Problem with keyboard lighting not uniform

[Nisounas]

Hello,

I just bought a macbook pro m1 2020 second hand, I noticed the keyboard lighting is not uniform, have you ever had this problem before ? Is there a solution for this problem?

 

[NikkoTuason]

I wonder if it's just incredibly dirty 🤢

 

[Mewix]

Hi.
As always, I just might be unlucky, but so far I've owned 4 Macbooks (all brand new) and each of them has slight imperfections regarding keyboard lighting - although not as severe as in your case. For instance, my current macbook pro 14 inch m1 pro has overly "glown" key with "4" on it - straight out of the box, not dust particles or anything. Considering the fact, that it's second hand, I would get it internally cleaned - it should help, if not completely solve your problem. Just my two cents 🙂

 

[adrianlondon]

Had this when I bought my (early 2020) MBA. Waited until almost 2 years were up (warranty here is 2 years) then got the keyboard replaced.

I was hoping that replacing the keyboard would also get me a new battery, but it seems it's possible to replace the keyboard without the battery. Boo. I only thought this as years ago I paid to replace a battery in my 2013 MBP and got a new keyboard and trackpad (ie top case) for "free" as they couldn't remove the battery from it.

 

[DarkPremiumCho]

Hi there. It could be one of those connectors in your machine that came loose.

I had the same problem with my 2012 MacBook Pro. There was a ribbon cable dedicated for the keyboard backlighting. During one of the repairs I somehow made the connector not properly connected. Then I found the keyboard was not evenly lit, just like the situation in your photo.

The backlighting went back to normal for a short period of time, when I travelled. I guess the connector got reseated during the shaky transportation in my backpack.

I did not manage to fix it because the ribbon cable snapped when I tried to disconnect and reconnect the connector. I lost all keyboard backlighting after that. With an aging machine like this the cable had became very fragile. But it did, to some extend, validated my guess.

Perhaps this will provide a general direction for you to investigate. In terms of keyboard backlighting, I can't say the 2020 M1 model still uses the same design though.