CentOS - Oct 2019 - Keyboard backlight fails with recent kernels

I do not use my laptop often, normally my better half has possession and 
use of it.

It is a late 2011 ASUS ROG G73S which performs very well.

The keyboard backlight was an issue initially under CentOS6, but the 
kind folks at elrepo found the missing bits in a more recent kernel and 
created a package to add them to the older CentOS6 kernel.

An upgrade to CentOS7 went without a hitch and the keyboard lighting has 
worked fine.

Recently I sat infront of the machine and couldn't see the keys - no 
backlight.

A number of reboots later I have found that the latest kernel that I 
have on the machine, that works okay is 3.10.0-862.14.4.el7.x86_64

3.10.0-957.21.2.el7 and 3.10.0-957.27.2.el7 both fail to load/activate 
the driver for the keyboard.

Would someone with the requisite knowledge please advise what I need to do.

Is this a case for using the CentOSplus kernel or do I need to find and 
load a driver or two? or do I need to request the elrepo folk to make a 
suitable package.

Thanks
Rob

On 10/3/19 10:24 PM, Rob Kampen wrote:
> I do not use my laptop often, normally my better half has possession and
> use of it.
> 
> It is a late 2011 ASUS ROG G73S which performs very well.
> 
> The keyboard backlight was an issue initially under CentOS6, but the
> kind folks at elrepo found the missing bits in a more recent kernel and
> created a package to add them to the older CentOS6 kernel.
> 
> An upgrade to CentOS7 went without a hitch and the keyboard lighting has
> worked fine.
> 
> Recently I sat infront of the machine and couldn't see the keys - no
> backlight.
> 
> A number of reboots later I have found that the latest kernel that I
> have on the machine, that works okay is 3.10.0-862.14.4.el7.x86_64
> 
> 3.10.0-957.21.2.el7 and 3.10.0-957.27.2.el7 both fail to load/activate
> the driver for the keyboard.
> 
> Would someone with the requisite knowledge please advise what I need to do.
> 
> Is this a case for using the CentOSplus kernel or do I need to find and
> load a driver or two? or do I need to request the elrepo folk to make a
> suitable package.
> 
I propose following:
Install and test with latest centosplus kernel (I use them exclusively
because all drivers are enabled and some stuff is added/enabled that
RHEL disables for speed since they do not not need them).

After you test centosplus kernel, not matter the outcome, file a bug
report with all the details at https://bugs.centos.org so devs can
triage the problem.



> Thanks
> Rob
> 
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> CentOS at centos.org
> https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
> 

-- 
Ljubomir Ljubojevic
(Love is in the Air)
PL Computers
Serbia, Europe

StarOS, Mikrotik and CentOS/RHEL/Linux consultant