BIOS setting to change keyboard backlight timeout on HP laptop 15t-dy200 fails to keep keyboard lit

[laptop15tdy200]

I just received a brand new HP laptop (model 15t-dy200 without the touchscreen) with a backlit keyboard. Unfortunately the keyboard backlight is configured to timeout after 30 seconds. There is a BIOS setting to change the timeout value to "NEVER" which would keep the backlight from timing out. Unfortunately, changing that BIOS setting fails to change any behavior. Changing it to 3 MINUTES still results in a time out after 30 seconds. Similarly, changing it to NEVER still results in a timeout after 30 seconds.

To resolve this I tried all of the following.

1] updated the OS with all pending updates

2] rebooted multiple times

3] verified that the BIOS has the latest update. It does. It is at version 16 which is the latest BIOS update posted here at HP online.

4] tried to change BIOS settings for the battery to show more data to the OS so that I would see more than just a percentage of the battery life available. This BIOS change also failed to work, similar to the keyboard backlight timeout option.

Obviously, none of this worked. So I contacted Customer Support because the laptop has a 1 year warranty. The response I received is that the laptop is OUT OF WARRANTY coverage because this is likely a software problem. They referred me to a paid software support phone line.

HP seems to be shipping hardware with a buggy BIOS. I wish I 'd not paid the extra for a backlit keyboard because having the timeout makes it pretty useless because I do not need to see it when I'm typing and that plus 30 seconds is the only time that it remains lit. Currently, I am simply leaving the backlight off.  Further, the zero-warranty support from HP for their hardware is disappointing when the warranty is only relevant if it dies, not if it malfunctions.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[pbroussard]

Quick question did you save BIOS settings after you changed keyboard timeout?

[laptop15tdy200]

Yes. I did. I thought the same thing and double checked it multiple times. The changes are definitely saved and after another reboot when I look at the BIOS I see the changes made.

Thank you tons for any help. I just got off the phone with HP Support. They confirmed that HP's 1-year warranty on new laptops DENIES support of a buggy BIOS unless the customer pays to fix it.

[pbroussard]

Have you done a factory reset of BIOS settings then make the changes you want? Default BIOS settings 

[laptop15tdy200]

No. Not yet. Thank you for the link. The BIOS I have does not have the same menu system but the instructions were still helpful. Trying that right now to see if it works.

From the MAIN page I have to select F1 for HELP which says to use F9 to LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS. That's what I did. Everything got reset including the keyboard time and the battery display information to the defaults. Which is how the laptop shipped to me. On reboot the timeout was set to 30 seconds and it did time out at 30 seconds. Similarly the battery information was disabled.

Then I went in and changed the keyboard backlight timeout to 3 minutes for timeout and battery information to be enabled. I made sure I saved those changes and confirmed the save on exiting. When the laptop came up, the battery information showed as a percentage instead of with minutes and the backlight timed out at 30 seconds.

I tried a third time with a reset to defaults and then reset again to a timeout of NEVER and battery information ENABLED and saved the changes. Again the changes were saved -- i rebooted again to confirm this. However, the system behaved as if it was running on the defaults for both the battery information (DISABLED) and the timeout (30 SECONDS).

So bottom line, a reset does not seem to work. Am I missing something?

Thanks again for any help. It's appreciated.

[pbroussard]

Next we need to do a hard reset of the bios. There is a procedure to do this but I can't seem to find it now. I know I've seen it here before. With battery not being convienently accessible it's a little tricky to remove power to clear CMOS settings. It seems your bios is stuck somewhere.

Maybe someone can jump in here with the clear CMOS procedure.

[laptop15tdy200]

Wow that sounds scary. I am game however if someone has a procedure to try this.

Without a procedure however, I am loathe to do anything that HP would see as voiding the HP Warranty such as it is. (Still surprised and disappointed HP's Warranty covers failures, and does not cover malfuctions for brand new hardware.)

[pbroussard]

It's not scary at all. The BIOS keeps all your settings in memory, but can be cleared by removing power to the laptop. It's no more than opening it up like you would to add memory are a bigger ssd.

But hang in there, someone will have the answer soon.

[laptop15tdy200]

Thank you for the help.Very much appreciate everyone on this board trying to fill the gaps for HP Support denying warranty support on a new laptop. I'll continue to watch this thread to see if anyone has fixes for these battery and keyboard malfunctions.

Am unsure at this point if I should keep the hardware. I only have a 30 day window to return (now really like 21 days since receipt and the holidays) and the possibility of future failures/malfunctions which will be similarly denied any HP Warranty coverage during the 1 year they are willing to support hardware failures but NOT hardware malfunctions. If they can deny support on the keyboard and on the battery, what else? We've had 3 other HP laptops and never run into this denial of HP Warranty coverage on brand new hardware. Disappointing. I am holding off transferring any files over until I can fix the keyboard and battery hardware malfunctions caused by the buggy BIOS.

Thanks again.

[pbroussard]

You are quite welcome. Hope you can get it resolved in the next day or two to help you make your decision.