Hotkey fails intermittently (and possible solution)

[coldfire]

X61 Tablet, 1.6GHz, SXGA+, 4GB, 320GB, 11a/b/g, BT

Background: Installed Windows 7 RC, drivers/application were installed using UR/SU, Fn+F5/F7 works (or fails) intermittently, usually toggles after each restart.

Other symptom: mid-button of track point fails sometimes, but less frequent.

Reason: On Screen Display service fails to start properly. (I do not know why this ever happens), When try to start manually, system emits error message like "The service xxx started then stopped ...".

Solution 1: Open Services.msc from Run ... dialog box, Find the service with name "On Screen Display", change startup type to "Manual". After each restart, you just start this service by yourself.

Solution 2: Keep startup type as "Automatic", go to recovery tab, upon all the failure, set action to "restart the service". it does the trick for me.

Solution to trackpoint failure: when the mid-button does not function, find the service "Trackpoint Service", stop and then start the service.

Hopefully Lenovo can work out an official solution for that ...

[K0LO]

coldfire:

Thank you for that - the intermittent nature of the OSD service has been bugging me since the beta version of Win7 was first released. Your solution #1 is the only one that worked for me. I tried solution #2 without luck. I also tried setting the service to Delayed Start, but it won't allow that setting. I'm thinking of trying a script that runs from Task Scheduler and starts the service after login. I'll post back if that works.

I've never had a problem with the TrackPoint middle button...

[yak]

I'm not using Windows 7 at the time so I'm not sure if this would work but these workarounds could be automated.

If 7 has a Task Scheduler it could be used to start these services automatically after the system starts, with a selectable delay.

The command to start a service should be:

Code: Select all

net start "<service name>"

Of course they should be set to Manual in the Services applet.

[coldfire]

k0lo:
Thanks for your feedback, I am glad that it helps in some cases.
The hotkey problem is one of several reasons that I gave up Windows 7 beta, I tried various solutions proposed online but none of them really worked for me.
Actually I did consider using Task Scheduler to start the service automatically but I can not find a option in TS at that time. Then I asked Google and the solution is as follows:

start service: net start "On Screen Display"
stop service (may never be needed): net stop "On Screen Display"

[coldfire]

yak:
Thank you for the solution.

[K0LO]

OK - this seems to have done the trick. The problem is apparently a timing issue. If you leave the On-Screen Display service (TPHKSVC) set on Automatic it's the luck of the draw whether it gets started before the service TPOSDSVC, which is started by a registry key. If things come out right then the On-Screen display works correctly. If not they don't and you cannot manually start TPHKSVC. Interestingly, the names of these services and their descriptions seem backwards. Whatever.

My workaround is as follows:
1. Go to Services and set the On-Screen Display Service (TPHKSVC) to Manual.
2. Open Task Scheduler and click on a Create a new Task (not a Basic task). Name it Lenovo On-Screen Display.
3. Make the following changes to the default settings for the task:
a) On the General tab under Security Options, When running the task use the following user account type in the name SYSTEM. Also choose Run whether user is logged on or not.
b) On the Triggers tab add a new trigger and choose Begin the task at logon, under settings choose Any User, and under Advanced Settings choose Delay task for: and type in the entry 5 seconds.
c) On the Actions tab choose New to add a new action. For Action choose Start a program. Under Settings for Program/Script type in SC. Under Add Arguments type in start TPHKSVC.
d) On the Conditions tab un-check the box Start the task only if the computer is on AC power.
e) Click OK to finish the task entry wizard.

This task will run whenever a user logs on. If the On-Screen Display service is not running it will start 5 seconds after logon. If the service is running already then no harm done.

This seems to have fixed the problem for me - anyway the OSD has survived several reboots, which is highly unusual. It used to fail after one or two reboots.

[coldfire]

nice! this is really the way to go