p screen (AUOv4) that had been in my 4530s to my 4540s. I had always wondered if the flickering was somehow related to the screen itself instead of the graphics chip.

And today it is confirmed... it is the screen. My 4540s/HD4000 ProBook is now as butter smooth on the backlight transitions as my 4530s. Interestingly, my 4530s is also still smooth with its original 1366x768 (Samsung) display. The display in the 4540s was different (LG) and specifically suffers from that issue.

So not only do I have a better screen (1080p, better colors), but I have smooth transitions of backlight, too. Nice surprise.

 

[TimeWalker]

I was wondering if this would somehow be applicable to nVidia graphics... MCP79 chipset graphics, particularly ? Has anyone had success in achieving full range of brightness control using ACPI backlight or native backlight kext (w/ direct access to registers) on an nVidia based (non-optimus) laptops?