New MBA - Lighted keyboard is not automatic

seared.ahi · Aug 12, 2012

My lighted keyboard has never been able to go on/off automatically depending on the ambient lighting. I failed to mention this before because I thought perhaps the problem would resolve itself. But now I'd like to know, is this a serious hardware issue that should be checked by geniuses?

iAppl3Fan · Aug 12, 2012

seared.ahi said:
My lighted keyboard has never been able to go on/off automatically depending on the ambient lighting. I failed to mention this before because I thought perhaps the problem would resolve itself. But now I'd like to know, is this a serious hardware issue that should be checked by geniuses?

check your keyboard setting to see if it set for automatic. if you turn out the lights and you don't see the backlit then go see a genius.

aircanman · Aug 12, 2012

Mine was automatic right out of the box, check the keyboard settings.

asting · Aug 12, 2012

It's probably not bright enough. it's worth noting it disables it when it gets to bright. You have to have it set on, then when it gets too bright it will turn itself off. It requires like daylight through window bright to disable itself.

seared.ahi · Aug 12, 2012

Guys it doesnt go on automatically on or off at all in bright light or pitch black. And yes its set to automatic in preferences. the timer in preferences works but not the on/off. Is there a way to activate it or trigger the sensor? Is this a Mtn Lion problem?

kodeman53 · Aug 12, 2012

seared.ahi said:
Guys it doesnt go on automatically on or off at all in bright light or pitch black. And yes its set to automatic in preferences. the timer in preferences works but not the on/off. Is there a way to activate it or trigger the sensor? Is this a Mtn Lion problem?

Use what you learned in your 'Disappearing SSD space thread' and post screen shots of your settings. I have a feeling you will be starting a lot of threads.

asting · Aug 12, 2012

I suspect OP just doesn't understand how this feature works/hasn't tried a bright enough source. I thought I had this issue, and saw about 3-4 posts saying the same thing. Just need to test more thoroughly.

seared.ahi · Aug 12, 2012

asting said:
I suspect OP just doesn't understand how this feature works/hasn't tried a bright enough source. I thought I had this issue, and saw about 3-4 posts saying the same thing. Just need to test more thoroughly.

If I go into a pitch black closet the light doesnt go on. How is that not understanding how the feature works???

frankdogg · Aug 12, 2012

does the MBA have dedicated keys for adjusting it from the keyboard? have you tried that? Your settings could be on but set to off from the keyboard.

...i'm saying all this assuming the MBA has a similar set up to the macbook.

boto · Aug 12, 2012

Use the backlight key to turn up the lighting. It could be possibly be set to the lowest setting. Otherwise, if it is set to automatic than the MBA is defective.

asting · Aug 12, 2012

seared.ahi said:
If I go into a pitch black closet the light doesnt go on. How is that not understanding how the feature works???

It doesn't enable in darkness, so much as turn off when it's bright. You have to turn it on when it's dark. It will then shut off automatically. Turn it up manually...

That's how it's not understanding how it works.

seared.ahi · Aug 12, 2012

asting said:
It doesn't enable in darkness, so much as turn off when it's bright. You have to turn it on when it's dark. It will then shut off automatically. Turn it up manually...

That's how it's not understanding how it works.

Ok then. I go into a pitch black closet, I turn on the keyboard. I walk out in to bright light. I can see that the light is still on and it never turns off unless I manually do it.

seared.ahi · Aug 12, 2012

Ok check this out. When I'm sitting in light and I put my palm over my camera, the keyboard lights go out, along with the screen dimming! And when I remove my hand, the lights go on and the screen gets brighter! My question is, isn't this backwards? In lower light settings (with my hand over the camera), the light should go ON right?

seared.ahi · Aug 12, 2012

Ok it works. Problem solved. I had to shine a LED flashlight at the camera to get the light to turn off. That seemed to calibrate it somehow. And now when I face the sun, the light goes off as it should.

austinguy23 · Aug 12, 2012

seared.ahi said:
Ok it works. Problem solved. I had to shine a LED flashlight at the camera to get the light to turn off. That seemed to calibrate it somehow. And now when I face the sun, the light goes off as it should.

Hm, interesting fix.

kodeman53 · Aug 13, 2012

austinguy23 said:
Hm, interesting fix.

You should have put fix in quotes.

xStreame · Aug 13, 2012

seared.ahi said:
Ok check this out. When I'm sitting in light and I put my palm over my camera, the keyboard lights go out, along with the screen dimming! And when I remove my hand, the lights go on and the screen gets brighter! My question is, isn't this backwards? In lower light settings (with my hand over the camera), the light should go ON right?

NOt necessarily. Higher brightness is required in medium light environments than in total darkness. When I'm lying in bed in the dark, the brightness turns down as well as the keyboardlight, so it doesn't make me go blind but still stays readable.

Writing this from my Air in the dark

Hawkeye16 · Aug 13, 2012

kodeman53 said:
You should have put fix in quotes.

haha, my thoughts exactly.

New MBA - Lighted keyboard is not automatic

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 6502

macrumors 6502

macrumors regular

macrumors 65816

macrumors 6502

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502

macrumors 6502

macrumors 6502

macrumors regular

Attachments

macrumors regular

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 65816

macrumors newbie

macrumors regular

Our Staff