W500 Buttons and OSD for volume control do not work

[archer6]

When I first unpacked my W500 everything worked just fine. Then in less than an hours usage, the three volume buttons quit. In addition, there is no onscreen display, or volume indicator. I have uninstalled and updated the drivers for the power management, the hotkeys and still no change. I have also removed the keyboard and reseated the connector. I did a search of the forum, of Google and the Lenovo database, nothing definitive. Any ideas?

Cheers...

[Marin85]

Did you try reinstalling Lenovo System Interface driver?

[archer6]

Thanks Marin, that's just the reminder I needed...

I had a funny feeling that I was forgetting about one, as I had read something awhile back before I had this problem. All I remembered was that there were three drivers. I remembered two out of the three, then questioned myself if there was a third one or not. So I shall do this and report back.

Ahh....nothing like the power of working together....

Thanks Again!
Cheers...

[archer6]

By the way, is there a certain order that these go in? Seems like I remembered there was, but don't know what it is?

[Marin85]

By the way, is there a certain order that these go in? Seems like I remembered there was, but don't know what it is?

Well, to be honest, I believe there is some prescribed order for installing these drivers, but I have been also able to bring them to work even without keeping that specific order (if I remember correctly). Anyway, here is what I believe should be the right order:
1. Lenovo Power Management
2. Lenovo System Interface Driver
3. OSD/hotkey

Don´t forget to post back. Frankly, I have a bad feeling that just reinstalling might not work... The recent driver versions seem to exhibit somewhat erratic behavior as to when they work and when they don´t

Marin

[archer6]

Thanks for your timely response as I was waiting to hear back, you know... that nagging feeling that if I guess I'm sure to get it wrong...
I will give it a go and most certainly post back in just over 90 minutes or so, as I'm going into a meeting here at work.

After all I have do to something to pay for my ThinkPad habit...

Cheers...

[archer6]

Update:
I have now replaced / updated the three drivers in the order that Lenovo suggests which is
1) Power Management MIGR-4GXPEG
2) Hotkey MIGR-68000
3) System Interface Driver MIGR-67228
Results: No change. Still no On Screen Display, volume buttons inoperative.

Next, I replaced the keyboard with a new one that Lenovo sent in just two days, as I had reported this to them earlier.
Result: No change. Still no On Screen Display, volume buttons inoperative.

Ideas anyone?

Cheers...
Oh and by the way... I'm _still_ enjoying my W500 even if it did come as a do it yourself kit...

[Marin85]

Look for different (older or newer) versions of the Hotkey/OSD drivers? There must be some available somewhere on the Lenovo website.

[archer6]

Look for different (older or newer) versions of the Hotkey/OSD drivers? There must be some available somewhere on the Lenovo website.

I've searched all over the Lenovo site and cannot find old drivers. When it was IBM, there was no problem, I could find them in a flash. Perhaps I'm missing something?

[Marin85]

I´m looking myself for an older version of the Atheros abg driver for Vista. I am pretty clueless exactly where older Lenovo drivers can be found, google may be able to find any older website remains... Some folks were able to find older Lenovo drivers for XP -> http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 23#p485723

[archer6]

As it turns out, and after hours of trial and error I have this problem resolved. Not only is the sequence of driver installation important, but there is an important step that is left out of the read me file that comes with each driver. I only discovered it as a last ditch method, after trying everything I could think of. What one must do is to uninstall the old driver and then _restart_ the computer before installing each of the new drivers in this exact order. In addition, it did take the updated drivers to cure the problem.

1) Lenovo Power Management driver
2) OSD / Hotkey driver
3) Lenovo System Interface driver.

Once done, I now have proper OSD and volume button functionality.

Cheers...

[Marin85]

Of course, you have to reboot the computer after uninstalling each of those drivers, you are even prompted to do so. It´s the same when you install them, you are prompted to restart the computer after each installation

Glad that you resolved your problem,

Marin

[archer6]

In retrospect I believe my post with the solution was not clearly written. The point I was making was _not_ about restarting the computer after uninstalling the drivers. Obviously as it was pointed out, one is prompted to do so as with any other driver change, roll back, or update. But rather my point was about the need to install these three drivers in the exact order I listed them.
.
Cheers...
Posted via BlackBerry

[Marin85]

Sorry, I must be missing something here The installation order from your previous post is just the same as the installation order you found suggested by Lenovo and that one didn´t work for you. Hence my understanding was that it was the rebooting between each driver installation that made the difference.

I guess I have misunderstood something.

Marin

[archer6]

<snip> I guess I have misunderstood something. <snip>

No you didn't, it was my error.
In my haste I simply went too fast and I did a terrible job of writing my post...
I listed them in the wrong order... This was one of those projects I simply went too fast with, as I was quite pressed for time, so between user error (that would be me) and posting too hastily I just got it wrong until the end. For clarification the order that worked was
1) OSD Hotkey driver
2) Lenovo System Interface (the one that you so kindly reminded me of)
3) Lenovo Power Management driver

In addition, I also left out the fact that one must go into display properties / settings / advanced / on screen display, and be sure the check box for on screen display is cleared.

Cheers...

[Zionsword]

My mute button isn't working in unmuting or muting . Does uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers listed above solve the problem for you?

[archer6]

With my W500 none of the three volume buttons worked. Nor did I have an On Screen Display. If your issue is isolated to the mute button only, then it may be something else. However that said, its easy enough to try what I did and see if you get the results you're looking for.

[Marin85]

archer6 made a good point about the volume buttons. If the other OSD features (like brightness controls, ThinkLight, Fn+ Fx) work for you, this is likely another problem. Does your volume/mute/sound work (you can change the volume from within windows)?

[Zionsword]

it works now o.o . The mute button only mute the sound when its playing , umuting is by pressing the increase volume button.

[chiefdome]

hi i have the same problem here.
could u please tell me again how to do the right order of installation?

there is also another question to me: when i have to install the audio device?

thx for ur posts

[Marin85]

Welcome to the forum!

The right order of driver installation that seems to solve this particular problem has been posted above by archer6. You can install the audio driver after having installed the other 3 drivers.

Hope this helps,

Marin