How to turn on the keyboard backlight on a laptop

The backlit option on the keyboard allows you to use the laptop at night or in any place with insufficient light levels. The backlight mode is no longer a “fad” and is increasingly beginning to be taken into account when choosing a mobile PC.

How to turn on the backlight on a laptop keyboard: step by step

Not every laptop user knows about the presence or absence of backlighting on the device. To find out, you first need to carefully examine the keyboard panel.

As a rule, manufacturers add various options to the functional row of “F” buttons, which are indicated by corresponding icons.

If there are no symbols, then you can try to use the combinations “Fn+F1-F12”. It should be taken into account that in addition to lighting, function buttons can cause a standby mode or, for example, turn off the monitor. If you accidentally perform an action that should not have been done, you need to press the appropriate combination again and everything will return to its original form. This mode can also be triggered by pressing the combination “Fn+left/right arrow” or “Fn+space”.

Depending on the laptop model

To turn on the lighting on Asus devices, you will need to make several clicks. But first you need to make sure that:

• the option is enabled in the BIOS;
• drivers are updated (type the model name and download the software).

If the light sensor is in active mode, the key diodes will automatically turn on taking into account the lighting in the room.

To manually adjust, Asus laptops most often use Fn+F4 (increase), Fn+F3 (decrease brightness).

Reference! Sony also offers regular combinations. To view the settings, you need to go to Control Center, after “Keyboard Options” - “Backlight”. Here you can set the mode to turn on/off the LEDs, taking into account the lighting in the room.

You can activate the backlight on Lenovo devices using the Fn+Space button combination. So, when you press it once, the average brightness turns on. Pressing again will increase the lighting. The next press will turn off the diodes.

The backlight symbol in the HP Pavilion is usually located on the left side of the space. Depending on the device model, the LEDs are activated in the following ways:

1. Turn on the device and click “F5” or “F12” (depending on the model).
2. Find the "Fn" button at the bottom left of the keyboard. To activate the backlight use Fn+spacebar.
3. Click the keyboard light key if your model supports this option. This key is marked with 3 dots.

If none of the combinations described above helped, you can check the entire row of “F” buttons. The required feature activation may be located in some other location. If it doesn't work, you need to check the BIOS settings. Why go to the BIOS “Setup”, and then find the “System Settings” item. Activate "Keys Mode" if the option is disabled.

If the backlight only works for a couple of seconds, you may need to set the timer in the BIOS:

1. Restart the device and immediately click F10, the BIOS menu will appear.
2. Then find the “Advanced” item.
3. Go to Device Options and click Enter.
4. In the settings, find the backlight timer.
5. Click the spacebar to open the settings, then set the required delay.

Attention! While pressing “Never” the LEDs will remain on all the time, this will quickly drain the battery.

If the BIOS does not have this setting, then this option is most likely not installed on the laptop. A full description can be found in the manual or on the manufacturer’s website, taking into account the PC model. To adjust the brightness (if the device has this function), you must press the function key 2-3 times in a row. If the device does not respond at all, you can try simultaneously with the Fn button.

Modern MacBook devices automatically detect brightness thanks to the installed light detector. Also, parameters can be configured manually using hot buttons.

Settings to automatically turn off the LEDs after some time of inactivity can be found in the Control Panel menu. You can access the menu through the taskbar.

Owners of Microsoft devices can use the combination Alt+F2 and Alt+F1 to adjust brightness (increase and decrease brightness, respectively).

Why doesn't the backlight work?

The software is responsible for adjusting the backlight. The driver is required for the function buttons to work correctly. So, for example, owners of Asus laptops need to perform the following steps to determine and install the required driver:

1. Go to the Asus website.
2. Left-click “Service” and go to the “Support” menu.
3. In the search bar, indicate the exact model of the device and go to the corresponding page.
4. Find the “Drivers and Utilities” item.
5. You definitely need to indicate the OS version, and also find out its bit depth.
6. A list of available utilities will then appear. Among which you need to find “ATK” and download the latest version.
7. Open the downloaded directory with any archiver and click on Setup.exe.
8. Once the installation is complete, restart the laptop and try to activate the backlight again. If this does not work, on the same site, find the old version of the utility and install it, first removing the current driver.

If installing the software does not work, you may need to replace the keyboard.

The keyboard is connected to the motherboard using a cable. In certain laptops it is not very reliable or breaks down after a while. The connection is also damaged during attempts to disassemble the laptop. Therefore, if the option of turning it on using the driver does not help, it is best to contact a repair shop to diagnose the problem or change the keyboard yourself if you have experience in this.

Nowadays, many laptops in any price segment are equipped with LEDs to illuminate the keyboard. This feature makes typing in low light conditions much easier, especially for people who cannot touch type.