ploebs

Q: 10.6.8 update: screen brightness issues when hooked to external monitor

I just upgraded to MacOS 10.6.8 yesterday, and since then, the screen on my Macbook is acting strange. 

 

I'm hooked up to an external monitor which I use almost all the time as the primary monitor.  Usually, when I'm using the external, I turn the brightness all the way down (to black) on the Macbook.  After the update, however, the Macbook seems to have a mind of its own.  The screen gets brighter, then dimmer, then brighter again, without reason.  Or, othertimes, after about 30 seconds of inactivity, the Macbook screen gets brighter, then when you move the mouse, it goes back to black again.

 

It's not that I care so much, but just wish I knew what was going on.  Glitch in the new software?

 

Macbook

MacOS 10.6.8

External monitor: ViewSonic VA2231wm

MacBook

Posted on Jun 25, 2011 10:39 AM

Close

Q: 10.6.8 update: screen brightness issues when hooked to external monitor

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Previous Page 2 of 3 last Next
  • by adelfromholywood,

    adelfromholywood adelfromholywood Jul 1, 2011 5:40 PM in response to ploebs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 1, 2011 5:40 PM in response to ploebs

    Seems like laptop screen brightness buttons control was broken in this update. I have the same issue and brightness doesn't change if I press F5 or F6. The indicator shows up, it's value is changed but brightness stays the same.

     

    Although if you go to System Preferences ->Displays you can change screen brightness manually by the "Brightness" slider. In my case it was closer to the left side, so the brightness of my laptop screen was very low. Now, when I moved to the right I can see my screen in normal colors .

     

    I hope it help you all for the time being.

  • by TheNob,

    TheNob TheNob Jul 2, 2011 4:06 AM in response to adelfromholywood
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 2, 2011 4:06 AM in response to adelfromholywood

    adelfromholywood wrote:

     

    In my case it was closer to the left side, so the brightness of my laptop screen was very low. Now, when I moved to the right I can see my screen in normal colors .

     

    I hope it help you all for the time being.

     

    No, that is not our problem at all.

  • by Kawanaut,

    Kawanaut Kawanaut Jul 2, 2011 1:51 PM in response to ploebs
    Level 1 (54 points)
    Jul 2, 2011 1:51 PM in response to ploebs

    I submitted OS X feedback regarding this issue and linked to this thread. I suggest you others do the same, so hopefully they will get more attention around the bug:

     

    http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

     

     

    EDIT: I don't know what its called in english, but if you untick the option to dim the monitor before it goes on standby, in the energy savings preference, it seems the laptop monitor stops turning on when you leave the computer untouched for a few minutes.

     

    Message was edited by: Kawanaut

  • by TheNob,

    TheNob TheNob Jul 2, 2011 2:23 PM in response to Kawanaut
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 2, 2011 2:23 PM in response to Kawanaut

    Thank you for the advice about the feedback form:

     

    I send this:

     

    Hi,

    after the update to Mac OS X 10.6.8 there seems to be a bug with the following feature:

     

    System Preferences -> Energy Safer -> [Power Supply] -> Automatically reduce brightness before display goes to sleep

     

    I have a Cinema Display 27" connected to my MacBook Pro and are dimming down the MacBook display completly to safe a bit of energy. If the above mentioned option is enabled the MacBook screen dimms up after short time of idle status. This was not the case before the system update and obviously a bug.

     

    There is an open thread in the official Apple Support Communities forum:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/15539840

     

    We all would appreciate a fix of this problem in the near future.

     

    Thank you very much!

     

    Best regards

    ********

  • by zachmiller,

    zachmiller zachmiller Jul 5, 2011 11:06 AM in response to zwieven
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 5, 2011 11:06 AM in response to zwieven

    Zwieven, please explain what iTools is (sorry if this is an obvious question) and what you did to solve the problem. I am having the exact same issue with the alternating columns of light (what look like stage footlights) from the dock at the bottom of the screen. The effect are alternating columns of light and dark as you go left to right across the screen. My computer was working fine with 10.6.7 and with 10.6.8 I can't seem to solve this problem. Please advise. Thanks so much.

