Brightness slider is lost in Ventura on my Mac mini M1 2020

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Level 1

22 points

Brightness slider is lost in Ventura on my Mac mini M1 2020

Suddenly I discovered, after fixing an iMac mid 2014 with a corrupted macOS, that the the brightness slider is lost in Ventura on my Mac mini M1 2020.

The iMac min 2014 has a great screen and I saw that the brightness was far better than the brightness on my Led Cinema Display 27-inch connected to my Mac mini M1 2020.

Searched in System Settings>>Displays for the brightness slider, but that was gone. I contacted Apple Support and we started to determine this problem.

I created an new account with admin-rights. No brightness slider

I have re-installed macOS Ventura. No brightness slider. Could it be a hardware problem...

I bought this USB-C to mini Displayport adapter. The Led cinema display 27-inch worked quite well on my Mac mini M1 2020.

I thought it is a Ventura bug or a hardware problem. The thing is that a third party Lunar app does the job now. So it is not a hardware issue. But a software problem/bug in Ventura. I hope Apple fixes this missing functionality, because with a new version of macOS this Lunar app must be updated too...

And brightness should be a regular control function in macOS.

Mac mini

Posted on Jul 18, 2023 07:43 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

214,272 points

Jul 18, 2023 02:52 PM in response to Paulus_2

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

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Answer 2

Paulus_2 Author

Level 1

22 points

Jul 21, 2023 08:48 AM in response to Paulus_2

This afternoon I contacted again Apple Support to investigate the incident of the missing brightness slider.

A senior Macintosh support engeneer checked all the try-outs to determine the problem to find a solution.

During the session with her I pointed at the help screen that belongs to the System Settings>>Displays.

There stood in clear English that the Brightness could be adjusted by moving a slider from right to left. The help file points out to brightness, but the control to do that is absent.

She said to me that I have to wait for the next release of Ventura for the return of the brightness slider.

She advised me to use MonitorControlLite in the mean time.

That's better then the Lunar app, because that app cost €34,- MonitorControlLite is free of charge.

This works fine.

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Answer 3

Jul 18, 2023 07:58 AM in response to Paulus_2

Paulus_2 wrote:

Suddenly I discovered, after fixing an iMac mid 2014 with a corrupted macOS, that the the brightness slider is lost in Ventura on my Mac mini M1 2020.

The iMac min 2014 has a great screen and I saw that the brightness was far better than the brightness on my Led Cinema Display 27-inch connected to my Mac mini M1 2020.

Searched in System Settings>>Displays for the brightness slider, but that was gone. I contacted Apple Support and we started to determine this problem.

I created an new account with admin-rights. No brightness slider

I have re-installed macOS Ventura. No brightness slider. Could it be a hardware problem...

I bought this USB-C to mini Displayport adapter. The Led cinema display 27-inch worked quite well on my Mac mini M1 2020.

I thought it is a Ventura bug or a hardware problem. The thing is that a third party Lunar app does the job now. So it is not a hardware issue. But a software problem/bug in Ventura. I hope Apple fixes this missing functionality, because with a new version of macOS this Lunar app must be updated too...

And brightness should be a regular control function in macOS.

You can you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

The current stable release of Ventura including bug fixes, security updates is macOS Ventura 13.4.1c (22F770820d)

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

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Answer 4

Paulus_2 Author

Level 1

22 points

Jul 21, 2023 05:46 AM in response to Paulus_2

Are there any Mac users with the same configuration as I have, but with no problem or with the same problem about the brightness slider in System Setting>>Displays?

This is a screenshot of my System Settings. The SyncMaster is an old Samsung LCD screen that I have used to detect hardware issues. But the SyncMaster has the same behaviour: No brightness slider. The SyncMaster is connected with the digital input to the HDMI port on my Mac mini. And I tested the issue with the SyncMaster as the only display. The Led Cinema Display was disconnected.

It is nice to have a second display. To have the e-mail application open or something else. So I kept it. The main display is for special jobs: like foto editing, textprocessing, scripting and music with Garageband.

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Answer 5

Paulus_2 Author

Level 1

22 points

Jul 19, 2023 08:06 AM in response to leroydouglas

The last check for testing the absence of the brightness slider was to connect a complete different monitor.

Een IIYAMA ProLite T2452MTS via the HDMI port on the Mac mini M1.

Searched in System Settings>>Displays for the brightness slider, but that was still gone

So there is something wrong in Ventura 13.4.1.

I hope that Apple can fix it.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

214,272 points

Jul 19, 2023 08:22 AM in response to Paulus_2

The next thing I would do is boot into the Recovery volume (boot with the Command + R keys held down - Intel Macs) or (How to Boot an M1 Mac into Recovery Mode) and reinstall the system.

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