VPCSA and VPCSE Win8.1 Brightness charm/Fn problems

[KieranFJ]

Hi

I work for a company and we are having trouble with a couple of VAIO laptops that have been upgraded from 8 to 8.1. I've spent a few hours on one particular laptop, uninstalling drivers, reinstalling, in differing orders etc. I Even spent 3/4 hours letting the sony updater download 3GB of drivers on a bad connection, install them and still come out with no change.

Below is a log file generated by the hotkey program located here http://community.sony.com/t5/Windows-8/Windows-8-Upgrade-Troubleshooting-FAQ/td-p/41893

This VPCSA4C5E was upgraded from 8 to 8.1, in 8 the brightness was working fine, but 8.1 the monitor is extremely dim. Ive installed/uninstalled drivers left, right and center and then let the Sony Updater program run on this, installing all that it deemed necessary, Hotkeys do nothing, the 8.1 brightness charm does nothing, Ive checked the power options for brightness settings, all are at 100%, and for adaptive brightness which is off. Vaio control panel has no options for brightness at all.

Model Name = VPCSA4C5E
VAIO Control Center Version = 6.0.5.10150
VESStaminaSwitch Version = 6.0.1.08220
VESPerformanceSwitch Version = 6.0.0.08170
Sony Firmware Extension Parser =
Video Card Driver Name = Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 AMD Radeon 6600M and 6700M Series
Video Card Driver Version = 9.17.10.3347 13.251.0.0

Second laptop - I personally have not touced this one, and i suspect the drivers have not been installed by its user (Fresh Win 8.1 install after a HDD failure). If i can get the above one working first, that would be awesome.

Model Name = VPCSE1C5E
VAIO Control Center Version =
VESStaminaSwitch Version =
VESPerformanceSwitch Version =
Sony Firmware Extension Parser =
Video Card Driver Name = Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 AMD Radeon 6600M and 6700M Series
Video Card Driver Version = 9.17.10.2932 13.251.0.0

Im at a complete loss to what to do or how to fix it and any help is appreciated

[takrzem]

Did you try this?

http://community.sony.co.uk/t5/pcs-accessories/brightness-adjustment-not-operational-after-win8-1/m-...

Worth trying, I think, but not sure if would help.

[cohprog]

Did you checked the parameters in the intel driver control pannel ? There is settings to dim the screen that are separate from the ones in the Windows's power setting.

[KieranFJ]

The intel setting alleviate it ever so slightly, but i will be still stuck with the screen back lighting being affected by the lack of brightness control. Thanks anyhow.

[KieranFJ]

Sadly i have none of those tasks visible in the taskmanager, neither does the file exist 😞 Thanks anyway, think im resigned to slapping Windows 7 back onto it and hoping the drivers on the support site actually work.