Dell laptop brightness adjustment stuck [SOLVED]
Q. My Dell Inspiron 1520 screen brightness adjustment sometimes get stuck after I suspend/resume a few times. When I try to adjust the screen brightness by holding the Fn key and then press the up/down arrows nothing happens at all and it is really annoying as I have to reboot to get it to work again. 🙁 Can you suggest a way that I can fix it without having to reboot? –Hank Chambers
A. Yes, I have had a similar issue with my Dell Latitude E5530 and E6430. Here are the steps to fix Dell’s brightness adjustment feature without having to reboot 🙂
#1 Go into device manager and locate your display adapter
#2 Right click on the display adapter and choose ‘Disable’:
Temporarily disable the display adapter
The screen resolution will change but do not worry about that
#3 Now, re-enable your display adapter:
Enable your display adapter
#4 Voila, you should have working brightness adjustment again!
I hope this helps you Hank, please rate this article when you get the chance (1 to 5 stars) and please let me know if there is anything else I can help with 🙂
Best regards,
-JD
UPDATE from Hank:
Brilliant! Five star rating because that did it on the FIRST try. Wow, thank you very much as this saves me very much time and frustration! -Hank Chambers
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Been struggling w/this issue ever since I got my laptop for xmas. Decided to finally do something about it and google it. Thank you for making it easy to fix my laptops display brightness problem.
Hi Jamie,
Thank you for your nice comment. I am glad this helped your laptop work better!
🙂
Enjoy your nice Dell and have a great weekend,
-JD
Not working brother dell vostro 3546
I’m having problems with my Dell Latitude D530. I cant increase my brightness nor lower it. Its very frustrating. i did the device Manager thing, but its still stuck. What do I do???
Hi Xylan,
Thank you for your comment. I am sorry to hear that your brightness is stuck on your Dell 🙁
Have you tried using the Windows brightness adjustment setting under power settings? Here is a screenshot of the brightness setting in Windows 7 (permalink). If that doesn’t work, or if you are on a different OS just let me know and I’ll try to help via another method. 🙂
Also, as a last ditch effort you may want to go into the BIOS and try manually adjusting the brightness there.
Best regards and have a great weekend,
-J.D.
i have same issue but mine is DELL VOSTRO 3550 and windows 8.1 pro. Can u help plzz sir
Sorry for the late reply, DELL. On a Vostro 3550 with Windows 8.1 I would try the correct Dell video driver and QuickSet first, then the adapter disable and re-enable trick from the post. If the keys never work at all, it is usually more than just the suspend glitch.
Here in my display adapter sub blocks intel graphics is not showin
Thank you for your comment, Rahul.
What display adapter does your computer show?
Best regards,
-J.D.
It really works…thanks dude
Hi Arv,
Thank you for your nice comment. You are very welcome!
Have a great day 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you, this trick even worked on the my Lenovo laptop. quick and easy without rebooting.
Hi Steve-o,
That is very cool! I am really glad this tip works for other manufacturers too 🙂
If you get the chance, please let me know what Lenovo model and OS you are using.
Thanks and have a great weekend!
-J.D.
Hi, I have a Dell inspiron 15, 5000 series,
I follow the steps but the F12 fn button for brightness still doesn’t do anything, nor up or down. Is it a different setting?
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for your comment. I am sorry to hear that brightness control still doesn’t do anything 🙁
If you haven’t already, you may want to try using the latest Intel HD Graphics drivers:
http://www.jdhodges.com/blog/dell-laptop-with-windows-8-1-brightness-control-not-working-solved/
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/search?keyword=Intel+HD+Graphics
That has worked for some other Inspiron users.
Good luck and have a great day!
-J.D.
This helped me out soooo soo much! Thank you kind sir.
Hi PJ,
You are very welcome!
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Enjoy your laptop and I hope you have a great week 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
FANTASTIC ! JUST DID IT AND WORKED ! THANKS A LOT!
Hi Superstarmix,
I am very glad to hear the screen/brightness tips worked for you 🙂
Have a great weekend!
-J.D.
well done. great job dude. works fine
Excellent!
I’m having problems with my Dell inspiron. I cant increase my brightness nor lower it. Its very frustrating. i did the device Manager thing, but its still stuck. What do I do???.I have used every thing that you mentioned. please help me.
Hamza, if you already tried the Device Manager trick and it still will not change, I would reinstall the exact Dell graphics driver and any hotkey utility for your Inspiron. At that point it sounds more like the driver stack itself is wrong.
Excellent! lots of “solutions” out there involving reloading the OS & changing BIOS settings.
This was both easy & effective. Who could ask for anything more?
Thanks!
Hi Dell User,
Thank you for your nice comment. I am glad this method was effective for you!
Best regards,
-JD
This does not work great for dell latitude e6430. There are 2 display adaptors shown … one is “Intel HD Graphics 4000” and the other “NVidia NVS 5200M”. First tried disabling the nvidia adaptor and re-enabling it. No different at all. Then I tried disabling the Intel one. This did not just change the screen resolution. It actually disabled the screen itself. I was staring at a black blank screen for a long time before I decided to hard-reboot it into safe mode, re-enable the intel adaptor and then boot back into normal mode. Whew!
So don’t try the above suggestion if your config looks anything like mine.
Hi Gopal,
Thank you for your comment and wise warning to users with NVIDIA Optimus setups (integrated Intel video + discrete Nvidia GPU). I will have to revisit this as I have one laptop with the same setup as yours and I thought I had solved this issue before! 🙁
Sorry for the trouble it caused you and enjoy your nice laptop. 🙂
Best regards,
-JD
I’ll dig it out, as I’ve found this topic to solve the problem.
Turning off/on Intel display adapter solved brightness problem.
When I’ve turned it off, the screen was black. Same case. There is a workaround (no need to reboot or use safe mode) – if you didn’t turned off the NVidia video adapter, you can just connect external monitor or TV. Then you can easily re-enable Intel.
