Bug 769392 - Media buttons LED illumination in Toshiba laptops
Summary: Media buttons LED illumination in Toshiba laptops
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED INSUFFICIENT_DATA
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: kernel
Version: 16
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Linux
unspecified
low
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Kernel Maintainer List
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2011-12-20 17:34 UTC by mingos.nospam
Modified: 2014-03-10 11:38 UTC (History)
10 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2012-11-14 15:24:00 UTC
Type: ---


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description mingos.nospam 2011-12-20 17:34:29 UTC
Description of problem:
Some Toshiba laptops, among them my Satellite A500-1EE PSAR9E, have led-illuminated media buttons. They are touch-sensitive areas on the laptop's casing and are hard to distinguish when not illuminated. Since Toshiba only supports Windows, the tool for illuminating the buttons is only available on that platform.

The laptops have a "LED illumination" setting in BIOS. If turned on, the illumination is indeed on all the way from pressing the laptop's power button up to when the bootloader appears. But as soon as Linux kernel starts loading, the illumination is gone.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Tested on Fedora 16, but presumed any Linux distro and any version will be affected.

How reproducible:
Just start the OS (doesn't matter whether it's 32 or 64 bit; also affects other Linux distros - tested on Ubuntu Oneiric 32 bit).

Steps to Reproduce:
1. get a Toshiba laptop with LED-illuminated media buttons
2. power on
3. weep
  
Actual results:
The LED illumination is gone as soon as Linux kernel starts loading and never comes back.

Expected results:
The media buttons are illuminated at least as soon as the OS is fully booted, if not all the time.

Additional info:
I have posted an issue regarding this matter on Toshiba Europe support forums: http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=255414

One of the respondents mentions a tool tailored by Toshiba specifically for handling the LED illumination of the media buttons. Linux (in general) lacks such a tool due to Toshiba's lack of support for Linux operating systems.

Also was asked to file a bug report here at ask.fedora.org: http://ask.fedoraproject.org/question/705/media-keys-not-highlighted

Comment 1 Dave Jones 2012-03-22 16:46:30 UTC
[mass update]
kernel-3.3.0-4.fc16 has been pushed to the Fedora 16 stable repository.
Please retest with this update.

Comment 2 Dave Jones 2012-03-22 16:51:09 UTC
[mass update]
kernel-3.3.0-4.fc16 has been pushed to the Fedora 16 stable repository.
Please retest with this update.

Comment 3 Dave Jones 2012-03-22 17:01:21 UTC
[mass update]
kernel-3.3.0-4.fc16 has been pushed to the Fedora 16 stable repository.
Please retest with this update.

Comment 4 mingos.nospam 2012-03-22 17:59:02 UTC
Unfortunately, the kernel update does not fix the issue.

Comment 5 Dave Jones 2012-10-23 15:34:22 UTC
# Mass update to all open bugs.

Kernel 3.6.2-1.fc16 has just been pushed to updates.
This update is a significant rebase from the previous version.

Please retest with this kernel, and let us know if your problem has been fixed.

In the event that you have upgraded to a newer release and the bug you reported
is still present, please change the version field to the newest release you have
encountered the issue with.  Before doing so, please ensure you are testing the
latest kernel update in that release and attach any new and relevant information
you may have gathered.

If you are not the original bug reporter and you still experience this bug,
please file a new report, as it is possible that you may be seeing a
different problem. 
(Please don't clone this bug, a fresh bug referencing this bug in the comment is sufficient).

Comment 6 Justin M. Forbes 2012-11-14 15:24:00 UTC
With no response, we are closing this bug under the assumption that it is no longer an issue. If you still experience this bug, please feel free to reopen the bug report.

Comment 7 Nicolas Korten 2013-04-23 12:49:15 UTC
Im experiencing exactly the same bug on 3.8.6-203.fc18.i686.PAE kernel version

Comment 8 Solomon Sunder 2014-03-10 11:38:31 UTC
I have the same issue on a a Toshiba Qosmio F60

I am unable to toggle wireless on/off, mute/unmute, play/pause using Front operation panel LED keys on my Toshiba Qosmio F60. Currently I need to enable WiFi/Bluetooth from Windows for it to work. Fn+F8 toggle works as soft block/unblock only if I have already enabled WiFi under Windows. Any ideas as how this can be done? The only LED Touch button that works under Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora is the Volume Up/Down button. Touchpad on/off toggle does not work with physical button or Fn+F9 either. Other Fn+ keys work eg., Fn+Esc for mute/unmute, Fn+F1 for lock etc.

These problems seems related to Direct App Launch Button which probably can be solved in Linux by quickstart http://quickstart.sourceforge.net/
I had raised a thread in Ubuntu, Debian forums as well
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2150307
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1089

The buttons look like this http://www.manualslib.com/manual/180150/Toshiba-Qosmio-F60.html?page=159#manual


Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.