Hello everyone.
I am not sure if this was caused by an update to the reform kernel modules or something else, but now, when i power on the MNT Reform it starts with the keyboard brightness off and have to hit the O key and hold F2 to bring it back up.
I was wondering if it is safe to hit the option “Reset Keyboard” on the OLED menu to see if that somehow fixes the issue.
Thanks for reading ^w^
Hmm, I’m only aware of this as a firmware bug on the Pocket Reform Keyboard 2.0, which I recenly fixed (still in beta though). Which keyboard firmware version is your Reform keyboard running?
Not sure where to check the firmware version of the keyboard.
Here is reform-check and a picture of the OLED “System information”
$ sudo reform-check; reform-check
I: Contents of /proc/device-tree/model: MNT Reform 2 with RCORE-DSI RK3588 Module
I: `uname -a` output: Linux luzzy-mnt 7.1.4-mnt-reform-arm64 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 7.1.4-1+reform20260705T102633Z (2026-07-05 aarch64 GNU/Linux
I: Version of linux-image-mnt-reform-arm64: 7.1.4-1+reform20260705T102633Z
I: Version of reform-tools: 1.87-1+reform20260529T225830Z+1
I: Version of system image: System Image v5: 2026-07-06
I: Version of LPC firmware: MREF2LPC 30_R1 2351811
I: Version of upstream U-Boot: 2024.10
I: Version of MNT U-Boot: 2026-01-28
I: probably booting via /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf (/boot/boot.scr also exists)
I: Mount source of /: /dev/reformvg/root (LVM vg 'reformvg' on LUKS device 'reform_crypt' on SSD)
I: Mount source of /boot: /dev/mmcblk0p1 (eMMC)
I: MNT Reform Desktop meta-package is not installed: reform-desktop-full
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: engrampa
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: evince
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: fonts-jetbrains-mono
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: gedit
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: gnome-shell-extension-manager
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: luanti
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: mpv
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: neverball
I: Depends of reform-desktop-full is not installed: thunar
I: the reform-qcacld2 package is only required for wifi on the Pocket Reform with i.MX8MP, you can safely remove it unless you plan to go back to the imx8m+
I: the following files differ from how they are shipped by reform-tools (ignore /var/lib/alsa/asound.state):
??5?????? /usr/share/gdm/dconf/95-mnt-reform-settings
??5?????? /var/lib/alsa/asound.state
I: eMMC contains the latest bootloader version 2026-01-28
I: org.gnome.desktop.interface font-name was changed
I: default value: 'Inter Medium 11'
I: current value: 'Adwaita Sans 11'
I: org.gnome.desktop.interface monospace-font-name was changed
I: default value: 'JetBrains Mono 12'
I: current value: 'AdwaitaMono Nerd Font 11'
I: org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme was changed
I: default value: 'Adwaita'
I: current value: 'adw-gtk3-dark'
I: org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme was changed
I: default value: 'prefer-dark'
I: current value: 'prefer-dark'
I: org.gnome.desktop.background picture-options was changed
I: default value: 'zoom'
I: current value: 'zoom'
I: org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri was changed
I: default value: 'file:///usr/share/backgrounds/mnt-reform-next-y2k.jpg'
I: current value: 'file:///home/mlz/.config/background'
I: org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri-dark was changed
I: default value: 'file:///usr/share/backgrounds/mnt-reform-next-y2k.jpg'
I: current value: 'file:///home/mlz/.config/background'
I: org.gnome.desktop.background primary-color was changed
I: default value: '#000000'
I: current value: '#241f31'
I: org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay was changed
I: default value: 0
I: current value: uint32 600
I: org.gnome.shell favorite-apps was changed
I: default value: ['org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop', 'org.gnome.TextEditor.desktop', 'firefox.desktop', 'org.gnome.Evolution.desktop', 'libreoffice-writer.desktop', 'libreoffice-calc.desktop', 'org.gnome.Ptyxis.desktop', 'org.gnome.Calendar.desktop', 'org.gnome.Weather.desktop', 'org.gnome.Yelp.desktop']
I: current value: ['org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop', 'org.gnome.TextEditor.desktop', 'firefox.desktop', 'org.gnome.Ptyxis.desktop']
I: org.gnome.shell enabled-extensions was changed
I: default value: ['dash-to-dock@micxgx.gmail.com']
I: current value: ['caffeine@patapon.info', 'clipboard-indicator@tudmotu.com', 'hotedge@jonathan.jdoda.ca', 'ddterm@amezin.github.com', 'tilingshell@ferrarodomenico.com', 'blur-my-shell@aunetx', 'syncthing-toggle@rehhouari.github.com', 'ubuntu-appindicators@ubuntu.com', 'just-perfection-desktop@just-perfection']