Hi Mordimer, thanks for the tip! Have a great weekend 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Mine did exactly the same – DELL E6520 on Win 7 64bit, with Intel HD Graphics 3000 and NVIDIA NVS 4200M. When I disabled the Intel, the screen went blank and I had to reboot. But what worked for me just now is disable the NVIDIA first, then disable the Intel – screen resolution changed down, but screen stayed on, so I could reenable Intel and then NVIDIA, and my brightness control (Fn + Up/Down) got unstuck.
How did you hard reboot into safe mode??? This just happened to me and I have important work on my laptop. Help please!!!
Hi Rand,
Thank you for your message. To enter safe mode, you should be able to:
#1 Power off your PC (using the power button if necessary, that’s the “hard reboot” part)
#2 Press the power button to turn your computer ON, immediately and repeatedly press the F8 key during the bootup process
#3 Select Safe Mode from the options
You can find more info here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17419/windows-7-advanced-startup-options-safe-mode
Please let me know if you have any further questions, I hope this helps!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Hello,
I just tried and got nothing. I also tried connecting my laptop to the TV though HDMI and I got the same result. Any advice on how to fix this?
Hi Rand,
Thank you for your comment. Has the issue been resolved yet? Normally, if the laptop is operating correctly, you should be able to get into the BIOS or Windows safe mode by repeatedly pressing (or try just holding down) the appropriate key. I would specifically try to do this with the laptop NOT connected to an external monitor, just using the internal laptop LCD display.
Good luck!
Best regards,
-J.D.
This worked great for me. E6430 running W7.
Thanx!!!
Thanks for the feedback J, glad the tip worked well for you 🙂
Have a great weekend!
-JD
Thanks! It worked like a cake!
Hi Karthik,
Thank you for your nice comment, I am very glad the brightness adjustment solution worked for you 🙂
PS what Dell laptop are you using?
Have a great weekend!
-JD
Dell Latitude E6430
Thanks Karthik, have a great weekend and enjoy your nice E6430!
Worked great for me! Win 7 64bit OS on a Dell Latitude E6540
Hi Jonathan,
Glad to hear the tip worked well on your E6540!
Have a great week 🙂
-J.D.
PS how to do you like your E6540?
Thank you for putting up this blog.
My eyes were hurting since i could not dim the brightness on the E6430 running Win7.
This worked instantly!
Cheers
Hi Barath,
I am very happy that my tip helped 🙂
Have a great week and enjoy your nice E6430!
-J.D.
Sadly didn’t work for me (Dell Inspiron 3520 on Win 8.1). Screen suddenly went black, which freaked me out, then came back on same as before. Managed to enable adapter but no change in brightness function. Getting rather frustrating, any suggestion gratefully received – thanks!
Hi Sharon,
Thank you for your comment! Please give this a try this:
http://www.jdhodges.com/blog/dell-laptop-with-windows-8-1-brightness-control-not-working-solved/
You can find the latest Intel drivers on the Dell drivers download page for your particular laptop. Using this method resolved the issue for me on an Inspiron 3000 series Dell 🙂
Let me know if that does the trick for you Sharon!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Awesome .. I was stuck with this one as well. Worked super-smooth. Thanks.
Hi Gopal,
Thank you for the nice comment. I am glad the brightness adjustment worked for you!
Have a great night,
-J.D.
Perfect. Worked nicely for my dell notebook with NVIDIA NVS 5200M Graphics.
Excellent Armin, glad the brightness adjustment tip worked 🙂
Have a great week!
-J.D.
fantastic
Thank you Vassy, glad it worked!
but my problem is a bit different. I can’t adjust the brightness at all.
It started when I reformatted my laptop. I’m sure that I installed the drivers in the correct order. I installed everything, but now, I can’t adjust the brightness at all!!
Please someone help me. I’ve been googling for a week. I hate maximum brightness, my eyes tire easily.
Thank you in advance for the help.
Sorry for the late reply, Jon. If it stopped working entirely after a reformat, that sounds more like a missing graphics or hotkey driver than the temporary stuck state from my post. I would install the exact Dell video driver and QuickSet or hotkey software for your model first.
100% working
thank you very much!!
Hi nkt. I’m so glad I could help. Have a great day! 👍
Will the same solution work for my laptop? (Dell Inspiron N5010 – Win 8)
Sorry for the late reply, Tarun. It might, if your problem is the same suspend and resume glitch, but on an older N5010 I would also try reinstalling Dell QuickSet and the correct video driver. The post is really just a quick workaround, not a full root-cause fix.
Awesome fix! Thank you!
Glad to help! Have a great day!! 👍😀
Thanks so much, this has been bugging me for almost a week and your solution fixed my problem in seconds!!
Thank you for your nice comment Jeremiah, I am very glad it helped!
Also, may I ask what model your laptop is?
Have a great week 🙂
-J.D.
PS
Very annoying problem solved!!!!!!!
It worked perfectly with my configuration: Dell Latitude XT3, Windows 8.1@64 [display Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000]
Thank you very much JD.
Miguel
Hi Miguel,
Thank you for your comment and for the detailed configuration info. I am very glad my post helped with your nice XT3! 🙂
Thanks again Miguel and have a great weekend!
-J.D.
In my case it didn`t work. Tried lots of different things. Finally I`ve found my solution – it`s TeamViewer`s monitor driver (which can be installed via its advanced settings) blocking the brightness adjustment.
Also it doesn`t allow (hides from power plans) display to dim.
Uninstalling TeamViewer`s driver (can be done from its settings) completely solved my issue.
Hi Anton,
Thanks for the great tip about TeamViewer 🙂 That is something I had never thought about investigating, good work!
Have a good weekend,
-J.D.
great one, was tried to disable and enable the display adapter but issue persisted.
read through the comment and found this.
YES, teamviewer block the brightness change~
amd now issue solved after uninstall…
thanks much
lots of love
Hi Meiki,
Sorry for the delayed reply. Thank you kindly for your comment and the info 🙂 I am very glad the tip helped.
Have a great week!!!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thanks! the Teamviewer option solved it for me…
Hi Alceste,
Thank you for the feedback, I am very happy that you were able to get your Dell brightness adjustment to work!
Have a great week,
-J.D.
