On 3/27/2026 1:18 PM, AJL wrote:

my new toy is a CHUWI MiniBook X-N150. So far it seems to work
well...

One thing that kinda surprised me is that my new LT's Windows setup
process put me directly into a local account. I didn't realize it until
I opened Settings Home and saw 2 ads about how great it would be to sign in/sign up to a MS account. At the moment I can't think of any good
reason to do it. Is there? I do have an MS account in my fake name/email
I could use. (The initials are AJL, don't tell anyone...)

Question 2: I can not find a way to keep the keyboard backlight on.
Fn+F5 toggles between on-dim-bright-off. After about 15 seconds they go
off if unused. I would like them to stay on permanently even if unused.
Anyone know any secret combos I could try?

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Fri, 3/27/2026 10:22 PM, AJL wrote:

On 3/27/2026 1:18 PM, AJL wrote:

my new toy is a CHUWI MiniBook X-N150. So far it seems to work
well...

One thing that kinda surprised me is that my new LT's Windows setup
process put me directly into a local account. I didn't realize it until
I opened Settings Home and saw 2 ads about how great it would be to sign in/sign up to a MS account. At the moment I can't think of any good
reason to do it. Is there? I do have an MS account in my fake name/email
I could use. (The initials are AJL, don't tell anyone...)

Question 2: I can not find a way to keep the keyboard backlight on.
Fn+F5 toggles between on-dim-bright-off. After about 15 seconds they go
off if unused. I would like them to stay on permanently even if unused. Anyone know any secret combos I could try?

There is no solid answer for the Fn+F5 problem.

Nothing works... absolutely.

It seems to be related to ACPI power saving stuff, so
the keyboard backlight goes off in the same way the screen becomes dim
(on battery).

There are apparently three methods for keyboard backlight control,
and the keyboard to my right here, just uses dedicated keys on the keyboard
and has no other controls.

While setting the Power Schema to "Performance" from "Balanced", that
may keep it lit. And if that worked, that would hint that
(eventually) you may find an ACPI registry entry that controls the keyboard.

***************************************

The MSA *may* give you password recovery options, it *may*
record your Bitlocker key for future recovery. It could
give you storage space in OneDrive (a small quantity of
storage space is free). It wants your smartphone details
for recovery procedures and so on. A smartphone user may be
thrilled.

OneDrive cloud storage (5 GB free)

Sync Across All Devices (Preferences, Passwords)
Desktop and Start menu layout, Wi-Fi passwords, Browser favorites (MSEdge)
App settings, Windows Backup integration ("Settings stored in Cloud").

Microsoft Rewards (do Bing searches, earn something)

Whereas with a local account, you can hack the machine
to recover an Administrator Group capability again (if you
erase the Administrator Group account by accident). Always
keep at least one Administrator-level account enabled, so you
can do administrator things. I had one person erase theirs
by accident (presumably "removed wrong account"), and we did
manage to hack in (osk.exe or sethc.exe hack). Some of the hacks may continue to work from Safe Mode, with the result being that an
Administrator Command Prompt opens, and you can set a new password
and so on.

Net User Administrator/Active:yes # then reboot, log in as real "administrator":"" (empty password)

Paul


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 3/27/2026 9:12 PM, Paul wrote:

On Fri, 3/27/2026 10:22 PM, AJL wrote:

On 3/27/2026 1:18 PM, AJL wrote:

my new toy is a CHUWI MiniBook X-N150. So far it seems to work
well...

One thing that kinda surprised me is that my new LT's Windows setup
process put me directly into a local account. I didn't realize it
until I opened Settings Home and saw 2 ads about how great it would
be to sign in/sign up to a MS account. At the moment I can't think
of any good reason to do it. Is there? I do have an MS account in
my fake name/email I could use. (The initials are AJL, don't tell
anyone...)

Question 2: I can not find a way to keep the keyboard backlight on.
Fn+F5 toggles between on-dim-bright-off. After about 15 seconds
they go off if unused. I would like them to stay on permanently
even if unused. Anyone know any secret combos I could try?

There is no solid answer for the Fn+F5 problem.

Nothing works... absolutely.

It seems to be related to ACPI power saving stuff, so the keyboard
backlight goes off in the same way the screen becomes dim (on
battery).

There are apparently three methods for keyboard backlight control,
and the keyboard to my right here, just uses dedicated keys on the
keyboard and has no other controls.

