I cannot reduce the brightness at all.
I tried the top bar applet, brightnessctl and the hyper+super combo.
Also the screen flickers and the chip on the display adapter cable runs very hot.
Is it a hardware fault?
Hi, can you give a bit more context about the specs of your device? Which processor module, DIY or assembled?
Can you describe in more detail what you mean by “the screen flickers”? If it looks like “northern lights” waving through the display, does it go away after a software reboot? If not, did you try power cycling using the little standby switch on the side?
It sounds like you have display V2. It’s normal that the chip on the flex gets hot. Brightness control on display V2 works via reform2_lpc driver → RP2040 → PWM → flex adapter.
Can you give the output of this command: dmesg | grep panel-mnt-pocket-reform
It’s a DIY pocket with RCORE.
The flicker is full screen like an old crt with low refresh rate. Will edit the post from my phone with a video. I did try power cycling with the side switch.
The result of the dmesg | grep panel-mnt-pocket-reform command is as follows
[ 3.394713] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: DSI eot/hfp/hbp/hsa disabled via device tree
[ 3.394749] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: supply vddp not found, using dummy regulator
[ 3.394896] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: supply iovcc not found, using dummy regulator
[ 3.395066] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: error -ENOENT: cannot get reset-gpios 0
[ 3.395097] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: error -ENOENT: cannot get dcdc-en-gpio 0
[ 3.470615] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: [display] init in prepare...
[ 3.494455] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: [mnt pocket reform display] read register 12a: 0x0
[ 3.518557] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: [display v2] not sending tables this time
[ 3.618597] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: [display v2] OK
[ 3.766311] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: [display] init in prepare...
[ 3.824505] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: [display v2] sent tables OK
[ 3.924539] panel-mnt-pocket-reform fde30000.dsi.0: [display v2] OK
This is the output of brightnessctl
qwazix@purple:~$ brightnessctl s 10
Updated device 'mnt_pocket_reform_backlight':
Device 'mnt_pocket_reform_backlight' of class 'backlight':
Current brightness: 10 (10%)
Max brightness: 100
This is a video of the flicker, the camera makes it less noticeable but it’s there.
(Download the file because my nextcloud doesn’t have enough uplink to stream it)
I see what you mean. This is what happens on some panels when the brightness is not actually PWMed but is stuck at 100% on. I’m not sure how that’s possible because your driver is the correct one for this display (mnt_pocket_reform_backlight), so perhaps the RP2040 system controller doesn’t do what’s expected (getting the brightness value over SPI and adjusting its PWM output to the display).
Now I recall that you had another thread where you changed around the system controller firmware. Can you make sure the system controller firmware is a recent main branch version? Otherwise a wrong (old or somehow changed) version of the sysctl fw running is probably the reason for the brightness control not working.
For reference, the code:
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The version I flashed is this: MNT Pocket Reform Firmware 2024-08-26B · Reform / MNT Pocket Reform · GitLab
should I try to flash a built one from source?
EDIT: Flashing a built firmware from git fixed it, thanks!
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Ah, glad that it works now. Are the technical issues with your device now mostly resolved?
Also, thanks for the reminder that the Release page of the repo is outdated and should be updated to feature the actual newest release.
To be fair there were no technical issues, the device worked perfectly. It was all me being impatient and digging around system controller firmware without need.
That said, what I wish I knew (I admit I wasn’t as thorough as I could have been so it might be written somewhere I did not notice) was to cycle the batteries until they sync.
At first they were severely out of sync so the device wouldn’t charge higher than 24% and I started thinking about upgrading the firmware. I then flashed the wrong firmware to the wrong chip and it went downhill.
Anyway thanks for the support, it helped immensely!
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