Keyboard Backlight not working.

[caltoffel]

Hi, new Debian user here.

Lenovo ThinkPad X280 20KES8D300 running Debian 12 (Plasma, idk if important). I cannot get my keyboard backlight to work in any capacity (apart from mic mute, caps lock etc.)

Fn+Space does nothing.

xset does nothing maybe because of wayland.

There is no config file related to keyboard in /sys/class/leds

Any help is greatly appreciated.

-cal

[bbbhltz]

Hi,

I've had this problem but never solved it. Now my current laptop doesn't have that feature.

I do remember trying the following:

Turn on the lights:

Code: Select all

xset led on

If nothing happens check if brightnessctl is installed and check for the device name:

Code: Select all

brightnessctl -l

[caltoffel]

Thank you for the speedy reply,

xset does nothing.

brightnessctl output is this:

cal@Tomato:~$ brightnessctl -l
Available devices:
Device 'intel_backlight' of class 'backlight':
Current brightness: 152 (10%)
Max brightness: 1515

Device 'platform::mute' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 0 (0%)
Max brightness: 1

Device 'phy0-led' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 1 (100%)
Max brightness: 1

Device 'tpacpi::thinklight' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 0 (0%)
Max brightness: 1

Device 'tpacpi::power' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 0 (0%)
Max brightness: 255

Device 'input0::scrolllock' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 0 (0%)
Max brightness: 1

Device 'input0::capslock' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 0 (0%)
Max brightness: 1

Device 'tpacpi::lid_logo_dot' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 0 (0%)
Max brightness: 255

Device 'tpacpi::standby' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 0 (0%)
Max brightness: 255

Device 'input0::numlock' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 0 (0%)
Max brightness: 1

Device 'tpacpi::thinkvantage' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 0 (0%)
Max brightness: 255

Device 'platform::micmute' of class 'leds':
Current brightness: 1 (100%)
Max brightness: 1

Is there any way to reconfigure the thinkvantage (I do not have that button) config file to make it act as the config file for the keyboard light? The max brightness suggests it might be possible?
All LED's work besides keyboard backlight.

[bbbhltz]

Does

Fn + Space

do anything?

I don't have a model that has a backlit keyboard and I'm using Gnome for the moment, so I am out of ideas now. Good luck!

[caltoffel]

No. Fn + Space does nothing.

I also doubt that a ThinkPad with a Touchscreen and LTE, which also has backlight markings on the space bar, would be missing the hardware for some reason.

Keyboard part number is 01YP052.

[cgecastro]

Try creating a new user and check if that helps. I had a similar problem and it was due to a corupted setting somewere