This did the trick!!!!!!! How you found that, I have no idea.
Thank you so much for this!!! Its been bugging me for literally years since I moved from Logmein to Teamviewer
Many beers to you my friend!
Mike
Thank you so much I have tried everything and then came across this. I thought I was going to have to send my laptop to dell for repairs.
Hi Harold,
Thank you for your very nice comment. I am very glad that the brightness tip worked well for you 🙂
Enjoy your Dell laptop and have a great week!
Best regards,
-J.D.
This solved my problem. It’s really hard to stare at my laptop with brightness set to 100%. Thanks a lot!
THANK YOU! It’s the only thing that worked when my display stayed very dim after battery ran low.
Susan
Thank you for your kind words Susan 🙂
I am very happy that my brightness tip worked for you! Have a great rest of the day and enjoy your laptop 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thanks for this post…very useful…I experienced the same issue and by following the steps above… it get fixed, thanks again………… 😀
Hi Abhinav,
Thank you for the nice comment, I am very glad my post helped with your laptop. 🙂
Thanks again and have a great weekend!
-J.D.
Works Great,….. THANK YOU!!!
Hi I Snell. I’m glad that the tip helped. Thanks for the nice comment.
Have a great weekend!! 👍😀
Thank you for this!! It worked a treat!! =)
No prob!
Teamviewer was the issue for me as well; thanks for the fix!
Dell Latitude E74440 running Windows 7 64-bit
Thank you for your post – very helpful!
No problem. Glad I could help!! 👍
After disabling the hd graphics, i cant seem to press or click on anything, advice on how to enable it again?
Sorry for the late reply, Nhia. If the screen became unusable after disabling the adapter, I would just hard reboot and let Windows reload the driver, or boot into Safe Mode if needed. Once you can see again, re-enable the display adapter in Device Manager.
Thanks very much.. Excellent solution. Got the problem resolved in a minute.
5 star rating!!!
Kudos !!!
Hi Kishore. I’m so glad that the tip helped. Thanks for the nice comment, enjoy using your laptop!
Have a great day!! 👍😀
it didn’t work for me but what did work was updating the driver in the same place as you would disable it thanks for your help
Hi Karina,
I am glad you were able to get it working 🙂 Thank you for sharing your tip and have a great week!
Best regards,
-J.D.
thanks, it worked!!
Hi Krishna,
Thank you for your kind comment 🙂
Enjoy your Dell laptop!
Best regards,
-J.D.
PS what model of Dell laptop do you use?
I just used this to fix my issue with my Dell not allowing me to us my fn to adjust the brightness after installing Windows 8.1. It took 30 seconds to do and worked the first time! I’m glad I found this post!
Hi M Anderson,
Thank you for your nice comment! I am very happy that the tip work well for you on Windows 8.1 🙂
Enjoy your laptop and have a great weekend!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Great Way to go, it was working on the first try.
Glad I could help! 👍
Thanks this resolution works for my laptop. I am using Dell inspiron14 model 7437.
Hi Adnan,
Thank you for your nice comment! I am very happy to hear that the brightness adjustment technique work for your Inspiron 14 🙂
Enjoy your nice laptop and have a great week!
-J.D.
Worked for me also – brilliant (screen and answer) on my Lattitude E6430 in Auckland NZ
Dear Peter,
I am so glad that the tip worked and was able to help you. Thank you for taking the time to comment and have a GREAT summer!!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thanks a lot, J.D!!! I also had the same problem and after reading your solution, it’s gone. 🙂
If I may ask, Why did this happen in the first place?
Hi,
Thanks for the post. It worked for me for a few seconds, until I dimmed the brightness usining the function+brightness keys. Then the screen went very dark again and wouldn’t go back to full brightness. I’m using an XPS 13. Any thoughts? Thanks.
I also uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them. Stayed bright for a few seconds then went back to dim.
Sorry for the late reply, Dan. If dimming it once makes it stick again immediately, I would suspect the graphics driver or BIOS rather than just the temporary adapter glitch. On an XPS 13 I would update the Dell video driver first and then try the disable and re-enable trick only as a fallback.
Excellent! This was a necessity … Thanks a million!
Thank you for your kind comment Ajith. I am very glad my page helped 🙂 Enjoy your nice Dell laptop!
I’ve tried this, and updating the display adapter, running diagnostic tests from dell, and restarting my computer but alas no luck. still stuck on the highest brightness setting. i have a dell inspiron 15 model 5547 and the problem just recently arose today!
After using Intel Driver Utility Update and updating a graphics driver among two other drivers, and then rebooting once more, my brightness settings are adjustable. Long and frustrating small issue finally solved! Thank you for the post and helping others!
I am also stuck on this. Have you got any solution?
Shehzad, if you are stuck on the same issue, I would start with the proper Dell video driver and then try the adapter disable and re-enable trick from the post. That quick reset still helps if the driver has just gotten into a bad state.
Worked! Latitude E5450. Thanks!
Hi furY,
Thank you for your comment and for the confirmation that the tip works on the Dell Latitude E5450. That is very cool that you have a E540, I purchased one recently and I LOVE it!
Enjoy your awesome laptop and have a great week 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Did not work on my 5450. Any other work arounds?
Thanks,
Alissa, if the quick workaround did not help on your 5450, I would move on to the proper Dell graphics driver, BIOS update, and hotkey software for that model. My post only covered the temporary stuck state.
thanks boss…
No prob! 👍
Thanks great help!
It worked but now also those hotkeys for adjusting brightness is not working.
That really worked for me Dell E6430. Very smart solution. Thanks a lot.
Cheers
Karthik
Hi Karthik. I’m so glad that the tip helped! Thanks for the nice comment.
Enjoy using your laptop. Have a great day!! 👍😀
It worked like charm!! Amazing! You saved me from Monday blues!!!
I’m glad the brightness tip worked for you!
Have a great week 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Hi Bro
Thanks for this wonderful trick. It is working nicely. :thumbsup
Thanks Nabeel!
Have a great week 🙂
-J.D.
Awesome! Thanks JD! This is why I love Google!
