Macbook screen is dim and cannot change brightness

For the last couple of days, my macbook's screen has been more dim than normal, and i haven't been able to change it. Nothing happens when i press F2 or FN+F2. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with having the macbook connected to my samsung lcd tv via a mini display to HDMI adapter. It's not connected anymore, but it's been happening since i've done that.
When i go to display settings, there is no setting for brightness.
Please help! this is so hard on my eyes!

If that does not work then i would suggest resetting the PRAM (which stores system settings)
However before you do so make sure you understand what you are going to loose, so read up about it here first:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US
-Resetting PRAM and NVRAM-
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.

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(T430) Screen slowly dims to ~30% less brightness and back

I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this? For a few months now, I've noticed that the screen sometimes appears less bright than other times, though always set at full brightness. Well, today I was typing a message against a white background screen and noticed that, yes, the screen was slowly dimming by maybe 30% (or maybe more). And then it would brighten back up. All without toucing the power settings and brightness was always at full.
Does this sound like a possible software glitch to anyone or is it time to send the computer back to Lenovo, this being the second issue with the screen so far (the first one being an odd graphical glitch that I needed to send out the laptop to lenovo)?

Hi deanp,
This is a link to another forum member that was having a similar issue:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T510-screen-automatically-dims-and-brighten...
It's not the same system but it may help provide a starting point.
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Hi abbiesetty,
If your iPhone is showing the Connect to iTunes screen and you are unable to restore because your iPhone isn't being recognized by iTunes on your Windows machine, you may find the troubleshooting steps outlined in the following article helpful:
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http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538
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settings - app/iTunes store - sign out and sign back in with your new id.
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You can't merge apple id.

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Try:
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How to put iPod touch / iPhone into DFU mode « Karthik's scribblings
- If not successful and you can't fully turn the iOS device fully off, let the battery fully drain. After charging for an least an hour try the above again.
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Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

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You messed up the settings on your phone and you say IT is a piece of crap? The phone is doing exactly what you told it to do. If that isn't what you meant see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3577

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Hello,
please have a look there: Adobe ID, sign in, and account help. If necessary and for further questions click through http://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html and if "open" please use chat, I had the best experiences. I quote from Preran: The chat button is activated as soon as there is an agent available to help.
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Hans-Günter

Help--why has MacBook screen gone dark and how do I get it back?

I have a MacBook (model 4,1 running OS 6.8). I use the MacBook as my desktop computer in conjunction with a separate desktop monitor. Today, when I unplugged a USB hub from one of the ports (after carefully ejecting anything on the desktop that needed to be ejected before unplugging), the screen on the MacBook--not the separate monitor--suddenly went dark. I thought it had gone to sleep or into screensaver mode, but noticed that the white light on the MacBook also wasn't showing.
The separate monitor display (on which I'm typing this message) seems fine. I checked DIsplays/Arrangement in System Preferences, but both displays were detected in their usual arrangement, though I did notice that the working display has a white bar across the top but the MacBook display doesn't have one. I clicked "Detect Displays," but that didn't change anything.
I then did a restart, and things seemed to go as usual: the shutdown went okay and on restart, the white light went on on the MacBook and the monitor screen lit up normally. However, the MacBook's screen is still dark and the white light is off.
Can anyone tell me why this happened and how to get my MacBook screen back? I don't know whether unplugging the hub caused the problem or whether it was just a coincidence that something that runs the MacBook display happened to fail right then. Would appreciate any help out there very much--thanks!
PS: Just tried shutting down and powering on again with the separate monitor unplugged, but the MacBook screen still stays black and the white light shuts off as soon as the desktop loads. When I plugged the separate monitor back in, it worked fine. So the problem doesn't seem to be a conflict with the separate monitor (which I've used for years).
Message was edited by: Turtlewiz

Update: I went away for an hour, and when I came back I saw that the white light had gone on as usual when the MacBook went to sleep. When I touched the keyboard, both displays went on; however, the MacBook display went dark immediately and the white light is still out.