While setting the Power Schema to "Performance" from "Balanced",

Unfortunately it didn't work. But I left it at performance when plugged
in but so far don't see any difference.

that may keep it lit. And if that worked, that would hint that
(eventually) you may find an ACPI registry entry that controls the
keyboard.

***************************************

The MSA *may* give you password recovery options, it *may* record
your Bitlocker key for future recovery. It could give you storage
space in OneDrive (a small quantity of storage space is free). It
wants your smartphone details for recovery procedures and so on. A
smartphone user may be thrilled.

OneDrive cloud storage (5 GB free)

I've never used OneDrive. I use Google Drive and pay the 2 bucks/mo for
100G of which I use 70G+. I usually uninstall OneDrive and am surprised
MS lets me do it.

Sync Across All Devices (Preferences, Passwords) Desktop and Start
menu layout, Wi-Fi passwords, Browser favorites (MSEdge) App
settings, Windows Backup integration ("Settings stored in Cloud").

Google already does most of that that for me on my Android apps, chrome
stuff, and on the Google browser on this Windows LT..

Microsoft Rewards (do Bing searches, earn something)

Nah.

Whereas with a local account, you can hack the machine to recover an Administrator Group capability again (if you erase the Administrator
Group account by accident). Always keep at least one
Administrator-level account enabled, so you can do administrator
things. I had one person erase theirs by accident (presumably
"removed wrong account"), and we did manage to hack in (osk.exe or
sethc.exe hack). Some of the hacks may continue to work from Safe
Mode, with the result being that an Administrator Command Prompt
opens, and you can set a new password and so on.

Net User Administrator/Active:yes # then reboot, log in as
real "administrator":"" (empty password)

I do most of my stuff with Google browsers that now sync this Windows
laptop with my Chromebooks, Android tablets, and modified Fire tablets.

Paul

Thanks. I think I'll stick with the local account and get rid of as much
MS stuff as I can...



--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

AJL <noemail@none.com> wrote:

On 3/27/2026 1:18 PM, AJL wrote:

my new toy is a CHUWI MiniBook X-N150. So far it seems to work
well...

One thing that kinda surprised me is that my new LT's Windows setup
process put me directly into a local account. I didn't realize it until
I opened Settings Home and saw 2 ads about how great it would be to sign in/sign up to a MS account. At the moment I can't think of any good
reason to do it. Is there? I do have an MS account in my fake name/email
I could use. (The initials are AJL, don't tell anyone...)

Is the Windows version Pro (check by running 'winver')? If so, that
probably explains why you got a local account. Same thing happened for
my wife's Beelink EQR5 Mini-PC which also came with Pro.

Question 2: I can not find a way to keep the keyboard backlight on.
Fn+F5 toggles between on-dim-bright-off. After about 15 seconds they go
off if unused. I would like them to stay on permanently even if unused. Anyone know any secret combos I could try?

I'll try to remember to check how things work on my (HP) laptop. It's
now still light, so hard to tell. Anyway, the key is different (just
they f11 key without fn).

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 3/29/2026 8:36 AM, Frank Slootweg wrote:

AJL <noemail@none.com> wrote:

On 3/27/2026 1:18 PM, AJL wrote:

my new toy is a CHUWI MiniBook X-N150. So far it seems to work
well...

One thing that kinda surprised me is that my new LT's Windows
setup process put me directly into a local account. I didn't
realize it until I opened Settings Home and saw 2 ads about how
great it would be to sign in/sign up to a MS account. At the moment
I can't think of any good reason to do it. Is there? I do have an
MS account in my fake name/email I could use. (The initials are
AJL, don't tell anyone...)

Is the Windows version Pro (check by running 'winver')? If so, that
probably explains why you got a local account. Same thing happened
for my wife's Beelink EQR5 Mini-PC which also came with Pro.

It's Windows 11 Home.

Question 2: I can not find a way to keep the keyboard backlight
on. Fn+F5 toggles between on-dim-bright-off. After about 15 seconds
they go off if unused. I would like them to stay on permanently
even if unused. Anyone know any secret combos I could try?

I'll try to remember to check how things work on my (HP) laptop.
It's now still light, so hard to tell. Anyway, the key is different
(just they f11 key without fn).

Fn + F5 turns on the keyboard light and consecutive pushing runs it
through dim, bright, and off again. If it's set to either on setting
(din, bright) any key will relight it, otherwise not. It's about 20
seconds to automatic turnoff...


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

AJL <noemail@none.com> wrote:

On 3/29/2026 8:36 AM, Frank Slootweg wrote:

AJL <noemail@none.com> wrote:

On 3/27/2026 1:18 PM, AJL wrote:

my new toy is a CHUWI MiniBook X-N150. So far it seems to work
well...

One thing that kinda surprised me is that my new LT's Windows
setup process put me directly into a local account. I didn't
realize it until I opened Settings Home and saw 2 ads about how
great it would be to sign in/sign up to a MS account. At the moment
I can't think of any good reason to do it. Is there? I do have an
MS account in my fake name/email I could use. (The initials are
AJL, don't tell anyone...)

Is the Windows version Pro (check by running 'winver')? If so, that probably explains why you got a local account. Same thing happened
for my wife's Beelink EQR5 Mini-PC which also came with Pro.

It's Windows 11 Home.

Then I guess you got 'lucky', FSVSVO 'lucky'. Microsoft moves in
mysterious ways! :-)

Question 2: I can not find a way to keep the keyboard backlight
on. Fn+F5 toggles between on-dim-bright-off. After about 15 seconds
they go off if unused. I would like them to stay on permanently
even if unused. Anyone know any secret combos I could try?

I'll try to remember to check how things work on my (HP) laptop.
It's now still light, so hard to tell. Anyway, the key is different
(just they f11 key without fn).

Fn + F5 turns on the keyboard light and consecutive pushing runs it
through dim, bright, and off again. If it's set to either on setting
(din, bright) any key will relight it, otherwise not. It's about 20
seconds to automatic turnoff...

For a moment it was (nearly exactly) 30 seconds for me, but later,
perhaps after using shift or/and ctrl, it's on continuously and I can't
get it back to 30 seconds, so a bit of a mystery, sorry.

I hardly ever use the backlight and for a long time (over a year?),
didn't even realize that I had a backlighted keyboard. So can't help
you.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

AJL wrote:

I can not find a way to keep the keyboard backlight on. Fn+F5 toggles
between on-dim-bright-off. After about 15 seconds they go off if
unused. I would like them to stay on permanently even if unused.
Anyone know any secret combos I could try?

It turned out to be a BIOS setting. Now there is no automatic turnoff
and are under manual on-off control just as I wanted. Dunno why I didn't
think to try that before. Oh well, all's well that ends well. Thanks to
all who made suggestions...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 3/30/2026 7:06 AM, AJL wrote:

It turned out to be a BIOS setting. Now there is no automatic turnoff
and are under manual on-off control just as I wanted. Dunno why I didn't think to try that before. Oh well, all's well that ends well. Thanks to
all who made suggestions...

Nothing to do with your problem, but you should check if you got
the correct CPU. They shipped Ryzen 5 5500U instead of Ryzen 5 7430U
in some notebooks.

https://www.heise.de/news/Chinesische-Notebooks-mit-gefaelschten-Prozessoren-11212395.html
https://www.heise.de/news/Falsche-CPUs-Chuwi-ruft-Notebooks-zurueck-11224624.html


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> wrote:

On 3/30/2026 7:06 AM, AJL wrote:

It turned out to be a BIOS setting. Now there is no automatic turnoff
and are under manual on-off control just as I wanted. Dunno why I didn't think to try that before. Oh well, all's well that ends well. Thanks to
all who made suggestions...

Nothing to do with your problem, but you should check if you got
the correct CPU. They shipped Ryzen 5 5500U instead of Ryzen 5 7430U
in some notebooks.

https://www.heise.de/news/Chinesische-Notebooks-mit-gefaelschten-Prozessoren-11212395.html
https://www.heise.de/news/Falsche-CPUs-Chuwi-ruft-Notebooks-zurueck-11224624.html

This info should be shown in the 'System Information' utility, 'System Summary' pane, 'Processor' item.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 3/30/2026 5:09 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:

Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> wrote:

Nothing to do with your problem, but you should check if you got
the correct CPU. They shipped Ryzen 5 5500U instead of Ryzen 5 7430U
in some notebooks.

https://www.heise.de/news/Chinesische-Notebooks-mit-gefaelschten-Prozessoren-11212395.html
https://www.heise.de/news/Falsche-CPUs-Chuwi-ruft-Notebooks-zurueck-11224624.html

This info should be shown in the 'System Information' utility, 'System Summary' pane, 'Processor' item.