Thank you for your nice comment Thomas, I am glad to be of help 🙂 Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Really helpful in my dell E7440 with win 7. Thanks.
No problem! Sorry it has taken me so long to reply.
Have a great day!!!
Worked like a charm for DELL LATITUDE E5430. Thanks. I have been suffering with this problem with all the DELL laptops that I have owned till date
Glad that the tip helped. Enjoy using your laptop.
Have a great day!! 👍
YOU ROCK! thanks so much! I could finally see my screen once I disabled, but it went back to dark again when I re-enabled so I think I’ll just leave it as is … ? (working on a brand new dell 15 6000)
Hi!
This does not work for me I am using Inspiron 3148 Windows 10 64Bit. I tried to disable it but nothing happened. I even tried to install the latest driver but to no avail it wont even install.
I am so desperate here because its hurting my eyes I am thinking of going back to Windows 8.1
Any comments/tips suggestions?
Thanks in advance! Cheers.
Sorry for the late reply, Erll. If the latest driver will not even install, I would stop using the generic Intel package and try the Dell-specific driver for the 3148 instead. If Windows 10 support is shaky on that model, rolling back to the version with working Dell drivers may honestly be the practical answer.
Awesome! Thanks a ton.. this worked like a gem 🙂
Hi Anand86. I’m glad that the tip helped and that I could help you. Thanks for the nice and positive comment!
Enjoy using your laptop. Have a great weekend!! 👍😀
Thanks so much for posting. Helped me today and I would never have thought of doing this. Worked a treat. Suddenly my online world is brighter….I thought it was my eyes! Annoying it should happen at all though (thanks Dell….)!
No problem! Thanks for the nice and positive comment. Enjoy using your laptop!! 👍
You are a %$#@ing crack!!
Thank you
Best Regards
Thanks! I think? 😉
Have a great weekend!
works for latitude e7440 as well, thanks
Hi Jovani,
Thank you for the info! The e7740 looks like a lovely laptop, glad to here the same technique works on it.
Enjoy your nice laptop and have a great night!
Best regards,
-J.D.
i have my dell inspiron 13 7000 series , window 8.1 ..
its brigtness suddenly increased to max level. And now i am unable to control with F11 and F12.
Did almost everything.
updated latest drives
Disable /enable Display adaptor.
NOTHING is working.
PLease suggest
Hi jyots,
Thank you for your comment. I am sorry to hearing that you are having brightness issues on your Dell 🙁
Have you tried using the Windows brightness adjustment setting under power settings? Here is a screenshot of the brightness setting in Windows 7 (permalink). If that doesn’t work, or if you are on a different OS just let me know and I’ll try to help via another method. 🙂
Best regards and have a great weekend,
-J.D.
Hi!
Just wanted to say that worked with Win10 🙂
Thanks!
Ron
Hi Ronald,
Thank you for your comment. It is great to hear that the tip still works for Windows 10 on Dell laptops 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you! This was so annoying on my new work Dell. Problem solved!
Hi Dan,
Thank you for your nice comment. I am very glad my page was helpful!
Dell’s are some of my fav work machines 🙂 What Dell are you using?
Best regards,
-J.D.
I am not able to disable my standard VGA graphics adapter! and i’m confused what to do . i’m using DELL Latitude E5440
Hello Dell user,
Can you send me a screenshot of what Windows says when you try to disable the VGA adapter?
Thank you 🙂
-J.D.
Awesome fix, 5 outta 5, thanks!
Hi Jez. I’m so glad that the tip helped. Thanks for the nice and positive comment! 👍
Have a great day!! 😀
This worked! Thanks so much!
Glad I could help! 👍😀
JD, I appreciate your responsiveness to everyone – impressive. I am wondering if you can offer a permanent solution for this issue. What you’ve suggested with the display adapter seems like a workaround but doesn’t seem to address the root problem. What is causing the adapter to fail and why isn’t there a way for the computer to recognize, self-diagnose, and self-adjust and fix the adapter issue itself? I suspect the issue with my own DELL Precision M3800 running Windows 7 may be (1) I nearly never shut it down – usually just hibernate, and (2) I plug/play USB-connect to a docking station when at work, which is connected to external monitor with different resolution. But these “behaviors” shouldn’t mean I’m penalized with having to periodically disable and re-enable an adapter; that seems silly. I would appreciate any advice you can offer. Thank you.
Sorry for the late reply, Guido. You are right that my post is more of a workaround than a root-cause fix. My best guess is that suspend, hibernate, and docking or resolution changes leave the graphics driver in a bad state, so the closest thing to a permanent fix is keeping the BIOS, chipset, QuickSet, and video drivers fully up to date.
I have a Dell E7440 with the Intel HD Graphics. This issue has plagued me on and off for over a year and this solution worked on the first try! 🙂
Thank You!!!
Dear Steve,
I’m so glad that the tip helped and I was able to help you. Thanks for the nice comment!
Enjoy using your laptop. Have a great day!! 👍😀
I have dell inspiron 15 5000 series
i have tried disable/enable of display adaptors
also tried changing brightness in power setting…..once i go back and come the settings get atomatically reversed
please help me solve my problem
Hi Prashanth,
Thank you for your comment. I am sorry to hear about your Dell’s brightness problem 🙁
Have you tried the latest Dell QuickSet utility? Since you are able to successfully change the brightness in power settings, it seems like a software update might allow you to keep those changes in effect (since it sounds like they are reverting to the wrong setting).
Best regards,
-J.D.
Excellent.. I was struggling for a 2 days to rectify.. Good post..
Please keep up the good job
Hi Giri,
Thank you for your nice comment 🙂
Enjoy your laptop and have a great week!
Best regards,
-J.D.
BOOM! Thanks man.
Hi Luis,
Glad to hear the Dell brightness tip worked for you!
Have a great week and enjoy your laptop 🙂
-J.D.
AWESOME !!! worked on the first try !! Thankyou so much!
Thank you for your nice comment Amanda 🙂
I am very glad this technique worked for you!
Have a great week,
-J.D.
works ! Awesome !
