MBA 2012 backlit keyboard sensor not working?

[eselle]

Hello good people of MacRumors! I've just opened my new MBA 13" 2012 (my very first Mac/Apple product), and it seems that the auto backlit keyboard feature is not working.

When I turn off the lights - and it's pretty darn dark - the backlit keyboard does not light up. This is in spite of 'Automatically illuminate keyboard in low light' being checked under System Prefs>Keyboard. I've tried covering up the FaceTime camera - no luck either.

I initially presumed that it was because I had the keyboard backlighting turned off manually, so I tried it again by turning it on (by pressing F6). However the attempt seemed to be of no avail, and if the 'Auto' feature is checked, should the backlit keyboard not be illuminated when there is sufficient light due to its integrated power-saving feature?

Please tell me that I'm simply an Apple noob and have made a mistake in configurations somewheres and won't have to return it/it's not a hardware problem, or if there is a solution to this (like resetting SMC?). Or is the ambient light sensor really not working?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated, cheers

 

[eselle]

It's looking like the automatic brightness adjustment is not working either.
EDIT: Scratch that! It is (yay)! Now as for the backlit keyboard however.... My MBA seems to be lacking in this feature: http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/22/keyboard-illumination-locked-its-the-light-sensor/

 

[asting]

It's looking like the automatic brightness adjustment is not working either.
EDIT: Scratch that! It is (yay)! Now for the backlit keyboard however.... My MBA seems to be lacking in this feature: http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/22/keyboard-illumination-locked-its-the-light-sensor/

I thought mine was broken but after reading. That article I'm sure it's fine. It's not so much an auto illuminate feature as it is a safe guard. It just turns it off if it's too bright. That's all.

 

[eselle]

I thought mine was broken but after reading. That article I'm sure it's fine. It's not so much an auto illuminate feature as it is a safe guard. It just turns it off if it's too bright. That's all.

Thanks for your reply! I apologise, I think my post was unclear before. My MBA does not 'lock' the backlit keyboard light levels -- this is the feature which my MBA is lacking at the moment. In other words, when it is dark/I block the sensor, my keyboards fail to light up automatically. I'm glad yours is working as it should though!

 

[asting]

Thanks for your reply! I apologise, I think my post was unclear before. My MBA does not 'lock' the backlit keyboard light levels -- this is the feature which my MBA is lacking at the moment. In other words, when it is dark/I block the sensor, my keyboards fail to light up automatically. I'm glad yours is working as it should though!

Unless I'm misreading the link you provided I don't think that is how the feature works. It has to be on first for it to work. The only thing it does is turn off the keyboard lights if it is very bright, it doesn't enable and disable itself in very low light.

 

[Davidkoh]

If there is much light the use of the backlit keyboard will be blocked with that feature. It will not turn the light on in low light levels, only unblock the backlit keyboard keys. So if you manually turned off the backlit keyboard while it was dark, when it goes dark again it will resume in the same state i.e. turned off. Try covering your light sensor and putting the backlit keyboard to half manually, now it should turn off/on with the light sensor.