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Playgear

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 10, 2010
240
18
Hey all,

I recently had issues regarding my display (June 2009 MBP 17") not dimming as the ambient lighting changed. The issue was only recent. I reset the SMC, and that has appeared to fix it.

However, I've noticed that the battery indicator lights do not fade after 5 seconds anymore and just turn straight off when the computer is open and on. When shut down or asleep, they behave as normal.

I reset the SMC again to ty and fix this but there was no change.

Now, I could be wrong, and maybe that's how it always was, but I do remember them fading no matter whether the computer was active or off.

Can anyone confirm this and if so, provide any possible fixes?

It's not a huge issue, just a minor annoyance now that I'm aware of it.

Thanks
 
//presses button-fade to dark.

ooo. Very nice. Never noticed that.

But yes. My machine is on and it's fading.

But honestly who would notice :D
 
My machine is on and battery indicator lights just turn straight off.

2010 13" 2.4
 
That's interesting that it happens to one and not the other...

I think I'll keep an eye on it.
As I said, minor annoyance, nothing major :)
 
2010 13" 2.26 fades.

Pretty sure it's firmware level so if an SMC reset and/or zapping PRAM doesn't change the way yours behaves, reflashing the EFI may be the only way to make it behave differently (assuming it does - verify it next time you're around another 17").

If anyone cares to tell me otherwise, I'm all ears as I've read everything in the dev documentation looking for a way to access the battery indicator lights from the OS and haven't found anything.
 
2010 13" 2.26 fades.

Pretty sure it's firmware level so if an SMC reset and/or zapping PRAM doesn't change the way yours behaves, reflashing the EFI may be the only way to make it behave differently (assuming it does - verify it next time you're around another 17").

If anyone cares to tell me otherwise, I'm all ears as I've read everything in the dev documentation looking for a way to access the battery indicator lights from the OS and haven't found anything.

The SMC is also responsible for controlling the battery indicator lights. I remember seeing it when reading about my screen dimming issue.

The System Management Controller (SMC) is responsible for many low-level functions on Intel-based Macs. These functions include:

Responding to presses of the power button
Responding to display lid opening and closing on portable Macs
Battery management
Thermal management
The SMS (Sudden Motion Sensor)
Ambient light sensing
Keyboard backlighting
Status Indicator Light (SIL) management
Battery status indicator lights
Selecting an external (instead of internal) video source for some iMac displays

From http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
 
Not important, just thought I'd mention that the lights are now behaving as normal (fading with the machine on).

So it must need to just re-adjust for a while.
 
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