Hi shanme,
Thank you for your nice comment. I am very glad it worked for you to restore your brightness control. 🙂
Have a GREAT day!
-J.D.
Thanks! This quickly fixed the problem on my Dell Inspiron 15.
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your nice comment. I am very glad that the brightness adjustment tip helped with your Inspiron 15!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you very much for the tip. I use Dell Inspirion 14. I had to reboot the laptop between disabling and enabling the driver. Now the problem is fixed. I appreciated your effort in sharing knowledge.
Thee
Hi Thee,
Thank you for your kind comment. I am very glad the tip worked on your Inspiron 14!
Have a great week and enjoy your nice laptop 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you very much sir…It worked for me
Hi Venkata,
Thank you for your kind comment 🙂
I am very glad the tip helped with your Dell brightness!
Best regards and have a great week,
-J.D.
Yes! Worked out of the box. Thank you for saving me an hour of productivity today. I didn’t want to reboot my laptop as I have so many applications and files open.
Hi Amine,
Thank you for your nice comment 🙂
I am VERY glad the tip helped with your Dell brightness. It can be so frustrating when you are right in the middle of something and it happens, very glad you did not have to reboot b/c of the tip 🙂
Have a GREAT week and thanks again!
-J.D.
You are welcome!
May be you will be happy to know that my laptop is a Lenovo T440p. Your fix works for plenty of systems I think.
I use Windows 7 Pro 64.
Thanks – was searching for a fix for this for a long time !!!!!
Hi Ste,
Thank you for your comment. I am very glad this brightness tip worked for you!
🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thanks a ton 🙂
You are very welcome Nisarg.
Have a great day 🙂
-J.D.
Ran into this problem with my newish Del Precision M3800–after Dell replaced the motherboard–and your fix worked perfectly. Thanks.
Dear Eric,
Thank you for your comment. I am glad to hear that the brightness tip worked on your repaired Dell M3800.
The Precision line is one of my favorites, for the longest time I used a M4400 and then a M6700. How do you like your M3800?
Best regards,
-J.D.
In my dell laptop E5430
The bar of brightness goes to up and down but the brightness is nor decreases neither increases.
So plz help me to solve this problem thank you.
Sorry for the late reply, Fawad. If the slider moves but the brightness never actually changes, I would reinstall the proper graphics driver first. If that does not help, the disable and re-enable adapter trick from the post is the next thing I would try.
And the Window is window 8.1
Thank you very much! Worked for my latitude 6230. God, you solved me a computer-stuff problem in seconds.
What a great day 😀 .
Dear Vipuaab,
Thank you for your kind comment! I am very happy to hear that the brightness fix worked for your Latitude 6230 🙂
I hope you have a wonderful week and thank you again for taking the time to comment!
Best regards,
-J.D.
i am using dell Vostro 15 3000 series when i upgraded my win from 8.1 to win 10 am not able to adjust my screen brightness. i tried all the tips suggested above but it is not working plz help me….
Sorry for the late reply, Sharukh. After a Windows 10 upgrade, this is usually a driver problem more than a hardware problem. I would install the exact Dell Windows 10 video driver and any hotkey or QuickSet software for that Vostro model, not just the generic driver.
IT WORKS!!!
Although be warned, your screen may go black as soon as you disable the driver. I just restarted my laptop and the screen was working ok. I then re-enabled it and all was good. Everything works once more! 🙂
Hi Rebecca,
Thank you kindly for your comment and the info 🙂
I am very glad the tip worked for you, have a great week!
Best regards,
-J.D.
unfortunately it doesnt work with my dell 7470 laptop
Hi J,
I am sorry to hear that the tip didn’t work for you 🙁
Does rebooting resolve the issue? Or does it just not work at all?
Best regards,
-J.D..
Thanks. Worked.
Hello Sufarsan,
You are very welcome! I am very glad the Dell brightness adjustment tip worked for you, have a great day 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Yes, i have tried the method mentioned above and my F11 and F12 buttons still do not increase or decrease my screen’s brightness. I have an Inspiron 14. I have tried rebooting it but after the reboot they still don’t work. It also doesn’t work with the Fn button, also i already have the latest intel graphic adapter so i don’t know why it is not functioning and this is very irritating not only to my eyes but my overall dell experience. Any other solutions?
Sorry for the late reply, Keri. If the latest graphics driver did not fix it, I would also check for Dell hotkey software, BIOS updates, and any adaptive brightness setting in Windows power options. At that point the problem sounds broader than just the stuck adapter state from my post.
Awesome!!!! Thank youuuu
Hello Fernando,
Thank you for your kind comment 🙂 I am very glad the tip helped!
Have a great day!
-J.D.
Thanks a lot
I was having bad headache because of excessive brightness and now I am relieved! 🙂
No problem. Enjoy using your laptop!! 👍
thank you very much!!!!!
Hi sheep. I’m so glad that I could help. Enjoy using your laptop!
Have a great day!! 👍😀
Wow.. it works like a charm.. Tnx a lot..
No problem. Glad I could help! 👍
Awesome, it worked. Thanks a lot
Glad I could help! 👍
Thank you for this simple fix, it worked and I am thankful. But I gotta ask, what is the problem behind this issue?
Hi mmichellew,
Thank you for your comment and for your question. I wish I knew a definitive answer but I assume it is a driver issue or firmware issue. If the issue becomes too annoying, you may want to try updating your laptop’s BIOS to the latest version as well as your video drivers.
Thanks again for your comment and have a great week!
-J.D.
Thanks! Your fix worked on the first try with my Inspiron 3543.
Hi Wil,
Thank you for your nice comment 🙂
I am very glad the tip worked on your Inspiron 3543!
Have a great week!
-J.D.
Hey JD,
I tried the method mentioned in this post as well as the method mentioned to go manually in Control Panel (http://www.jdhodges.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2016-01-15-20_53_48-Power-Options.png)
Both the methods do not seem to work for me and neither does rebooting.
Please Help me out; I am using Windows 8.1 on Dell Inspiron 14 3000 series (3443).
