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Question

Display Brightness Controls Stopped Working

Oct 29, 2018 2:13PM PDT

The screen brightness controls on my Lenovo Ideapad Y500 have stopped working. The controls frequently used are Fn + Up and Down Arrow keys. The other controls are in Settings/Power Options where there's a slider control for Brightness for each power plan; these have also ceased to have any effect when moved.

OS: Windows 10 Home v.1803 build 17134.345. It's a System Image which I recently restored when a recent Windows update caused the laptop to behave erratically. As far as i can recall there was never an issue with these controls back when the System Image was created in January 2018.

Can anyone suggest how to fix the screen brightness controls, please?

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
There's a lot written about this
Oct 29, 2018 2:21PM PDT
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Got it Fixed
Oct 29, 2018 2:53PM PDT

Thanks for your reply. I used the link you suggested. The Lenovo support article had the solution. Basically, it's Device Manager / Monitor / Update Driver / Search my computer / Let me choose / Next. Then Restart the computer. Problem solved - Brightness controls are working OK now.

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Answer
This is usually not in the W10 OS.
Oct 29, 2018 2:18PM PDT

I have a Y510p and for this Lenovo had it's own app to do this work. I didn't see any note from you if you went to lenovo.com to get this app.

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Changing the Monitor driver fixed the problem
Oct 29, 2018 3:13PM PDT

Thanks for your reply. According to a Lenovo support article my Brightness control may have been disabled either by Windows 10 or by having TeamViewer installed. I have both! Anyway, updating the Monitor driver to the Lenovo one stored in the Driver cache, then restarting the laptop fixed the problem.

Having said that, I wanted to thank for reminding me about the Lenovo Energy Management app. Not only does it handle display brightness it also has the battery management feature which lets you choose between having extended work sessions (full battery down to 14% or less, as you choose) or extended battery lifespan (charges battery to about 80% and reminds you to recharge when battery is at around 30% remaining).

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Thanks for these details.
Oct 29, 2018 3:54PM PDT

It really helps out others that this happens to.

As to the battery, it's all personal choices but ever since that became an option I've been setting the office laptops to charge up to 80% and stop. We have almost all of them on desks so the battery just needs to work during a power outage which is not often and usually short in duration. Result? Don't know yet but I expect to be buying few batteries in the years to come.