Thinkpads Forum

Hi i have an x200s that i bought ex corporate online & unfortunately the keyboard light does not work.
The guy i got it from has a few more all identical & i asked him to test them & the keyboard lights apparently do not function on any of them. He said he was not even aware they had lights as they were never used in the office & the only reason he could think they do not function is that he has updated the bios before selling on.
Only other possible reason was perhaps if the lights were factory disabled, which i doubt but you never know?

I do not like messing with bios and never upgrade or alter them myself unless i have to, in part due to making an old 570 unstable many years ago after upgrading.
However i really miss the light & would like some suggestions if it is possible to get it functioning by either downgrading the bios or some other means? The bios versions are 3.22
If anyone can give me tips how to do so it would be appreciated
Thanks

BIOS updates should not have disabled the light. More likely, there is something wrong with the LCD cable, since it includes the thinklight wires, or the LED is broken.

BIOS may have a config to disable the thinklight, though.

Thanks for the reply I cannot see a setting for the light in bios.
I understand updating the bios shouldnt disable it but after a quick search i see it may have happened before.
it a may be a cable issue but with his other machines being the same (non working lights) i was thinking it was pretty unlikely? Maybe i have just been lucky but never had a non working light before on many Thinkpads that i have had for myself or friends & family. I use the light quite a lot so miss it .

Thinklight on my X200s with 32-bit W7 Pro/SP1 works.

Thanks RBS out of interest what bios version are you running? I am running 7 64 now on most of my machines & have an x200 that the light works on bios 3.20? I dont know if the x200/x200s bios is interchangeable?

I use 3.17/1.06 which has Slic 2.1 added and wifi-whitelist removed.
BIOS was modded by ttav134 who's been modding BIOSes all over the place. Mine came from MDL (MyDigitalLife).
X200/X200s use the same BIOS.

I have a few 200s/201 etc. and have seen a few in corporate use. Its a common thread, the ribbon cable breaks and it doesnt switch on the LED, hard to replace and most people dont bother and further to that, most people DON'T KNOW ITS EVEN THERE, so they're not used, tested or fixed.

This seems to be common in this age of X. However all my T400 series, from 61 to 420 dont have this issue.

Granted its not a big deal, I mean I love the Thinklight but if its broken, its not a dealbreaker and thats to someone like me who knows its there and finds it useful. To the normal guy, nah.