Is your Lenovo keyboard backlight not working? If so, there are a few steps you can take to resolve the issue and get the keyboard to light up.
To turn on the keyboard backlight on Lenovo,
Press the Fn + Spacebar keys together to turn on or off the keyboard backlight. Alternatively, use Lenovo Vantage to manage the keyboard backlight.
Keep reading as I explain some of the causes or reasons why your keyboard backlight is not working and how to fix them.
Many Lenovo laptops come configured with a backlit keyboard but not all, so it’s important to understand if your model does. In addition, the issue could be hardware or software-related.
I’ll try to start with the easy fixes first and work up to more advanced options.
Lenovo Keyboard Backlight Not Working
Step #1 Verify Backlight Is Installed
The first step is to verify your Lenovo laptop is configured with a keyboard backlight. As mentioned above, many Lenovo laptops are preinstalled with a backlight, and some offer it as an option.
To check your model of laptop, simply look at the keyboard for a light symbol on the space key. This indicates the ability to turn on and off the backlight.
Optionally, you can always check the user manual or user guide that came with the Lenovo laptop.
Find the associated info guide online at the Lenovo support website. You simply enter your model information or let it auto-detect your system.
Step #2 Use The Function Keys To Enable Backlight
After you have verified a backlight is indeed installed, the next step is the easy-to-use keyboard shortcut. Use this to turn on/off the light pretty much always. Note, you can also use the Lenovo Vantage application to do this.
How To Turn On Keyboard Backlight Lenovo:
Press and hold the Fn key and then tap the Space bar to toggle the backlight from Low, High, and Off.
Some Lenovo laptops such as the newer Legion series have an installed program called iCUE. This allows you to pre-configure RGB backlight settings for your use.
Step #3 Use Lenovo Vantage For Backlight
In Windows 10, your Lenovo should come installed with the Lenovo Vantage program.
Open the Lenovo Vantage program and locate the icon for the keyboard backlight. Use this to turn on/off the backlight.
If you do not have Lenovo Vantage, download it from Lenovo. It is a useful tool and can resolve some issues with the backlight not working. Note too that if your version is old, you should go ahead and upgrade it to the latest release as this fixes some issues.
Looking for a new cool gaming keyboard? Read my article:
Best Gaming Keyboards Under $100
Step #4 Reboot The Laptop
A simple reboot of the laptop often fixes or resolves many issues, such as a keyboard backlight not working. Sometimes software gets screwed up and rebooting flushes out the cache, closes programs, etc.
Reboot the operating system of your laptop to resolve many backlight issues.
Go ahead and try it, you might be surprised how often this clears up problems you’re having with your computer.
Also, try to stop the ImControllerService process from Task Manager. This process is associated with Lenovo Vantage, stopping it might indicate if it is causing the no backlight issue. This is a temporary fix though, usually, a BIOS update will be a more permanent fix.
If none of these steps have worked for you yet, it is time to see if the backlight will come on and work outside of the OS.
By the way, what keyboard do you own?
Have you seen the Lenovo Legion K500 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard? It is priced right about at $100US( about $66 on Amazon). It has RED mechanical switches, RGB 16.8 million color lights, dedicated media keys and a lot more. For me, it is a very nice, responsive gaming keyboard at an affordable price.
Check out the Legion K500 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Amazon(through my affiliate link).
Step #5 Use BIOS To Test Backlight
Enter the BIOS/UEFI by turning on the laptop and pressing F1. This is just a good way for us to test the functionality of the Lenovo keyboard light outside of the software or operating system.
Once in the BIOS, press the Fn+Spacebar to check if the keyboard backlight comes on.
If the keyboard backlight comes on and works properly then it indicates the hardware is okay. The issue lies somewhere while in the OS.
Update the system BIOS as well as software such as Lenovo Vantage. Make sure everything is up to date.
Note: A lot of users have seen their Lenovo keyboard light not working issue resolved with the latest BIOS. The release contained fixes directly applied toward the backlight issue.
Step #6 Reset Laptop With A Power Drain
It may seem odd, but draining the system can fix some hardware issues. We need to unplug and remove the battery if possible.
Power off the laptop. Unplug the AC adapter. Remove the external battery if present. Hold down the power button for at least 10 seconds. Reconnect everything and boot up.
Just like rebooting the OS solved software issues, doing a power drain can solve hardware issues.
Run A Hardware Diagnostics Test
It might be useful at this point to run a diagnostics test on the hardware to find out if any problem is detected.
Use Lenovo Vantage to run diagnostics or run a scan from Lenovo support.
I also have an article on Lenovo Hardware Diagnostics Tools that might be useful to scan your components. Check it out if you are looking for some tools.
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Lenovo Legion 5 Keyboard Backlight Not Working
As I mentioned above, the newer Legion series has an installed program called iCUE. Open the iCUE app and configure a new profile for your use. Click the + at the top of Profiles.
Note: Be sure the “enable plugins” and maybe “enable SDK” are checked in iCUE settings.
Next, quit the iCUE software, which puts the keyboard lighting into default mode, then press “Fn + space” which will cycle through the presets, find the one you want.
This table contains some of the popular Lenovo laptops sold in the U.S.
Note that most but not all have a backlit keyboard. Also, some models are configurable at the time of order allowing you to add on a backlit keyboard.
| Model | Product | Backlit Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| 82AU0013US | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05 | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 82AU0014US | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05 | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 82AU00B8US | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05 | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 82AU00BTUS | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05 | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 82AU00BVUS | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05 | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 82AU00CGUS | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05 | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 82AU00CXUS | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05 | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 81Y60004US | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 81Y6000ACC | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 81Y6000BCC | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 81Y6000DUC | Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H | 4-Zone RGB LED backlight, (US) |
| 81YT0000US | Lenovo Legion 7 15IMH05 | RGB LED Backlit, English (US) |
| 81YT0002US | Lenovo Legion 7 15IMH05 | RGB LED Backlit, English (US) |
| 81YT0003US | Lenovo Legion 7 15IMH05 | RGB LED Backlit, English (US) |
| 81YT0004US | Lenovo Legion 7 15IMH05 | RGB LED Backlit, English (US) |
| 82B80006UX | IdeaPad Flex 5 CB 13IML05 | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 82B8000AUS | IdeaPad Flex 5 CB 13IML05 | Non-backlit, English |
| 82B8000BUS | IdeaPad Flex 5 CB 13IML05 | Non-backlit, English |
| 81VW000TUS | IdeaPad S340-15IIL | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 81VW001MUS | IdeaPad S340-15IIL | White Backlit, English (US) |
| 81VW0020US | IdeaPad S340-15IIL | Non-backlit, English |
There is no specific driver for the keyboard backlight because it is a physical switch. If none of the above steps resolved or helped with your issue, it is probably time to call Lenovo support for either a keyboard replacement or whole laptop repair.
In Summary
I’ve included several actionable steps for you to take to resolve a Lenovo keyboard backlight not working. I hope one of them has worked for you. As I mentioned above, the newer BIOS release has solved many user’s problems with this backlight issue. Follow the steps and run diagnostics if you need to, but if all else fails it may be time to contact support.
my backlight is working but there is no option to customize the RGB lighting in Lenovo Vantage