Hello everyone,

I recently installed Arch Linux with Hyprland on my Slimbook Creative. I added the official Slimbook Arch repository and installed the following packages:

libslimbook 1.21.0-1
python-ite8291r3-ctl 0.3.slimbook1-0
python-slimbook 1.21.0-1
slimbook-grub-fix-gpiowake 24.4.1-2
slimbook-meta-common 2.1-2
slimbook-meta-creative 2.1-2
slimbook-qc71-dkms 1.0.1-0
slimbook-quirk-i8042-reset 1.2-0
slimbook-quirk-i8042-wakeup 1.2-0
slimbook-rgb-keyboard 0.6.0-0
slimbook_service 1.0.10-0

The Problem

The physical keyboard backlight control keys do not function at all once the OS boots. This issue occurs both inside Hyprland and directly in the TTY. During the initial system boot phase, the hardware keys work as expected, but they stop responding immediately after the OS takes over.

System State

The following systemd services are active:

• slimbook-service.service (loaded, active, running)

• slimbook-settings.service (loaded, active, exited)

The qc71 kernel module is loaded:

$ lsmod | grep qc71
qc71_laptop            65536  0
sparse_keymap          12288  2 qc71_laptop,asus_wmi
led_class_multicolor   16384  1 qc71_laptop
wmi                    40960  5 video,qc71_laptop,nvidia_wmi_ec_backlight,asus_wmi,wmi_bmof

Observations

1. Brightnessctl: brightnessctl does not detect the RGB keyboard interface. There is no corresponding entry under /sys/class/leds/.

2. Manual Control: The only functional way to change the RGB keyboard state is via the command-line utility ite8291r3-ctl.

3. GUI App: The slimbook-rgb-keyboard application launches, but it displays only a blank modal with no interactive options or text.

It seems the kernel or the Slimbook services are blocking the hardware passthrough of these keys without exposing them properly to the OS layer.

Has anyone encountered this on the Slimbook Creative under Arch? Is there a missing kernel parameter, module option, or udev rule required to map these keys correctly or restore hardware-level control?

Thanks for any help.