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ASUS G53J Keyboard Backlight Not Working...Not a driver issue

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I bought my first G53J about 4 months ago, and it made me ecstatic (one of the best notebooks I've ever used). About 2 months later, the AC adapter pin in the laptop broke, so I received a new G53J from the store at which I bought it, where they replaced the Hard Drive with my old one.

This new laptop works identically well as my previous one, with one small exception: The backlights on the keyboard don't work. I know it's not a driver issue for the following reasons:
1) They worked on my previous laptop, and the HD is the same, therefore the driver is the same.
2) All other Fn functions work properly (e.g. Volume, screen brightness, etc.)

When pressing Fn+F4 (or Fn+F3 for that matter), my screen displays that the keyboard brightness is being turned up or down, respectively. However, no such light exists.

I also thought that it might have been incorrectly plugged in, as you have to take the keyboard out to access the Hard Drive. However, I also tried to plug it out, and then plug it back in myself with no result.

If anyone could help me out here I would be the happiest person alive. 🙂

Cheers
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6 REPLIES 6

irdmoose
Level 10
Does the keyboard flash on when you power up the laptop?

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I had a similar issue only hours ago! From my experience, I decided to go through the steps all over again.

1. Turn off laptop. Remove keyboard, unplug and replug the cord.

2. Turn on laptop. If problem persists, remove ATK package, and install the newest version.

3. Go to Programs/Asus/ATK Package/ATK Hotkey/. Run the HControl.exe application.

4. Restart laptop. Wait ten minutes. Turn on the lights via the button above the Keyboard. It should show a message onscreen saying something like "All Lights On".

5. If keyboard doesn't light up, try FN+F4. It should turn back on.



If this doesn't solve your problem...I'm sorry. I had a week of trial and error before I decided to just do it all over again in this order. I got the idea from a friend on Live Messenger, who I told about my issue. She said to just try all of the solutions at once. So I did...and despite none of them working individually, I decided to give it a shot.


I'm not sure what part solved it, but it worked. Now, backlight is pretty and shining through the keys.

Good luck, hope it works!


Sincerely,
Shade Soul13

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If none of the above works, you might as well go back to the store and ask them to check if the kb lights cable is properly seated. Ofc you can do that by yourself too

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Thank you guys for your replies!

I fixed the backlight problem. It turns out that the guys at the shop installed the wires incorrectly. The wire which powered the backlight (the thin wire) was plugged in upside-down. For future reference, this wire should be plugged in gold side up.

Cheers!

I fixed my backlight problem after i read about the wire being flipped wrong, i followed this guide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp90M_N6dzs

to remove the keyboard.. kinda tricky but i managed to flip it and now it Works 🙂


thank you so much, i hope the guide also will be helpful for others.

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It took me a day and a half to figure out that if you accidentally turned the keyboard illumination off with FnF3, it will not turn back on again after restart by simply toggling the Light Cancellation Key. You actually have to turn the backlight on again with FnF4. Oddly enough, when I called ASUS tech support to report my self-inflicted problem, all they could recommend was reinstalling the keyboard driver, and, if that didn't work, sending my computer for repair. I'm grateful to this forum for the clue that led me to see the light.