Sorry for the late reply, KTK. If both the adapter trick and the control panel method failed, I would move on to the Dell-specific video driver and BIOS for the 3443 instead of generic packages. This post only covered the quick fix, not every cause of the problem.
thank you bro 🙂 nicce.
No prob! Have a great day!! 👍
brutal, i’ve been driving myself crazy with this but haven’t had a chance to google it… until now. worked perfectly on my work laptop, e7450
Glad that I could help! 👍
Enjoy using your laptop. Have a great day!!
Thank you for this article it is true I followed it realy happened I thak you so much the person who has taken his time to up date.
Hi Ranjith. I’m so glad that I could help you. Thanks for the nice and positive comment! 👍👍
Have a great day!! 😀
Thanks for the simple and quick solution.. worked straight away!!!
Hello AK,
Thank you for your nice comment 🙂 I am glad the Dell brightness adjustment solution worked for you!
Have a great day and thank you for visiting my site.
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you very much. That worked like magic!
Thank you kindly Jay 🙂 I am very glad the brightness adjustment tip worked for you!
Have a great day!
-J.D.
Hi,
Thanks for your solution but unfortunately this did not work for me. I have recently updated to the latest Intel Graphics driver and BIOS and Firmware. Do you have any recommended solutions? I have had this problem for some time now but have not been able to solve it.
I have a Dell XPS 13 9343.
Grateful for any help.
Sorry for the late reply, Morgan. If you already updated Intel graphics, BIOS, and firmware and nothing changed, I would try the Dell video package rather than the Intel generic one, because OEM laptops can be picky. Beyond that, I am not sure, and it may be a firmware quirk specific to that XPS model.
dear friends
control the display by using fn key with arrow key
GO TO Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display\Screen Resolution\Advanced Settings\in adaptive setting click properties\click driver\and click roll back driver
Million thanks. It did work.. WOW made me day.
Can we know what is the exact cause of this? Is this issue very bad? Does this mean there is issue in h/w?
5 starsssssssssssssss……thanks a lot admin….you removed my tention
Thank you for your kind comment Abdul. I am very happy that the Dell screen brightness adjustment trip worked for you 🙂
Have a great weekend!
-J.D.
Thanks! Worked here, too.
No prob!👍
This is magical 🙂 🙂 Thank you so much!
Hi Pooja,
Thank you for your kind comment 🙂
Have a great day and enjoy your laptop!
Best regards,
-J.D.
thanks for this temporary fix!
x200s win7 x64
John
Hi John,
You are very welcome! Enjoy your x200s 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
It worked for my external dell display which was connected via HDMI. I was struggling to increase brightness due to brightness key was not working.
Thanks to ScreenBright. 🙂
Hi Rakesh,
Thank you for your comment. I am very glad to hear that this tip helped! I did not know it would apply to an external monitor, so thank you for sharing 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
This thing doesn’t work for my dell vostros 15 3000 series 🙁
I am unable to adjust the screen brightness,its just struck at one point 🙁
Windows 8.1
Sorry for the late reply, Sahil. On the Vostro 15 3000 series I would first make sure the correct Dell graphics driver is installed, because the stuck-brightness symptom is often driver related. If that is already correct, then the disable and re-enable adapter trick is still worth trying.
Awesome very quick fix. Thank you.
Hello Zero,
I am very glad to hear the screen brightness fixed worked well for you 🙂
Enjoy your laptop and have a great weekend!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Hi there
I do not have the option of enabling or disabling the display adapater option. What do I do?
Sorry for the late reply, Anagha. If you do not even have an enable or disable option there, Windows may not be loading the proper display driver at all. I would check under Display Adapters first, and if it is missing or very generic, reinstall the correct graphics driver.
GREAT! It worked like a charm!
Thank you!!!
Hi Gigikent,
Thank you for taking the time to comment, I am very glad this fixed your brightness issue 🙂
Have a great weekend!
-J.D.
What if my computer screen is so dark,that I cannot see anything and preform these steps?Please help Someone else broke my computer an contents refuse to get me new one if the problem can’t be fixed!!Also,no buttons or keys work I. adusting the brightness!
Sorry for the late reply, Gryffindor. If the screen is too dark to work with, the easiest workaround is an external monitor if you have one, or Safe Mode so you can reinstall the display driver. If the brightness keys and software controls both do nothing, I would start treating it as a driver issue first.
Yes!! 10 second fix! Thank you
Hi Ben,
Thank you kindly for taking the time to comment 🙂 I am very glad that the tip fixed your brightness problem.
Thanks again for commenting and have a great week!
-J.D.
Thank you very much ^_^
it worked perfectly and without rebooting
5 stars !!!
Thank you for your comment Ismael! I am very happy that the brightness tip worked well for you 🙂
Have a great week and thank you again for commenting!
-J.D.
I have a E6530 with Optimus GPU Switching (Intel + Nvidia).
The screen also becomes permanently black when disabling the Intel adapter, until rebooting in safe mode and re-enabling the adapter.
But is is possible to re-enable the screen with the keyboard :
1. Right click on Intel HD Graphics and choose “Properties”.
2. Select the tab “Driver”
3. Press letter “D” on keyboard. Click “OK” on the dialog. This will power off the screen.
4. Wait a few seconds, and press “E”.
5. The screen is power on the screen again.
Hi metatech,
Thank you for the brightness tip for Optimus enabled laptops. Much appreciated!
Best regards,
-J.D.
thanks dude ..its working for my dell lattitude ……thanks for this help..well done bro
Hi Pavan,
Thank you kindly for your comment. I am very glad this brightness tip worked on your Dell Latitude 🙂
Thanks again for commenting and have a great weekend!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Amazing, 5 stars. I don’t see how i can give the stars though 🙂
Hi SM,
Thank you kindly for your comment and your 5 star rating 🙂
Have a great day and enjoy your laptop!
-J.D.
Thank you very much for the tip…. Finally something that worked
Glad that the tip helped! Have a great day! 👍
Hi
Firstly it’s amazing that you’ve still actively replying to people leaving comments 4 years (to date) from the date of original article!
