Brightness patch for FW4x models
Thanks to Olivier Grégoire for supplying DSDT.aml for FW4 model. I have updated quick brightness guide post with new patch links, take a look.
Ubuntu On Sony Vaio FW Series
Tips & Tricks related to Sony Vaio FW series laptops
- HDMI/VGA display detection
- Sony finally unlock Intel Virtualization
- Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala beta
- Brightness patch for FW4x models
- HDMI sound output switcher for PulseAudio
- Headphones/Front switch script
- Quick brightness guide for Jaunty
- On Jaunty
- VT-x/VMX Virtualization patch for Sony Vaio FW
- sony-laptop patch included in 2.6.28-11.36 jaunty update
- New sony-laptop brightness control
- 64bit and brightness
- S1 and AV Mode keys
- Headphones detection, auto switch off laptop speakers
- HDMI Works
I have Sony Vaio FW490 customized with: XBrite-fullhd, ati 4650 1GB. When I try to apply this patch I recieve a message saying “Could not select the right patch for you, does it FW model?” Any help Thank you?
Princepal
July 20, 2009 at 23:54
Could you run this command
sudo dmidecode --type systemand show the output.egaistek
July 21, 2009 at 0:00
Thank You very much, your patched worked. can adjust the brightness. But I still cannot use “fn” shortcut.
Princepal
July 21, 2009 at 0:30
I forgot to add that I have Kubuntu 9.04 64bit.
Princepal
July 21, 2009 at 0:00
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.4 present.
Handle 0×0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: Sony Corporation
Product Name: VGNFW490J
Version: A222EN3J
Serial Number: 9690209-3109822
UUID: 48135480-59C3-11DE-8A09-001DBAF1745C
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
SKU Number: N/A
Family: N/A
Handle 0×000F, DMI type 32, 20 bytes
System Boot Information
Status: No errors detected
Princepal
July 21, 2009 at 0:02
Try this: http://veretenenko.ru/anton/vaio/sony-vaio-fw-series-brightness-patch-jaunty.tar.bz2
egaistek
July 21, 2009 at 0:11
Yep, Kubuntu have problems with Fn keys. Keys are working, but kde does not catch it, dunno why. You can try to configure keyboard shortcuts.
egaistek
July 21, 2009 at 0:34
Thanks for the help. I will look around.
Princepal
July 21, 2009 at 1:32
I installed ubuntu gnome version and applied this brightness patch. I still don’t have fn, S1, or AV mode shortcut working. I can use fn+f2 to mute but nothing else. One more weird thing al+f2 does not work either. Any help would be very appreciated.
Princepal
July 22, 2009 at 23:34
I meant alt+f2 shortcut doesn’t work either.
Princepal
July 22, 2009 at 23:35
That’s strange, Alt+F2 should work in gnome. About Fn:
try to load sony-laptop module in debug mode.
sudo modprobe -r sony_laptop.Even Fn+F2 should stop working after this command.
Then
sudo modprobe sony-laptop debug=1, this will load sony-laptop in debug mode.Then push Fn+F5 and run
dmesg | tail, you should see something like this:If you see this, then keys are recognized and working.
For S1 and AV buttons, you should map them in keyboard shortcuts preferences.
Did you run Ubuntu Jaunty release or some new alpha?
Oh and you better try this all from live cd.
egaistek
July 22, 2009 at 23:59
prince@Ubuntu:~$ dmesg | tail
[ 7015.511040] sony-laptop: method: name: SNFC, args 1
[ 7015.511044] sony-laptop: method: name: SNFD, args 1
[ 7015.511047] sony-laptop: method: name: SNFE, args 1
[ 7015.511051] sony-laptop: method: name: SNFF, args 1
[ 7015.511055] sony-laptop: method: name: SNAV, args 0
[ 7015.511058] sony-laptop: method: name: SNGN, args 1
[ 7015.511068] sony-laptop: Invoking _INI
[ 7015.525913] input: Sony Vaio Keys as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:01/SNY5001:00/input/input13
[ 7015.556736] input: Sony Vaio Jogdial as /devices/virtual/input/input14
[ 7015.592682] sony-laptop: brightness ignored, must be controlled by ACPI video driver
I have Ubuntu Jaunty. I try to setup S1 & AV Mode keys but whenever I try to set em as shortcut nothing happens, they are not recognize.
Princepal
July 23, 2009 at 1:32
What’s your kernel version?
uname -a.Try this command
dmesg | grep -i sony, do you see this in the output?If not, seems you have unpatched module, don’t know why.
….
Ah, got it, It’s all because you have Product Name: VGNFW490J string and module can not detect your model and does not enable fn keys.
