Upgraded hard drive, now keyboard illumination doesn't work.

[botsmack]

I upgraded the hard drive of my MacBook Pro to a Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB yesterday. The installation went smoothly. I'm always very careful when working inside computers. I do it for a living, but primarily on PC's. Anyway, after getting back up and running with the MBP, I noticed that the keyboard illumination no longer works. The screen dimming works fine, though.

I've tested it in multiple lighting situations. I can even put my hands over the speaker grills (the location of the light sensors) and the screen will dim on cue, but nothing is happening on the keyboard.

I've double-checked the setting inside the System Preferences. I've checked and unchecked it. No help. I also installed Lab Tick, that I saw mentioned when others complained about their illumination not working. It also did not help me.

Could there have been something I accidentally disconnected while installing the hard drive? Could it be a software issue? I'm running all updates, including 10.5.8 that was just released.

 

[caonimadebi]

Do the volume control keys work? Did you restored from a time machine backup of your old drive? Are you sitting in a brightly lit room?

 

[botsmack]

Do the volume control keys work? Did you restored from a time machine backup of your old drive? Are you sitting in a brightly lit room?

Yes, the volume control keys work. So do the keyboard dimmer keys (F5 & F6). I have used the laptop in a pitch-black room and faintly-lit room. No, there wasn't a restore. It was a fresh installation and still is. The only things that have been installed are the software updates.

Right now, I've turned out the lights in my office and try to use the F6 key to increase the keyboard illumination. The on-screen display shows that I am increasing it, but the keyboard isn't lighting up.

 

[moglee]

I would put in my previous harddisk, just to try if the new harddisk is responsible for the missing keyboard illumination.

The same happens with my macbook pro(late 2008) when i am in Windows XP Home(Bootcamp).

...oh, and the sensor is on the left of the i-sight camera.

 

[botsmack]

I would put in my previous harddisk, just to try if the new harddisk is responsible for the missing keyboard illumination.

I just tried that and it doesn't work. Popped the old drive back in, turned the lights out, and nothing. Should I make a local trip to the Apple Store and see if they can tell me what's wrong? Will it matter that I've switched the hard drive out? I can't imagine what I would have touched to prevent this from working, so I really don't want them to point to that as the cause, if it's not. If I did something, that's fine and I'll take responsibility.

 

[moglee]

Did you use time machine to restore your old settings? If yes I would install mac os x again without using your old settings. (I think you can do that without overwriting your existing one)

 

[botsmack]

Did you use time machine to restore your old settings? If yes I would install mac os x again without using your old settings. (I think you can do that without overwriting your existing one)

No, I didn't install any previous settings. I just bought this computer from someone. I know the keyboard illumination worked, because when I ran it for a few days to make sure everything was working, I was glad I went with a laptop with that feature. I was operating the computer from a clean installation. The previous owner had re-imaged OS X on the drive for a new owner. To my knowledge it was zero'd out.

So, I'm not restoring anything. I'm just doing a clean, fresh OS X 10.5 installation on the new hard drive and the original hard drive also just had a fresh installation of OS X.

 

[Trivial rock]

No, I didn't install any previous settings. I just bought this computer from someone. I know the keyboard illumination worked, because when I ran it for a few days to make sure everything was working, I was glad I went with a laptop with that feature. I was operating the computer from a clean installation. The previous owner had re-imaged OS X on the drive for a new owner. To my knowledge it was zero'd out.

So, I'm not restoring anything. I'm just doing a clean, fresh OS X 10.5 installation on the new hard drive and the original hard drive also just had a fresh installation of OS X.

It sounds like a unlucky coincidence. The backlight stopped working around the time you installed a new HDD. Its clearly not any setting issues since your new install is a fresh install. Pop the old HDD back in and take it to for a fix

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[botsmack]

Ok, I put the hard drive that came with it back in and will try to drop by the Apple Store after work. We'll see what they say. Hopefully, it's something simple. I'll keep posted.

 

[botsmack]

Update: Took it by the Apple Store this afternoon and they say it's a hardware issue and are going to replace the top case assembly and keyboard. I'll get it back next week. Woohoo!