Secondly, while the solution did work for me (Dell XPS L501x), I also have 2 display adapters; one is Intel HD and the other is a Nvidia Geforce adapter. After disabling the Intel HD adapter my screen went black and remained so and I had a “Damn, not another needless issue created by myself!” moment. Thankfully connecting the laptop to my TV via HDMI displayed Windows using the Nvidia adapter and I could re-enable the Intel HD.
I wondered if you wouldn’t mind updating your original article as I see someone else brought this up before, and some people might think they’ve permanently broken their laptop.
Thanks,
SM
Thanks man. It really works! I follow the method then restart my laptop and voila! It really works. Appreciate all your advice. Keep it up.
Hi Mark. I’m so glad that the tip helped! Thanks for the nice comment. 👍
Enjoy using your laptop. Have a great day!! 😀
Works great, thank you! However I need to redo it each time again after restart. Is that everyone’s experience?
Erik, yes, that can happen if the underlying driver issue is still there and the post is only resetting it each time. If you want it to stop recurring, the best shot is updating the graphics driver and BIOS.
Great article! This worked on my 2011 Dell Insp 5520. ;)) Cheers mate
Hi Sally. I’m so glad that the tip helped and that I was able to help you. Thanks for the nice comment!👍
Enjoy using your laptop. Have a great day!! 😀
This worked perfectly on my Dell Latitude E6540.
Thank you so much!
No problem. Glad I could help! 👍
Hey there! Was a great help! Thank you very much! Actually sometimes my display driver stops working and then automatically starts! This i m unable to play games mostly! Blue screen appears! Help me buddy !
Himanshu, if the display driver is crashing and you are getting blue screens, that is more serious than the brightness issue from my post. I would do a clean reinstall of the graphics driver and check for overheating or failing hardware if it happens during games.
Thanks a lot. It worked perfectly well. But there’s a slight problem. I still can’t control my screen brightness using my adjustment button either on my keyboard or my screen.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was beginning to question my eyesight before your instructions fixed my problem.
Hi DE,
You are very welcome! I am glad that my instructions helped with your display brightness issue 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
hello Sir, i am using dell inspiron 3467, 6th gen… i am using windows 10 pro latest version…. my brightness button F12 is not work, but when i press other any button its increase brightness full……. your trick is not working for me … How can i slove this problem……. ? pls help me sir…
Mohin002, if the brightness key mapping is acting strangely, that sounds like a hotkey or Dell utility problem as much as a video driver problem. I would reinstall the Dell function key software and the graphics driver together.
You are the best! This was super easy, and I was about to send my puter to get it fixed! I am glad I saw your post!
Best,
A.
Thank you kindly for your comment Aline 🙂
Enjoy your nice laptop and have a great week!
-J.D.
Teamviewer monitor driver worked for me. Very helpful article!
Hi Stew,
Thank you for your comment. I am glad everything is working nicely!
Enjoy your Dell and have a great week 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you J.D.!
This annoying feature loss of brightness adjustment was very irritating.
Your solution worked instantly.
You are a very competent and helpfull guy.
Hello Mike,
Thank you for your kind comment and compliment. I am VERY glad this technique worked for your laptop. 🙂
I hope you have a great week and thank you again for taking the time to comment.
Best regards,
-J.D.
Yes, finally after a effortless try finally it works……
Hi Rijan,
Thank you for your kind comment. I am glad this solution worked for your laptop! 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Awesome mate! Thanks a lot, this worked for my laptop with W10. Thanks and keep it up 🙂
Hi Eric,
Thank you for your nice comment. I am very glad to hear that this tip still works, even with Windows 10! 🙂
Have a great day and thanks again for commenting.
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thanx a lot..:) I had been struggling with it for a while…But your’s the only method that worked.
Hi Mayank. I’m so glad that the tip helped and that I was able to help you. Thanks for the nice and positive comment!
Enjoy using your computer. Have a great day!! 👍😀
It works! Thanks for helping me fix my laptop!
Thank you for your comment Samson. I am very glad this tip helped fix your laptop. 🙂
Enjoy your laptop and have a great week!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you! Worked great
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your comment. I am very glad that the brightness tip worked on your laptop!
Enjoy your laptop and have a great weekend 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Same with me.
One remark though. With my M4600 and Windows 8.1 after disabling the driver the screen went black so I had to hard-reboot the machine, but it came back with the default display drivers and let me enable the proper display driver – now with screen brightness working again.
Great tip, thanks from Hungary!
Hi Tamás. I’m glad that the tip helped. Enjoy using your computer!
Have a great weekend!! 👍😀
It works on my Dell Latitude E5250 Laptop, thanks a lot.
Glad that I could help! 👍
It also worked on my Dell E6420
Hi Isaac,
Thank you for commenting. I am very glad to hear the tip was successful on your Dell E6420.
The 14″ Latitude line (including your E6420) is one of my favorite Dell laptop lines. 🙂
Have a great day and enjoy your nice laptop!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Yeah the models are super fantastic. Unfortunately mine was stolen at school 😭😭😭😭
Dear Isaac,
I am very sorry to hear that 🙁 I hope you are eventually able to recover your laptop 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
It worked! It was so simple and easy. You have no idea how many hours I spent with Microsoft trying to figure this out and they couldn’t fix it. Thank you so so much!
No prob! I’m glad that I could help. Thanks for the positive comment.
Enjoy using your laptop. Have a great weekend!! 👍😀
Well I don’t think this tip worked on my Dell Inspiron
Upon presing Funvtion+f12 is can see the contrast bar but it will increase or decrease
Well I don’t think this tip worked on my Dell Inspiron
Upon pressing Function + F12, I can see the contrast bar but it will not increase or decrease
Man yo the best, instantly and kapum… it just worked within seconds, me am giving it a six stars rating, i do not care if they are not there.
Hi Israel,
Thank you for your kind rating 🙂
I am very glad my page helped. Have a great week!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Get out this is awesome that you put up some help for pc users. OMG I am so thrilled to be able to see what I am working on now that my display screen is brighter. Thank you, thank you, thank youuuuu
Hi Jacqueline. I’m so happy that the tip helped and that I was able to help you. Enjoy using your laptop!