  • by powergolf_man,

    powergolf_man powergolf_man Jul 5, 2011 9:19 PM in response to zachmiller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 5, 2011 9:19 PM in response to zachmiller

    Have you tried to re install 10.6.8 combo Update? It is about 1 GB installer. It seems fix my problem.

  • by zwieven,

    zwieven zwieven Jul 5, 2011 11:39 PM in response to zachmiller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 5, 2011 11:39 PM in response to zachmiller

    Hi Zachmiller,

    The 'stage footlights' indeed more aptly describes the screen problem I had too after updating to 10.6.8. Since the posts in this thread hardly report on this particular phenomenon, perhaps a new thread should be opened, although the common factor is 'screen issues after upgrading' for some mac-users, but clearly not all. This may hamper developing a patch ... Are you using a MacBook Pro model early 2008 ?

     

    The iTools.app  is free maintenance software (a.o. at http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/iTool.shtml).

    Repair of permissions may take a couple of minutes, and don't forget to restart your computer afterwards.

    Hope this works for you too.

     

    Zwieven

  • by ozgooner,

    ozgooner ozgooner Jul 12, 2011 11:40 PM in response to zwieven
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 12, 2011 11:40 PM in response to zwieven

    Yep same problem here. Screen randomly goes dark. Macbook 2.4ghz. Using the F2/F3 buttons to dim and then brighten the screen brings everything back, but the problem recurs on a regular basis.

     

    Please fix this ASAP Apple!

  • by peapody,

    peapody peapody Jul 16, 2011 2:39 PM in response to ploebs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 16, 2011 2:39 PM in response to ploebs

    Just wanted to report that my "footlight" issue has been resolved by repairing permissions with iTools. 10.6.8 on a Macbook Pro 2008

  • by VoKuHiLa,

    VoKuHiLa VoKuHiLa Aug 26, 2011 1:12 PM in response to ploebs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 26, 2011 1:12 PM in response to ploebs

    Anybody found a solution for the display issue yet?

     

    I got this problem until now, Repairing permissions didn''t help.

     

    Has anybody found a way to solve this problem?

     

    Thanks!

  • by zachmiller,

    zachmiller zachmiller Aug 26, 2011 1:17 PM in response to VoKuHiLa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 26, 2011 1:17 PM in response to VoKuHiLa

    yeah, there should be a newer update. i think it is 10.6.8 v1.1 or something to that effect.

     

    alternatively you can reinstall snow leopard and then upgrade to your last working update, which is what i did initially. but then i got the v1.1 update and tried it and it worked.

  • by VoKuHiLa,

    VoKuHiLa VoKuHiLa Aug 26, 2011 1:23 PM in response to zachmiller
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 26, 2011 1:23 PM in response to zachmiller

    I have allready installed the latest Update from the Auto Software Update. Is anywhere an other Update availible?

     

    A complete new Installation of Sniw Leopard would be the absolute last way for me.

  • by zachmiller,

    zachmiller zachmiller Aug 26, 2011 1:37 PM in response to VoKuHiLa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 26, 2011 1:37 PM in response to VoKuHiLa

    no idea. the v1.1 update i found was on the auto software update. but i had to reinstall snow leopard before it became available.

  • by TheNob,

    TheNob TheNob Aug 27, 2011 9:16 AM in response to VoKuHiLa
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 27, 2011 9:16 AM in response to VoKuHiLa

    I have still the bug too. 

    However I will update to OSX Lion in the next 2 weeks. Perhaps this will fix it.

  • by VoKuHiLa,

    VoKuHiLa VoKuHiLa Aug 27, 2011 9:29 AM in response to TheNob
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 27, 2011 9:29 AM in response to TheNob

    After installing LION, can you report if it helped to solve our problem?

     

    Because it doesn't seem that Apple would help us with a update for 10.6.8

Previous Page 2 of 3 last Next