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I just installed Windows 7 enterprise x64 RTM on a MacBook Pro unibody using Boot Camp 3.0 from Snow Leopard. Everything installs very smoothly like HP/Copmpaq SmartStart. I noticed, however, that the Adaptive Brightness service stops immediately.
If I start it manually it just stops again. It writes a started and stopped message to the event log but there are no errors.
There is obviously an ambient light sensor as it works in OS X. Does anyone know if it is possible to get Adaptive Brightness service working in Win7?
EDIT: Maybe I'm just missing something obvious because the keyboard autodim works perfectly. If it is bright the keyboard backlight turns off. If I cover the ambient light sensor (next to the camera in the lid), the keyboard light turns on.
EDIT AGAIN: I updated the NVidia drivers to 186.81 which I downoaded from NVidia. Had to use a hacked INF to get them to install but it radically improves the performance. However there is not help with the Adaptive Brigtness service.
I found in the NVidia documentation for 186.81 "Note: The Mobile page is not available under Windows Vista or Windows 7." It seems like the Vista/Win7 driver doesn't support NVidia's "PowerMizer" technology yet or at least it cannot be configured.
EDIT: I think the root problem is that there is no driver for the ambient light sensor. http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/pnppwr/powermgmt/BrightnessCtrl.mspx
EDIT (again): I am just helping a friend set up Boot Camp on a 2011 MacBook Pro 13" Sandy Bridge i7 and the Adaptive Brightness Service is working out of the box with Boot Camp 3.2. Still doesn't work on my older hardware but appears to work on the current generation.
Brian Reiter
Posted 2009-09-02T14:54:28.010
Reputation: 706
Are you able to change the dim settings in the Control Panel and test those without this service running? – None – 2009-09-09T13:57:43.317
You can adjust the brightness of the built-in monitor (though not the external one) via F1 (dimmer) and F2 (brighter) or FN+F1/FN+F2 once the Boot Camp driver package is installed. You can use the NVidia control panel to manipulate the brightenss of the external monitor and the color balance of both. – Brian Reiter – 2009-09-09T14:41:02.823
There is no dimmer in the control panel and no dimmer applet on the mobility center. – Brian Reiter – 2009-09-12T15:30:11.643
1Good luck - Apple's driver support under Windows is inferior (unsurprisingly) – Alex Angas – 2009-09-02T16:00:31.537
I would not use the label "inferior". Boot Camp 3.0 is very slick. Like SmartStart for Proliant servers. This is the best Windows laptop I have ever used. I don't know if there is a drive issue at all. I just want to know why the Adaptive Brightess service stops immediately. – Brian Reiter – 2009-09-02T16:34:29.690
I think the keyboard dimming is done via hardware, it's not controlled directly through the software. The screen is definitely controlled by the OS, but you need drivers to actually support this feature. – alex – 2009-09-09T14:01:51.827