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#1 2012-04-02 04:41:11

newtonelectron
Member
Registered: 2012-03-29
Posts: 30

Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

I'm getting very strange behaviour with my "Fn" keys for my laptop. On a fresh boot all the "Fn" keys work fine, with the exception of the back-light brightness control. The strange part is, when I put the computer to sleep and then resume, the back-light control is functional. Anyone else have this problem? Anyone know how I would go about finding the cause of this problem? I have skimmed through most if not all of the wikis and fourm posts regarding backlight problems, but I couldn't find anything similar to my situation. Please point me the correct direction. Thanks.

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#2 2012-04-02 08:28:36

newtonelectron
Member
Registered: 2012-03-29
Posts: 30

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

I've been digging around a bit more, and it seems that it's a problem with acpid. It doesn't recognize the screen brightness up/down events and also the ac un/plug. Again, it doesn't work until the first suspend/resume cycle. Any suggestions?

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#3 2012-04-02 13:01:24

65kid
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2011-01-26
Posts: 663

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

Actually, I do have the exact same problem on my Sony Vaio S, I just didn't look into it because I rarely reboot. What laptop do you have, Sony as well?

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#4 2012-04-04 06:19:44

newtonelectron
Member
Registered: 2012-03-29
Posts: 30

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

65kid wrote:

Actually, I do have the exact same problem on my Sony Vaio S, I just didn't look into it because I rarely reboot. What laptop do you have, Sony as well?

I have a Toshiba A305-S6857.
The command "acpi" shows the proper information when I un-plug my ac adapter.  But acpid doesn't register this event. So my guess is it is a problem with acpid.

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#5 2012-04-04 09:14:00

skanky
Member
From: WAIS
Registered: 2009-10-23
Posts: 1,847

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

Have you tried the suggestions here?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Backlight

Might be worth a go - the symptoms described there are a little ambiguous.


"...one cannot be angry when one looks at a penguin."  - John Ruskin
"Life in general is a bit shit, and so too is the internet. And that's all there is." - scepticisle

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#6 2012-04-04 12:34:48

65kid
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2011-01-26
Posts: 663

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

newtonelectron wrote:
65kid wrote:

Actually, I do have the exact same problem on my Sony Vaio S, I just didn't look into it because I rarely reboot. What laptop do you have, Sony as well?

I have a Toshiba A305-S6857.
The command "acpi" shows the proper information when I un-plug my ac adapter.  But acpid doesn't register this event. So my guess is it is a problem with acpid.

I don't use acpid at all, it is only neccessary if you want to run custom scripts on certain ACPI events. Generally all ACPI functions work fine without it.
The problem is that the system doesn't register the keypress/ACPI event at all, I tested this with acpi_listen and with the XFCE custom keyboard shortcut configuration. So no, it is not a acpid problem, I guess the ACPI event handling is actually happening in the kernel, but I'm not sure on this. Also no idea how you could debug this...

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#7 2012-04-05 04:44:53

newtonelectron
Member
Registered: 2012-03-29
Posts: 30

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

65kid wrote:
newtonelectron wrote:
65kid wrote:

Actually, I do have the exact same problem on my Sony Vaio S, I just didn't look into it because I rarely reboot. What laptop do you have, Sony as well?

I have a Toshiba A305-S6857.
The command "acpi" shows the proper information when I un-plug my ac adapter.  But acpid doesn't register this event. So my guess is it is a problem with acpid.

I don't use acpid at all, it is only neccessary if you want to run custom scripts on certain ACPI events. Generally all ACPI functions work fine without it.
The problem is that the system doesn't register the keypress/ACPI event at all, I tested this with acpi_listen and with the XFCE custom keyboard shortcut configuration. So no, it is not a acpid problem, I guess the ACPI event handling is actually happening in the kernel, but I'm not sure on this. Also no idea how you could debug this...

I might be having two distinct problems, that I'm (incorrectly) blaming on acpid. Acpid doesn't register ac power-unplug until a suspend-resume.

However for the brightness key, after further testing, I agree. I also tried showkey without any WM/DE and I get the same problem; Back-light fn keys don't register, until suspend-resume.

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#8 2012-04-05 04:49:11

newtonelectron
Member
Registered: 2012-03-29
Posts: 30

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

skanky wrote:

Have you tried the suggestions here?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Backlight

Might be worth a go - the symptoms described there are a little ambiguous.

The problem isn't that I can't change the backlight. I can change the backlight just fine by echo-ing a value to the proper /sys/class/.... file. The problem is that the "fn" keys for brightness (and only brightness, every other "fn" key works) don't register without first doing a suspend & then resuming.

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#9 2012-04-11 22:45:34

ludwis
Member
Registered: 2011-01-17
Posts: 29

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

This is probably not a bug with backlight but with udev. It will be corrected soon. If you are impatient, then you can fix it by yourself. Just edit this file

/usr/lib/udev/keyboard-force-release.sh

and change the first line from

#!/usr/bin/sh -e

to

#!/bin/sh -e

For an explanation look here.
Hope this is it smile

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#10 2012-04-12 10:21:46

skanky
Member
From: WAIS
Registered: 2009-10-23
Posts: 1,847

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

newtonelectron wrote:
skanky wrote:

Have you tried the suggestions here?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Backlight

Might be worth a go - the symptoms described there are a little ambiguous.

The problem isn't that I can't change the backlight. I can change the backlight just fine by echo-ing a value to the proper /sys/class/.... file. The problem is that the "fn" keys for brightness (and only brightness, every other "fn" key works) don't register without first doing a suspend & then resuming.

Sorry, my misunderstanding. smile


"...one cannot be angry when one looks at a penguin."  - John Ruskin
"Life in general is a bit shit, and so too is the internet. And that's all there is." - scepticisle

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#11 2012-04-13 02:30:13

newtonelectron
Member
Registered: 2012-03-29
Posts: 30

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

ludwis wrote:

This is probably not a bug with backlight but with udev. It will be corrected soon. If you are impatient, then you can fix it by yourself. Just edit this file

/usr/lib/udev/keyboard-force-release.sh

and change the first line from

#!/usr/bin/sh -e

to

#!/bin/sh -e

For an explanation look here.
Hope this is it smile

No unfortunately it isn't.

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#12 2012-04-13 10:36:14

ludwis
Member
Registered: 2011-01-17
Posts: 29

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

newtonelectron wrote:

No unfortunately it isn't.

That is interesting, because I found this topic when I was searching for a way to fix exactly the same problem. The solution I wrote solved the problem for me. Just out of curiosity, when did this issue occur?

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#13 2012-04-15 01:11:39

newtonelectron
Member
Registered: 2012-03-29
Posts: 30

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

ludwis wrote:
newtonelectron wrote:

No unfortunately it isn't.

That is interesting, because I found this topic when I was searching for a way to fix exactly the same problem. The solution I wrote solved the problem for me. Just out of curiosity, when did this issue occur?

Well, I'm a new convert to linux, and archlinux in particular. So this has been a problem for me ever since I've installed a fresh copy of archlinux & gnome3.

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#14 2012-04-15 15:11:40

ludwis
Member
Registered: 2011-01-17
Posts: 29

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

Could you please post the contents of your /var/log/boot file from the last boot? Do you have pm-utils installed? If so, then post also the /var/log/pn-suspend.log, maybe it'll give us a clue to what is happening. I'd also like to know what keyboard driver do you use.

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#15 2012-04-25 04:05:19

newtonelectron
Member
Registered: 2012-03-29
Posts: 30

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

ludwis wrote:

Could you please post the contents of your /var/log/boot file from the last boot? Do you have pm-utils installed? If so, then post also the /var/log/pn-suspend.log, maybe it'll give us a clue to what is happening. I'd also like to know what keyboard driver do you use.

I do have pm-utils installed, but it's not being used for power saving. I have black listed everything:

HOOK_BLACKLIST="hal-cd-polling intel-audio-powersave journal-commit laptop-mode pcie_aspm readahead sata_alpm sched-powersave xfs_buffer wireless"

As for pm-suspend:

 cat pm-suspend.log 

Initial commandline parameters: 
Blacklisting hal-cd-polling.
Blacklisting intel-audio-powersave.
Blacklisting journal-commit.
Blacklisting laptop-mode.
Blacklisting pcie_aspm.
Blacklisting readahead.
Blacklisting sata_alpm.
Blacklisting sched-powersave.
Blacklisting xfs_buffer.
Blacklisting wireless.
Tue Apr 24 21:02:43 PDT 2012: Running hooks for suspend.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00logging suspend suspend:
Linux archlinux 3.3.2-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Apr 14 09:48:37 CEST 2012 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5750 @ 2.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
Module                  Size  Used by
fuse                   68162  4 
joydev                  9991  0 
snd_hda_codec_realtek   114123  1 
arc4                    1410  2 
snd_hda_intel          23989  1 
snd_hda_codec          92713  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hwdep               6556  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                74812  2 snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc          7217  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
iwl4965                92656  0 
snd_timer              19222  1 snd_pcm
iwlegacy               49922  1 iwl4965
mac80211              391455  2 iwlegacy,iwl4965
snd                    59656  8 snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek
cfg80211              176857  3 mac80211,iwlegacy,iwl4965
firewire_ohci          31522  0 
firewire_core          51466  1 firewire_ohci
r852                   10732  0 
sm_common               7514  1 r852
nand                   45230  2 sm_common,r852
nand_ecc                3572  1 nand
nand_ids                5745  1 nand
uvcvideo               67853  0 
i2c_i801                8116  0 
r8169                  48708  0 
videobuf2_vmalloc       2276  1 uvcvideo
r592                   11979  0 
videobuf2_memops        2182  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core         20415  1 uvcvideo
mtd                    27493  2 nand,sm_common
soundcore               6082  1 snd
videodev               83373  1 uvcvideo
iTCO_wdt               12877  0 
iTCO_vendor_support     1929  1 iTCO_wdt
memstick                7016  1 r592
crc_itu_t               1363  1 firewire_core
v4l2_compat_ioctl32     8348  1 videodev
media                  10469  2 videodev,uvcvideo
mii                     4091  1 r8169
sdhci_pci              10535  0 
sdhci                  23662  1 sdhci_pci
mmc_core               82671  2 sdhci,sdhci_pci
toshiba_acpi           11406  0 
serio_raw               4653  0 
psmouse                69539  0 
pcspkr                  1835  0 
sparse_keymap           3056  1 toshiba_acpi
rfkill                 15604  3 toshiba_acpi,cfg80211
ac                      2376  0 
thermal                 7959  0 
battery                 6485  0 
fan                     2426  0 
evdev                   9402  16 
phc_intel               9602  0 
mperf                   1275  1 phc_intel
processor              26144  3 phc_intel
ext4                  424947  1 
crc16                   1359  1 ext4
jbd2                   71704  1 ext4
mbcache                 5977  1 ext4
sr_mod                 14823  0 
cdrom                  35744  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 28059  4 
pata_acpi               3408  0 
ata_generic             3295  0 
ahci                   20261  3 
libahci                19999  1 ahci
uhci_hcd               23372  0 
ata_piix               22136  0 
libata                167019  5 ata_piix,libahci,ahci,ata_generic,pata_acpi
scsi_mod              133422  3 libata,sd_mod,sr_mod
ehci_hcd               43944  0 
usbcore               146687  4 ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd,uvcvideo
usb_common               954  1 usbcore
i915                  432104  3 
video                  11243  1 i915
button                  4502  1 i915
i2c_algo_bit            5359  1 i915
intel_agp              10872  1 i915
intel_gtt              14007  3 intel_agp,i915
drm_kms_helper         26947  1 i915
drm                   204375  4 drm_kms_helper,i915
i2c_core               20593  6 drm,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,i915,videodev,i2c_i801
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       4043992     836692    3207300          0      46928     373760
-/+ buffers/cache:     416004    3627988
Swap:      4183036          0    4183036

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00logging suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00phc-intel suspend suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00phc-intel suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00powersave suspend suspend:
Blacklisting hal-cd-polling.
Blacklisting intel-audio-powersave.
Blacklisting journal-commit.
Blacklisting laptop-mode.
Blacklisting pcie_aspm.
Blacklisting readahead.
Blacklisting sata_alpm.
Blacklisting sched-powersave.
Blacklisting xfs_buffer.
Blacklisting wireless.

