MBP 17" Keyboard backlight fault

Has anyone come across this fault? Basically as you can see in the picture I've noticed the backlighting on my keyboard is very uneven, the keys round Q for example are basically unlit. The keys on the right are much dimmer than in the middle.



If I buy and fit a replacement keyboard will this fix this problem? is the backlighting integral to the keyboard unit?

Has anybody even seen this before?

Hello!

Yes, I have seen this. In fact, my brand new 17" Macbook Pro (mid september '09, 3.06 ghz, 4gb ram, 7200 rpm SATA) has a very similar problem, although maybe not quite as severe as this. Believe it or not, this new Mabook Pro is a replacement for a previously BRAND NEW defective one. I am very displeased with the quality of Mac's thus far, based on my personal experience. I have spent $3200 on what I exppected to be a beautiful top-of-the-line machine, and am getting sub-par garbage. I realize that everything has flaws, but this is ridiculous. The first defective one had a bad hard disk and would freeze and get kernel panics, right out of the box.

But regarding the uneven backlighting, I have to sympathize with you on this since I am experiencing the same problem. The entire right side of the keyboard is barely lit up after manually turning up the brightness all the way, and the "5%" and a few adjacent keys are very bright, while the left side appears to be normal. I am now trying to determine what I will do. I think I may just do a chargeback on my credit card for inferior quality of goods, which can easily be done if you don't abuse the privilege. Either that, or I will give them one more shot to send me another brand new one that is free of defects. I refuse to take it to the Apple Genius bar where it would have to be opened up. It's a brand new unit, and I didn't overpay just to have it cracked open. Since I see that you had this issue back in January, may I ask what ever became of your issue?

I strongly recommend you work with Apple on the problems you're experiencing. Take it on in, speak to the manager of the Apple store and politely explain. I'm sure they'll be willing to replace the machine with a new one. As far as using your credit card privilege of "charging back", that will result in a loss to you as Apple will deduct a restocking fee.

Regards.

ehh i know how you feel..i barely made the transition to macs, and i was soo excited when i brought it home from the store only to turn it on an the screen "stage lights" werent working properly and kinda ruined my moment...but i brought it back the following day they saw it then automatically switched it... although it was an in and out thing...kinda ruined the moment of turning on a new toy i spend 2K on...and the fact i had to drive back to exchange it..

chscag said:

I strongly recommend you work with Apple on the problems you're experiencing. Take it on in, speak to the manager of the Apple store and politely explain. I'm sure they'll be willing to replace the machine with a new one. As far as using your credit card privilege of "charging back", that will result in a loss to you as Apple will deduct a restocking fee.

Regards.

Click to expand...

You may be correct- since Apple would presumably have my credit card info on file still, I imagine if they wanted to they could assess a "restocking fee", however at this point I wouldn't mind taking a $100-$200 loss, considering the amount of time I've already lost in this ordeal. It comes down to a lacking in Apple's quality assurance. They charge the premium so that things like this shouldn't occur, but they do...so it is therefore a ripoff. I doubt I will do a chargeback, though, since the Apple product specialist I've been working with is great. He told me that if there is anything wrong at all with my new macbook pro when it comes, I let him know and they will keep sending a new one until I'm satisfied. I have to say, Apple has been great in that department.

has anyone found why this happns? mine started to do it.

mine has started doing this too...

is this a quick fix i can do myself if i get new leds? has anyone experimented?