Laptop Display Dims With Wall Adapter

Here's a weird one: My uncle reports that when he plugs has laptop into
AC using his wall adapter, the LCD screen noticeably dims. Any ideas
what might be causing that?

"Grinder" <grinder@no.spam.maam.com> wrote in message
news:wHj9i.149091$_c5.772@attbi_s22...
> Here's a weird one: My uncle reports that when he plugs has laptop into AC
> using his wall adapter, the LCD screen noticeably dims. Any ideas what
> might be causing that?

He has changed the screen brightness!

My Dell does the same thing, but the other way round - dimmer when on
batteries, full brightness on AC power. This preserves battery life as the
screen light draws lots of power.

Simply find the key combination that dims the screen and turn it up to the
desired setting - the laptop will remember the setting for AC and battery
separately. There will be some kind of Function key which needs to be held
down while pressing the brighter/darker keys.

My function key (Dell 6400) is at the bottom left of the keyboard and says
Fn in blue. My brighter and dimmer functions are on the up and down arrows -
symbol (again in blue) is a cog with up and down arrows.

On Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:28:12 GMT, Grinder
<grinder@no.spam.maam.com> wrote:

>Here's a weird one: My uncle reports that when he plugs has laptop into
>AC using his wall adapter, the LCD screen noticeably dims. Any ideas
>what might be causing that?


Typically there is a utility software included (installed
on) the laptop by the OEM that allows the user to change the
power profiles - which various power savings options are
enabled in certain power states like battery vs ac or sleep
mode. You should find the required adjustment there.

"GT" <ContactGT_removeme_@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4665c839$0$32215$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
> "Grinder" <grinder@no.spam.maam.com> wrote in message
> news:wHj9i.149091$_c5.772@attbi_s22...
>> Here's a weird one: My uncle reports that when he plugs has laptop into
>> AC using his wall adapter, the LCD screen noticeably dims. Any ideas
>> what might be causing that?
>
> He has changed the screen brightness!
>
> My Dell does the same thing, but the other way round - dimmer when on
> batteries, full brightness on AC power. This preserves battery life as the
> screen light draws lots of power.
>
> Simply find the key combination that dims the screen and turn it up to the
> desired setting - the laptop will remember the setting for AC and battery
> separately. There will be some kind of Function key which needs to be held
> down while pressing the brighter/darker keys.
>
> My function key (Dell 6400) is at the bottom left of the keyboard and says
> Fn in blue. My brighter and dimmer functions are on the up and down
> arrows - symbol (again in blue) is a cog with up and down arrows.

Or more simply - boot into the bios and set the AC and battery brightness in
there.

GT wrote:
> "GT" <ContactGT_removeme_@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:4665c839$0$32215$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
>> "Grinder" <grinder@no.spam.maam.com> wrote in message
>> news:wHj9i.149091$_c5.772@attbi_s22...
>>> Here's a weird one: My uncle reports that when he plugs has laptop into
>>> AC using his wall adapter, the LCD screen noticeably dims. Any ideas
>>> what might be causing that?
>> He has changed the screen brightness!
>>
>> My Dell does the same thing, but the other way round - dimmer when on
>> batteries, full brightness on AC power. This preserves battery life as the
>> screen light draws lots of power.
>>
>> Simply find the key combination that dims the screen and turn it up to the
>> desired setting - the laptop will remember the setting for AC and battery
>> separately. There will be some kind of Function key which needs to be held
>> down while pressing the brighter/darker keys.
>>
>> My function key (Dell 6400) is at the bottom left of the keyboard and says
>> Fn in blue. My brighter and dimmer functions are on the up and down
>> arrows - symbol (again in blue) is a cog with up and down arrows.
>
> Or more simply - boot into the bios and set the AC and battery brightness in
> there.

Thanks make sense -- I didn't think about there being a BIOS setting.
(We couldn't find any application or control panel setting.)

On Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:52:20 GMT, Grinder
<grinder@no.spam.maam.com> wrote:


>Thanks make sense -- I didn't think about there being a BIOS setting.
>(We couldn't find any application or control panel setting.)


Check on the discs that came with the system or on
manufacturer's website, that application is useful to
have/set-up for power savings.

On Jun 5, 1:28 pm, Grinder <grin...@no.spam.maam.com> wrote:
> Here's a weird one: My uncle reports that when he plugs has laptop into
> AC using his wall adapter, the LCD screen noticeably dims. Any ideas
> what might be causing that?

Check the bios settings. Some laptops, dell in particular allow one to
change the default screen brightness differently for power on and
battery use only.