For some reason the function of automatic dimming of the display doesn't work on my laptop. Actually, it had never worked under Mandriva 2010, but it did when I ran Zenwalk from a LiveCD, so it doesn't seem to be completely hopeless

Where should I look for the cure?
Asus laptop, Intel graphics, Mageia1 x86_64. Brightness keys work (with minor troubles). Automatic sleep/wake are OK.
Thank you.