No keyboard backlight MacBook Pro 15" (6,2 Mid 2010)

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No keyboard backlight MacBook Pro 15" (6,2 Mid 2010)

Model: MacBookPro6,2 15”, Mid 2010

OS X: 10.10.1 Yosemite

I recently bought a used MacBookPro which works perfectly, apart from the keyboard backlight not turning on.

When I attempt to adjust it, the overlay displaying the brightness level on the keyboard shows up and I can turn it all the way up or down (but this has no effect on the light).

This is in contrast to most threads I have been reading on keyboard backlight issues, where the overlay indicates no backlight is detected—i.e. a crossed line over the icon with no level indicator.

I was curious to see if I could get it working, and so far I’ve tried the following:

- Disabling “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light” setting in System Preferences

- Holding my hand over the ambient light sensor

- Resetting the SMC (a dozen times)

- Resetting the NVRAM (a handful of times)

- Taking off the back plate to verify that the plug on the cable for the backlight that connects to the logic board is properly inserted (checked twice, it sits tight)

- Running the HID LED test tool from Apple (it runs but light stays off, link here: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/samplecode/HID_LED_test_tool/Introductio n/Intro.html)

None of the above resolved the situation or gave any hint of the keyboard backlight being functional.

In fact, I ordered a spare backlight part in order to replace it.

But!… then all of sudden yesterday, while running Windows ‘through’ Boot Camp, the lights went on.

It stayed on for a bit, a good 10 minutes—even after booting into OS X.

I could adjust the brightness in both windows and in OS X.

However, it was set to switch off automatically in System Preferences, and since it did, I haven’t been able to make it light up again.

This was during a re-install of Windows in Boot Camp, so I wonder if the installation of drivers prompted it to turn on.

I attempted to uninstall the keyboard drivers within Windows and reinstalling them, but this did nothing.

This was the third time in a week I installed Windows twice in a row, but at no point during OS installation, driver installation or running Windows these first couple of times did the backlights come on.

Only this once, the third time around, for about 10 minutes!

(General unrelated note: Windows 7 is absolutely useless with the minimum 20Gb as space suggested by Boot Camp—impossible to update.)

It may be worth noting that when the keyboard backlight came on, the computer had not been moved around for several hours—so it seems unrelated to any possible lose connection (and as I said, I did verify that the cable sits tight).

I thought I had it all figured out by doing some thorough testing. I thought it was definitely dead.

While seeing the light turn on gave me a bit of hope, it also made me wonder if installing the new part will even make a difference.

Does anybody have any other ideas for how to test if the hardware is actually working?

Thanks for taking your time to consider my issue!

Posted on Dec 4, 2014 6:03 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 4, 2014 7:06 AM in response to johso

Where did you buy the Mac from? Whenever buying a used computer (especially a Macintosh) be VERY cautious. I've heard countless stories where people have bought a used macbook not knowing there is a problem with it. People will sell them when they have a problem they can't afford and use the money for a new computer and leaving the consumer with a broken laptop. If you didn't know already, the cost to repair a Mac is very expensive and sometimes people can't afford the repair and they'll sell the machine. There was one I heard where a guy bought a maxed out retina pro off eBay (about a $3,000 laptop brand new) for like, $1,500 and it had a broken logic board that apple wouldn't cover because it was out of warranty. If I were you, I would contact whoever you bought it from and find out if they knew about it. Ask if it was ever dropped or had to be taken in for repair. I would also reformat the drive and reinstall a fresh copy of OS X Yosemite. If that doesn't solve it, take it to an apple genius bar.

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Answer 2

johso Author

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Dec 4, 2014 8:30 AM in response to Look-at-menow

Hi Look@menow,

Thanks for your concern.

I bought it through a local second-hand list. The guy did inform me that he couldn't get the keyboard backlight to work.

I realise you cannot have any guarantess with second-hand items, but I felt safe enough to buy it in this case.

The first thing I did was to re-install OS X from scratch; I wiped the the drive clean and downloaded Yosemite through internet recovery.

Good that you ask, I forgot to mention this.

Another think I thought about is that I've read that a number of people have had keyboard backlight issues since upgrading to 10.8, 10.9 or 10.10.

Perhaps there is actually an issue there?

There is no going back anyway; since it was a private person, I cannot return it.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as an Apple Genius bar anywhere near where I live.

Does anyone know of ways to probe the keyboard backlight?

I have a feeling the logic board is okay; would there be any way to test this myself though?

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Answer 3

johso Author

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Dec 4, 2014 12:57 PM in response to johso

[Clarification for my first post: I have installed Windows through Boot Camp three times the past week; only the third time did the lights come on.

(It was not third time I did it twice in a row, as I wrongly worded it.)]

Regarding testing the logic board, I asked before searching.

It was quick to find instructions for how to perform an Apple Hardware Test, which I have now done.

Both the basic an extended tests report no issues. It explicitly stated that it was testing the logic board.

This is a troublesome issue to search information on, as there are so many threads on the web with people that think their backlight is broken, when in fact it is just the ambient light sensor automatically adjusting it.

The other posts I have found describe that the keyboard backlight is not detected, as mentioned in the first post.

I haven't seen anybody reporting that they can see the “Adjust keyboard brightness in low light” in System Preferences, and that the overlay displays the level indicator.

If anybody out there could point me in the direction of a solution, or the hint of one, I'd greatly appreciate it!

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Answer 4

johso Author

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Dec 6, 2014 3:03 PM in response to johso

In my efforts to troubleshoot this issue, I attempted to re-install Windows and the Boot Camp drivers - no luck; the keyboard did not light up during this 4th install of the Boot Camp drivers in windows.

As I read several posts about people upgrading to Mountain Lion or Mavericks and then losing their keyboard backlight, I also tried installing Snow Leopard. No luck there either.

As there is no indication that the SMC reset has been successfully performed, I searched for methods to do this through software, in the off-chance that the standard method was not working.

As per these instructions on the IFixIt forum, I set about to install rEFInd. However, the standard install method resulted in rEFInd never popping up in my boot menu, so I found another solution that involves renaming the rEFInd files folders to "boot", so the system boots to it directly. Instructions here.

As the rEFInd shell refuses start on this particular MacBook model, I also ended up copying the shell from tools folder of rEFIt iso download, and then copied it to the tools folder of the rEFInd installation. This worked great, and I could resume the instructions from the IFixIt forum.

(Note: in the rEFIt shell, ./ is not recognised, so you just type SmcFlasher.efi -reset 1)

However, even after successfully running the reset command, the keyboard backlight still doesn't light up.

I have been searching for ways to test the hardware itself, perhaps by applying power to the chord that connects to the logic board.
I found nothing on this though.

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Answer 5

Oct 29, 2016 12:20 PM in response to johso

I am also having the same problem Macbook Pro a1278 early 2011 model

I wonder if there is any news about the problem

Have you solved the problem?

The new unit you ordered worked properly?

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