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Aspire 5100 screen brightness issue

post #1 of 6
2/17/07 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 
I've got an Aspire 5100-3959 purchased from NewEgg last month.

The screen brightness won't stay set at anything brighter than the lowest setting (in the epower management console). I have set up my own profiles for AC and battery power, in which the brightness setting is 100%. And yet, even when these profiles are selected, the brightness drops back to lowest.

As a caveat, this is less of a problem (or non-existent) when there is only one user account logged in. But if my wife is on the computer and we do a "switch user," that's when it seems to not want to keep the brightness. Adjusting brightness either through the epower console, or via Fn key doesn't "keep." The brightness will increase and then drop back down.

Might uninstalling the e-power management software (or disabling it) help? And if I uninstall or disable it, will I still be able to adjust the screen brightness with Fn+arrow keys?

I'm really frustrated by this "feature." In fact, I sent the original notebook I got from NewEgg back because of this issue. Either I've got two bum notebooks, or the epower software is terrible (or both). I'm tempted to bust NewEgg's balls until they refund my $$$, but I'd rather just have a notebook that works.

Anything else I could try?
Thanks,
James Wilson
Dallas TX
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post #2 of 6
2/17/07 at 6:07pm
Have you tried using the manual controls on the keyboard for changing the brightness (Fn right arrow)? If you do that, and as soon as you let go, the brightness goes back down then you have a defective machine.

I think the epowermanagement is crap, usually I just uninstall them all.
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post #3 of 6
2/17/07 at 8:03pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, I have tried using keyboard (Fn + arrows) and epower management. When adjusting with epower, the brightness slider will jump back to lowest, sometimes right away, sometimes after clicking "apply" and seeing the brightness go up. When adjusting with keyboard, the brightness will go away right after releasing the keys.

The screen _will_ get brighter, it just won't stay that way. Not with someone else logged in on the computer.
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post #4 of 6
2/19/08 at 11:36am
I have exactly same problem and I notice this same thing that if two users were logged in screen will keep it brightness about 30-60min. After I log back to my girlfriend account I can adjust brightness and it works well. If I log back to my account 30-60 min and same!!! but with only one user logged in this happens very seldom. This is really annoying.
I asked from acer support (Finland) and they say that they never have hear about this problem. they ask me to re-install WinXP.
I think I will uninstall Epower Management fron my laptop, but will it help?
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post #5 of 6
2/19/08 at 1:10pm
Thread Starter 
I disabled the EPower management and use Notebook Hardware Control. It's better, but I don't know if that fixed it, or if RMA'ing the notebook to NewEgg is what fixed it.

Bottom line is, I think, limit notebooks to one user profile. Use virtual desktops or somthing else if you want multiple users to customize their desktop.
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post #6 of 6
2/20/08 at 12:22am
your problem is with running 2 admin accounts. you can disable startup of epower on 1 account and the problem should go away. you can also run one of the accounts as limited if that isn't a problem. epower does not work on limited accounts.

you can also alleviate the problem by simply logging off instead of fast switching.
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