M1 MBP Keyboard Backlight Issue (not bleed)

[techno96]

So, I got a new 16" M1 MBP last week and this has happened two or three times. I open up the laptop and the keyboard backlight is just not on. It's always been in a pitch black room, so no ambiguity about whether or not it should trigger based on the ambient lighting conditions. If I close the lid for just a few seconds and open it back up, it comes on and is working fine.

Is this an issue that a bunch of other people are having? I figure if so, a fix might be in the works and I'll just wait, otherwise I'll just go swap this thing out for another one since I'm still in the 14 day window.

 

[junebug1]

Weirdly enough I noticed this the other night when I opened mine up and realized that the backlight was not on. Went to Control Center and manually adjusted the brightness and thought little of it. Then tonight it just did the same thing. Not sure what's happening but mine is just a little outside that 14 day window so hopefully a fix is on the way.

 

[BanditoB]

I don’t know about the current M1 MacBooks, but in the past the keyboard backlight wouldn’t turn on until you had logged in. Kind of a weird way to implement the lighting, but that’s how they have worked in the past for me.

 

[LinkRS]

I don’t know about the current M1 MacBooks, but in the past the keyboard backlight wouldn’t turn on until you had logged in. Kind of a weird way to implement the lighting, but that’s how they have worked in the past for me.

When you first turn on (from off) the MacBook, and it is waiting for the firmware/FileVault password, there will be no backlight. This is normal and expected behavior. If you are resuming from sleep, it should be in the same state it was when you put it to sleep. If it is NOT, it is a bug. I doubt it is a hardware issue, otherwise it would just be off all the time.

 

[curdy]

Just noticed this happened on my M1 Pro 14 inch this morning. I logged in and it remained off. I went to Control Centre to adjust the keyboard backlight brightness and it showed as half way up but there was no backlight as I said. I then clicked on the circle in the adjustable brightness and the keyboard backlight came on. Odd...

 

[Lion007s]

Hello! Anyone have this fixed yet? My 16 inch M1 Pro is still doing this whilst being on the latest version of MacOS

 

[Vanarak19]

When you first turn on (from off) the MacBook, and it is waiting for the firmware/FileVault password, there will be no backlight. This is normal and expected behavior. If you are resuming from sleep, it should be in the same state it was when you put it to sleep. If it is NOT, it is a bug. I doubt it is a hardware issue, otherwise it would just be off all the time.

So when you need to see your keyboard the most to use a password and not Touch ID...lol

I wonder why this has to be this way.

 

[BanditoB]

@kgeier82 - Yes, I've suffered through using a blacked-out keyboard when trying to log in on many occasions. It doesn't make sense that they have it set up this way. I can only think that the keyboard's light controller is set up somehow that it doesn't become active until you log in and it gets initialized. Even so, you'd think they could initialize as part of the boot to the login screen. 🤷🏻‍♂️