help with auto dimming display/kb

[burdendds]

I need some help tracking down where this setting is stored. Here is the situation...

I have 2 user accounts on this 2.4 SR MBP. When the computer is 1st booted the kb backlight is on and the display is dimmed to the same level regardless of the ambient light levels. When I log into MY account on this machine the levels remain and the light sensors are completely non-responsive even if I cover the speaker grills completely.

Now, if I log into my wife's account on the same machine, everything works just as it did before. Auto-dimming of both the kb and display back to normal.

I have tried resetting the SMC, PRAM, trashing all prefs in my user folder, trashing prefs in the root library folder.

Where are these settings stored? Any ideas on how to reset them?

 

[UltraNEO*]

Sorry, this is User Error. It's not faulty, nor is it a problem with the machine.
It's supposed to autodim! and if it's not auto-dimming,
then the user has made changes within his/her's user account, it's very easy to solve.

FYI: Changes you make only affect your account.
This is why your Wife's account appears to function correctly and yours doesn't.

Goto System Preferences → Display
and check the box labelled "automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes"

Goto System Preferences → Keyboard
and check the box labelled "illuminate keyboard in low light conditions"

Sorted...

 

[burdendds]

sorry, I should have mentioned that these settings are correct in my profile... the boxes have been checked, unchecked and everything in between. This is driving me crazy!

 

[UltraNEO*]

If it's that bad, why not just start from scratch by creating a third account? Once you've moved your files over to the new account, you can always deleted your original.

 

[burdendds]

Yep, that was my next step, but I was hoping to figure out what the cause was so that I could just fix it. It has to be some simple file that is corrupted.

 

[UltraNEO*]

Yep, that was my next step, but I was hoping to figure out what the cause was so that I could just fix it. It has to be some simple file that is corrupted.

If it's a corrupt file causing the problem, it's gonna be kinda hard to track down especially since many of the system files are hidden from view. From your root directory we only see 4 items but there are actually 28 items (30 in mine), 24 of them belongs to the System. An inexperience user routing through them, editing them blindly, will ultimately kill the OS.