Can't Change Brightness After Upgrading To Win 10

Chris Nicola · 11 Dec 2020

I have upgraded a Lenovo G575 from Win 7 to Win 10. Everything appears to work fine except that I can't adjust the brightness. Now its stuck on minimum brightness which was the setting before the upgrade. When I use the function keys I can see the Win 10 brightness icon going up and down but it doesn't actually change the brightness of the display. I can't change the brightness in power options or using the AMD driver interface. I suspect it's because The graphics card driver is not compatible with Windows 10. I have tried to update the driver from device manager and Windows says I am using the best driver for this device.

After searching online, some have reported that the brightness controls on the Lenovo G575 will work using the basic Microsoft display adapter. So I have some questions.

1- How can I revert to the Microsoft basic display adapter?
2- How can I prevent Windows update from reinstalling the manufacturers driver?
3- Are there any other options to fix this problem and to be able to change the brightness?

Your advice would be appreciated.

Kind regards
Chris

Paul Black · 11 Dec 2020

Hello @Chris Nicola,

Chris Nicola said:

2- How can I prevent Windows update from reinstalling the manufacturers driver?

Have a look at these . . .

> How to Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation in Windows 10
> How to Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10

I hope this helps.

Try3 · 11 Dec 2020

Chris,

Chris Nicola said:

After searching online, some have reported that the brightness controls on the Lenovo G575 will work using the basic Microsoft display adapter.

That is highly unlikely. The basic MS display adapter is very, very basic.
- When I did an installation that included only the basic MS display adapter instead of the maker's driver, I could not adjust brightness.
- Several people have posted here over the years to report that they could not adjust brightness after their installation and found that they could do after installing the maker's driver instead of the basic MS display adapter.

Chris Nicola said:

3- Are there any other options to fix this problem and to be able to change the brightness?

Yes. I suggest that you go to the Lenovo website to get & install their latest display driver [assuming the display adapter is the same one that came with the computer].
While you're there, check for any Bios update.

Since the ability to adjust brightness is a display driver capability, if installing the latest driver & Bios does not fix it for you then you might usefully check their support site & user forum for any relevant guidance.

Denis

Chris Nicola · 11 Dec 2020

Thank you Paul and Denis for your replies. I will check out this information.

Kind regards
Chris

Paul Black · 11 Dec 2020

Chris Nicola said:

Thank you Paul and Denis for your replies. I will check out this information.

Let us know how it goes.

Chris Nicola · 12 Dec 2020

Here is my update. I went to the Lenovo website to autodetect any outdated drivers with Lenovo service bridge and it could not find anything saying there were no driver updates available. I went to the AMD website to automatically check for updates and it installed some AMD chipset software. The brightness controls would still not work.

Then I went back to the Lenovo site and checked the manual update section for my laptop. The latest graphics driver there was for Windows 8. (I was previously using an older Win 7 Driver)

laptops and netbooks :: lenovo g series laptops :: lenovo g575 notebook :: 4383 :: 59336154 :: cb16879974 - Lenovo Support IL

So I installed that which used an older version of AMD Catalyst install manager. Lo and behold, the brightness controls now work fine! The downside is that after the install the screen saver will not launch, but I am not too worried about that. Maybe that will fix itself with a later windows update.

So thank you all for helping me to find a solution with a more recent driver.

Kind regards
Chris

Try3 · 12 Dec 2020

Chris,

If you have decent backups you can experiment with different drivers. You might even find that reinstalling the driver you started with works for you - the act of reinstallation rather than the driver version might be what fixed it.
- System imaging e.g. Macrium reflect
- Driver backups Backup and Restore Device Drivers - TenForumsTutorials

Denis

dalchina · 12 Dec 2020

And if you wish to protect that driver alone, try
Prevent Windows Update from Updating Specific Device Driver

As a general rule, where you have driver problems and an update causes driver related issues or delivers a later driver, it's quite often the case that reverting to the last released drivers for the hardware by the manufacturer helps.

Paul Black · 12 Dec 2020

Hello @Chris Nicola,

Chris Nicola said:

So I installed that which used an older version of AMD Catalyst install manager. Lo and behold, the brightness controls now work fine! The downside is that after the install the screen saver will not launch, but I am not too worried about that. Maybe that will fix itself with a later windows update.

So thank you all for helping me to find a solution with a more recent driver.

[1] I am pleased that you have found a solution.
[2] You are very welcome.

That is a very good idea that Denis suggested and is something that you can maybe attempt when you have some spare time!

vipergg · 20 Dec 2020

I had the same type problem on a older Lenovo running Radeon 3000 graphics . If brightness is all you are after download
Gamma Panel . This seems to work pretty good as an alternative . You can adjust brightness, contrast, gamma with it and save different profiles . Im running fine on the 20H2 version of Windows 10 . Download Gamma Panel - MajorGeeks