Swap Fn and Ctrl Keys

I just built a 1722 barebones system and its kinda weird getting used to its keyboard layout. Major gripes are the very small right shift key and the reversal of Fn and Ctrl keys compared to my old laptop. Is there a software or a hack to reverse the keys?

I have googled this for hours and havent come up with anything

There is a custom BIOS hack for MSI Wind though.

 

You can check the BIOS - some manufacturers (HP included, at least in its business line) offer a switch Fn-Ctrl setting in there.

 

I've been looking for a modded BIOS that swaps the keys as well, for the MSI GT627 though. So far I've had no luck. Perhaps someone could find the person who wrote the modded BIOS for the MSI Wind and kindly ask him/her to do the same for these models .

 

yeah, it was kinda weird typing on the 1722 keyboard. I'm sure they could have move the power button around the touch panel and extended the keyboard a bit.

 

on my HP laptop, the ctrl key is on the far left while on my Thinkpad, the Fn key is.

Kinda weird when i switch from the HP to the thinkpad and then ctrl + click a link in firefox and it opens in the same tab...
but it doesnt take me more than 5 mins to get used to it.

 

The following attachment is a customized 4.29 EC firmware that will reverse the FN and CTRL keys, courtesy of the Unofficial MSI Forums. The following MSI notebooks can use this custom EC firmware:

-MS-1722
-GX720
-GT725

 

Thank you for posting, TRF-Inferno. Would you happen to know of a modded bios that will switch the FN and CTRL keys for the MSI GT627?

 

You will use the one for the MS-1651 and the GX620.

 

I suppose it wouldn't necessarily work for the MSI GT627 then, right? The motherboard has a few small updates compared to the GX620/MS-1651 from what I've read.

 

Yes it will. MSI has the 1651's BIOS and EC firmware for the GT627's download, and I still highly doubt they even bothered changing the mainboard.

 

Thanks for the link TRF-Inferno. Works fine on the 1722.

 

OK thanks, good to know!

 

Can anyone confirm that this works with the MSI GT627?

 

Come on pal... I know you want to try it

Be our hero for once!!!!

 

Works PERFECTLY... thanks so much!

 

hey do you guys swap the keys too or no? lol jw

 

yeah, i am thinking of doing that too. lol.

 

thats what i did. i popped the keys off and swapped them.

 

Can you elaborate a bit on that? Any suggestions for tools? I have never done anything with a laptop keyboard before.

 

if you are careful they pop right off start at one corner and then pop off the other one then they snap back into place.

 

Hello everyone,

Well, I'd like to report that while the modded BIOS does in fact swap the Fn and Ctrl keys on the MSI GT627, it messes up the touch sensor strip. The turbo touch sensor now corresponds to wireless on/off, for instance.

I'm going to go back to the old bios and wait for a fix to come out specifically for the MSI GT627 .

 

Interesting, thanks for letting everyone know.

By the way, you're updating the EC, not the BIOS.

 

ahh i had not tried those buttons ill test those now. ill also see if i can make changes to the firmware this weekend im not sure what is screwed up i didnt make this firmware but i will look at it to see if i can find the error

 

Would you happen to have the original EC that shipped with the laptop then? For some reason I thought this was a modded BIOS. After flashing to the 1.0S BIOS provided by MSI, the touch pad sensors still don't work correctly, but the fn and ctrl keys are still swapped. If what you gave me was not a BIOS, then this explains why flashing the BIOS doesn't change anything.

Thanks in advance for any help!

EDIT: I think I found it on MSI's website. I'll try updating it tomorrow to the previous version.

 

In case you forget, here is the GT627's original EC Firmware:

http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=firmwarefile&dno=8767&i=0

 

For some reason, whenever I try to flash back using that EC Firmware it fails, saying something about bad file. I run the supplied .bat file. Hopefully I didn't brick my embedded controller .

 

Just an update:

I think I need to reset my CMOS. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how without tampering with the warranty sticker. I'll continue to post results here.

 

@Zangetsu57,

Thank you for keeping us posted!!!

RayanMX

 

Thanks for posting this. The fn key location is one of my biggest gripes on this system.

 

@ Zangetsu57
Just an idea. I don't know will it work, but you can try. For many boards if you press the Ins key while in post screen you will clear CMOS.
Also after flashing with this changed firmware did you remove all power (battery + AC) and press power button to discharge any energy left in the capacistors? This is written in the original firmware flashing utillity. If you didn't do so I think this may be the reason for failure you had with next flashing. I only suppose this, but you'll do not bad if you try.

 

Hello Genna,

Thanks for the information. After flashing, I removed the battery and the AC adapter and held the power button for about 30-45 seconds. From the mouth of the MSI techs, this is how you discharge the CMOS as there is no actual CMOS battery in this model. I was under the impression there was a battery, but I guess there isn't. That said, clearing the CMOS did not remove the admin password.

I think the problem is I picked up the 1.0p BIOS that I flashed back to from softpedia's downloads. I admit, this is my fault, but I couldn't find the original 1.0p BIOS on MSI's website (Just 1.0s). The MSI tech said it could very well be a hacked BIOS that someone uploaded, specifically designed to mess up your system. He checked the 1.0p BIOS they had on-hand and it flashed a dummy system just fine. Anyway, the hacked 1.0p BIOS does a good job by locking you out of your BIOS and not allowing you to select the boot menu via F11. The result is I can't use my flash drive to flash back.

