Keyboard backlight not turning on after updating to 10.14.6.

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Keyboard backlight not turning on after updating to 10.14.6.

Here's the rundown. I have a 2018 Macbook Pro 13".

I erased the disc and loaded Mojave 10.14 with no problem. The keyboard backlight works great, and I could set it to "Adjust keyboard in low light" no problem.

Then I installed the 10.14.6 update. Now that option is gone from sys pref, and the keyboard adjustments do nothing (they aren't blocked out though).

I even erased the SSD again, and reloaded the OS from scratch again. Exact same results. As soon as I do the 10.14.6 update, the backlight goes away. Any ideas?

See screenshots for before and after:

Before update to 10.14.6 (It's just 10.14). Notice the keyboard light option is there.

Notice below, the option is now gone. It should be there!

Posted on Sep 18, 2019 7:49 AM

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Answer 1

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Tom_Ad Author

Level 1

20 points

Nov 3, 2019 5:17 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I realize I started this thread some time ago. I figured I'd wrap it up. Apple replaced my mainboard, keyboard, and touchbar under warranty.

As for the screenshots being from different macs, I don't know where that came from. My posts are as the events were. One mac with touchbar. It was a hardware issue that updating to 10.14.6 somehow kicked off. If 10.14 was loaded, all was well. How is that possible? I don't know. But it's fixed now.

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Answer 2

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Sep 18, 2019 8:06 PM in response to Tom_Ad

Hey Tom_Ad,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities! I see from your screenshots, that after updating your macOS the option to "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light" is not longer there. I definitely want to make sure you're able to customize this to your preference, and I'm happy to help.

Sounds like you've done a lot of work to resolve this already, so great job there! I would recommend also using the steps in the resource below to reset the SMC. This can help with keyboard backlighting issues.

How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac

Thanks again, and have a great day!

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Answer 3

Tom_Ad Author

Level 1

20 points

Sep 19, 2019 4:14 AM in response to chuck_3rd

Hello, I appreciate the suggestions. I tried those methods yesterday, but I tried again today as well. It still has the same symptoms. No backlight, and the function keys don't affect it. System Preferences still shows the same as the screen shot above. It's like the OS doesn't see I have a backlit keyboard. I've never seen such a thing caused by an update. If I re-load the OS back to the original 10.14, the backlight works perfectly. Weird!

I'm open to any suggestions.

-Tom

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Answer 4

Sep 19, 2019 5:52 AM in response to Tom_Ad

This has nothing to do with 10.14.6.

The reason why the two screenshots look so different is because they were taken from different macs; the first one is from one mac that does not have a touch bar.

On my own mac, a 2014 rMBP, running 10.14.6, it looks just like your first screenshot (except that I'm in Dark Mode):

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Keyboard backlight not turning on after updating to 10.14.6.

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