I finally managed a new install yesterday.
A few issues. Not sure the correct way to do this. I'll just list the first one here.

I have a Gateway ID57H laptop (made by Gateway, who were later taken over by Acer)
Five years ago with v18.3 I had had the same problem adjusting the screen brightness via the function keys.

Another member helped me out with this and it worked.
I tried the same with my new V20.3 installation, as I couldn't adjust the brightness, but it told me the system was running in "fallback mode", so I had to remove the d/20-intel.conf file below:

This is what I did:
[quote]
Code:
sudo touch /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf
Then:
Code:
sudo gedit /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
Add the following lines to this file:

Section "Device"
Identifier "card0"
Driver "intel"
Option "Backlight" "intel_backlight"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection
[end quote]

Seeing as the above failed, what can I do to be able to adjust the brightness?

I found this with methods to fix this issue. I have had to many issues with brightness on my laptops knock on wood.

https://www.debugpoint.com/2016/10/2...-ubuntu-linux/

Thanks for your help again dave67.

I wonder if any of these methods which may not work, will cause a problem I was describing earlier, re: fallback mode?
The method I tried last night was very similar to Method 3. It took me ages to work out how to edit the file in fallback mode, as a 'user' for about six years isn't the same as understanding it technically!

I've failed at the first hurdle on method 1.
It says:
Open the file /etc/default/grub using gedit or any other text editor.

Is etc a folder called .etc? I can't find it?
I also tried pasting '/etc/default/grub' into terminal, but it said 'permission denied'.

The syntax would be
Cause you need to use a text editor to edit the config file and you need to be root(think admin)to edit a root config file.

Lets step back a minute

Fallback hmm

Lets check something copy and paste this type in your password press enter
If nothing is wrong than you will see nothing happen with the command above.


After you installed the OS did you perform a updates with the update manager? If not open the update manager by searching the menu for it than click refresh once the sync is done apply the updates. If all goes well above than I suggest trying method 2 see if it works. if you still have issues with the brightness. I am little worried about editing config files it could cause regression which is the system will not boot. But its a last resort I go for if possible.

1 members found this post helpful.

[QUOTE=dave67;6329085]The syntax would be
I typed the above which didn't appear to throw up any error.

In the end I did go for your suggestion with method 2, and it works OK. So thanks for your help with this.

I think you meant the below command did not throw up any errors


The other command below would have opened the grub config file.


I am glad method 2 worked. It will take time to lean the command line. I dislike it cause I have dyslexia. This is why I have a commandline commands in text file.

I was a bit hasty saying that method 2 worked.

Later on in the evening I realised that when viewing the screen in a darkened room, the picture appears washed out on low brightness.
I'm guessing it must be due to the backlight being on 'full'?
The function keys must dim that along with the screen brightness?

The backlight controls screen brightness. In this topic, they're the same thing. Reducing screen brightness means reducing backlight and vice versa.

I'm sorry, looks like my misunderstanding then. I'm not too good at understanding it technically.
I assumed the backlight was on full, as when I reduce the brightness to a minimum, the whole screen appears 'washed out'.
When I used the function buttons before, it dimmed everything equally.

I'm not saying you don't have a problem.

Frankly, I hacve no idea what "washed out" means here. In my exoerience, screens do not do that when hardware brightness is reduced.

How are you reducing it? Does it reduce the backlight or use some software trick (e.g. xgamma)?

The way it appears to me when I reduce the brightness, the blank screen still appears 'well lit'.
I appreciate I'm not too good at explaining this, but if the brightness is reduced, the 'background' is still bright.
I'm using the Brightness Controller as in the attachment pic.
As I said earlier, when the functions keys were working in v18.3, the 'background (light?)' was also equally reduced at the same time as the main screen.

Attached Thumbnails

 

It seems this gateway has a Nvidia card GT 540m I would like to see the information about driver being used.

Does this help:

~$ sudo lshw -C video
[sudo] password for watt:
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: GF108M [GeForce GT 540M]
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: a1
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
resources: irq:36 memory:d0000000-d0ffffff memory:a0000000-afffffff memory:b0000000-b1ffffff ioport:3000(size=128) memory:d1080000-d10fffff
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 09
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
resources: irq:32 memory:d1400000-d17fffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:4000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

This laptop has both Nvidia and a Intel gpu. In my laptops I tend to change the Intel the laptop bios. Nvidia gpu eat battery power. The Intel will save power on the battery.

If you go this option

On your gateway model press F2 as the laptop booting up to access the bios. Look for graphics or video. The Intel graphics could be labeled as integrated and the Nvidia PCI with no label but pci on some systems. The options can be dropdown list. Select the Intel option than save the changes by pressing F10 than reboot.


Have you installed the advanced battery management TLP in the past?

If not you can read about it below. Note the current version on Mint is 1.3 no need to update it.

https://linrunner.de/tlp/