New laptop screen keeps dimming by itself, have tried everything Aspire A515-55

I got a new laptop very recently (Acer Aspire A515-55 Intel Core i5-1035G1) and am being bothered by the screen brightness going down whenever something dark is on my screen (Discord and Spotify for instance). This is extremely annoying and also makes it practically impossible to use my art program which is quite dark, as I can barely see the colours.

What I've tried so far:

Turning off adaptive brightness in display settings -- I don't have this option in my display settings.
Control panel > power options > change plan settings > change advanced power settings > display > enable adaptive brightness setting off -- again, I don't have the adaptive brightness option.
Disable Sensor Monitoring Service -- I have done this, but it changes nothing.
Open Intel Graphics Command Centre > System > Power > turn off Display Power Saving and Enhanced Power Saving -- strangely, I don't have a "Power" section in my version of Intel Graphics Command Centre, so I can't do this.

This problem only occurs when my laptop is unplugged, but I don't want to leave it plugged in all the time as I know that can damage the battery and doing that caused my previous laptop's battery to swell and crack the casing (which is why I got a new laptop in the first place). At this point, I don't know what is causing the dimming issue but I would really appreciate some help.

Thread was edited to add model name to the title

Accepted answers

All comments

JackE

>>>This problem only occurs when my laptop is unplugged >>>

(1) Does pressing FN+F4 increase brightness unplugged?

(2) Press WIN+R. Enter 'msinfo32'. What is BIOS version & date in right pane?

RDBell

JackE said:

>>>This problem only occurs when my laptop is unplugged >>>

(1) Does pressing FN+F4 increase brightness unplugged?
(2) Press WIN+R. Enter 'msinfo32'. What is BIOS version & date in right pane?

Pressing F4 does increase the brightness when unplugged, but only when I go back onto a brighter page and not at first, I have to press both F3 and F4 a few times before it seems to register and go bright again.

BIOS version/date: Insyde Corp. V1.13, 15/10/2020 (which is I believe the latest version)

JackE

(1) Shut the laptop down. Turn it back on and immediately start tapping the F2 key to enter the BIOS menu. In the BIOS Main tab, change the function key behavior option from media to function key.

(2) Then press CTRL+S to reveal any hidden options that may seem to be related to screen brightness.

(3) If nothing, press F10 to save settings and exit.

(4) Then see if FN+F4 immediately brightens screen. FN+F3 should immediately dim screen. Try both plugged in and unplugged.

(5) Do you have AcerCareCtr and AcerQuickAccess install. Search Window start menu to see.

RDBell

JackE said:

(1) Shut the laptop down. Turn it back on and immediately start tapping the F2 key to enter the BIOS menu. In the BIOS Main tab, change the function key behavior option from media to function key.

(2) Then press CTRL+S to reveal any hidden options that may seem to be related to screen brightness.

(3) If nothing, press F10 to save settings and exit.

(4) Then see if FN+F4 immediately brightens screen. FN+F3 should immediately dim screen. Try both plugged in and unplugged.

(5) Do you have AcerCareCtr and AcerQuickAccess install. Search Window start menu to see.

There aren't any hidden options in the BIOS menu, or if there are CTRL+S doesn't reach them (I also tried CTRL+A and tab).

I've since realised that what happens is on a dark screen the maximum brightness is decreased, so F3 and F4 (or FN+F3 and FN+F4, it doesn't actually make a difference on this laptop which way the function key is set for those keys) do still change the brightness, but can't go above the new max brightness. Going back to a bright screen, the maximum brightness is reset to it's original maximum and pressing F4 will put the brightness back up. This is all while unplugged, this problem doesn't happen while plugged in.

I do have Acer Care Centre, I've gone onto it and there don't seem to be any options that help. I don't have Acer Quick Access installed though.

JackE

In the Windows start menu search & select 'battery saver settings'. Is battery saver off? Is lower screen brightness box unchecked?

RDBell

JackE said:

In the Windows start menu search & select 'battery saver settings'. Is battery saver off? Is lower screen brightness box unchecked?

I set battery saver to only turn on at 30%, and yeah the lower screen brightness box is unchecked.

JackE

>>>I set battery saver to only turn on at 30%, and yeah the lower screen brightness box is unchecked. >>>

Unplug the charger. Turn battery saver on. Set to never not 30%. Uncheck the lower screen brightness box.

Now what happens to screen brightness when you toggle battery saver on and off?

RDBell

Battery saver on or off, "lower screen brightness" checked or unchecked, at whatever setting (always or never or any percentage), the screen still dims when unplugged. I did try toggle battery saver on and off a few times but nothing changed unfortunately.

JackE

I'd like to start from these settings only

(1) Charger unplugged

(2) Battery saver on

(3) 'Never' turn battery saver on .

(4) Uncheck lower screen brightness box

(5) Adjust screen to maximum brightness by pressing and holding FN+F4 if possible

(6) Click battery icon in right tray move slider all the way to best performance

Now what happens when you toggle battery saver on and off.

RDBell

Ok did those steps exactly, nothing changes. Screen still dims on darker pages. I don't think it has anything to do with Windows settings.

JackE

>>>nothing changes>>> >>> darker pages>>>

What do you mean by this? "Darker pages" in what application pages? Or program pages? Or game pages? Or image pages? Or browser pages? Or Windows settings pages? We seem to have a semantic issue here maybe?

RDBell

Literally anything that's dark, a dark video, a page on the web that has a dark background, using a program that has a dark theme like Spotify or Discord. By dark I mean with a black or grey background, not a lot of white. So for instance this page is mostly white so the screen doesn't dim when I'm on it.

JackE

>>>This problem only occurs when my laptop is unplugged, >>>

Likely battery issue. Go to the elevated command prompt. Enter 'powercfg /batteryreport'. Then return to the desktop. Open file explorer. Then search for' battery-report.html' in the c:\windows\system32\ sub-folder. Double-click to open it in the browser. Post screenshot of the first part of the report if possible that compares design full charge capacity with its remaining full charge capacity.

RDBell

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/ux/g891a11rxlhu.png

Ok, I think this is what section you mean. If the picture isn't loading, the design capacity is 52,976 mWh and the full charge capacity is 52,976 mWh as well.

JackE

Yes, looks good. Maybe a little too good. Check if Acer Care Center can offer a 2nd opinion on battery health. Also have you full-cycled the battery yet? Meaning unplugged (not relying a battery saver) starting at 100% then draining down to the usual Windows low battery alert of ~10%?

RDBell

This laptop is only about a week old (from first turning on), that's probably why it seems too good! Acer Care Centre also says the battery health status is good. I don't think I've let it go down to 10% yet, only between 20-30% I think, so I will do that.

JackE

>>>This laptop is only about a week old (from first turning on), >>>

How long ago was it purchased? From whom? Do you know how long the vendor's return defective merchandise authorization (RMA) period is? It's often only a few weeks at best. Warranty service if required will take much longer.

RDBell

It was bought at the beginning of December (7th I think) from John Lewis, who have a two year warranty. I don't know if this counts as faulty though, as otherwise the laptop works perfectly.