I think I have a way to fix the system short of a RMA, though. I was able to boot from my Windows Vista DVD no problem, so if I create a bootable CD with the BIOS flash utility and the 1.0s BIOS, I should be able to flash back. After work today, I'll try this out and post the results.

 

Geez Zangetsu57, I'm sorry to hear that!

However I know that you'll be able to flash it back somehow... Your solution sounds promising.

Let us know and good luck!

RayanMX

 

@ Zangetsu57
Hello I've did what you've asked. I've remembered that I have bootable ISO image for exactly that purpose. I placed for you original BIOS and FirmWare files from MIS site inside, so you only need to burn it to CD. I sugest to you to use CD-RW
Here is the file.
Good luck!

 

Thank you Genna! I actually managed to flash the BIOS to the 1.0s version using "Ultimate Boot CD" (UBCD). I just went to the command prompt with NTFS support and flashed from my HD. So, the BIOS issue is cleared up!

Unfortunately, I still need to get the EC firmware to flash to the firmware that is provided on MSI's website. When I try to flash by running the batch file, I get the following message: "Filename is fail!". Above that, it always says: "Only support SPI from MSI", whatever that means.

I'm hoping that I can resolve this issue, as my touch sensors are still not correctly mapped. Does anyone have any idea as to what I may be doing wrong? I'm going to give MSI a call again and see if they have any ideas. There has to be a way to fix this without sending the system back to them and waiting two weeks.

 

Great news!

I was able to re-flash the EC firmware back to the original provided by MSI on their website. Unfortunately, the EC firmware on MSI's site will not work as provided (at least for me). After renaming the .431 file to .429, and modifying the batch file (and including the -B4C attribute), it flashed fine. Figures, it was something so simple.

So, to conclude, if you have a MSI GT627, do NOT use the firmware posted by TRF-Inferno. It will indeed swap your Fn and Ctrl key maps, but your touch sensors will become out of order. This is no attack on you TRF-Inferno, by the way, as I'm sure you were just trying to help . I just hope no one else has to rack their head like I have for the past few days to fix it.

I'll still be on the lookout for a Fn and Ctrl keymap swap EC firmware mod, though. Now we all at least know how to flash back easily. If anyone finds a firmware that does this for the GT627, please post it.

 

Hey, can someone write how they flash the bios? I read couple of guides here, but all of them confused me...

 

I appreciate you posting this for everyone to know, and by no means am I mad or consider it an attack. Sorry you had to go through all that problem, I'll get in touch with the EC firmware's editor and see why this problem is occurring for the GT627s. Your information is vital and helpful to others, you are not doing anything wrong.

 

I'm glad you see it the same way . As for the firmware not working on the GT627: are you certain it works on the GT725? If I remember correctly, the barebones systems have a slightly different touch sensor panel (or are there buttons in place?). This difference may be the reason. Since the GT627 has exactly the same touch sensor as the GT725, I don't see the modded EC firmware working on the GT725 if it doesn't work on the GT627. I'm not entirely certain, though; this is just an educated guess.

If you have contact with the EC firmware editor, would you mind asking if he would be willing to mod the firmware for the GT627 as well? I'm honestly not sure what type of work goes into modding the firmware, but it sounds as though it may be routine for him, so it might not take much of his time. I'm sure a lot of GT627 owners would enjoy having the option to swap these keys as well, and I'd be willing to write him a personal thank you.

 

So I popped off the keys and now I can't get them back on. There's two white pieces of plastic that need to hinge on eachother and I can't get them situated correctly. Does anyone have directions how to get the keys back on?

 

So there is no working EC that swaps the buttons? I started to play games now and I really need the Cntrl key to be on it's place.

 

So I majorly screwed up the control, function and windows keys while trying to get them back on. It seems the plastic parts are wearing down and when I snap the keys on its flush and doesn't have as much retention as before. Where could I get a replacement keyboard from? I checked ebay and google so far and can't find anything. I am going out of town next weekend so I may be stuck with having to resort to some ghetto solutions.

 

Send an email to rk computers or xoticpc and see if they have any spares.

 

I requested the EC firmware mod to swap the FN and Ctrl for the 1722 ID1 model, because the GX720 EC firmware posted earlier disables the webcam. (problem can be read in another thread)

Credit goes to Svet from the MSI forums.

Link to request thread.

 

So does this work on the GX620/MS-1651 without screwing up the touch buttons??

 

Hello eveyone,

I just used this firmware to swap the keys on my MSI GT627 and it worked flawlessly: http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=123316.msg930955#msg930955

Best of luck to everyone!

 

I will try this tomorrow sometime and let you guys know if it works on the gx620.

 

is there a guide how to flash the bios? bootable usb? for soon reason i cant acces this link: http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=116721.0 can anyone help or post what that link says.

 

see my sig for how to make one and to see the link you must register at the msi forum

 

thanks zfactor. and i finally got through with the page.

 

When I was surfing in notebookcheck.net I noticed that there is an LG laptop comes with a white keyboard that looks like the same one msi using (CHICONY OEM)



LG E500
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