I'm not sure if I'm getting to the home screen, but I don't have the brightness control in the notification area anyway. I have a lock screen with an unlock pattern defined.
I doubt I'm getting there because I tried maxing the ringer and it doesn't beep as expected.
I'm hoping someone could point out what system file to replace as I can reach recovery and perhaps flash a new file there.
If you have a nandroid backup just restore that.