Fedora 12 Console: Laptop dims over time

I cannot start X, so I'm working from runlevel 3. When I my laptop sits and sleeps
when I hit a key, it comes back very dim and becomes more dim over time - until I
can't even see the screen (so I have to reboot). For some reason my laptop Fn keys for
brightness do not work. How do I get these to work? 

Mike