No Screen Brightness Controls since installing Tiger

There's a sneaky new pref setting with allows you to turn the brightnes keys off.

turn them back on!

: )

Please let me know where to find it. Note that the slidebar on the preference pane where you can choose the resolution has disappeared as well.
(machelp says there should be a slidebar but I have never seen it; maybe because we're all used to use F1 F2).

Deleting the systempreference.plist as another answer suggested isn't the solution either.

There is no solution, get used to it.

You know, that may be correct.

There is an option on my G5 tower, but not that I can find on my laptop.

Sorry to mislead you.

: (

I also have a TiBook 1GHz with 10.4.1, and the F1/F2 brightness keys work fine!

Hi Henry, Welcome to the Discussions:

I believe that this issue can be resolved through system prefs. Under the Keyboard and Mouse prefs there is a check box that says "Use the F1-F12 keys to control software features."

You might try selecting that option. Strangely, my box was not checked, but I still have volume and brightness controls from the keyboard.

It should be unchecked. That's the whole point. Unchecked is for hardware features, checked is for software features.

It doesnt matter if it's checked or not checked. This is a Tiger bug that the user CANNOT fix. Apple has to fix this or your stuck with the brightness you have and native res. This is affected most Ti users. Do a search for "brightness" in the tiger forums and you will see SEVERAL threads about this. I called Apple about my Ti and this problem and they don't know how to fix it either. They told me to go back to Panther.

So there's your fix, go back to Panther or get used to no brightness control.

There is not a bug, at least from my perspective. I have not had ANY problems with brightness or volume control using the F keys on my 500 MHz Ti-Book running 10.4.1.

After some more playing with the check box, I have found that if I have the check box checked, I do NOT have volume or brightness controls on the keyboard, but if I DO NOT have the check box checked, then I DO have F1 - F4 controls. You also have to quit System Prefs to make any changes to that box take effect.

So my advice is to try un-checking the "Use F1-F12 to control software features." If that does not solve the problem, then there could be some corruption of your OS (com.apple.systempreferences.plist). Might also try repairing disk permissions. There might also be some differences in the preferences between models. On my Tower, that check box does not even appear in the Keyboard Prefs.

Thomas, do a search like I said above. The check box has nothing to do with the fact that the brightness keys don't work, AND there is only one resolution to choose from in system preferences and no brightness slider to adjust like there was before.

Damon,

I don't doubt that you and others are experience problems. For some reason, though, I am not.

In the Displays Preferences, I can choose multiple screen resolutions. I also have a brightness slider underneath the Resolutions box. I just checked my Gigabit Ethernet tower and it also has those options in the Displays Prefs. For some reason, you and other Tiger users do not have these options. Perhaps this issue is specific to a certain model machine. Like I said, I have a 500 Ti-Book and a Dual 500 Gigabit Ethernet tower, and neither machine is exhibiting this problem. That is very strange, indeed, and something Apple should be addressing.

If you deleted your system prefs .plist, and that didn't help, the only advice I could give would be to do a CLEAN install of Tiger.... or, unfortunately, as you suggested, go back to Panther until the problem is fixed. Tiger is definitely worth a shot, though, so if you're gonna do a clean install to downgrade to Panther (recommended), then why not do a clean re-install of Tiger?

Here is the text of a post I found on the Displays Discussion. It is possible that this might fix your problems. I have not tried this, as I am not having any problems. The file that the poster refers to does exist in my Library, but since I have not had this issue, there is no need for me to delete this item. Do so at your own risk. Good luck:

Unable to control Brightness in PB15" after Tiger Upgrade

At root level select SYSTEM / LIBRARY / MONITOR PANELS

You Will See the following folders...
AppleDisplay.monitorPanels
Arrange.monitorPanel
Display.monitorPanel
Profile.monitorPanel
VGADisplay.monitorPanel

Delete the VGADisplay.monitorPanel folder

Restart the machine... and all is well...

-rgds
-RG

Hi Thomas,
VGA display is not even there on my computer to delete. I just have the first four but no vga. I have tried a clean install about 25 times. It's just a hardware/software conflict. Most late model Ti's (mine) and some ibooks. I am all for suggestions but I can bet you that I have tried them all. I only keep getting back to just installing Panther or waiting on Apple. Very frustrating

Damon,
Hi Damon,

That is indeed very interesting, if not mystifying. Do the newer Ti-books (like yours) have VGA connectors? If so, I wonder why that file is not in your library??

If there was a way to copy that file from a known good machine and paste it into your Library, I wonder if that would have any effect? It seems like the presence or absence of that file is a key to this issue - somehow. Keep us posted on what you find out.

10.4.2 has been released today! Does this fix the screen brightness issue?

Would like to install Tiger but not until this issue is fixed...

-JT