Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

swindmill

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 17, 2005
946
5
KY
For some time now, the screen of my rev d 12" PB has dimmed after a minute or so inactivity. It does this regardless of settings in the Energy Saver pane, and also regardless of whether it is plugged in or not. Is there a fix for this? It is really annoying.
 
my 15 does that too... its unavoidable that when you arent using it and arent watching a dvd that it will dim slightly as the first cycle of the screensaver.
 
I have had the same problem on my 20" Cinema display. I have replaced the backlight inverter 5 times now, and it fixes it for about 2 days, and then its dim again. I honestly don't understand, and no one will give me an answer.
 
yellow said:
Are you doing this in a high light environment?

I use it under normal lighting conditions. How would this affect why the screen dims?
 
There is a light sensor in the AlPBs that auto-dims the screen in high-light situations. Try reducing the light i your area. Or maybe the sensor is busted. Or, and this happens to me, your left hand is hovering over the sensor causing interference.
 
6914708 said:
I have had the same problem on my 20" Cinema display. I have replaced the backlight inverter 5 times now, and it fixes it for about 2 days, and then its dim again. I honestly don't understand, and no one will give me an answer.

5 Times?!?! :eek:
 
yellow said:
There is a light sensor in the AlPBs that auto-dims the screen in high-light situations. Try reducing the light i your area. Or maybe the sensor is busted. Or, and this happens to me, your left hand is hovering over the sensor causing interference.

The 12'' PB doesn't have this feature though, hence no backlit keyboard either.

Mine does this as well. I don't think you can change this, its some sort of power savings. An annoyance I agree.
 
You can change it.

Energy saver/options/ deselect "Automatically reduce the brightness of the display before display sleep"

seems to work on my 15" PB

Tell me if it works
 
Temujin said:
You can change it.

Energy saver/options/ deselect "Automatically reduce the brightness of the display before display sleep"

seems to work on my 15" PB

Tell me if it works

No, that doesn't work. That is what confuses me, it seems like it should.
 
Hmm, if I uncheck the setting on my iBook, it works just as expected. That's really weird that it doesn't on the PB, though. :confused:
 
yellow said:
There is a light sensor in the AlPBs that auto-dims the screen in high-light situations. Try reducing the light i your area. Or maybe the sensor is busted. Or, and this happens to me, your left hand is hovering over the sensor causing interference.


It actually brightens the screen in high-light situations.
 
swindmill said:
No, that doesn't work. That is what confuses me, it seems like it should.

I agree, doesn't seem to work for me either. One of my few gripes about my powerbook is the lack of options for power settings (can't save power settings as a new preset, can't change function of the power button, what happens when you close the lid, or this screen dimming thing.) The weird thing is that PC laptops do all this.

Just to let everyone know, its not a problem with the display, its a power saving "feature."
 
Are you guys using an external monitor? While I used the external my dimness seemed to be brokened (IE my computer ignored the setting whether or not it was plugged into the display). My external monitor recently broke and since then the preference has stuck.
 
yellow said:
There is a light sensor in the AlPBs that auto-dims the screen in high-light situations. Try reducing the light i your area. Or maybe the sensor is busted. Or, and this happens to me, your left hand is hovering over the sensor causing interference.

I do believe you have stated this backward. The screen will brighten in high-light situations, because it would be quite hard to see the screen if it dimmed during high-light situations. The only time it auto-dims is when there is low light.

But, as already stated, this would not be the case for this particular PowerBook, because it is a 12", hence no ambient light-sensor.
 
spencecb said:
I do believe you have stated this backward. The screen will brighten in high-light situations, because it would be quite hard to see the screen if it dimmed during high-light situations. The only time it auto-dims is when there is low light.

But, as already stated, this would not be the case for this particular PowerBook, because it is a 12", hence no ambient light-sensor.

And this is still not the issue with the 15's and 17's. Even when the lighting conditions don't change, the screen still dims after a minute or two of inactivity because it is trying to save power. I don't know how to turn this off, and it can become quite annoying when you are watching something not in DVD Player or reading a long text file.
 
If you create a new user account does it behave in the same way? It could be a preference file problem if it doesn't.
 
7on said:
Are you guys using an external monitor? While I used the external my dimness seemed to be brokened (IE my computer ignored the setting whether or not it was plugged into the display). My external monitor recently broke and since then the preference has stuck.

I use an external monitor at home. It does not dim, only the PB screen does.

What is the preference file for energy saver settings called? Maybe I'll just trash it and see if that helps.
 
Just a thought since this caught me out a time or two.

When you change your settings under Energy Saver (so that the screen doesn't dim), it changes your setting to Custom. I've found that if my Powerbook then goes to Battery and then back to Power Adaptor, then it doesn't always remember those settings. Or if I change it to Better Performance, I sometimes lose that 'screen doesn't dim' setting too

The number of times I've sworn it was checked off but in actual fact, it had checked itself back on again, are numerous.
 
Jay42 said:
I agree, doesn't seem to work for me either. One of my few gripes about my powerbook is the lack of options for power settings (can't save power settings as a new preset, can't change function of the power button, what happens when you close the lid, or this screen dimming thing.) The weird thing is that PC laptops do all this.

Just to let everyone know, its not a problem with the display, its a power saving "feature."
A common feature of OS X - it has not enough options. Most users need these, but there are a few Mac users that will complain as the OS is becoming Windows like and is "impossible" to use. :rolleyes:
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.