But the firmware is also manipulated, so even a tool like AIDA64
reports a Ryzen 5 7430U.

https://www.heise.de/imgs/18/5/0/4/6/0/6/7/Chuwi_CoreBook_X_Lucienne-f2ba3f92dbb7b8ab.png


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Mon, 3/30/2026 3:00 AM, Herbert Kleebauer wrote:

On 3/30/2026 7:06 AM, AJL wrote:

It turned out to be a BIOS setting. Now there is no automatic turnoff
and are under manual on-off control just as I wanted. Dunno why I didn't
think to try that before. Oh well, all's well that ends well. Thanks to
all who made suggestions...

Nothing to do with your problem, but you should check if you got
the correct CPU. They shipped Ryzen 5 5500U instead of Ryzen 5 7430U
in some notebooks.

https://www.heise.de/news/Chinesische-Notebooks-mit-gefaelschten-Prozessoren-11212395.html
https://www.heise.de/news/Falsche-CPUs-Chuwi-ruft-Notebooks-zurueck-11224624.html

The OP says it's an N150 based machine. There may not be enough inventory
of things weaker than that, to serve as a substitute. There are members
of the N family with higher numbers, but there doesn't seem to be
a lot of trade in those.

If you scroll to the bottom of this, you can see some footprint compatible
CPUs that could be soldered in place of an N150. CPUWorld stopped for
a while, but it appears to be adding entries again.

https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Processor/Intel-Processor%20N150.html

Paul

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 3/30/2026 12:00 AM, Herbert Kleebauer wrote:

On 3/30/2026 7:06 AM, AJL wrote:

It turned out to be a BIOS setting. Now there is no automatic
turnoff and are under manual on-off control just as I wanted. Dunno
why I didn't think to try that before. Oh well, all's well that
ends well. Thanks to all who made suggestions...

Nothing to do with your problem, but you should check if you got the
correct CPU. They shipped Ryzen 5 5500U instead of Ryzen 5 7430U in
some notebooks.

Thanks but another poster here earlier advised me of the CPU
possibility. It apparently has neither (see next post). But this LT
works great for my uses so I really don't care what CPU's in it...

https://www.heise.de/news/Chinesische-Notebooks-mit-gefaelschten-Prozessoren-11212395.html
https://www.heise.de/news/Falsche-CPUs-Chuwi-ruft-Notebooks-zurueck-11224624.html

Being an English speaker that's Greek to me (Sorry couldn't resist)...



--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 3/30/2026 8:09 AM, Frank Slootweg wrote:

Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> wrote:

On 3/30/2026 7:06 AM, AJL wrote:

It turned out to be a BIOS setting. Now there is no automatic turnoff
and are under manual on-off control just as I wanted. Dunno why I didn't >>> think to try that before. Oh well, all's well that ends well. Thanks to
all who made suggestions...

Nothing to do with your problem, but you should check if you got
the correct CPU. They shipped Ryzen 5 5500U instead of Ryzen 5 7430U
in some notebooks.

https://www.heise.de/news/Chinesische-Notebooks-mit-gefaelschten-Prozessoren-11212395.html
https://www.heise.de/news/Falsche-CPUs-Chuwi-ruft-Notebooks-zurueck-11224624.html

This info should be shown in the 'System Information' utility, 'System Summary' pane, 'Processor' item.

Found it. It says "Intel(R) N150 (800 MHz)" and the green sticker that I hadn't paid attention to before on the case brags "intel INSIDE". So I
guess that's what it's got...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

AJL wrote:

On 3/30/2026 12:00 AM, Herbert Kleebauer wrote:

On 3/30/2026 7:06 AM, AJL wrote:

It turned out to be a BIOS setting. Now there is no automatic
turnoff and are under manual on-off control just as I wanted. Dunno
why I didn't think to try that before. Oh well, all's well that
ends well. Thanks to all who made suggestions...

Nothing to do with your problem, but you should check if you got the
correct CPU. They shipped Ryzen 5 5500U instead of Ryzen 5 7430U in
some notebooks.

Thanks but another poster here earlier advised me of the CPU
possibility. It apparently has neither (see next post). But this LT
works great for my uses so I really don't care what CPU's in it...

https://www.heise.de/news/Chinesische-Notebooks-mit-gefaelschten-Prozessoren-11212395.html
https://www.heise.de/news/Falsche-CPUs-Chuwi-ruft-Notebooks-zurueck-11224624.html

Being an English speaker that's Greek to me (Sorry couldn't resist)...

Years ago I purchased a CHUWI H!10X tablet to read the newspaper etc. and it has worked fine. I believe I paid $300 for it. I think it does have the
N150 and it runs Windows 11 just fine.
--
<Bill>

Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska



--- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)