Sony SVE1513P1EW screen brightness

[AFCMajkel]

Hello everyone.

I have a problem with my Sony SVE1513P1EW. The problem is that screen brightness adjustment does not work at all. Yes I already changed to OFF Enable adaptive brightness.

Any suggestions?

Windows 8.1

[pronotion · Accepted solution]

You don't say what operating system you are running however I was having a similar issue myself after upgrading to installing Windows 8.1 - Sony's support on here sucks big time so hopefully I can help you with my own unofficial advice that worked for me today. 

1. Press Start
2. Type Device Manager
3. Hit enter
4. Under "Display Adapters" find your graphics card, in my case listed as 'AMD Radeon 6600M and 6700M Series'.
5. Right-click on the graphics card and select "Uninstall". At this point your screen will possibly do a bit of flashing and flickering.
6. Eventually the screen will return, reboot for good measure.

After rebooting my machine I was was once again able to adjust the brightness slider found in the Power Options screen.

I hope this is of some help!?

Cheers, Simon

[AFCMajkel]

Thank you very much!

Actually in the Device Manager I had selected update, than uninstall and that helped me.

However I do not know why VAIO update missed the graphics card update.

Thank you!!

[pronotion]

I think the problem is more to do with the "updated" drivers. By uninstalling the drivers that were preventing the brightness adjustments I think you let Windows choose its own driver to use and that one works fine. I'm not a gamer so I'd imagine that for some its not a suitable solution performance wise but hopefully in time some official drivers will be released which fix the problem.

I've been really very disappointed with the support (or lack of) from Sony to the point where it has change my overall opinion of owning another of their machines in the future. Despite my support page offering Windows 8 downloads I got told yesterday my machine is not supported and I should stay on Windows 7.

[AFCMajkel]

Hello again

Unfortunately problem still occurs. Reinstalling, updating the driver help only for few hours.

Any suggestions?

Thank you SONY SUPPORT you made me think that you do not care about your customers.

[pronotion]

Unfortunately I am also having the same problem now although not every few hours more like once a day. Given the response I had from Sony (below) and my now broken experience of Windows 8 I am going to return Windows 7 as I've not got time or patience to try and find fixes or workarounds for the outstanding issues. I'm not going to be forced to buy new hardware in order to upgrade my operating system!

Response from Sony

Sony does not support the upgrade to windows 8.1 on this model. However, the upgrade notification and drivers are available just in case the customer would like to do so.

Please be aware that the issues you have reported is normal due to compatibility and limitation we found when used windows 8.1 on your VAIO model.

• Fingerprint device feature does not work correctly.
• When playing movies, the following issues may occur:
  - Error messages may appear
  - Playback occurs with audio only (no video)
  - PowerDVD may stop playing and crashes
• Using the keys Fn+F5/F6 to change the screen brightness does not work . Please use the Settings charm to change the brightness level.
• A noise can be heard when the VAIO connected to HDMI monitor
• A blank screen is shown when the resolution is set to 1920x1200 on SPEED mode
• The Device Manager may show a yellow exclamation mark

This information is incorrect since I don't have all of those issues, my only real issue is screen brightness and function keys, I can live without function keys.

[AFCMajkel]

So SONY do not care about their customers.

What if I bought my laptop with preloaded Windows 8? 

Thanks a lot SONY !!!!!!!!!!!! 

[pronotion]

Obviously if it's preloaded it will be supported, they have a duty to do that but for mine it was sold with Windows 7 and so they will only officially support Windows 7 (apparently). I have to say though you get a different story on the forums in USA where Sony appear to actively help their customers with this particular issue, in Europe thjey don't even respond on the forum posts.