Clevo N850hp6 (Sager NP7850) weird backlit keyboard issues

Hi everyone,

I've been having odd issues with the keyboard backlighting on my laptop. They appeared a few days after I started using the laptop, and have not disappeared a few months later.

There is a prominent green light coming from the keyboard, even when backlighting is set to off. I can only get it to disappear when the computer is in sleep mode. The linked picture shows how the keyboard looks when backlighting is set to off.
https://i.redd.it/sv0dlizbsru11.jpg

I can still set the keyboard backlight to different colours when on, but this green lighting just won't go away when the backlight is supposed to be off. It appears as soon as the laptop is turned on.

I got the laptop from Eluktronics, who say a keyboard replacement is necessary. They have offered to send a replacement. However, as I am in South Africa, sending a replacement could be an issue. I'd just like to see if it could be resolved without a keyboard change.

 

If the green doesn't affect other colors in those sections, I'd personally just try to ignore it. If it's affecting the other colors when the system is active, you might try re-seating the cable, though it's not hugely likely that it will work.

 

They that reseat, it sounds like the green power line is stuck on in that section.

 

It's not always that obvious, but it does affect other colours slightly, especially in the middle of the keyboard. So if you set a uniform red colour, it will appear more orange, especially in the middle where the green light is most intense.

It doesn't always bother me too much, but I do feel it's probably wasting my battery life being stuck on like that when I don't want it.

 

Thanks for the responses. I may try the cable reseat then if I'm feeling brave at some point. Forgive me for my ignorance but I just have 2 further questions on that front:

1. I see a keyboard release tool is needed according to the manual. Would this be something I came in the box? If I don't have access to it, is there something else which could be used?
2. Are you talking of the keyboard ribbon cable when you refer to reseating the cable?

I haven't opened up my laptop yet, but it doesn't look like too risky or delicate a job according to the manual. Would it be fairly low-risk for someone quite inexperienced at tinkering around inside laptops?

 

1. You can use anything that fits in there, but I'd probably avoid metal objects.
2. Should be a separate LED cable on models with backlit keyboards but yeah.

On a difficulty scale of 1-10 I'd call this a 3-4. Not because it's hard to do from a "do these steps" perspective, but because ribbon cable locking collars can be a pain.

 

Thanks for the clear explanation!

 

No problem. Feel free to have a laugh at my expense if you don't find locking collars as irritating as I do.

 

If you have any plastic pry tools they are ideal.

 

Noted, will mentally prepare for potential locking collar frustrations.

 

There is a chance the driver on the motherboard has the issue, that green line is stuck on somewhere but it is more likely to be an issue with the keyboard itself.

 

I see, hopefully just a keyboard issue then. Don't know if this makes any difference to the diagnosis, but the green light appears instantly, say about half a second before the keyboard starts cycling automatically through different colours on startup. Recently the green light has also started flickering a little at times.

Guess I'll just see what happens after I try reseating the cable.

 

I'd expect it does need replacing then from the sounds of things.