No brightness control for Cinema Display

I have two identical cinema displays, I think 24 inch if it matters. Not sure because it's a work computer. The USB cables from both are plugged in and still zero brightness control via any method. Whatever model cinema display these are do not even have the physical buttons on the monitor. They are converted from mini display to DVI, could that be a problem? Please help, they are bright as **** and my eyes are going to explode.

10.6.8

Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 xeon

6 g ram

>1. Ensure lid of laptop is open

>2. Plug in power, mini-display, AND USB from the Cinema Display into MBP

>3. Restart computer (*this was the key step for me)

>4. When computer comes back up, launch System Preferences > Displays and you should now see the brightness option that was once hidden!

Thanks this works, BUT you I didn't have to reboot. Plugging in the USB from the cinema display, then briefly closing and reopening the lid worked to then show the brightness slider on the cinemba display.

BTW, I replied to a particular post but the forum shows my reply at the end of the discussion, and didn't even give me an option to quote to post I was replying too. Seems poorly designed.

-Michael

It seems like simply closing the System Preferences window and then opening it again after plugging in the USB may make the restart unnecessary - it did for me. (posted same info on reply by mgstauffer)

I have the same problem. After considerable searching I downloaded an app called Shades and it works beautifully. It can control both monitors separately. Puts an icon for one or both monitors in the menubar. Only thing to watch out for is calibration. It doesn't affect your calibration but you have to turn it off in order to change your calibration. Best of all, it's free.

I had the same problem with a 23" HD, the upgrage of the MacBook Pro 4,1 to Lion seems to have fixed the problems

now have brightness (and all other screen adjustments) control AND the usb connectors in the back of the screen work so it looks like the usb communication problem is gone

it does look like this was a bug in 10.6.x

^^^ Woohoo!! The update in the link above coupled with connecting a USB to the mac pro fixed everything. Now there's the option to turn off the auto dimming and a slider for brightness in Preferences. But as well the f1 and f2 buttons on the keyboard are also now manually lowering and raising it. The monitor needs to be connected with the USB port.

I am using Lion 10.7.3. on a Mac Book Pro with an older Apple Cinema HD 27" display.

Downloaded the Cinema Display Software Update, but on launch it said 10.6 was required, so install canceled itself. Assumption is that Lion fixed the problem. IT DID NOT!

My Cinema HD Display has increasingly been dimming down. At first it was only happening shortly after I launched my XP partition. Then, when running on the Mac OS partition, it also started happening.

Symptoms are 1) Cinema Display Preference Panel brightness slider disappears, 2) even though Display USB is now plugged directly into MacBookPro, the two USB inputs on the back of the Display are not operational, 3) Display Pref "Detect Displays" does not work, but "Gather Windows" does, and 4) the brightness button on left side of the Display itself lights when touched, but does nothing.

For a while, it was correctible by shutting down and restarting on the MacOS side, but no more.

Would appreciate any new info on how to deal with this. I do not think it is the Cinema Display failing.

Your friend, Dee

Thank you, ronfab1! I logged on because my second display was so bright and the only display getting dimmer was my laptop when I tried to dim. I had the small cord connected, but thanks to your post I added the USB cord and was able to adjust the brightness on the cinema display as well. Thank you.

I resolved this issue and am posting fix in case anyone is using the Gefen DL-DVI to MDP with the same combniation. The EDID Mode on the device which prior to 10.8 could be set as the Gefen manual instructs (pg 9 of http://www.gefen.com/pdf/gtv-dvidl-2-mdp.pdf) to EDID Mode 2 (Apple 27") needs to be set instead to EDID Mode 3 (EDID Pass-Through) the brightness control returns without even a restart of any of the three devices -- when this is first done my Cinema screen defaulted 1920x1140 (intead of the full-screen 2560x1440 coming through on Mode 2) so this must be reset under Display Prefrences after switching.

I just found this great little app to control the brightness on my 27" Apple Cinema Display when attached to my PC or through Bootcamp:

http://jens.holstschumacher.dk/p/brightness-controller.html

http://www.imgbox.de/users/public/images/kHdaQ6CHaN.png

http://www.imgbox.de/users/public/images/VS0ZYFpyqu.png

This app allows your PC to control the 27" Apple Cinema Display ( auto brightness / brightness / turn off display) if you have one. It's just fantastic and works amazingly well!

Go to the App Store. There's an application called 'Shades'. It's a brightness control and sits in your menubar. It can control one or both monitors.

I have a second 24" Apple HD display and nothing I did could get the brightness control to show up. This app does the job very nicely. My main 27" display works fine so I have it set just for the 24".

One thing: If you're calibrating your monitors you have to quit the app while you're doing that, then turn it back on.

@tomhedge's solution worked for me - Windows 7 Pro, Boot Camp... plug in the USB, it will install the drivers, and then you can change the settings in a new "Brightness" tab in the Boot Camp Control Panel.

Cheers!