Helios 500 Keyboard backlight colour problem G9-793

HAL_9007

I think we can all agree, the problem increase gradually, so its not caused by single moment in time like bugged Windows update and Predator Sense update (I also uninstalled it and deleted profile files) or any other software.

I belive, It's also not hardware problem in terms of something being damaged cause all colors are there. Besides Username3 took his Helios to service and same thing happened again.

I agree, this problem is related to poor LED quality. Many people just dont use keyboard backlight, some use different colors and some just don't realise difference in color because color changes over months. Probably many owners of Helios 500 have this problem

Username3

So what can we do? I bought a very expensive gaming notebook, that doesn't work perfectly. Should I be happy that the other functions of the notebook work yet? I can verify that the keyboard backlight is not working perfectly, but Acer can't verify that they fixed it. Anyway I think I take it to the service center again...and again...

GunYari

I have the same problem. Keyboard color is not blue. keyboard itself is more green. This is green!!!!!!!   I hate green.QAQ
I do not know what to do
I have to go to the Acer to replacement the keyboard and update bios,but nothing changed. still the same
I do not installed predator sense on my system.
NOT hardware and software problem. I don't know. QAQ

GunYari

Username3 said:

So what can we do? I bought a very expensive gaming notebook, that doesn't work perfectly. Should I be happy that the other functions of the notebook work yet? I can verify that the keyboard backlight is not working perfectly, but Acer can't verify that they fixed it. Anyway I think I take it to the service center again...and again...

HAL_9007 said:

I think we can all agree, the problem increase gradually, so its not caused by single moment in time like bugged Windows update and Predator Sense update (I also uninstalled it and deleted profile files) or any other software.

I belive, It's also not hardware problem in terms of something being damaged cause all colors are there. Besides Username3 took his Helios to service and same thing happened again.

I agree, this problem is related to poor LED quality. Many people just dont use keyboard backlight, some use different colors and some just don't realise difference in color because color changes over months. Probably many owners of Helios 500 have this problem

Is your keyboard okay? Still green color?

 I have go to Acer to replacement the keyboard and update bios,but nothing changed.

Not hardware and software problem. I don't know. QAQ 

Maybe the LED quality is not good.because color changes over months.

At the end, all turned green. Not blue... =_=

Firewalker

Same problem here... I'm curious about the real cause... but at the same time... it's cosmetic... the performance itself is still top notch

HAL_9007

GunYari said:

Username3 said:

So what can we do? I bought a very expensive gaming notebook, that doesn't work perfectly. Should I be happy that the other functions of the notebook work yet? I can verify that the keyboard backlight is not working perfectly, but Acer can't verify that they fixed it. Anyway I think I take it to the service center again...and again...

HAL_9007 said:

I think we can all agree, the problem increase gradually, so its not caused by single moment in time like bugged Windows update and Predator Sense update (I also uninstalled it and deleted profile files) or any other software.

I belive, It's also not hardware problem in terms of something being damaged cause all colors are there. Besides Username3 took his Helios to service and same thing happened again.

I agree, this problem is related to poor LED quality. Many people just dont use keyboard backlight, some use different colors and some just don't realise difference in color because color changes over months. Probably many owners of Helios 500 have this problem

Is your keyboard okay? Still green color?

 I have go to Acer to replacement the keyboard and update bios,but nothing changed.

Not hardware and software problem. I don't know. QAQ 

Maybe the LED quality is not good.because color changes over months.

At the end, all turned green. Not blue... =_=

Outside of colour problem, keyboard is completely functional. I was thinking about sending laptop to service center but vision of potential time needed for reinstalling windows and all my programs held me back. Now I see there is no point sending it to service as there is no real answer to this problem from Acer. I really belive they used keyboards with low quality LEDs. I wonder if its possible to force Acer to start replacing keyboards with new keyboards but with different model LEDs.

NiteNinja

Usually you can get 3rd party replacement keyboards for laptops but this model doesn't appear to have any that I can find.

