Linux Mint Forums

Posted: **Sun Feb 03, 2019 4:07 am**

So I've pretty much given up on trying to get the backlight on this Metabox N850EK (Clevo) laptop working like it does in Windows with all the pretty colours and behaviours. I found some Python stuff on Github and a couple of Youtube videos showing off that it is doable, but next to nothing in the way of useful directions for a newbie like myself to follow to make any of it work.

At this point I just want to be able to turn the keyboard backlight on and off. It's currently always on (colour is blue), and while that's useful most of the time it's kind of annoying when I'm watching films and stuff in a dark room and I find myself putting a black shirt over the keyboard to block it out.

Here's what I've tried:

xset led off - doesn't do anything
adding acpi_backlight=vendor to grub on boot - function keys still do nothing
xbacklight - doesn't do anything either

If anyone can help me get it working like it does in Windows I'd be over the moon, but honestly just being able to turn it on and off would be stellar. Maybe changing to any other colour than blue would be cool too, but I won't get my hopes up.

-- Edit --

I figured it out! Here's what you need to do if you have the same or similar laptop but are struggling to get it working. Hopefully this works for you too.

Note: I haven't got the GUI working or figured out how to get the module to load on boot, but this will at least get your function keys working so you can turn the LED's on/off, adjust brightness, and change colour.

Download the latest repository https://bitbucket.org/tuxedocomputers/c ... downloads/

Extract the contents

Rename the folder to make things easier (I renamed mine to clevo)

You should now have a file path something like

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 /home/yourusername/Downloads/clevo

From the module folder, open the clevo-xsm-wmi.c file in a text editor

Tip: In the text editor go to Edit > Preferences and enable line numbers

Then Search > Go to Line 1414

This takes you to a table with all the compatible models. You're going to have to edit an existing entry to contain your models information. Each entry on the table will look like this:

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	{
		.ident = "Clevo P870DM",
		.matches = {
			DMI_MATCH(DMI_PRODUCT_NAME, "P870DM"),
		},
		.callback = clevo_xsm_dmi_matched,
		.driver_data = &kb_full_color_with_extra_ops,
	},

You need to change the identity and product name fields, which for me was Clevo N850EK and N8xEJEK, so my edited entry now looks like this:

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	{
		.ident = "Clevo N850EK",
		.matches = {
			DMI_MATCH(DMI_PRODUCT_NAME, "N8xEJEK"),
		},
		.callback = clevo_xsm_dmi_matched,
		.driver_data = &kb_full_color_ops,
	},

The identity in this case is the model number the manufacturer uses for this particular laptop, and was on the sticker on the bottom as well as the order form in my inbox. The product name you can find with the following command:

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sudo dmidecode

This command is going to return a large output, but the product name will be not too far from the top.

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Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
	Manufacturer: IT Channel Pty Ltd
	Product Name: N8xEJEK                         <--------------------------------------
	Version: Not Applicable                  
	Serial Number: Not Applicable                  
	UUID: CE6C4FCA-3850-4825-B48F-9AAF3F7D8B74
	Wake-up Type: Power Switch
	SKU Number: Not Applicable                  
	Family: Not Applicable

Once you've done that, save your newly edited clevo-xsm-wmi.c file

In the terminal navigate to your module folder

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cd /home/yourusername/Downloads/clevo/module/

and type

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make

Now while still in the module directory try loading the module

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sudo insmod clevo-xsm-wmi.ko

If it worked you should now be able to use your function keys!

Fn / will cycle through basic colours
Fn * will turn the LED's on and off
Fn + & - will adjust the brightness

Hope that helps someone else struggling to get this working. It's not complete functionality, as I said before I don't know how to make it start on boot or how to get the GUI working for more control over the colours and other features but it's at least a start.

--edit--

I found a temporary way to change the colours across the 3 sections of the keyboard. Enter the terminal and type in

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sudo nano /sys/devices/platform/clevo_xsm_wmi/kb_color

This opens an editor inside the terminal, and you should see something like

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blue blue blue

Change the names of the three colours and save using Ctrl + S, you can use any of the following

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white
green
red
blue
yellow
magenta
cyan

I'll come back here with updates if I figure anything else out.

