[Toshiba Satellite P850] Keyboard backlight does not work

[Eric Goulet]

Immediately on boot, the backlight is lit. Switching around ACPI settings doesn't seem to help. Booting into Windows then putting it in a state of hibernation, the backlights will work upon the next Ubuntu boot... but only that next boot.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: linux-image-3.11.0-17-generic 3.11.0-17.31
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-17.31-generic 3.11.10.3
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-17-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: xandra 2034 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: xandra 2034 F...m pulseaudio
Date: Wed Mar 19 08:12:51 2014
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=3b05dd8c-4fa5-4b66-9122-db8094ce57a6
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-04-27 (325 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MachineType: TOSHIBA Satellite P850
MarkForUpload: True
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.11.0-17-generic root=UUID=fa00ba6d-045a-4d94-9a40-62932ce0d2e4 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.11.0-17-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.11.0-17-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.116.2
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2013-10-17 (152 days ago)
WifiSyslog: Mar 19 08:09:12 meow-Satellite-P850 wpa_supplicant[1162]: wlan0: WPA: Group rekeying completed with bc:05:43:17:be:70 [GTK=TKIP]
dmi.bios.date: 09/21/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.bios.version: 6.40
dmi.board.asset.tag: *
dmi.board.name: QFKAA
dmi.board.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.board.version: 1.00
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: *
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.chassis.version: *
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnTOSHIBA:bvr6.40:bd09/21/2012:svnTOSHIBA:pnSatelliteP850:pvrPSPKEU-05500C:rvnTOSHIBA:rnQFKAA:rvr1.00:cvnTOSHIBA:ct10:cvr*:
dmi.product.name: Satellite P850
dmi.product.version: PSPKEU-05500C
dmi.sys.vendor: TOSHIBA

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.14 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.14-rc7-trusty/

[Eric Goulet (eric-m-goulet)]

Thank you for the guidance, Joseph.

Keyboard backlight is on up until GRUB initiates the boot of the OS.

Satellite-P850:~$ uname -r
3.14.0-031400rc7-generic

[Eric Goulet (eric-m-goulet)]

Christopher, I see your outdated bios tag... should I try a bios update? I don't see anything listed here that seems like it'd help: http://support.toshiba.com/support/viewContentDetail?contentId=4001551

[Eric Goulet (eric-m-goulet)]

I successfully updated the bios from 6.4 to 6.7. This helped with booting from USB, but did not resolve this issue.

I removed the outdated bios tag considering the update did not fix it.

[Eric Goulet (eric-m-goulet)]

Satellite-P850:~$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
6.70
02/20/2013

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Eric Goulet, thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu. Saucy reached EOL on July 17, 2014.
See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Is this still reproducible in a supported release? If so, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available from the very top line at the top of the page (the release names are irrelevant for testing, and please do not test the daily folder) following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue.

If the test did not allow you to test to the issue (ex. you couldn't boot into the OS) please make a comment in your report about this, and continue to test the next most recent kernel version until you can test to the issue. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested exactly shown as:
kernel-fixed-upstream-3.18-rc4

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]