And I personally think it's not a LED quality issue, I doubt they would uniformly go bad like that. I feel it's a controller, driver, or software issue.

Razamax

So, yesterday I installed predator sense on my laptop, to try to figure out this color problem. Predator sense displays the same blue color value for both the Macro keys and keyboard. But of course, the keyboard is now greenish.

In fact, even the installation .ini tells predator sense what default colors to install on the four keyboard zones, as well as macro keys, you can find it inside the installation folder of predator sense \plugs\Predator PH517-51\HW_Support.ini

The default colors for both keyboard and macro keys are #009BF0 or RGB(0,155,240). So after the default color is installed on the keyboard, it comes out as greenish, this just does not make any sense to me! There is a clear difference between the blue of the macro/power button and the greenish color of the keyboard. I was able to set a custom color with the value of RGB(0,2,255) by following @HAL_9007 post from earlier, and the resultant color comes out to be pretty close to the blue color of the Macro keys/power button.

So, for some reason the keyboard LEDs think that the RGB(0,2,255) is the same color as the default RGB(0,155,240), this does not make any sense to me.

Of course, the default keyboard color is programmed into either the keyboard firmware or system BIOS, because every time the computer restarts, the green color comes back, until the system boots into windows, then predator sense put it back to the  blue RGB(0,2,255).

But since I had to uninstall predator sense, as I do not like what it does to my audio output, I am stuck with the greenish keyboard, until someone figures out a way to update the keyboard firmware or BIOS with the correct colors.

Username3

I agree with NiteNinja. A took my Helios 500 to the service center again, cause the keyboard replacement didn't solve my the backlight colour mix problem. I hope they will find the real cause at this time.

Razamax

So, I yesterday, after a very long time, I toggled my keyboard off, using the Fn+F9 key, and something very strange happened. At the third cycle in the toggle where it switched from keyboard on to keyboard off to keyboard+track pad on to only track pad on and finally only keyboard on, the LED lights on the keyboard were all blue! I looked at them from every angle and they were the same color blue as the color of the macro keys, the same color blue when I got this laptop from factory.

They stayed blue till I restarted the computer, and then upon restart they turned to the greenish color again. I do not have predator sense installed, so there is no software controlling the colors, except the default command built into the firmware or BIOS.

I tried the above trick again and on the forth cycle, the keyboard LEDs were all blue again! The correct blue color! I have tried this multiple times now and it works randomly after 2-5 toggle cycles. Unfortunately, it only lasts until the computer restarts and then the LEDs go back to green again.

Can someone please confirm this?

~Raza

NiteNinja

Razamax said:

So, I yesterday, after a very long time, I toggled my keyboard off, using the Fn+F9 key, and something very strange happened. At the third cycle in the toggle where it switched from keyboard on to keyboard off to keyboard+track pad on to only track pad on and finally only keyboard on, the LED lights on the keyboard were all blue! I looked at them from every angle and they were the same color blue as the color of the macro keys, the same color blue when I got this laptop from factory.

They stayed blue till I restarted the computer, and then upon restart they turned to the greenish color again. I do not have predator sense installed, so there is no software controlling the colors, except the default command built into the firmware or BIOS.

I tried the above trick again and on the forth cycle, the keyboard LEDs were all blue again! The correct blue color! I have tried this multiple times now and it works randomly after 2-5 toggle cycles. Unfortunately, it only lasts until the computer restarts and then the LEDs go back to green again.

Can someone please confirm this?

~Raza

Unfortunately for me, not the same result. PredatorSense for the AMD model hasn't been updated since July 2018 either. However there was a new BIOS update for it, which didn't fix the keyboard lighting problem, but at least something came out of all this troubleshooting this morning.

BIOS update, nice, but shame the core software is abandonware already. Still better than my GL702ZC that this PC replaced.

Username3

Then Acer should check the BIOS too. I took my H500 to the service center more than a week ago, but still I didn't get any answer about the checking, or cause of the problem.

NiteNinja

Username3 said:

Then Acer should check the BIOS too. I took my H500 to the service center more than a week ago, but still I didn't get any answer about the checking, or cause of the problem.

