[How To Turn On Keyboard Backlight Asus
Sharif Garmon
I have a problem with the new version of Ubuntu. I used to have Ubuntu 18.04 LTS version, but I decided to change to the normal version and update it to Ubuntu 18.10. Since then I can't turn the keyboard backlight on.
I have already tried to open a terminal and type: xset led 1 ... xset led 32, but it doesn't work. I have also tried to turn it on by pressing Fn+F4 and that shows the picture of the keyboard backlight but without the blue progressbar.
I have a ROG Zephyrus M15 gaming laptop and ever since the new Armoury Crate 5.4.10.0 software I've noticed a super annoying bug. Every time my laptop awakens from sleep my keyboard backlight turns off completely. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Armoury Crate software and adjusting the system settings but nothing seems to resolve it. FYI: I tried running the Armoury Crate uninstaller but it didn't make a difference either.
I've had the same issue. FN plus the arrow keys to cycle settings worked. I contacted ASUS chat support and they had me uninstall and reinstall Armoury Crate, etc. Still had the same issue. (In truth the chat people aren't very knowledgeable. The last one suggested I reset my laptop. Right...reset the laptop for a keyboard color issue.) I noted that if I changed the setting in Aura Effect to something other than Static, the keyboard light didn't go out. So...until ASUS comes up with a fix, I found that I could create a Solid Static keyboard using Aura Creator (found a simple tutorial video online to show how to use it) and set that in my Aura Effects. Keyboard light stays on after boot up, sleep, etc. So...that is a work around for now.
Thanks for your workaround. However, I'm not much a gamer, and I purposely did not install Aura Creator. I was going to report this after noticing this bug/problem soon after Armoury Crate was updated. At first I wasn't sure if it's a Windows Update or Armoury Crate update problem. Then, I found this has been posted on the ROG forum. I did find the Fn key solution myself but still felt it's very annoying. This is obviously a very incompetent coding bug--perhaps it's a switch somewhere in the code related to keyboard lighting management. I noticed the keyboard lights would come back on after waking up from SLEEP, but it went off right away after any key was pressed. It's not a live-or-die problem but a very annoying BUG. I doubt any time soon this bug of Armoury Crate's will be fixed. I guess I'll just have to live with the Fn key solution for now or perhaps for quite quite a while.
Hello,
I'm not sure, if "General Help" is the right place to ask but I have an issue with my laptop. I installed Zorin 16.3 Pro on my Asus laptop (UX461UN) from 2017 because it was getting slow and sluggish even on a fresh Windows 10 install and I want to transition to Linux.
Unfortunately, for some reason, I can't turn on the keyboard backlight for years already and had hoped to somehow get it fixed on Linux. I believe this problem started years ago when this laptop was having overheating problems and I sent it in during its warranty to get it repaired. I hadn't used my laptop much back then but suddenly realized the keyboard backlight didn't work anymore (was after the warranty had ended) with the keys showing abnormal behavior (the function key shortcuts would just open the pre-installed mail client (fn+f3) or open the main browser (fn+f4). Interestingly, this doesn't affect the leds of the capslock or flightmode being turned on.
After a little research, I found out how to view any installed backlit devices but unfortunately, the one that I was looking for ("asus::kbd_backlight" or anything similar) isn't in that list. Trying different approaches mentioned here or here also don't work. Probably because the keyboard backlight device just isn't there anymore for some reason.
Thanks for the quick response. I tried adding it according to the how to but it didn't do anything...
On another note: is it possible to change the function key shortcuts somehow? I think maybe that could work but I can't find the fn keys in the keyboard shortcuts settings.
Also have a ZenBook (aptly named ZorinBook ) - is your Fn sticky-keys enabled? Usually Fn+Esc - mine has an LED on the Fn button. If the LED is on, then I have to use the Fn key plus the F1-12 keys. If it's off, then Fn sticky-keys are enabled, and I can change brightness or volume without pressing Fn+F1-12. If that helps.. I do have another laptop with a backlit keybaord, Toshiba - doesn't work anymore, not since Win10 updated. Not even Mint works anymore.. But, if Fn sticky-keys (probably not even the right terminology lol) are enabled, and I use the Fn key plus something, it just acts as normal function keys. That's what makes me think maybe it's enabled - could be wrong!
