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maki57
Asked: 2019-05-13 21:11:28 +0800 CST

How to fix Thinkpad FnLock LED behavior?

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On my A485 running 18.04, I noticed that when I press Fn+Esc, it correctly sets the alternate function key behavior but the FnLock indicator LED on the Esc key doesn't turn on. How can I set the FnLock LED to light up on Fn+Esc?

I noticed the intended behavior when enabling the BIOS setting for "Fn Sticky keys", in which the LED correctly turns on when it should.

I tried acpi_listen, but it doesn't show any events happening when pressing Fn or Fn+Esc (with/without Fn sticky keys), even if it does for the other function keys.

Is there a way to get it to light up without having to use Fn Sticky keys?

keyboard thinkpad acpi function-keys

1 Answers

  1. I had the same issue, it was a BIOS problem, resolved by updating to the latest BIOS.

    I'm not sure if Ubuntu automatically handles checking and updating Thinkpad BIOS versions. If not:

    • Check your current bios: sudo dmidecode -t bios -q
    • Search for new BIOS versions here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com (search for product based on model ID > drivers and software > choose firmware/bios update)
    • If there is a newer version available, download the .iso image file
    • Extract the bios.img from the .iso file e.g. using geteltorito (if available on Ubuntu): geteltorito.pl -o bios.img FIRMWAREUPDATER.iso
    • Create bootable image on USB stick: sudo dd if=bios.img of=/dev/SDX
    • Reboot, selecting USB stick as bootable device, then follow bios updater prompts
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