I think there is a miscommunication between the software and the LED controller. Or the LED controller isn't calibrated correctly. Even with Predator Sense uninstalled, there's still a default value saved, but for some reason the color that the controller thinks is default, and what it's telling the LEDs on the keyboard, aren't lining up. Something software-based is causing the issue because everyone had it perfect out of the box and had their colors change in not a very long time afterwards. I'm wondering if it's a Windows thing too. I haven't tried rolling back to an earlier version to test this theory though.

Razamax

NiteNinja said:

Unfortunately for me, not the same result. PredatorSense for the AMD model hasn't been updated since July 2018 either. However there was a new BIOS update for it, which didn't fix the keyboard lighting problem, but at least something came out of all this troubleshooting this morning.

BIOS update, nice, but shame the core software is abandonware already. Still better than my GL702ZC that this PC replaced.

Sorry, I got extremely busy in work and could not respond earlier.

The good thing that came out from my test is that the problem is fixable and it is not a permanent hardware or LED issue. And it is still working for me. The LED's change to blue if I cycle the keyboard on or off, but only stay blue until the next restart. I hope someone at ACER can trace this bug and fix it. This laptop looks a lot better with blue backlit keyboard, other colors just don't work with it.

NiteNinja

Razamax said:

NiteNinja said:

Unfortunately for me, not the same result. PredatorSense for the AMD model hasn't been updated since July 2018 either. However there was a new BIOS update for it, which didn't fix the keyboard lighting problem, but at least something came out of all this troubleshooting this morning.

BIOS update, nice, but shame the core software is abandonware already. Still better than my GL702ZC that this PC replaced.

Sorry, I got extremely busy in work and could not respond earlier.

The good thing that came out from my test is that the problem is fixable and it is not a permanent hardware or LED issue. And it is still working for me. The LED's change to blue if I cycle the keyboard on or off, but only stay blue until the next restart. I hope someone at ACER can trace this bug and fix it. This laptop looks a lot better with blue backlit keyboard, other colors just don't work with it.

Indeed, if the other LEDs like the power button, track pad, and the macros could be changed, then it would make sense to have other colors, but not having the Acer blue in the keyboard makes a weird zone between the track pad and the power button/macro keys. Plus the keyboard seems dimmer too, does it brighten up with your keyboard lighting cycling fix?

Razamax

NiteNinja said:

.....Plus the keyboard seems dimmer too, does it brighten up with your keyboard lighting cycling fix?

No, the keyboard's brightness stays the same, but it was a little less bright than the macro/power/track pad right out of the box, so I assume this is how it was designed from the factory. And to be frankly honest, I do not mind the brightness at all.

Username3

So I bought my laptop to the service center the second time. They told the backlight colour problem isn't a real problem. The laptop cannot make darker colours except a few, the laptop has a very big limit in colour mixing. Hmm.. so is this possible that the helios 500's RGB feature is a false information??? This is a very strange answer from the service center to me.

Firewalker

Very strange indeed... I wouldn't accept such an explanation.

NiteNinja

Username3 said:

So I bought my laptop to the service center the second time. They told the backlight colour problem isn't a real problem. The laptop cannot make darker colours except a few, the laptop has a very big limit in colour mixing. Hmm.. so is this possible that the helios 500's RGB feature is a false information??? This is a very strange answer from the service center to me.

I think they're full of manure. Everyone here has said that out of the box, the RGB worked perfectly fine. But as time went on, the color changed to that off-colored teal green when it's supposed to be Acer blue, and that the rest of the RGB spectrum was off as well. I remember the first week of using mine, I played with all the colors and they seemed accurate. Like I made a red white and blue patriotic theme with the zones. Well now I can't get that anymore, it's like orange, yellow and teal. It's off, big time. Something is happening, whether it's an update or what, that causes something between the computer and the keyboard to cause the wrong colors.

Username3

and if this isn't a problem, why are they replaced my keyboard at the first time?! Why is the dark blue work (with 0.1.255 RGB code)?!