Have a great day! 👍😀
Disabling and Re-enabling the Display adapter worked like a charm! Thanks a bunch for that!
No prob! 👍
I’m having problems with my Dell inspiron. I cant increase my brightness nor lower it. Its very frustrating. i did the device Manager thing, but its still stuck. What do I do???.I have used every thing that you mentioned. please help me.
Hamza, if you already tried the Device Manager trick and it still will not change, I would reinstall the exact Dell graphics driver and any hotkey utility for your Inspiron. At that point it sounds more like the driver stack itself is wrong.
Man, thank you! This worked perfectly.
Hi Jason,
Thank you for your nice comment. I am very glad this tip worked for you!
Enjoy your Dell laptop and have a GREAT day 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you thank you !
No problem. I’m glad I could help! 👍
Thank goodness for your help! The issue was resolved finally!!!! 5 stars to you 🙂
Hi Anu. I’m happy to help! I’m glad that the tip helped. Thanks for the nice and positive comment.
Enjoy using your laptop. Have a great weekend!! 👍😀
Tanks bro. it finally worked, the brightness is full better but the control keys f4 and f are still not making it up n down.
thanks for your help!
I’m glad I could help!👍
Perfect. Thank you!
Hi Rick,
You are very welcome 🙂
Enjoy your Dell laptop and have a GREAT day!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you. I’ve been struggling with this issue for the past year with my XPS 13 9360. But is it possible that after 3 years of people experiencing this problem it has not been addressed with a driver update? Is it specific to Dell laptops or is it something to do with Intel Graphics driver?
Hi James!
Thank you for your comment.
I have experienced the issue on Lenovo and HP systems, so I believe it may have something to do with the Intel Graphics driver or Windows.
Have a GREAT weekend!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Wow man, you’re amazing! I just came home to find my laptop’s brightness awry, and an official reply from Microsoft told me to update the driver and restart my laptop and all that, but this is the quick and efficient way! Thanks man, I really didn’t want to wait 30 minutes for this to update! lol
Thank you, Joshua! I am very glad that my tip helped 🙂
Have a GREAT day and a very merry Christmas!
Best regards,
-J.D.
Outstanding. That fixed the problem! Thanks!
Dear Vincent,
Thank you for your kind comment. I am very glad this helped with your Dell laptop brightness issue. 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thank you so much! This fixed the brightness issue on my brand new Dell 9270
Hi Shaz. I’m glad the tip helped! Enjoy using your laptop.
Have a great day!! 👍😀
Works !!! thanks
Excellent! I am glad this helped 🙂
much appreciated. really thought i had to reset my laptop but this trick worked flawlessly. thanks again.
No prob! 👍
Just thought you should know – this still works great 6 years later! Thanks!
Dear Brandi,
Thank you for your nice comment. 🙂 I am very glad this tip still worked for you!
Have a GREAT day and enjoy you Dell laptop!
Best regards,
-J.D.
My dell laptop started showing full brightness from last 2 days. I was not able to reduce it . I tried other but they did not work. this one worked . thanks so much
Thanks for the nice comment, I’m glad that the tip helped. Have a great day! 👍
This absolutely still works! It’s just sorted out my Dell Laptop display issues!
Thank you!
Hi Chris, thanks for the nice comment. I’m glad that I could help you.
Enjoy using your laptop. Have a great weekend!! 👍😀
It worked!!!
Glad that I could help! 👍😀
Thanks for the tip! My brightness was “stuck” after I lost power last night. The battery ran down and when it went into batter saver mode, it dimmed the display. After that, I couldn’t get it to adjust.
Other tips suggested updating the device adapter driver, but I was already at the most current driver. I disabled it as you suggested, the screen blinked and beeped -> no improvement to the brightness. I think enabled it as the second part of your suggestion and now it works!
Thanks again!
Hi Randy,
Sorry for taking so long to reply!
Thank you kindly for your comment and the info 🙂 I am very glad the tip helped, hope you are having a great week!!!
Best regards,
-J.D.
after having this problem for days i finally found the solution, thank you 😀
Dear Jane,
I’m so happy that I could help you! Thank you for the nice comment.
Have a great weekend! 👍😀
Thank you!
You are very welcome!
Thank you for commenting Lu and have a GREAT week. 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
How do I stop my laptop brightness from changing when I unplugging the battery power?
-Solution-
Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Personalization
Basic and High Contrast Themes -Setup Windows Classic
(DELL LATITUDE D530 WIN 7 32 BIT, Home Premium SP1)
Of course also POWER OPTIONS setup
Thank you
Glad I could help! 👍
THANK YOU!!!!!
Dear Erika,
You are very welcome!
Have a GREAT weekend! 🙂
Best regards,
-J.D.
Thanks for this!!!!
No problem! Glad I could help. Have a great day. 👍
WOW!!!!! Thank you so much you’re a lifesaver, this has been a problem for so long but since I’m no computer whiz, I had no idea how to solve it! Thanks!!!!!!
Hi Olivia. I’m so glad that I could help you. Thanks for the nice comment!
Have a great weekend! 👍😀
It’s really working even on the first try.
thanks a lot…..
Hi Shah. I’m so glad that the tip helped. Enjoy using your laptop!
Have a great weekend!! 👍😀
it did not work for my dell latitude e5530
I just upgraded my window to 10pro, now the brightness is not working
Hey man I gave a really old Dell Latitude D510, it’s from like 2006 but the brightness on the LCD and CRT display just stays the exact same super low one, i unscrewed everything and reset everything on the motherboard to change the inbuilt monitor brightness back to normal and it didn’t work. I looked in the BIOS setup and changed the brightness to max from there, didn’t change the actual brightness. I looked on windows XP brightness settings and changed that, it did the exact same thing as BIOS, it just made everything slightly more white but it didn’t change the actual brightness on the display. please man help me this is my last resort. I’ve even booted into Linux and it didn’t change anything about the brightness
Izaack, if the brightness stays wrong in BIOS, Windows XP, and Linux, that does not sound like the software issue from my post at all. That points more toward the LCD backlight, inverter, or panel hardware itself.