Hotkeys not working - can't find a solution

[MD1032]

I just reinstalled my OS on my T60 and everything seems to be working fine, however, I cannot get the hotkeys to work. That means that things like the ThinkVantage button, volume buttons, and Fn + F8 do not do anything right now. Manually starting the .exe files that some of the shortcuts point to does work.

-I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Hotkeys driver which includes the OSD driver.
-I have installed every single driver and Lenovo utility I could get my hands on, including the power driver, power management software, access connections, everything. Everything seems to be working fine except this particular feature.
-I suspect the OSD is partially responsible for this problem. OSD does not even show up in services.msc and trying to start the service manually by starting tphksvc.exe under DRIVERS\HOTKEY\OSD does not work as it does not show up in processes (at least permanently, it may be immediately closing). Confirmed in a command prompt - "tphksvc does not exist as an installed service".

I am at a loss what to do - I've gotten way too comfortable with my other computers which run Windows 7 and don't require any real troubleshooting skills!

The ironic thing is that I ran into this exact same problem on my mom's T410 when I bought that, and I solved the problem, but I can't remember what I did to fix it.

[hhmcsv]

Hi!
You have not stated the OS you are using, but you may find a solution here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=111824

[MD1032]

Sorry. I am using Windows XP 32-bit.

[emtee3511]

Is this the Lenovo HotKey Driver you installed? http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... migr-74261

[hhmcsv]

Yes, that is the one, also stated in the thread mentioned above.

[MD1032]

Yup, that's the one. I've tried installing it and reinstalling it multiple times, along with the power management driver which I have heard is related. As I said for some reason the Thinkpad Hotkey service just can't seem to start and there are no error messages.

[FryPpy]

Hotkey features have many strange effects especially with XP .

Last releases of HFI have bug with TpFnF5 utility. It crashes upon invocation. My cure for this bug - deleting FnF50019.dll from RES folder inside HOTKEY main folder.
Some releases can't display OSD for me (but screen brightness is chenging and some functions is working).
Main advaice - is to download and try old versions of HFI.
You can download older versions from lenovo site using the base download URL (http : / / download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/8jvu...) and changing the file name.
You may use following names (corresponding HFI version):
8mvu33ww.exe (3.52.0001)
8jvu10ww.exe (3.70.0001)
8jvu12ww.exe (3.70.0003)
... and so on to the last 8jvu30ww.exe (3.87.0000).
You can try downgrading, BUT do complete uninstallation!!! Use setup utility of already installed HFI (C:\DRIVERS\WIN\HOTKEY) and uninstall 1 by 1 all components, reboot and than install older verson.
PS
3.81.0100 works good for me.

Another thing: don't turn off "Terminal services" in XP services. It prevent HotKey Service from displaying FnFx dialogs.

[Altekay]

Another thing: don't turn off "Terminal services" in XP services. It prevent HotKey Service from displaying FnFx dialogs.

FryPpy, your 7-month-old post was a life saver. I'd found the older Hotkey Features package from radio303's post (http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc ... vu23ww.exe), and your post filled in the missing piece: I'd disabled the Terminal Services service, and this was preventing the hotkeys (Fn-F7, Fn-F5, etc.) from working.

Now my T420 works great, and these two changes also resolved my long-standing OSD and hotkey problems on my T61!

Thank you!