# Solved: Laptop screen dimmer than normal



## AE6B9 (Nov 19, 2011)

The screen on my laptop is a lot dimmer than it normally is, even when it's on it's highest setting. I first started having this problem when I restored it to factory settings after getting a virus. The screen appears to be normal when it's starting up, like when the Windows logo appears. But when it gets to the login screen it gets a lot dimmer. So I'm fairly sure it has to do with drivers, and not the actual hardware being dysfunctional. I tried updating my BIOS and video drivers, but neither fixed the problem. If it matters, I have an Alienware m17x R3. Can anyone help me figure out the exact source of the problem and how to fix it?


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

There's probably a key combination that allows you to toggle the display brightness up or down.

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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

According to the online PDF manual(pages 36 and 37) for that laptop:

*Fn + F4* increases the brightness

*Fn + F5* decreases the brightness

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/Alw_M17xR3/en/mm/mm_en.pdf

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## AE6B9 (Nov 19, 2011)

flavallee said:


> There's probably a key combination that allows you to toggle the display brightness up or down.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------





flavallee said:


> According to the online PDF manual(pages 36 and 37) for that laptop:
> 
> *Fn + F4* increases the brightness
> 
> ...


I already have the brightness setting on the maximum. The problem is that even on it's highest setting, it's not as bright as it used to be. I'll take a guess and say it's somewhere like 30-40% dimmer than normal.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Do you have the same display issue with the power adapter connected?

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## AE6B9 (Nov 19, 2011)

flavallee said:


> Do you have the same display issue with the power adapter connected?
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------


Yeah, like I said, the brightness is as high as it can go right now.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

I'm mostly a desktop user and rarely use a laptop, so it beats me what the issue is. 

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## SUEOHIO (Jan 30, 2007)

Its very possible either the graphics or video card is going bad or something in the screen is starting to fail.


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## AE6B9 (Nov 19, 2011)

SUEOHIO said:


> Its very possible either the graphics or video card is going bad or something in the screen is starting to fail.


I don't know, I don't really think it's that. I never had any problem up until I restored my computer. It just seems very unlikely to me that my video card/screen just happened to fail at the exact same time I restored my computer.


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## dvk01 (Dec 14, 2002)

check power settings & make sure that display is set to use full power & not run on reduced power
is it the same when plugged in or only like this on battery 

it could be that you need top reinstall a power settings driver. some alienware/dell computers need a special driver for power settings


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## AE6B9 (Nov 19, 2011)

dvk01 said:


> check power settings & make sure that display is set to use full power & not run on reduced power
> is it the same when plugged in or only like this on battery
> 
> it could be that you need top reinstall a power settings driver. some alienware/dell computers need a special driver for power settings


All the power options appear to be on the highest setting when plugged in, so that should be fine.

If I need a driver, it doesn't appear to be on the Dell website. I also checked on the resource DVD that it came with, and there was no power settings driver or anything like that.


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## SUEOHIO (Jan 30, 2007)

It might just be a coincidence after the restore you noticed a problem but i would say have the screen checked out because it might be starting to have problems you just never know with computers. Sometimes you get a warning about an impending failure and sometimes you dont.


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## AE6B9 (Nov 19, 2011)

Okay, well it looks like my problem is fixed. I have absolutely no idea why, but I had a power surge today, and right after it my brightness was back to normal. This makes no sense whatsoever to me, but I'm not complaining. Anyway, many thanks to all of you for your help. I appreciate it a lot.


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