Capture, verify, restore

For the five upstream-derived profiles, start with the experimental testing and diagnostics guide. Their typed controls are available, but the capture and physical-validation evidence below is still needed before calling them validated. Never run USBPcap and OpenBlade control against the same interface together. Sleep/resume testing requires a present user who can resume the laptop.

Collect evidence with Synapse Observer

Synapse Observer is the public collector for new model evidence. It collects device information and guides one deliberate setting change and exact restoration without a terminal or repository checkout.

Download Synapse ObserverOpen a device support request

Review the evidence ZIP before attaching it to a public device-support issue. Report problems with the collector itself in the Synapse Observer issue tracker.

Manual protocol review

The steps below are for maintainers who need a manual capture after reviewing a Synapse Observer report.

1. Record the current value, target value, expected result, and restore value. Make a separate capture for each setting or power state.
2. Confirm the model, VID/PID, BIOS, EC, MCU, HID usage, and feature-report length. Mark any version that cannot be read safely as unavailable. Do not rely on the display name alone.
3. Close unrelated activity and set the required AC, battery, USB-C, HDR, or display state.
4. Run USBPcapCMD in its own console process group. Stop it with a targeted CTRL_BREAK_EVENT. Never send a console control event to process-group ID 0.
5. Change one setting and mark the action in the capture. Do not open other pages in the vendor app while recording.
6. Confirm the new state, restore the saved value, and confirm it again before ending the session.
7. Compare the smallest useful packet window. Keep the model, action, bounded payload, response shape, and evidence checks. Remove serials, paths, session data, and unrelated packets.
8. Use a typed command that names the action, saves the old value, asks for confirmation, applies and checks one value, then restores it.
9. Mark support validated only after decoder tests, negative tests, application, confirmation, and restoration pass. Keep raw class, ID, and payload inputs out of the interface.

Capture matrix

Decoding rules

• Compare payload bytes only after validating the 90-byte envelope.
• Keep channel/selector bytes symbolic instead of cloning nearly identical code.
• Distinguish an exact readback from a generic firmware state. Manual fan modes are a current example.
• Separate firmware-backed effects from software-rendered frame streams.
• Do not infer a setter from a getter by clearing the high bit.
• Do not reuse an older Blade implementation for the current PID without evidence.

From capture to production

Complete each stage before moving to the next.

1. Decode a private capture from a sanitized byte window while no device handle is open.
2. Add a typed read-only query with an exact response contract. Reject unknown statuses, lengths, selectors, reserved bytes, and values.
3. Repeat the same vendor UI state and prove the candidate setter is absent or stable when nothing changes.
4. Save the prior state, require confirmation for the exact target, apply one admitted value, read or observe it, then restore it.
5. Before production use, link the sanitized fixture and validation result to reviewed source. Expose only the named capability.

Response evidence record

Add this record to the core change. Keep raw captures and local logs private.

Model / VID:PID:
BIOS / EC / MCU:
HID usage page / usage / feature-report length:
Question and single UI action:
Power source and required preconditions:
Request class/ID and sanitized payload shape:
Expected status, class/ID, payload length and response shape:
Unknown or malformed values rejected:
Independent getter, generic readback, or one-shot-only:
Saved prior state and restoration result:
Negative controls and repeat count:
Core tests and sanitized fixture paths:
Remaining inference or unsupported variants:

Private evidence handling

The legacy captures repository is private and retired. Immutable sanitized fixtures needed by core now live with the source in the evidence directory, with original paths and SHA-256 values in its provenance index. The legacy repository is not an intake or support channel. Submit new reviewed Synapse Observer evidence through a core device-support issue.

Stop conditions

• The exact host model, VID/PID, HID interface, or feature-report length no longer matches.
• The prior value cannot be read or recovered, or a setter has no bounded restoration plan.
• Two nominally identical captures disagree outside the transaction identifier or another understood field.
• A response has an unknown status, checksum, class, ID, length, selector, reserved byte, or enum value.
• Another controller changes the same subsystem during validation.
• Stopping capture would require broadcasting a console control event or killing an unverified process.

Review checklist

[ ] Exact model, VID/PID, BIOS, EC, MCU and HID interface documented
[ ] One action per capture and a no-op comparison available
[ ] Prior state saved and restoration verified
[ ] Request and response envelope validation implemented
[ ] Payload bounds and enum/value validation implemented
[ ] Timeout, cancellation and malformed-response tests included
[ ] Fixture contains no serial, HID path, user path or raw PCAP
[ ] Capability remains hidden when evidence is absent
[ ] No raw-command IPC or production CLI option introduced