MacBook Pro Keyboard Light Problem!

[aurora905]

The reason your brightness isn't working

Your brightness is locked because the room is too bright. Try covering the camera with your hand to hide the brightness from it. Then try turning the brightness on and it will work. I had the same situation before but now I know what to do

 

[rubinthomas]

I tried that... My room was pitch black and it was night time also....What I had done before was clean my laptop fan and after I cleaned it, the backlight stopped working....I do not know what to do now....

 

[iggibar]

FYI: The Macbook Pro does NOT use the camera as the light sensor, it actually has a light sensor next to the camera.

 

[rustyk123]

Ok add me to having this problem. Two days ago it was working fine as well as the auto brightness on the screen. Yesterday, brought it to apple to have the logic board changed (known nvidia video card issue). Picked it up today, in the store I noticed the case was not put back together correctly, as well as bent, I had them fix that and did not think of anything else. I get home and i am in a dark room and the screen is a bright as can be, and the backlit keyboard is off. I dim the screen and try the backlit keys no good i turn a light on and screen stays dim. I believe there is a defect in the sensors and it seems I am not the only one with this problem.

Has anyone found a fix to this I am not really happy with the apple store right now and the store is not close to my house but do have to go at least once more.

I have had a total of 7 in there the first three were fine, the third one was missing screws and case was not snapped close, the fourth did not power up the first time and casing was bent above the cd drive, this is the fifth one which also is having cd/dvd reading issues now, and there is one more there which I will be very carefully looking over as long as I can in the store.

 

[gtirr]

The last time I was at the Apple store for one of my 1 to 1 classes I asked my instructor and she had to find a "Genius" to find the answer. The light sensor is in the camera and if you put your finger over it, the keyboard lights will get brighter.

 

[scutler24]

scutler24

Hi all,

I am struggling with a non lit keyboard also. I am running a 13' MacBook Pro, 8GB memory, 1TB disk space. I've tried the SMC and NVRAM reset's, and have also downloaded Lab Tick but still no luck. I also tried the holding down shift, control, power etc, and all that seems to have done is disabled F5 & F6. Any more ideas???

 

[MAC333]

Macbook Pro function key problem in Window7

Macbook Pro function key problem including keyboard light and screen brightness using Window7

Problem:
Function key stopped working

Reason:
Bootcamp.exe is not working

Solution:
Find Bootcamp.exe and activate it.
Computer/BOOTCAMP(C)/Program files/Boot Camp/Bootcamp.exe
Double click on the Bootcamp.exe = Function key works now

To make this permanent solution:
Mouse over Bootcamp.exe/right click on the mouse/Pin to start menu

 

[keirikay]

try this it worked for me

hold down shift, control ,and cmd button( option button) and then power button it resets the smc or something all i know is my keyboard light stopped working even in a dark room and then i did this and it works again

 

[Steviej893]

Just to clarify, the MBP is designed to not allow the backlights to function unless in dim lighting. Labtick (Amazing!) allows you to bypass this by overriding the system. If using Labtick, use the slider to adjust the brightness. The buttons won't function while using Labtick.

I know I'm a few years too late on this topic but I was freaking out this morning when my lights stopped working. I just bought my Macbook Pro three days ago and thought I had a malfunctioning unit. I called Apple support and the guy told me it was an issue and that I needed to bring it in so they could check it out. So I decided to check here and lo and behold, what was prescribed as the cause and solution worked. Absolutely amazing...some of you guys on here should be working for Apple instead of some of the folks they have there. Thanks...

 

[thorbax]

backlit keyboard

I thought I had the same problem. My keyboard lights went out and I had no control over the dimmer functions(F5 & F6). I covered the sensor/camera at the top of the display and sure enough they came back on. The keyboard lights go out automatically during the day or brightly lit areas to conserve vital environmental energy.

 

[Lord Black]

Easy fix

It is quite easy to fix:
System Pref -> Keyboard -> Turn on/off Automatically illuminate keyboard in low light
If you remove the checker in the box you will have complete control over your adjustment on the keyboard.

 

[robertrx]

Resolving the backlight problem

Today I had suddenly the same problem as so many others. On my MacBook Pro the F5 and F6 would not work any more.
My solution: I put my finger on the video-lens (also sensor), and touched F6.
Enough to turn the keyboard backlights on again !!
No idea where the problem came from, as there was not too much ambient light.
But the fix seems to work.