FN key weirdness

[davidspalding]

After installing the Hotkey utilities that Lenovo recommends for an X32 (2.10.0002), I'm finding that ... most of them don't work. The EZ Eject utility ... no FN-F9. With Power Manager 1.13c (1.52 on my T43 made Power Manager dog slow), FN-F3 ... nothing. With Access Connections 4.52, and the Intel PROSet/wireless drivers and software (couldn't have one without the other), FN-F5 only turns the Bluetooth MDC on and off; nothing about Access Connections profiles or even that cool screen for turning off the two wireless devices individually.

Anyone else experience these kinds of issues? I'm afraid that if downloading the latest recommended apps and drivers (in most cases) doesn't work, I'll HAVE to use a factory image restoration.

[Marin85]

Maybe a silly question, but did you install the latest Power Management driver and Lenovo System interface driver as well? There also seems to be some recommendable order of installing all these drivers.

[davidspalding]

Pretty sure I'm using power management driver 1.52, and power manager 1.13c (same as my T43).

There could be an order, but I get fatigued uninstalling and reinstalling to get the order right. After settling on teh power stuff, I uninstalled and reinstalled the Hotkey utilities.

I believe the Lenovo System Interface driver is only for Vista. I'm running XP Pro.
=> http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-41987

Typing this, I just realized that the REASON I settled on PM 1.13c is that with the newer version,the FN+F5 menu took 15 seconds or more to come up ... unacceptable, so I reverted. Since that's not a problem, I'll try 1.51a....

EDIT!

Correction, the main "System Utilities" page specifies that teh Lenovo System Interface Driver is only for Vista, but the download page notes that they recently "added Windows XP support." I installed it. No change. Bleah.

[godling]

Please let me know if that works ... my Fn+F5 key hasn't worked since I re-built my system a month ago.

[davidspalding]

No joy... though I have the newer, bigger, supposedly cooler looking Lenovo UI look and feel.

CORRECTION
I found I could not order X31 recovery disks for US$10 ( plus $13 shipping, thank you IBM),.... Power Manager 1.13c worked fine (simpler interface as well), so I may roll back.

(sigh) IBM's support site lists the X31 discs, lets you add them to the checkout cart, check out, pay for them, complete the order, get an order confirmation ... then someone in Support emails that they're no longer available.

I got some X32 discs from an Australian vendor instead.

[godling]

No joy... though I have the newer, bigger, supposedly cooler looking Lenovo UI look and feel.

I found I could order X31 recovery disks for US$10 ( plus $13 shipping, thank you IBM), so I'm going that route. Power Manager 1.13c worked fine (simpler interface as well), so I may roll back.

Problem for me is that I have an nLite version of XP SP3 running, so it's a tighter, smaller install. Don't know if I can use the recovery disks for that.

PM sent your way.

[davidspalding]

Probably not. But if you're going to run an alternate "lite" version of XP, then you MAY NOT want all the IBM utilities installed, as they take up RAM, slow a system down a bit, etc. I may actually do as many others on this site have done, uninstall all but the necessary utilities. E.g. I finally gave up on Presentation Manager years ago when I found teh ATI Catalyst Control Center did all the same functions, and is far more stable.

[godling]

Here's the kicker for me, though. The Fn key works with every combination I have on that top row of keys (#'s and function keys) for turning on / off the light, the monitor, brightness, etceteras. The only key it doesn't work with is the F5 key. I only get the "Unable to change the power state of the 802.11 wireless radio. Update the driver for the wireless adapter." message. But I have the latest wireless driver. So what am I missing?

Sorry for hijacking your thread ...

-J

[Marin85]

Here's the kicker for me, though. The Fn key works with every combination I have on that top row of keys (#'s and function keys) for turning on / off the light, the monitor, brightness, etceteras. The only key it doesn't work with is the F5 key. I only get the "Unable to change the power state of the 802.11 wireless radio. Update the driver for the wireless adapter." message. But I have the latest wireless driver. So what am I missing?

When you turn on/off the Thinklight or change the volume, do you see the corresponding OSD?

[godling]

Yes. OSD works for all functions. Only the Fn+F5 does not work.

[Edit]
Okay, after more research, and reading this thread (http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... beay32+dll) I learned about the LIBEAY32.DLL file. Odd. I've installed the Wireless drivers before, several times. This didn't work. Anyway ... I went and re-installed the drivers. Still didn't work. Then I read more and realized that Intel put it's default path (as the thread describes) into my Path variable for my system, but neither it nor any other app actually creates that path. So I changed the variable to include a path to where the LIBEAY32.DLL file actually is, and now it all works wonderfully.

Thanks for letting me hijack the thread ... ... now back to your regularly scheduled broadcast.

Which brings up the question, do the other Fn keys use software that require the appropriate path definition in the environment variables for your computer?

-godling

[davidspalding]

Thanks for hijacking, I'll have to find that when I get home. I also get the OSD for brightness, Thinklight, but FN+F3 and FN+F5 don't do diddly (exc. FN+F5 turns the bluetooth on and off).