FrameworkComputer/SoftwareFirmwareIssueTracker

keyboard backlight randomly turning on/flashing issue AMD AI 300 BIOS 3.04 BETA

Opened this issue · 7 comments

Device Information

System Model or SKU

Framework 13 AMD AI 9 HX 370

Please select one of the following

  • Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

BIOS VERSION

Please provide the bios version.
AI 300 BIOS 3.04 Beta

DIY Edition information

If you are experiencing an issue on a DIY system, Please also fill out the memory and storage devices you are using.

Memory: Manufacture and SKU Crucial 2X24GB RAM
Storage: Manufacture and SKU Samsung 980 pro 1TB

Port/Peripheral information

N/A

Standalone Operation

Are you running your mainboard as a standalone device. Is standalone mode enabled in the BIOS?

  • Yes
  • No

Describe the bug

When working in low light, if i turn off the keyboard backlight, it will randomly re-enable at full brightness. This happens quite frequently. I turn off the backlight and it'll after a brief period turn back on again.

If i set the keyboard to the dimmest backlight setting, they symptom remains, however now exhibits itself as a quick flash bright, and then it returns to the dim setting i put it on.

Steps To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:
in a dim room, turn the keyboard backlight off.
Just use the computer for a little bit
after a brief period the backlight will randomly turn itself back on.

Expected behavior

the keyboard backlight setting to remain as i set it.

Screenshots

If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Operating System (please complete the following information):

Linux fedora 6.15.5-200.fc42.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sun Jul 6 09:16:17 UTC 2025 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Additional context

Add any other context about the problem here.

Another observation, i was controlling the keyboard brightness by using the function key and space bar. Today i noticed that this control doesn't seem connected to fedora 42 workstations built in control to toggle or set the keyboard backlighting. If I have the keyboard backlight set to on, in fedora's control center, and toggle the keyboard backlight settings using the function+spacebar keys, the settings in the fedora's control center does not change.

I will play around more with this later to see if i turn off the keyboard backlight from fedora's settings, if the issue persists. My suspicion now is the symptom i'm seeing is the bios and fedora battling for control of the keyboard backlight.

side question... how do you get beta builds of bios? google searching for framework bios beta doesn't turn up any opt in threads or anything like that

There are five levels for the keyboard backlight: low, medium, high, auto, and off. To check if the backlight is correctly turned off, press "FN + Space." If it's in auto mode, the backlight will first turn off if there is light in your environment. Press "FN + Space" again to completely turn off the LEDs.

Not sure if this helps, but I'm on an FW16 and have had intermittent backlight issues for about 6+ months since the most recent bios updates.

Not sure if this helps, but I'm on an FW16 and have had intermittent backlight issues for about 6+ months since the most recent bios updates.

FW16 keyboard and backlight works completely differently. Please open a new issue and describe what you're seeing.
We're coming out with new keyboard and BIOS soon for Framework 16 to resolve some issues.

side question... how do you get beta builds of bios? google searching for framework bios beta doesn't turn up any opt in threads or anything like that

We announce them on the forum. This one is here: https://community.frame.work/t/framework-laptop-13-ryzen-ai-300-bios-3-04-release-stable/71934

Beta usually just means early access. Unless we find critical issues, it will just be renamed to stable later on.

I have this exact same issue and its actually quite annoying.