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    Touch Button Disappearance!

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by LadyArsenic, Aug 15, 2009.

  1. LadyArsenic

    LadyArsenic Newbie

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    The fancy touch buttons which control wireless on/off and media functions have disappeared on my shiny new Dell Studio XPS 16. They are supposed to be backlit but the lights have gone off (nowhere else - just the touch buttons).

    Because they are so very schmick and sleek, without the lighting behind them, there is not even the vaguest hint of where they should be.

    I have done the following:

    (Obviously) hard- and soft-rebooted my computer.
    Played with the brightness settings.
    Toggled the keyboard lighting settings.
    Touched the area where the touch buttons should be (they still seem to work, as I can disable my wireless which is always useful...).
    Googled the problem.
    Emailed Dell suppport.
    Asked my nerdy friends for help.
    Checked the manual.

    I did retrofit XP to the computer as soon as I got it (Vista was running like crap), but I have installed all the necessary drivers (I think!) and the touch buttons have been lit since then and have only stopped lighting up in the last couple of days.

    If anyone could offer me some advice, or if anyone else is having a similar problem, please, please let me know.

    Cheers,

    Lady Arsenic
     
    LadyArsenic, Aug 15, 2009
    #1
  2. cooljerk_dv

    cooljerk_dv Notebook Geek

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    i bet on of the cables inside came loose, and you lost your backlighting due to that.

    if you feel comfortable taking apart the machine, that might be an easy fix.

    I had that problem with my keyboard backlighting, cable was a tad loose.
     
    cooljerk_dv, Aug 16, 2009
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  3. LadyArsenic

    LadyArsenic Newbie

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    Okay, I found some other people on another forum who had the same problem (or a similar one) and they found the following helped:

    - turn off the laptop
    - unplug the power supply cable
    - remove the battery
    - replace the battery
    - plug in the power supply
    - hold down the power button for 30 seconds

    I followed these instructions and yes, the little lights ran through their power-up sequence and then stayed on. Hurrah! Problem solved.

    I do find it a bit disappointing that there is even a problem to be solved with the touch buttons - Dell is big enough and ugly enough to not have such silly hardware issues, especially on one of their flagship lines.

    And now, back to baking muffins.
     
    LadyArsenic, Aug 16, 2009
    #3