You are not logged in.

#1 2012-07-31 14:20:58

vIiRuS
Member
Registered: 2010-06-23
Posts: 18

X230 Thinklight

Hey

I have a problem with my Thinkpad X230. The thinklight works as intended by lenovo (FN+Space toggles keyboard background and thinklight), but I can't control the thinklight with any scripts or similar.

echo 255 > /sys/class/leds/tpacpi\:\:thinklight/brightness for example doesn't do anything. the value just stays at 0.

If I turn the thinklight on through FN+Space I am able to turn it off again with an "echo 0 ...".

The thinkpad_acpi module is loaded.

Does anyone know how I could fix this?

greetings
viirus

Offline

#2 2012-07-31 22:34:41

teateawhy
Member
From: GER
Registered: 2012-03-05
Posts: 1,138
Website

Re: X230 Thinklight

I tested the echo on my X220 and it works. I didn't even now before this was possible, thanks. I have nothing special apart from thinkpad_acpi module loaded.
Seems like this a new hardware issue. Someone has to hack the sources to adjust the driver for the new hardware.
Edit: Try if echo 1 works.

Last edited by teateawhy (2012-07-31 22:35:58)

Offline

#3 2012-08-01 01:20:10

vIiRuS
Member
Registered: 2010-06-23
Posts: 18

Re: X230 Thinklight

I somehow suppose that it has to do with the keyboard backlight. Maybe they somehow make things different? Maybe other Thinkpads with keyboard backlight have the issue too?

Using echo 1 doesn't make any difference. (And if I turn the thinklight on with fn+space the value actually is 255). It seems as if the value is directly changed back, after I edit it.

Offline

#4 2012-08-06 16:32:10

blasteye
Member
Registered: 2012-08-06
Posts: 4

Re: X230 Thinklight

Have you checked the permissions?  I know for my laptop I had to chmod/chown  the device.   To see if its a permissions issue try logging in as your root user

sudo sh -c "echo '255' > /sys/class/leds/tpacpi\:\:thinklight/brightness"

or

su
echo "255" > /sys/class/leds/tpacpi\:\:thinklight/brightness
exit

(FYI doing sudo  echo 255 > /sys/class/leds/tpacpi\:\:thinklight/brightness may not work, here is an article going over it: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8488 … an-alterna)

Last edited by blasteye (2012-08-06 16:32:55)

Offline

#5 2012-08-16 04:15:46

vIiRuS
Member
Registered: 2010-06-23
Posts: 18

Re: X230 Thinklight

The Permissions aren't the problem. I always tried the commands as root too. Didn't change anything.

Nano also tells me that the file has been changed since it was opened, when I try to edit the value in it. Apparently the value is constantly being set by the kernel or something. hmm

Offline

#6 2012-08-16 16:45:13

blasteye
Member
Registered: 2012-08-06
Posts: 4

Re: X230 Thinklight

Did a bit of researching (as i'm thinking of getting an x230 myself), i found this webpage: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkLight

First off have you tried installing thinkpad-acpi.  Also fn+pgUp should work as its built in with the bios (aka not a 'linux' issue).  If fn+pgUp doesn't work then you might want to try to go through your BIOS settings.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB