You are not logged in.

#1 2020-05-04 11:15:32

sauromates
Member
From: Russia
Registered: 2020-05-04
Posts: 6
Website

[SOLVED] Samsung keyboard backlight not working

Hello everyone!

I have relatively old Samsung NP670Z5E-X01 laptop with Arch Linux. Everything works fine except backlight functionality. There was a problem with screen brightness adjusting which I managed to fix, but there is still a problem with keyboard backlight not working. This problem first appeared on Manjaro Linux and now I get it on Arch. Below is the list of solutions that I found and tried, but they didn't work in my case.

  • Using programs like brightnessctl, brillo, xset led

  • Using different kernel parameters by modifying /usr/default/grub (like acpi_osi)

  • Using python script for D-Bus provided by ArchWiki page Keyboard Backlight

  • Using kernel module asus_wmi which is said to be also a provider of samsung::kbd_backlight in this StackExchange thread

  • Modifying KBDBacklitLvl variable in /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/ by following these instructions from Bugzilla fix

There is another possible solution: a kernel module samsung-laptop but I'm afraid using it because it is said to brick some old Samsung laptops completely (so it's disabled by default).

I understand that this issue probably has no solution, but I will appreciate any help.

Last edited by sauromates (2020-05-09 09:45:55)

Offline

#2 2020-05-09 09:45:22

sauromates
Member
From: Russia
Registered: 2020-05-04
Posts: 6
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Samsung keyboard backlight not working

It seems that problem solved. Indeed, "samsung-laptop" kernel module is responsible for keyboard leds control. This module is disabled by default because it's known for bricking laptops running in UEFI mode. So the obvious solution is reinstalling Arch in BIOS mode. After installation in BIOS mode one should manually enable the module and then keyboard backlight and even Fn keys work just out-of-the-box.

There is, however, a patched module which said to be working with UEFI, but I didn't try it myself because nobody can tell for sure if certain model of Samsung laptop will or will not break with it.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB