HP Laptop Issue - F1/etc does not do what I want
Community Forums/General Help/HP Laptop Issue - F1/etc does not do what I want
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| Good Afternoon all, My boss has a new laptop, a HP ProBook 4510s. Unfortunately the function keys, F1/F2/F3... etc seem to want to do HP Laptop specific functions and do not work in regular windows programs as they should. We have tried plugging in a separate keyboard and the problem is still there. We have googled and come up with many options, none for that specific laptop though, including the following: A bios change (F10 on boot and then set "Action Keys" to disable/enabled) - however the bios screen on the googled page looks completely different to the one we see and has no option for "Action Keys". Pressing FN and Num Lock, FN and Shift Num Lock, - none of these seem to do anything despite many web pages suggesting they should enable/disable the function keys. We've looked in the windows control panel...we can add languages to the keyboard, but there is nothing I can see so far that refers to function or other special keys. It really should be quite simple you would think - we just want standard windows F1-F12 functionality in our programs but the HP laptop seems determined prevent us from finding a way.... Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.... |
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| You need to install the HP Quick Launch Buttons utility. I moved from Vista to Windows 7 on my Compaq laptop (which is basically HP) so I don't have it on here but I *think* it should be factory-installed. You can configure the function key behaviour from there, if memory serves. |
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| Hi GfK - thanks for the response but sorry that didn't help us. When we installed the HP Quick Launch Buttons software it brings up a menu with boxes we can check on or off but none of these do anything or seem to relate to the function keys (F1-F12). Nor does it retain the settings we enter after exiting (there is no save option either, only an about option and 3 tabs - each tab has things that have no relation to the keyboard it seems.) I cannot believe that a computer company, that makes computers for office use, would design it so that standard buttons don't behave as they should. EDIT - I have emailed HP support - if they can't help I don't know who can. Last edited 2011 |
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| From what I've seen on these, the function keys are the 'special' keys... meaning that if you want to press F1, you have to press Fn+F1 instead. For me, that would be one of few dealbreakers when it comes to buying a laptop -- stop screwing with the standards! |
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| Hi xlsior - Yes we have to press Shift and F1 on this laptop to get F1 functionality. Still waiting for a response from HP support. |
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| Hi GfK - thanks for the response but sorry that didn't help us. Doh. I did try to install the Quick Launch util on mine to check, but it was for Vista and for some reason it didn't want to play ball on Windows 7. Hi xlsior - Yes we have to press Shift and F1 on this laptop to get F1 functionality. Mine is the other way around - I press Fn+Fwhatever to get special functions like brightness/volume.You've probably done this already but if you go to control panel/keyboard settings, is there anything in there relating to function keys? I know there's an option to do this... somewhere. I've seen it. |
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| stop screwing with the standards! Agreed. Function keys are supposed to be software specific, not hardware specific. HP should hang their head in shame. |
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| Agreed. Function keys are supposed to be software specific, not hardware specific. HP should hang their head in shame. A while back microsoft re-designed all their keyboard lines (gaming, office, ergonomic, and 'standard') to switch from the standard 6-key 'insert/home/page-up/delete/end/page-down) horizonal island to a vertical one, dropping the 'insert' key in the process and giving a double-sized delete key instead. Insert was moved as an extra special key-share with printscreen/sysreq, but was only recognized by MS applications like Office and no longer functioned as a 'paste' function when pressing shift-insert. Apparently that was after focus groups has shown them that 'normal' people don't have a clue what 'insert' does, and don't need it. I tried one for a brief time, and found it completely unusable: I had no idea that I pressed shift-insert for pasting a bazillion times a day. Luckily they have seen the error of their ways and switched everything back to the traditional layout less than a year later. |
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| Mine is the other way around - I press Fn+Fwhatever to get special functions like brightness/volume. Which is as it should be, and how laptops have worked for the past two decades. Unfortunately the recent crop of HP and Dell laptops that I've had the misfortune to use decidede to switch that behaviour because apparently 'normal' people don't use function keys. Really annoying: can't close a window quicly by hitting alt-F4, can't get help by hitting F1, can't repeat a search command by hitting F3, etc... Now that will mess with your audio volume or screen brightness instead, unless you hold down modifier keys. |
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| Hello all, well what an experience....technical support at its best...thought I'd share... Okay - emailed HP support. They gave me a case number (118...) and said initially that I should reinstall my OS - they didn't understand the problem. Secondly - replied to HP support by email again who suggested what should have been how the keyboard *should* have responded - ie press Fn + F3 should bring up web, F3 should do a find - and then suggested using a recovery disk. Thirdly tried calling HP support in Australia (the email was to the US division of HP). Gave them my case number at which point they said "sorry not our number". Gave them the serial number at which point they turned around and said "this laptop is out of warranty and so we cannot give technical support" - but they decided to try and be helpful.... They suggested going to the control panel and setting the regional settings to US...which it already was, went through all the options at which point there was nothing we could select to change it..after a number of changes and restarts still same problem. Oh well...I guess my boss simply has to put up with pressing Shift every time he wants to use a function key.... Strange though that they wouldn't provide technical support to an item that is out of warranty....I work for a company that provides technical support for TV/electrical items and we will give phone support to any end-user regardless of whether it is under warranty or not - warranty really only comes into play when refunds/repairs/replacements are required...but we are a much smaller company than HP.... |
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| Strange though that they wouldn't provide technical support to an item that is out of warranty... that's how the vast majority of companies operate -- It costs them money to provide you with support, so unless you paid for an extended warranty or bought a new item, they don't really want to 'waste' resources on you anymore. |
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| Technical support has gotten much worse over the years. It's one of the reasons PCs can be dirt cheap. The problem with the HP function keys sounds like what you get when Caps Lock or Num Lock gets turned on by accident. Keyboard behavior is the opposite of what you expect. Is there an "Fn Lock" equivalent? That's what the "FN and Num Lock, FN and Shift Num Lock" advice sounds like. I've seen utilities that make it harder to change Num/Caps Lock, for people prone to hitting them by accident. Maybe something like that is blocking the attempt to change the Function Key usage. |
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