I: org.gnome.desktop.input-sources xkb-options was changed
I: default value: ['compose:rctrl', 'lv3:ralt_switch']
I: current value: ['compose:rctrl', 'lv3:ralt_switch', 'shift:both_capslock']
N: schema org.gnome.mutter:GNOME does not exist
I: org.gnome.shell.keybindings screenshot was changed
I: default value: ['<Shift><Super>s']
I: current value: ['<Super>s']
I: org.gnome.shell.keybindings show-screenshot-ui was changed
I: default value: ['<Shift><Super>x']
I: current value: ['<Shift><Super>s']
I: org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-applications was changed
I: default value: ['<Super>Tab']
I: current value: ['<Alt>Tab']
I: org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-applications-backward was changed
I: default value: ['<Super><Shift>Tab']
I: current value: ['<Shift><Alt>Tab']
I: org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-group was changed
I: default value: ['<Alt>Tab']
I: current value: ['<Alt>grave']
I: org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-group-backward was changed
I: default value: ['<Alt><Shift>Tab']
I: current value: ['<Shift><Alt>grave']
I: org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout was changed
I: default value: 'appmenu:minimize,maximize,close'
I: current value: 'appmenu:close'
I: the following commands return the respective settings to their defaults
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.interface font-name
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.interface monospace-font-name
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.background picture-options
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri-dark
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.background primary-color
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay
gsettings reset org.gnome.shell favorite-apps
gsettings reset org.gnome.shell enabled-extensions
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.input-sources xkb-options
gsettings reset org.gnome.shell.keybindings screenshot
gsettings reset org.gnome.shell.keybindings show-screenshot-ui
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-applications
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-applications-backward
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-group
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-group-backward
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout
W: local version of ./.config/monitors.xml has modifications:
--- /etc/skel/./.config/monitors.xml 2026-07-06 09:46:59.000000000 +0200
+++ /home/mlz/./.config/monitors.xml 2026-07-31 11:34:11.389288104 +0200
@@ -4,7 +4,29 @@
<logicalmonitor>
<x>0</x>
<y>0</y>
- <scale>2</scale>
+ <scale>1</scale>
+ <primary>yes</primary>
+ <monitor>
+ <monitorspec>
+ <connector>eDP-1</connector>
+ <vendor>IVO</vendor>
+ <product>0x0536</product>
+ <serial>0x00000000</serial>
+ </monitorspec>
+ <mode>
+ <width>1920</width>
+ <height>1080</height>
+ <rate>69.373</rate>
+ </mode>
+ </monitor>
+ </logicalmonitor>
+ </configuration>
+ <configuration>
+ <layoutmode>logical</layoutmode>
+ <logicalmonitor>
+ <x>0</x>
+ <y>0</y>
+ <scale>1</scale>
<primary>yes</primary>
<monitor>
<monitorspec>
I: Running reform-check as the normal user only diffs your current
I: configuration in your $HOME against the contents in /etc/skel.
I: To run a system-wide check, run this script as the root user.
It should always be safe to hit the “reset keyboard” option in the sense that this will not touch any data on your computer but just “restart” the keyboard itself. So you will loose the keyboard for a few moments but it should immediately restart and be back in action.
I’m daily driving an earlier version of the keyboard and not the 4.0 version that you have. But I’ll try to use the 4.0 keyboard for 3 weeks in September and maybe I spot some of the bugs you are running into.
Using the “Reset Keyboard” option from the OLED menu OR pressing the hidden button in the keyboard to reset it OR removing the batteries (the two cables) an connecting them back should fix the issue of the keyboard lights not turning on during power on.
In my case the computer ran out of power (for some strange reason the emergency shutdown didn’t kick in) and that forced me to reset the keyboard and got it fixed.
I will make a separate thread about the fact that it seems like the system stops reading the battery when the value is under 6%. Like, if the battery is at 2% the system will still show 6% which prevents the upower daemon from running its 5% critical battery routines and the emergency action at 2% (which should be an emergency poweroff since this doesn’t support hibernate). I don’t know if this is intended or a bug.