RGB keyboard back light turns off when Ubuntu boots (MR X6Ti)

Question

I have a laptop custom called a TRACER II built by a company called CyberPowerPC. As I understand it they are just a rebranded version of MR XTi Laptop by MechRevo.

My laptop is dual-boot. In Windows there is an application to control the RGB keyboard and all is fine. As soon as you boot into the Linux side, the back light turns off and I am unable to get it to turn back on.

Tried all the xset led etc. None of them work. The keyboard shortcut doesn't work.

$ sudo hwinfo --short
cpu: 

                       Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, 3404 MHz
                       Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, 3409 MHz
                       Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, 3608 MHz
                       Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, 3400 MHz
                       Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, 3404 MHz
                       Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, 3412 MHz
                       Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, 3650 MHz
                       Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, 3471 MHz

keyboard:
  /dev/input/event7    Trust 2.4G Speed Mouse
                       Integrated Technology Express ITE Device(8291)
  /dev/input/event4    AT Translated Set 2 keyboard

mouse:
  /dev/input/mice      Trust 2.4G Speed Mouse
  /dev/input/mice      SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad

monitor:
                       LM156LF1L02

graphics card:
                       Intel VGA compatible controller
                       nVidia GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile]

sound:
                       Intel Audio device

storage:
                       Samsung Electronics NVMe SSD Controller SM961/PM961
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H SATA Controller [AHCI mode]

network:
  wlp3s0               Intel WLAN controller
  enp2s0               Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit 
Ethernet Controller
network interface:
  lo                   Loopback network interface
  vmnet1               Ethernet network interface
  wlp3s0               Ethernet network interface
  vmnet8               Ethernet network interface
  enp2s0               Ethernet network interface

disk:
  /dev/sda             M4-CT128M4SSD2
  /dev/nvme0n1         Samsung Electronics NVMe SSD Controller SM961/PM961

partition:
  /dev/sda1            Partition
  /dev/sda2            Partition
  /dev/nvme0n1p1       Partition
  /dev/nvme0n1p2       Partition
  /dev/nvme0n1p3       Partition
  /dev/nvme0n1p4       Partition
  /dev/nvme0n1p5       Partition

usb controller:
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller

bios:
                       BIOS

bridge:
                       Intel Host bridge
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #13
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #5
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #4
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller
                       Intel Skylake PCIe Controller (x16)

hub:
                       Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
                       Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

memory:
                       Main Memory

bluetooth:
                       Intel Bluetooth Device

unknown:
                       FPU
                       DMA controller
                       PIC
                       Keyboard controller
                       PS/2 Controller
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H SMBus
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H PMC
                       Intel Skylake Gaussian Mixture Model
                       Intel Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1
                       Acer HD Webcam
                       Integrated Technology Express ITE Device(8291)

56: PS/2 00.0: 10800 Keyboard
  [Created at input.226]
  Unique ID: c3zD.+49ps10DtUF
  Hardware Class: keyboard
  Model: "AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
  Vendor: 0x0001 
  Device: 0x0001 "AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
  Compatible to: int 0x0211 0x0001
  Device File: /dev/input/event4
  Device Files: /dev/input/event4, /dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-0-event-kbd
  Device Number: char 13:68
  Driver Info #0:
    XkbRules: xfree86
    XkbModel: pc104
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

When I press the back light button Fn+F7 I get this error in dmesg:

[ 1120.866597] atkbd serio0: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xf8 on isa0060/serio0).
[ 1120.866599] atkbd serio0: Use 'setkeycodes e078 <keycode>' to make it known.
[ 1122.403795] atkbd serio0: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xf8 on isa0060/serio0).
[ 1122.403798] atkbd serio0: Use 'setkeycodes e078 <keycode>' to make it known.

Hi wifiuk! Welcome to askUbuntu! You should contact MechRevo for available linux/ubuntu drivers. You have to identify which chip they are using for your keyboard backlight. And then you have to search if a driver is available. To identify I suggest to install hwinfo, and then make a list of hw it finds. Post the output of the last comand into your question. Open terminal sudo apt install hwinfo , and then sudo hwinfo --short — abu_bua, Jul 13 '18 at 17:28
@K7AAY: The underlying chipset is likely included in other devices even if the controlling Windows application is branded with by the laptop assembling company. Also, since when is rare hardware off topic on Ask Ubuntu? — David Foerster, Jul 14 '18 at 11:00
MechRevo are Chinese, and i cant find a reliable contact. there is a Chinese user support forum but that's it. i'll run the command and see — wifiuk, Jul 14 '18 at 17:38
I still am unable to get this to work, does anyone have any ideas? — wifiuk, Aug 02 '18 at 09:48
im really stuck on what to do to get this working, any advice a all would be really helpfull — wifiuk, Sep 08 '18 at 19:00
hey, whats the name of the windows app that you said works? could you possibly post link to it? btw, the answer down below DOES work. the device that man of these off branded laptops have in them are the same, and seem to work under the project that the guy down below has started. happy hacking! — DPS, Nov 05 '19 at 09:03
yeah it was located here http://www.mechrevo.com/plus/search.php?keyword=MR%20X6Ti-S&kwtype=0&searchtype=title&typeid=25&exact=1
when google translated this is the link for the zip file http://driver.tongfangpc.com/d.mechrevo.com/driver/MyAPP_1.4.2.1_MECHREVO.zip — wifiuk, Nov 13 '19 at 19:54
If the device driver for your keyboard is working properly, then at /sys/class/leds/ there's a folder named maker::kbd_backlight (replace maker by the name of your keyboard's manufacturer) and in such folder there's a brightness file that can receive brightness control inputs through the shell. Check this answer for more info. — Yuri Sucupira, Jun 24 '22 at 05:56

