Solved Bizarre Behaviour of Function keys (two not working as expected)

Hello folks,

Another puzzler ...

Around two months ago, two of the F-keys stopped doing what they are supposed to (F5 & F6). F5 does indeed refresh the page (when pressed together with the Fn key) but it is also supposed to turn the screen brightness down (which it doesn't do anymore). Similarly, F6 doesn't turn the brightness up. F1 contunues to mute the sound, F2 to decrease the sound and F3 to increase the sound (I don't use F4 - turn mic off). F8 accessess the WiFi settings and F9 the general settings, F10 opens WiFi (Bluetooth) and F11 opens the Lenovo vantage App. All of these don't require an additional key press - i.e just press F1 to mute the sound immediately. F5 & F6 should alter the screen brightness, but they don't - nor do they in combination with other keys such as Fn, Alt, Ctrl or Shift. This has been going on for a couple of months and I haven't got to the bottom of it yet - I've updated Windows, updated the drivers and BIOS - all to no effect.

Any ideas?!

Art

PC: lenovo ThinkPad T495s / Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U / Radeon Vega GFx 2.3GHz / 16Gb RAM / Win 11 Pro / Version 23H2 / Build 22631.4974

ArthurDent said:

All of these don't require an additional key press

Click to expand...

But have you accidently pressed FN + ESC + which switchs the key function between the F1–F12 function and the special function printed as an icon on each key. When the Fn Lock indicator is off, you can use the default function. The default function can be changed in the Keyboard Properties window.

glasskuter said:

But have you accidently pressed FN + ESC + which switchs the key function between the F1–F12 function and the special function printed as an icon on each key. When the Fn Lock indicator is off, you can use the default function. The default function can be changed in the Keyboard Properties

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Perhaps my OP wasn't clear?

All of the other function keys work as expected - e.g. F11 when pressed opens lenovo Vantage app and Fn+F11 switches to 'full screen'. in both instances, FnLock is OFF.

F5, when pressed, does nothing. When pressing Fn + F5, the webpage reoads (as expected). F6 when pressed, does nothing. Fn + F6 higlights the address bar in the browser.

Can't figure out what is happening.

Putting FnLock on (Fn + Esc) doesn't make F5 & F6 'behave'.

With FnLock ON, pressing F5 reloads the webpage (as expected) and F6 highlights the address bar in the browser.

It is as if the key assignments / mapping for F5 & F6 have been deleted - so there is no action when pressing them - such as altering the screen brightness.

As an aside, is there a way to do this OTHER than using F5/F6 as the screen is too brigt when using the laptop in front of the TV.

Art

Got it. Thanks for the additional info. Have you done the obvious...tried another keyboard, preferably a simple wired KB.

glasskuter said:

Got it. Thanks for the additional info. Have you done the obvious...tried another keyboard, preferably a simple wired KB.

Click to expand...

Nope. Kind of defeats the object somewhat of having a laptop with integrated keyboard and plugging in a USb keyboard but I guess you mean to check if the F-leys on the USB keyboard - specifically F5 & F6 - work to alter the screen brightness? Wouldn't that depend on where the assignment/mapping is done in the software? Is it Windows-specific or Lenovo-specific?

Will give it a shot anyhow.

Art

You can also test with the On Screen Keyboard.
If that works then you know your laptop keyboard needs to have it's cable reseated into the motherboard or replaced

You might want to check your hotkey mapping.
Nirsoft have a freebie for that:
Laptop function keys tend to get disabled in favour of Windows ones...

Spunk said:

You can also test with the On Screen Keyboard.
If that works then you know your laptop keyboard needs to have it's cable reseated into the motherboard or replaced

Click to expand...

Hi,

Tried that bit the On Screen Keyboard isn't showing the function keys - so cannot test using this method.

Art

Morph000 said:

You might want to check your hotkey mapping.
Nirsoft have a freebie for that:

HotKeysList - View registered hot keys on Windows

HotKeysList is a simple tool for Windows that displays the list of hot keys that are currently registered on your system.

www.nirsoft.net

Laptop function keys tend to get disabled in favour of Windows ones...

Click to expand...

Hi Morph,

I ran that utility - didn't even list the assignments on the working function keys - such as F1 muting sound, F2 reducing the volume and F3 increasing the volume.

Still at a loss as to (a) what is going on and (b) how to fix it!

Art

How about looking at this from another angle...

Maybe the Fn keys are not at all the problem. In order for the Fn keys to adjust the brightness, 2 things may be needed:

1) The display driver from the manufacturer of the PC, not a generic driver. Make sure that you use their display driver from their web site.

2) You may need a special driver that allows the Fn keys to perform specific functions. I have an HP laptop where this is the case. Fn keys for volume up/down, media controls, etc. work without this utility installed, but for display brightness to be adjusted that utility must be installed.

glasskuter said:

Got it. Thanks for the additional info. Have you done the obvious...tried another keyboard, preferably a simple wired KB.

Click to expand...

Found a spare USB keyboard in the cupboard and tried this.

F5 & F6 don't change the screen brightness on the USB keyboard either (on their own and wit whatever key combination I tried - Ctrl / Alt / Shift / Fn + function key).

Looking like it is a Lenovo driver that is either corrupt or missing. Jumping onto the Lenovo site, there is nothing obvious.

Device Mangler says the driver is the standard M$oft keyboard driver



Checked lenovo Vntage - only thing on offer is



So downloaded this, installed & re-stared pc. Still no luck.

Ar

Did you run Lenovo Vantage app to check for missing drivers? It should have come on the laptop.

glasskuter said:

Did you run Lenovo Vantage app to check for missing drivers? It should have come on the laptop.

Click to expand...

Yep.



I've tried everything I can think of!

Art

@hsehestedt mentioned the display driver. What's listed when you click on Back To Manual Driver List.

Finally sorted!

Went to Device Mangler > Display Adapters and found out what the Graphics Card is (AMD Radeon Vega 10)

Went to AMD's website and downloaded the relevant display adapter.

Installed. Restarted pc. F5 & F6 now work as before.

Thanks to all of those who took the time to respond to my plea and offered help and suggestions.

Stupidly, I thought with the function keys not working it was keyboard or keyboard driver issue. Never crossed my mind that it would be a graphics driver issue!

Art