Other laptops have Product Name: VGN-FW490J string. Have you patched bios or something?
egaistek
July 23, 2009 at 1:41
prince@Ubuntu:~$ uname -a
Linux Ubuntu 2.6.28-13-generic #45-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jun 30 22:12:12 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux
My bad I should have told you that I applied the “VT-x/VMX Virtualization patch for Sony Vaio FW” that on this website.
Princepal
July 23, 2009 at 4:00
I have vmx patch applied too, but product name is intact. I guess we should check if another people with FW4 have such product name without “-”.
egaistek
July 23, 2009 at 16:01
I don’t if this is any help but on bottom of my laptop the sticker says VGN-FW490.
Princepal
July 24, 2009 at 0:00
I applied the Original.ROM and I get the same output.
Here is the output:
dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.4 present.
Handle 0×0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: Sony Corporation
Product Name: VGNFW490J
Version: A222EN3J
Serial Number: 9690209-3109822
UUID: 48135480-59C3-11DE-8A09-001DBAF1745C
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
SKU Number: N/A
Family: N/A
Handle 0×000F, DMI type 32, 20 bytes
System Boot Information
Status: No errors detected
Princepal
July 24, 2009 at 3:25
If you have ati 34xx card you could try this: http://bugzilla.kernel.org/attachment.cgi?id=19281&action=edit
(no DSDT hacking needed, works for me on FW21E )
liDEL
July 25, 2009 at 15:16
Yea, this is nice too )
P.S. Do not double comment.
egaistek
July 25, 2009 at 23:35
I switched to Windows but thank you very much for all the help.
Princepal
July 26, 2009 at 4:14
Mine also does not have the “-” in the product name when running dmidecode…
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.4 present.
Handle 0×0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: Sony Corporation
Product Name: VGNFW490JEB
Version: R5729815
Serial Number: 27501258-3106208
UUID: 68D65A80-55EC-11DE-8557-001DBAF06575
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
SKU Number: N/A
Family: N/A
Handle 0×000F, DMI type 32, 20 bytes
System Boot Information
Status: No errors detected
Jeff
July 29, 2009 at 3:47
I think the reason might be that we have newer models. I just bought mine on 14th July.
Princepal
July 29, 2009 at 4:22
Yea, I guess so. I can make a new patch for sony-laptop module. I dunno if this useful for kernels >= 2.6.30, people say it can not override DSDT, and without DSDT this patch does not matter.
egaistek
July 29, 2009 at 5:06
I’m running 64-bit Ubuntu Jaunty on my VGNFW490JEB, currently with kernel 2.6.28-14. One thing I have noticed is that if I go to the Power Management Preferences I can set the brightness to any level I want whether plugged in or on battery. My settings there are maintained across reboots. So is the purpose of the patch just to enable the kernel to recognize the Fn key combos? Because the Fn+F2 already works for muting, even though my dmesg output doesn’t show that it detected my Vaio FW (due to the missing “-”).
Jeff
July 30, 2009 at 22:53
Jeff, yea sony-laptop patch just for keys and DSDT patch for brightness.
egaistek
July 31, 2009 at 3:29
Well, I went ahead and made a quick change to the sony-laptop module code and recompiled to test everything, and my brightness keys are now working. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens after the 2.6.30 kernel comes out. Thanks for the helpful website!
Jeff
August 14, 2009 at 3:36
Thanks! This patch worked great for my vaio fw41!
Albert
August 16, 2009 at 15:17
It Works just fine in my vaio Fw41 too.
You are super!
Thanks you!
dande
August 29, 2009 at 5:07
Hey Egaistek,
Thanks for the patches. I used them on a VGNFW490J but my brightness keys are still not working.
Here is what dmesg outputs:
abner@abner-vgn-fw:~/Desktop$ dmesg | grep -i sony-laptop
[ 11.151008] sony-laptop: Sony Notebook Control Driver v0.6.
[ 11.212729] sony-laptop: brightness ignored, must be controlled by ACPI video driver
abner@abner-vgn-fw:~/Desktop$ dmesg | grep -i dsdt
[ 0.000000] ACPI: DSDT BDF06010, 82EB (r1 Sony VAIO 20090422 INTL 20051117)
[ 0.015917] ACPI: Checking initramfs for custom DSDT
[ 0.835192] ACPI: Found DSDT in DSDT.aml.
[ 0.835201] ACPI: Override [DSDT- VAIO], this is unsafe: tainting kernel
[ 0.835209] ACPI: Table DSDT replaced by host OS
[ 0.835216] ACPI: DSDT 00000000, 7AB1 (r1 Sony VAIO 20090422 INTL 20081204)
[ 0.835225] ACPI: DSDT override uses original SSDTs unless “acpi_no_auto_ssdt”
[ 1.017506] ACPI: EC: Look up EC in DSDT
I’d appreciate any help you could provide. Thanks.
Abner
September 2, 2009 at 4:39