I sent it to Asus themselves but I don't know what they replaced. I believe it was the mainboard which wouldn't explain the keyboard issue though.. I had Windows on it until today and yes those 2 buttons always showed the same behavior
But no, there is no way to "stick" the fn key. Also, the keys all work and do what they should. It's just the fn + f3/f4 combo that for some reason opens the mail client or firefox, respectively, instead of changing or even just turning on the keyboard lighting...
Alright - so I did have to modify one action for taking a screenshot. My keyboard has a click-n-grab screenshot button that does work in Win, however in Zorin it did not work the same .. BUT - I did figure it out - I just can't remember how I came up with this, but the Fn+F11 combo for screenshot turned out to be Shift+Super(Windows key)+S - and I got the selective screenshot cursor. Had to look at my shortcuts to even remember that combo lol but, when I hit Fn+F11 - click-n-grab! I'm going to see if I can try hunting down the key combos again... there may be one for each F button the correlates to an Fn+something action
(edit edit) What do you have in /sys/class/leds/? There should be a asus::kbd_backlight directory - in there should be some files. Take note of the brightness file content; if you modify the brightness file from a 0 to 255 - does that turn it on? You can try this with echo 255 sudo tee /sys/class/leds/asus::kbd_backlight/brightness to see if this works. If so, that could be used for a shortcut.. If not, you can change the 255 back to a 0 or the original entry as noted in the file before modifying. I see my setting is 3 in the brightness file when on the brightest setting - I don't know if this would be the same for yours though
Haven't really progressed so far but with libinput I could at least see that my FN + F3 and F4 combos are actually showing something like mail-key and www-key (or something like that), respectively. How to re-bind those I couldn't find out yet.
Apparently, it's possible with this driver but I have no clue and google is also of no help in finding out what the event numbers for the backlighting functionality may be.
As for your edit: no, I don't have the kbd folder in there... I understand that it should naturally be there but is there a way to install that somehow? Maybe this would at least let me turn the lighting on or off with the terminal..
Are you on the standard issued Zorin kernel -- 5.15.0-88-generic? I've been reluctant to try updating to a 6.x.x kernel myself, having a 'newer' setup - when was your machine manufactured? I think my ZenBook was a '21 production - another laptop I picked up in 2022 likes only 6.2.x and above, nothing from 5.15, or 5.19 though, no keyboard backlight at that.
Right under Screen Brightness there may be a Keyboard Brightness slider - if it's not there I'm assuming it's not being recognized.. or.. possibly, and I'm really hoping not - when it was repaired, they may have missed a ribbon cable somewhere, or hopefully not replaced with a non-backlit keyboard .. Check settings though; I'm interested if it is there, could it be turned on from there
This used to be my sister's laptop, I replaced the broken drive today and was trying to get it setup. She doesn't know, but the Best Buy listing says it has a backlit keyboard, and the keys are marked with a backlight up/down icon, the same as my Q504UAK (the same as the Q304UAK, but with a numpad and bigger screen). I believe I remember the backlight working, but I'm not sure. I read the manual and there is no mention which I thought was strange but it wouldn't make sense to have the keys with no function...
They would use a keyboard that they already have in other laptops and not provide the functions to certain keys rather than producing a new keyboard especially for it. The manual seems to indicate that this is the case.
Given what you have tried about the only thing left if it does have backlights is that it is a hardware fault associated with the lights themselves rather than the keys as I think from memory that there are no other indications or screen notifications etc when operating the backlight keys, only that the lights change
I was working on the hardware when I installed a new SSD to replace the faulty hard drive, and this is my first physical home repair. It is possible I messed something up there. As for running hcontrol.exe I've tried that and had no luck. It also doesn't show up in the Windows Mobility Management window either.
795a8134c1