Macbook screen cracked, HD and performance issues

I am definitely disappointed with my computer.
I have a Macbook 13.3" 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 4Gb 160Gb HD, Serial#: W8**VM0P5, and within 1,5 year I have faced many issues, which are related here:
September 24th, 2008
O.S. CRASHES
I bought it in late September 2008, in Cologne, Germany, at the reseller "Compustore PC Gmbh", and also asked 4Gb Ram, and a Wireless mighty mouse.
After changing the Ram memory, i went home; and a few days later, the problems came. Sometimes, the system crashed suddenly, showing the grey screen: "You must restart your computer". I thought it was normal, and continued to use, when it became more frequently (Picture: http://picasaweb.google.com/gstorck/MacbookProblems#5476986272817173138). It was little strange for a new laptop, and then I took it back to the store to fix it. The seller just took a look, changed some configurations, and gave me back again. I did this twice, and had to get back to the store for the third time, due to new crashes and some lack of performance. Then the seller replaced the Ram memory, with new 4Gb.
After that, the system worked more stable; the problem happened some two or three times after some months, but it was ok.
November 9th, 2009
HD Problems
One year later, in late 2009, I purchased a Mac OS update, the Snow Leopard. I was back to Brazil, where I live till today. During the OS installation, something went wrong and it couldn't be completed. Mac asked me to restart the computer, but then the system didn't start anymore; some files were corrupted. I guess there was not enough space to install the update, so it was not completed; but it should be no reason to the corruption of the OS.
November 10th, 2009
I took my computer to the local Apple technical support, the "Omni Informatica", in Curitiba, PR, Brazil, to format the HD and reinstall the Snow Leopard. As I needed more space, I also changed my original 160Gb HD for a new 250Gb Western Digital HD. The service was finished in Nov 17th.
I noticed also little cracks in the laptop case, but I had no time to insist with the bad local technical support to repair it (I know Apple already acknowledged this problem.) They said, at first, that they would have to ask the Apple USA to send the body, or something like that.
(Pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/gstorck/MacbookProblems#5476986477312032226)
January 12th, 2010.
SCREEN CRACKED
The reinstallation was ok, and the laptop was running well. Suddenly, when I take the Macbook from the case and open it on my desk, something pretty wrong appears: a large crack on the lower right corner of the screen.
It was not dropped, it was not crashed, and I did not "close it with a pen inside".
The screen simply cracked. And as so many similar problems with another users I could easily find on the web, I really expect Apple to admit it as a Manufacture's fault. The local technical support said it is no other thing except I hit the laptop, or dropped it, so it's all my fault. (See Picture 3)
The only thing they can offer me is to repair the screen for R$1200. I am definitely not going to pay for this; a "normal" and good pc laptop costs this price (And a new basic macbook costs today R$2400).
If the problems were just it, it would be not so bad.
(Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/gstorck/MacbookProblems#5476986361400585122)
February 11th, 2010
HD FAILURE
After 1 month, on Feb 11th, my new 250Gb HD simply stopped working. Different from the first time, that the HD was just corrupted, this time it has really broken, it died. I had it all backed up, but I have lost the HD.
Back again to the technical assistance, they said to me the problem was the same that cracked my screen: my fault, on letting the laptop fall, or hitting it with some kind of pressure. They couldn't do anything, and even the Western Digital 3-month Warranty would not cover this type of problem ("user's misuse").
May 28th, 2010
DECREASE IN PERFORMANCE
I'm working again with the original 160Gb HD (formatted and reinstalled), and some other external drives to store my files.
It's been quite difficult to deal with all this Data and Screen problems, and now the Macbook's performance is decreasing every day. It's been slower to process operations and to launch the applications. Sometimes, the system does not even sleep anymore when the laptop is closed, or it takes so long time to sleep that it just sleeps when I open it again. Besides, sometimes the mouse pointer disappear, and some bizarre graphics take its place.
Don't forget: It's a 1,5-year-old Macbook, with 2.4GHz, 4Gb RAM and the O.S. is installed for no longer than 4 months. It is supposed to work better, I guess.
I saved a lot of money to buy a good computer, and to get rid of the endless issues I had with PCs. That issues never were so serious with the ones I face now with Macbook.
Even if I pay R$1200 to replace the screen, with the money I don't have, I would still stand these performance issues, which seem to have come with this problematical laptop. I hope to have some solution from Apple, if it want to deliver what it promises and want to keep a customer.
Otherwise, I will have to change to another system platform and another computer manufacturer, to see if I stop throwing money away with these devices. I think that maybe at least, the cost-benefit ratio will be higher.
Did anybody receive contact from Apple support about these screen problems?
Guilherme R. Storck
Apple user since 2008
<Edited By Host>
gstorck (at) gmail (dot) com

Well, your first issue is pretty clearly just some bad RAM, and it sounds like even the replacement RAM was bad. Who knows if the people who put it in had any kind of clue what they were doing. I've seen repair shops where people are smoking in the same room they do repairs.
Second problem sounds typical of a failing HDD. It's a fairly common problem with laptops... Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer... Probably the single most common problem with laptops no matter who makes them. People get this notion in their heads that the "portable" aspect of laptops means you can pick them up and carry them all over while turned on. Which you can... If you don't mind dramatically shortening the life of the HDD. What "portable" REALLY means with laptops, is that they are easy to move if you put them into a powered down state. They should NEVER be moved around when in normal operation. And since you seem to do a bit of traveling, if you're on a plan, and there's turbulence, you should shut the laptop off until it smooths out.
The screen cracking could have something to do with the rather sudden change in climate. Germany isn't exactly the frozen tundra, but it is a pretty different climate from Brazil, and changes in things like humidity could cause problems. The laws of thermodynamics tell us that things expand as they heat up, so if there's already a crack somewhere, it could easily get worse as a result of increased heat.
And since your initial hard drive was already starting to fail, it hasn't magically stopped failing since being removed from the system, so obviously performance is going to get worse.
At this point, it's pretty much impossible to tell where the damage was done, so you're probably just out of luck. The people in Germany could have screwed something up, or the people in Brazil, it could have been environmental damage, and it's possible the defect was always there, it just didn't manifest until recently. There's just no way to tell for sure. So Apple is unlikely to do anything for you.

Macbook screen is dim and cannot change brightness

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