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00powersave suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01grub suspend suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01grub suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01laptop-mode suspend suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01laptop-mode suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/11netcfg suspend suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/11netcfg suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/49bluetooth suspend suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/49bluetooth suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/75modules suspend suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/75modules suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/90clock suspend suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/90clock suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/94cpufreq suspend suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/94cpufreq suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/95led suspend suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/95led suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/98video-quirk-db-handler suspend suspend:
Kernel modesetting video driver detected, not using quirks.

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/98video-quirk-db-handler suspend suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/99video suspend suspend:
kernel.acpi_video_flags = 0

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/99video suspend suspend: success.
Tue Apr 24 21:02:44 PDT 2012: performing suspend
Tue Apr 24 21:02:49 PDT 2012: Awake.
Tue Apr 24 21:02:49 PDT 2012: Running hooks for resume
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/99video resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/99video resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/98video-quirk-db-handler resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/98video-quirk-db-handler resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/95led resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/95led resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/94cpufreq resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/94cpufreq resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/90clock resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/90clock resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/75modules resume suspend:
Reloaded unloaded modules.

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/75modules resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/49bluetooth resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/49bluetooth resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/11netcfg resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/11netcfg resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01laptop-mode resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01laptop-mode resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01grub resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01grub resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00powersave resume suspend:
Blacklisting hal-cd-polling.
Blacklisting intel-audio-powersave.
Blacklisting journal-commit.
Blacklisting laptop-mode.
Blacklisting pcie_aspm.
Blacklisting readahead.
Blacklisting sata_alpm.
Blacklisting sched-powersave.
Blacklisting xfs_buffer.
Blacklisting wireless.

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00powersave resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00phc-intel resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00phc-intel resume suspend: success.
Running hook /usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00logging resume suspend:

/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/00logging resume suspend: success.
Tue Apr 24 21:02:49 PDT 2012: Finished.

And Here's my last boot log:

Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Adjusting system time and setting kernel timezone    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Starting UDev Daemon    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Triggering UDev uevents    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Loading User-specified Modules    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Waiting for UDev uevents to be processed    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Bringing up loopback interface    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Unlocking encrypted volumes:    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Checking Filesystems    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Remounting Root    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Mounting Local Filesystems    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Activating Swap    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Configuring Time Zone    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Initializing Random Seed    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Removing Leftover Files    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:20 2012: :: Setting Hostname: archlinux    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:21 2012: :: Setting Consoles to legacy mode    [BUSY] ^[%@   [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:21 2012: :: Loading Keyboard Map: us    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:21 2012: :: Saving dmesg Log    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:21 2012: INIT: Entering runlevel: 3
Tue Apr 24 20:53:21 2012: :: Starting Syslog-NG    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:22 2012: :: Mounting Network Filesystems    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:22 2012: :: Starting crond daemon    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:22 2012: :: Starting D-BUS system messagebus    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:23 2012: :: Starting acpid    [BUSY]    [DONE] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:23 2012: :: Starting networkmanager    [BKGD] 
Tue Apr 24 20:53:23 2012: :: Starting laptop-mode    [BKGD] 

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#16 2012-04-25 09:07:10

65kid
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2011-01-26
Posts: 663

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

your BIOS doesn't happen to be Insyde h2o BIOS or something like that?

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#17 2012-04-26 05:57:15

newtonelectron
Member
Registered: 2012-03-29
Posts: 30

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

65kid wrote:

your BIOS doesn't happen to be Insyde h2o BIOS or something like that?

Yes, it is...

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#18 2012-04-26 10:57:45

65kid
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2011-01-26
Posts: 663

Re: Strange backlight "Fn" key issue.

newtonelectron wrote:
65kid wrote:

your BIOS doesn't happen to be Insyde h2o BIOS or something like that?

Yes, it is...

my Sony Vaio S (which I mentioned has similiar problems) has this BIOS too, so I'm gonna take a guess and say this is another case of a crappy BIOS implementation causing problems on Linux. If you are lucky this may be fixed with a BIOS update. Otherwise I would suggest to report it upstream (kernel).

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