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 27 '19 at 03:22

2

I'm developing a open-source project to control rgb backlit keyboards from a Brazilian company called Avell, which uses this same ITE 8291 device, so I'm pretty sure it's going to solve your problem. Below is the project link and some usage instructions:

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/rodgomesc/avell-unofficial-control-center.git

Go to the project folder, revert for this day commit and install requirements.txt (if you don't have python3-pip installed, run the command sudo apt install python3-pip first):

cd avell-unofficial-control-center && git checkout ed05cbbd6a8c616257001b987b6e96ea3b8bf0d6 && sudo -H pip3 install -r requirements.txt

All commands to handle main.py need root permissions (you may use sudo).

Colors available are: red, green, blue, teal, pink, yellow, orange and white.

sudo python main.py -c green -b 4

If you want to disable the LEDs:

sudo python main.py -d

The result:

Keyboard RGB Green

Happy hacking :)

edited May 27 '19 at 03:22

Zanna

70,465

answered May 26 '19 at 19:52

rodgomesc

51

sadly this didn't work for me – wifiuk Nov 06 '19 at 10:08
@wifiuk, go to project page and call me gitter chat – rodgomesc Nov 07 '19 at 18:44
sadly i seem to have board revision number v0.01 and this requires a more recent version? – wifiuk Jan 20 '20 at 13:00
The Project StarBeat, does work ish, but only the animated clours. not a single colour or more custom control. – wifiuk Jan 20 '20 at 13:25

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 14 '21 at 16:03

"ITE 8291 device" is the key, thanks to @rodgomesc.

If the tool Avell dosen't work for you, you can try the tool python-ite8291r3-ctl —— a userspace driver for the ITE 8291 (rev 0.03) RGB keyboard backlight controller. I'm using Mechrevo Z2, and it basically works better than it does on Windows.

Check the compatibility with lsusb -d 048d:, the result should expected to look like:

001 Device 004: ID 048d:ce00 Integrated Technology Express, Inc. ITE Device(8291)
Install with pip
```
pip install ite8291r3-ctl
```
Alternatively, you can intall it with AUR if you use an Arch based distro.
```
yay -S python-ite8291r3-ctl
```
Allow accessing to the USB device by editing /etc/udev/rules.d/99-ite8291.rules, or use sudo for the next commands.
```
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="048d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ce00", MODE:="0666"
```

Usage

Test
```
ite8291r3-ctl test-pattern
```
Change the brightness (1-50), (not work directly on my machine)
```
ite8291r3-ctl brightness 33
```
Turn off
```
ite8291r3-ctl off
```

Change effect ite8291r3-ctl effect <effect name> [properties]..

ite8291r3-ctl effect wave -s 0 -d up
// enable 'wave' effect with speed 0 (fastest) and bottom-up direction
ite8291r3-ctl effect rainbow -b 50
// enable rainbow effect with brightness 50 (max)
ite8291r3-ctl effect aurora -s 2 -c red -r
// enable reactive 'aurora' effect with speed 2 and color red

effect	-b, --brightness	-s, --speed	-c, --color	-d, --direction	-r, --reactive
breathing	yes	yes	yes	-	-
wave	yes	yes	-	yes	-
random	yes	yes	yes	-	yes
rainbow	yes	-	-	-	-
ripple	yes	yes	yes	-	yes
marquee	yes	yes	-	-	-
raindrop	yes	yes	yes	-	-
aurora	yes	yes	yes	-	yes
fireworks	yes	yes	yes	-	yes

property	possible values	default
speed	fastest-> slowest: 0-10	5
brightness	none-> brightest: 0-50	25
color	none, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, teal, purple, random	random
direction	left, right, up, down	left
reactive	-	no

RGB keyboard back light turns off when Ubuntu boots (MR X6Ti)

2 Answers2