Ah yes, that. I recall noticing that MCE behaved differently depending on being restarted via user rights or root rights. And it was very damn subtle about it.

Still, that the dimming issue shows up for someone not using ASUI seems to indicate a turbo issue.

And on that note, i have not had the dimming issue the last couple of times my N800 have been booted using the charger and then entered the maemo desktop by way of a power button long press. Then again, i use ASUI.