My laptop's backlight is not working? [solved]

[ArcaneLegend]

Hi everyone,
This is a bit of an odd one because I only noticed it like two days ago (and i've been using my laptop constantly since then). I'm currently running a 3 monitor setup (including my laptop as one monitor) and I use the keyboard on the laptop as the main keyboard until I get a mechanical external one. Anyways, I unplugged everything one time and took it to school with me and when I got home as I was coding away at night I realised I was having a hard time seeing the keys and I noticed the backlights were off. They still are, and I have no reasoning for why this might've happened. It's a g750JX from Dubai with specs of: i7 4700HQ, 24 gigs of ram, 1tb+256gig ssd, and I'm running on windows 8. It's about a month old now and I keep pressing the Fn + backlight brighten key (F4) and it's jsut not working. It's completely shut off and I have no clue why. Can anyone lend a hand? perhaps give me some insight on what might've happened? Also btw I should note this thing hasn't been bumped, scratched, or dropped even a tiny bit since i've bought it.

[Myk_SilentShado]

Have a look and see if the ATK package is installed, i'm pretty sure this is responsible for the backlight controls. If it is, there should be an app, or another function key that gets used to turn it on and off, I think fn+f9? perhaps.

[ArcaneLegend]

Could you please guide me as to where I can check whether or not I have the ATK package installed? I tried Fn+F9 which is meant to turn off the touchpad and that's not working either? and come to try out all the fn functions, it seems that neither is sleep. Huh?!

[cl-Albert]

There might be some kind of software issue and if you can think of anything that was changed recently, please let us know.

Anyway, you can check the ATK package under Programs and Features in Win8 (which is really add/remove programs if you're used to Win7) and can get there through Control Panel/Programs.
If you want to try a shortcut in Win8, right-click (not left) in the bottom left-hand corner to open a menu and choose 'Programs and Features' to check for the ATK Package and version.

1. This probably will not help, but if you have been shutting down Win8 instead of restarting, give this a try to see if it helps at all.

2. If the hardware is okay, the keyboard lights should flash momentarily after you power on or restart the notebook before getting to Win8, so you may want to make sure you see this at least.

[Maxter]

The buttons for the keyboard backlight are Fn+F3 for lowering and Fn+F4 for increasing. Download and install the latest APK package available at the asus website (support.asus.com)

[ArcaneLegend]

I restarted the computer and It's working perfectly now. Thanks for all the help guys! 😄

[cl-Albert]

ArcaneLegend wrote:
I restarted the computer and It's working perfectly now. Thanks for all the help guys! 😄

Glad to hear you could solve it and thanks for letting us know what happened!

For anybody that is interested Windows 8 shutdowns aren't the same as Win7 shutdowns in that they don't clean everything out in the software, so it's a good idea to restart Win8 if you see any software issues or make any software changes.

[Totto321]

Just wanted to say thanks guys ! 😄

I had the same problem with the backlight not working on my G75VW, Win7 64, and after reading your thread here, downloaded the latest ATK package available at support.asus.com: http://www.asus.com/ROG_ROG/G75VW/#support_Download,

then under UTILITIES you find the latest version as of now:
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Apps_for_Win8/ATKPackage/ATKPackage_ASUS_Win7_8_VER100026

After install and rebooting, all the fn-keys worked perfect.

[alex74g]

Thanks everyone this worked like a charm thought I lost my keyboard backlight after OS reinstall. You guys rock!!!!

[hmscott]

Totto321 wrote:
Just wanted to say thanks guys ! 😄

I had the same problem with the backlight not working on my G75VW, Win7 64, and after reading your thread here, downloaded the latest ATK package available at support.asus.com: http://www.asus.com/ROG_ROG/G75VW/#support_Download,

then under UTILITIES you find the latest version as of now:
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Apps_for_Win8/ATKPackage/ATKPackage_ASUS_Win7_8_VER100026

After install and rebooting, all the fn-keys worked perfect.

Weird, somehow the .zip got removed from that link, here it is in full:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Apps_for_Win8/ATKPackage/ATKPackage_ASUS_Win7_8_VER100026.zip