Brightness-keys of FSC Laptop XA1526 don't work

The Hardy Heron Alpha series is currently under development and contains an updated version of the kernel. It would be helpful if you could test the latest Hardy Alpha release: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. Thanks.

Hello Leann!

Wow I got a reply! :D
Yep, I will download the latest release anf report my results.
Thanks!

Best,

Stevie

Well, I didnt have too much luck :(
It still doesnt work with the new kernel, doh!

i got a FSC Esprimo Mobile V5505 and got the same problem.

xbacklight -set 60 works, but FN+F8/F9 doesn't work.

sound adjustment by pressing FN+F3/4/5 works well. So where's the problem located?

as info for the devs:
xbacklight doesnt work here, since the laptop uses a nvidia gfx card.
but smartdimmer works perfectly.

Hi Stevie,

Care to provide the information outlined here if possible: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/HotkeyResearch . Thanks.

i don´t know weather it could help you, so i give you my information, too.

what the key should do:

FN + F8 -> brightness down
FN + F9 -> brightness up

keycodes:

FN + F9 -> 0xef
FN + F8 doesn´t give me any code, i tested all 4 methods provided at the linked page, but the key works with vista.

identifying the laptop:

FUJITSU SIEMENS
ESPRIMO Mobile V5505
20

dmesg gives me the following for FN+F8:

[ 542.997769] atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xd9 on isa0060/serio0).
[ 542.997780] atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e059 <keycode>' to make it known.
[ 542.999359] atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xd9 on isa0060/serio0).
[ 542.999370] atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e059 <keycode>' to make it known.

Hello Leann!

Thanks for the Wiki-link! I will supply the necessary information when I get home.

Cheers,

Stevie

Hi Leann!

Okay I'm at home and went thru the wiki.
Most of the things I already tried before.
Nevertheless I tried all 4 steps and didn't succeed in getting
any sign of life of the FN+F8/F9 keys.
Also dmesg didn't output anything.

dmidecode gives me the following:

FUJITSU SIEMENS
Invalid entry length (0). DMI table is broken! Stop.
AMILO Xa 1526
Invalid entry length (0). DMI table is broken! Stop.
REFERENCE
Invalid entry length (0). DMI table is broken! Stop.

Hope this helps in some way :/

Best,

Stevie

still no go with the latest hardy and new kernel from yesterday

I have the same problem, on a FSC XA1526 laptop, im running Ibex Intrepid with kernel 2.6.26-2

a workaround i found was to use smartdimmer, i then defined some shortcuts to the smartdimmer cmd's (smartdimmer -i, smartdimmer -d) the shortcut was defined in ccsm -> general settings -> commands. but i still cant make the built in shortcuts to work, FN+(F8, F9)

yes, smartdimmer works. but still no go on the keys.

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

Although a different manufacturer, the Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo XA 1526 is 99.9% identical to (now out of business) Everex Stepnote XT5000T laptop... Same exact motherboard, except it only doesnt come with bluetooth like the Amilo Xa 1526.. Don't know about if the keyboard layout is exactly the same, but it's probably quite similar, as the brightness Fn+F8/F9 keys also weren't working nor were being detected by xev, due to missing scancodes (`tail -f /var/log/messages` when u press them and you should see error about the scancodes missing)... Also, some media keys weren't working or were not detected correctly..

Solution was to write keymap and rule for udev (udev-extras package needed from Pitti's PPA for Jaunty 9.04) which has now been committed upstream to udev trunk for Karmic (udev-extras was merged into udev in Karmic)

See bug 400921 which I submitted for more info on the fix
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/400921

However, gnome-power-manager isn't so friendly with the Nvidia Geforce 7600 Go on these lappys, meaning it's not able to adjust brightness, either via the Fn key combinations, nor manually via the slider for LCD backlight settings, nor does the dimming/undimming work when power is unplugged/plugged-in..

For this, you need to install a command line tool called "nvclock" to control the backlight/brightness level, and which you can also bind it to other key combination like the windows key (Mod4) + F8/F9 with xbindkeys to accomplish same purpose... I have provided details on how to do that in the said bug 400921 report

Hope this helps..
Jasmine

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

Please exercise the steps at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Hotkeys/Troubleshooting to determine at which level your hotkey problems occur, and attach the collected information.

In particular, we need the scan code for Fn+F9 (Brightness down), the scan code for Fn+F8 is already mentioned in comment 10; please verify that it is 0xD9, though.

Thanks!

I'm sorry to say, but I'm not on Linux anymore.
I really hope someone else can test it and report the need information.

Cheers,

Stevie

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!