Dell Inspiron Media Hot Keys

Hi,

Just had a strange problem manifest itself this week, basically the mute, play, pause, etc hot keys on the front of my Insprion 6000 whenever pressed completely freeze my PC up. Have narrowed down to this from seemingly random lockups. What software is used to run the keys and can this be reinstalled?

Cheers,

Jon.

 

There isn't any software for the keys. Is there a specific software that it keeps happening with like it only locks up when you are using Windows Media Player?

What BIOS version are you using?

 

Hi it happens with a cleanly booted system ie to turn on or off the speakers. i am using the factory installed BIOS version A07 only started to happen this week with no config changes.

Jon

 

When you talk about cleanly booted, are you talking about that you've reformatted XP? or just did a reboot to clear out the memory? Only reason i'm asking is because dell has a ton of junkware that could be causing the problem. We've had several threads where it is just weird problems happen, yet when they reformatted XP, all of the problems cleared up.

If you don't want to reformat or already have, you might try flashing your bios to A09 which is the current version for the 6000. That is the suggested fix on their troubleshoot tool.

Just from my experience, I think it is probably some junkware issue instead. You might try going to MSConfig and unchecking any software that you don't need to run at all times.

 

No just a warm reboot. I will try updating to the latest BIOS although I'm always wary of doing so as personally I have been bitten in the past by bad BIOS update installation programs.

I've checked the services/registry/startup sections and see nothing that wasn't there last week.

Jon.

 

If there are any drivers for these Media hot keys, I strongly sudgest re-installing them. Or going online to fine driver updats / firmware fixes for your machine.

 

if you have dell quickset installed try uninstalling it. quickset has only made my 9300 slower.

 

Quickset shouldn't make your system run slower. It takes no cpu power and 4 megs of your ram when running in your system tray. Byb4735, what are your i9300 specs?

Edit: I'm thinking along the lines of SG, junkware is probably the cause. My suitmate last week corrupted his musicmatch with the buttons on his 6000. I've done a clean install of musicmatch and everything, and it is still having problems. He now uses windows media which works. He seems to love it again. I would think get rid of the junkware and try a different music player.

 

According to dell, which i didn't ask them personally, just did extensive search last night, there is no drivers or software for the keys. Its really hard to tell what could be causing considering all of the different variables. If the BIOS update doesn't fix it, let us know, and we can give your more suggestions.

 

Updated to A09 BIOS Version but no change still crashes when any button is pressed. One strange thing noticed though, I ran task manager before it happened and when the explorer process froze task manager was still updating its list. Couldn't do anything with it as the process had stopped responding to commands. Mouse pointer still moved about.

Jon.

 

hmm, have you edited any windows settings at all?

I'm still thinking it is junkware, but it might just need a windows repair.

 

Nope no settings changed. I ripped out all the junkware on the first day by either uninstalling or by following guides on the net. Might just bite the bullet and start from fresh but I will try a windows repair. System Restore is a no go as that was turned off a few months ago.

Jon.

 

Little Update, did a google and came across this on Dell's support forums. If I didn't know better I'd say that I wrote it!

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_audio&message.id=25609

Jon.

 

LOL, that is a bit scary. Have you had any progress with it?

It is stuff like this that drives me crazy. I can't seem to find an answer after searching for a few hours, and I really don't have an explaination except for junkware or windows somehow got damage.

 

Nothing yet, I need to schedule some down time as I can still work as long as I don't press them buttons!

Jon.

 

Ok,

Just restored PC from scratch and the button problem has gone away. YAY!! Now just need to install all my progams and I'm back again. Good job I remembered to backup my 4gb Personal Folder in Outlook :-D

Jon.

 

JonNuttNTL...
i have the same problem here.. cause. from nothing. the hotkeys and pageup pagedn end + Fn to volumen up and down and mute DOESNT work.. so thats a problem for me...too.

so i know that is better to save a ghost.. (btw what tool you use make the scratch and recover from it?).

i guess cause.. i read something on Southern Girl .. she knows a lot about dell stuff. and if she cant find a help.. what i could do?.. this is my end?

thank you for the answers...