diff --git a/src/rexbacklight.c b/src/rexbacklight.c
index 1b8fba9..033c260 100644
--- a/src/rexbacklight.c
+++ b/src/rexbacklight.c
@@ -63,6 +63,15 @@ const char* max_brightness_file(void){return "max_brightness";}
 
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
+//create a copy of a string and append a '/' character to the end
+char* add_slash_to(const char* name, size_t namelen){
+	char* newname = malloc(namelen + 2);
+	memcpy(newname, name, namelen);
+	newname[namelen++] = '/';
+	newname[namelen] = 0;
+	return newname;
+}
+
 //Get a list of led/backlight devices in sysfs
 struct string_array get_device_sources(void){
 	DIR* fd;
@@ -162,6 +171,12 @@ void sleep_for(double time){
 	nanosleep(&ts, NULL);
 }
 
+void return_to_root_dir(void){
+	if(chdir(device_dir())){
+		io_error(IO_ERROR_OPEN, IO_ERROR_DIR, device_dir());
+		return_value = RETVAL_INVALID_DIR;
+	}
+}
 //update brightness incrementally over requested millisecond time interval
 void fade_out(struct arg_values* arg){
 	FILE* fd;
@@ -177,8 +192,11 @@ void fade_out(struct arg_values* arg){
 		start = get_time();
 		fd = fopen(brightness_file(), "w+");
 		if(!fd){
-			io_error_3(IO_ERROR_OPEN, IO_ERROR_FILE, device_dir(), arg->device, brightness_file());
+			char* devname = add_slash_to(arg->device, strlen(arg->device));
+			io_error_3(IO_ERROR_OPEN, IO_ERROR_FILE, device_dir(), devname, brightness_file());
 			return_value = RETVAL_INVALID_FILE;
+			free(devname);
+			return_to_root_dir();
 			return;
 		}
 		fprintf(fd, "%d", (int)value);
@@ -201,18 +219,17 @@ void fade_out(struct arg_values* arg){
 	}
 	fd = fopen(brightness_file(), "w+");
 	if(!fd){
-		io_error_3(IO_ERROR_OPEN, IO_ERROR_FILE, device_dir(), arg->device, brightness_file());
+		char* devname = add_slash_to(arg->device, strlen(arg->device));
+		io_error_3(IO_ERROR_OPEN, IO_ERROR_FILE, device_dir(), devname, brightness_file());
 		return_value = RETVAL_INVALID_FILE;
+		free(devname);
+		return_to_root_dir();
 		return;
 	}
 	fprintf(fd, "%d", arg->act_delta);
 
 	fclose(fd);
-	if(chdir(device_dir())){
-		io_error(IO_ERROR_OPEN, IO_ERROR_DIR, device_dir());
-		return_value = RETVAL_INVALID_DIR;
-		return;
-	}
+	return_to_root_dir();
 }
 
 int prep_offset(struct arg_values* args){