--edit--

Okay - got the module to load on boot! Big thanks to thx-1138 over on this thread here viewtopic.php?f=90&t=287632

In the terminal navigate to your module folder and type

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make && sudo make install

If you get an SSL error like I did you need to enter:

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sudo install -m644 clevo-xsm-wmi.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/extra

then

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sudo depmod

Now you can input the following to load the module on boot

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sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/clevo-xsm-wmi.conf <<< clevo-xsm-wmi

Then lastly

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sudo update-initramfs -uk all

Or to specify default colours and brightness on boot use this command. Just replace white,white,white with whatever you like and brightness can be set between 1 and 10.

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sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/clevo-xsm-wmi.conf <<< 'options clevo-xsm-wmi kb_color=white,white,white kb_brightness=1'

Reboot

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2019 7:15 pm**

You are nothing short of a genius! Thank you! I've bought a BTO laptop that displays nice rainbow colors at the start but after Linux boots, it was just plain blue. I had to inquire BTO from what manufacturer the keyboard came, at least they informed it was Clevo. I've gone through the same route as you have; xset, xbacklight, acpi_backlight, repositories of msi-keyboard, clevo-keyboard-backlight, nothing would work.

My product id is exactly the same: N8xEJEK, and after following your exact steps (very well written, needed every step!), it worked without any problems! Thank you so much, you've made my day

.

Posted: **Fri May 10, 2019 11:35 pm**

Amazing! So glad I could help, it's awesome to know these instructions came in handy for someone else

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2019 10:05 am**

Hey this totally worked for me too. I had to make an account here just to let you know, thank you so much!

I am using Ubuntu 19.04 running on a Metabox N850HK1 model so my settings were slightly different to yours, but your detailed explanation was spot on as to where I needed to deviate. I had tried to follow along on the tuxedocomputers site earlier, but the short troubleshooting guide was a missing some critical details and I had almost given up.

Cheers.

Posted: **Fri May 24, 2019 11:09 pm**

That's awesome! You're welcome and I'm glad I could help

Posted: **Wed Jun 05, 2019 5:06 am**

Thank you so much whatsforbreakfast ! Now my keyboard is fully functional

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:22 am**

It works..!! Thanks you.

Posted: **Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:03 am**

Hey, just wanted to say thanks so much for this tutorial. Unfortunately, none of these steps work for the Clevo N970TF, but I'm glad this helped other Clevo owners!

Posted: **Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:14 pm**

Ohah , very helpfull. I was trying do solve the same probleme with a Gigabyte Sabre 17 ... and that's work on it too!
Thank you so much !
So Gigabyte Sabre 17 is in fact very similar to clevo . Change name for "Sabre 17 XXX ..." in this case.

Posted: **Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:09 pm**

Worked for Clevo PA71HP6-G a/k/a Sager NP8370.

When I first tried, it didn't work. A while later I tried again and it worked. I think the difference was that I properly named the laptop model in the clevo-xsm-wmi.c file. The first time I input the model as "NP8370." However, this is incorrect based on the "sudo dmidecode" command, which named my computer model as "PA70Hx", i.e., "Product Name: PA70Hx". So, don't guess that you have properly named your computer model. Instead, use the "sudo dmidecode" command to make sure you have it right. There could be a lot of text to scroll through before getting to the model name, but eventually it should be found.

Posted: **Mon Nov 11, 2019 6:05 pm**

Hell to the Yeah!

This totally worked on my SAGER NH58RD.

Thanks for this.

Now I can move on to trying to get the Keypad to turn on/off with the Fn key combo.

Posted: **Sun Sep 27, 2020 4:42 pm**

Thank you a lot, now I have my keyboard working!
But my caps lock and num lock have the same color as the rest keyboard. Is there any chance to set other color for caps lock when it on?

Posted: **Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:38 pm**

Hey, thank you SOOOOO much for this! Love my (right-coloured) keyboard!

Unfortunatelly, after a while of everything working (and looking great), and after installing gvfs-smb, thunar-shares-plugin and manjarp-settings-samba (and updating Chrome) it stopped working! Now I'm desperate!

Can someone help me get this working again? Pleeeease!?

Linux Mint Forums

[SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

[SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)

Re: [SOLVED] Help tackling keyboard backlight on Clevo laptop (Metabox N850EK)