Acer Swift 3 (SF314-42-R7S8) brightness key input delay

Hello all!

I bought the Acer Swift 3 (SF314-42-R7S8) some time ago. The only problem I have with it has to do with the brightness keys:

Whenever I try to change the screen brightness with the brightness keys (F3 / F4), there is a 1 or 2 second delay (it varies noticeably) from me pressing the key to any input being registered.

This happens on Windows 10, Windows 11, and several Linux distributions, ever since I first got the laptop directly from a trusted retailer (POWER.DK).

I am currently on a fully updated Windows 11. My UEFI firmware version is 1.10, which, as of writing this, is the latest version for my laptop. I have also updated the AMD microcode and graphics drivers.

Switching from "media key" to "function key" in the UEFI "function key behavior" settings does not solve the problem.

This leads me to believe that this is either a hardware issue or an issue in the UEFI settings; however, I cannot access the "advanced" UEFI settings on my laptop (I can only access the the super basic settings), even after following various guides for how to do access the advanced settings on this laptop model.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem?
If not, then how can I access the "advanced" UEFI configuration settings to try to fix the problem on my own?

Comments

billsey

All media keys use a keyboard driver handler that then launches an app to do the actual task. My guess is that process is either a slow load due to it's size or is set with a low priority allowing other tasks to preempt it.

kirmgrauza

Setting brightness level via media keys has a delay on a lot of laptops. It's not 2 sec, not even 1 sec, but you can feel the delay. Casual thing.

freddylist

kirmgrauza said:

Setting brightness level via media keys has a delay on a lot of laptops. It's not 2 sec, not even 1 sec, but you can feel the delay. Casual thing.

Yes, but in my case it is an annoying amount of time. If I plug in an external keyboard, for example, there is no noticeable delay.

Commodore_1995#

Does the same problem occur when you enable safe boot in msconfig and then restart windows?

freddylist

egydiocoelho said:

Does the same problem occur when you enable safe boot in msconfig and then restart windows?

The brightness keys do not do anything in safe mode! The volume control keys still work though.

AnhEZ28

@freddylist download new AMD GPU driver here: https://www.amd.com/en/support/apu/amd-ryzen-processors/amd-ryzen-7-mobile-processors-radeon-graphics/amd-ryzen-7-4700u
Make sure to check the option factory reset the GPU setting when installing the driver.

freddylist

AnhEZ28 said:

@freddylist download new AMD GPU driver here: https://www.amd.com/en/support/apu/amd-ryzen-processors/amd-ryzen-7-mobile-processors-radeon-graphics/amd-ryzen-7-4700u
Make sure to check the option factory reset the GPU setting when installing the driver.

Thank you for the suggestion!

I downloaded, installed, and tried both the very latest drivers as well as the WHQL drivers, all with the factory reset option ticked. Unfortunately, the problem was not resolved. This must mean the issue is related to the keyboard rather than the graphics, no?

Commodore_1995#

Try disabling all background services:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/vg/8pjqzhtmih36.png

Then check the delay on the glow keys continue!

billsey

The app that actually controls the brightness would be shut down after the keypress, and reloaded with the next press. What does it do if you press and hold the key?

freddylist

egydiocoelho said:

Try disabling all background services:

I disabled all services in msconfig and rebooted. When I press the brightness keys in this state, they do nothing. So, through some trial and error, I found that the service responsible for controlling the backlight is the "power" service. When I disable all services except for this "power" service and reboot, the issue still persists!

billsey said:

The app that actually controls the brightness would be shut down after the keypress, and reloaded with the next press. What does it do if you press and hold the key?

If I press and hold the brightness up/down keys, the brightness increases/decreases respectively at inconsistent time intervals, still with the same amount of delay between each level as when I only press the key once, and sometimes the brightness jumps a few more/less levels than other times. The same happens if I repeatedly press the brightness keys as fast as I can. Notably, it doesn't seem that keypresses are queued or whatever, e.g. if I press the brightness up/down key 5 times in the span of 1 second, the brightness will only change by 1 level. Also, regarding what I said above, you are probably right in the program that controls the brightness is slowed somehow. How can I fix this?

freddylist

billsey said:

All media keys use a keyboard driver handler that then launches an app to do the actual task. My guess is that process is either a slow load due to it's size or is set with a low priority allowing other tasks to preempt it.

Hello, thank you for the reply

Your reply makes me think that you believe that only the first press of the brightness keys is delayed, after which (when this supposed application is running) the brightness keys behave like normal. This is not the case. The actual input registration of the brightness keys is delayed by 1-2 seconds every time I press them, and I cannot verify the existence of this application that should control the backlight / media keys.

Moreover, it is not just the brightness change in my screen that is delayed, but the actual registration of the input that is delayed. For example, visiting whatkeyamipressing.com reveals that every key on my keyboard has instant feedback, except for the 2 brightness keys*. All other media keys also have instant feedback.

*Actually, the brightness up/down keys are not registered at all on whatkeyamipressing.com when running Windows 11, but when I was running Linux and trying to fix this problem, setting the "acpi_backlight" kernel parameter to anything but "vendor" (in other words, using non-vendor-provided drivers for controlling the backlight, I think) allowed the website to register the brightness keys, which indeed had a delay.

P.S. here is the link to the support page for my laptop model. I forgot to put it in the original post.

Commodore_1995#

When you just press the f3 and f4 keys, on that site, is the response immediate? https://www.keyboardtester.com/tester.html

freddylist

egydiocoelho said:

When you just press the f3 and f4 keys, on that site, is the response immediate? https://www.keyboardtester.com/tester.html

Yes, when I press the F3 and F4 keys on that website (with Fn + F3/F4, and also when function key behavior set to "function key" in the UEFI settings), the response is immediate.

Commodore_1995#

So the problem only occurs when the MEDIA KEY function is enabled in the bios?

freddylist

egydiocoelho said:

So the problem only occurs when the MEDIA KEY function is enabled in the bios?

The problem occurs no matter what settings I use in UEFI. Also, resetting the UEFI options back to their factory defaults does not fix the issue.

freddylist

It seems that this problem has no easy solution. If I ever stumble into a solution, I will try to remember to post it here.

Commodore_1995#

Did this problem start after updating the bios to version 1.10?

freddylist

egydiocoelho said:

Did this problem start after updating the bios to version 1.10?

I have had this problem since the purchase of the laptop. The problem has persisted across multiple Windows 10/11 reinstalls as well as several Linux installs.

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