Samsung Series 9 900X4D-K01 FN keys not working

Hey,


tody i've make a clean install of Windows 8, and now some fn keys doesn't work. I cant change the Screen brightness with FN + F2 / F3 and also i cant turn wifi on and off with FN + F12. The other keys work as the should.

I have Settings installed several times and tried any solution i found on Google. But nothing works.

Can anyone help me ?

 

How many different versions of settings have you tried? The most recent is listed in SW Update for new models such as the NP940X3G.

The module which handles the Fn keys is called dmhkcore.exe. It is discussed in this thread.

John

 

Hey John,


I tried these versions :

2.1.0.20
2.2.0.50

and a few others, but i can't remember the version number....

I also have tried Windows 8.1 but I have the same errors.
If I turn Wifi off, the blue LED on F12 doesn't change. It stays on the whole time...

I tried even Easy Settings 1.1.1.4 but that did not work.

 

You may also need to install the Airplane Mode Control driver to get Fn+F12 to switch properly and use the Intel graphics driver provided by Samsung for the display brightness control to work. Are any of the other Fn keys (eg volume control)? working?

If not, then if you haven't tried already, try doing a full uninstall of Settings and a couple of reboots before reinstalling any of those versions. Installing over an existing version might preserve some corrupted settings.

John

 

Only FN + F2 / F3 and FN + F12 doesn't work. The keys for Keyboard backlight and Volume works fine. The Airplane Mode Control driver is installed.

I've tried uninstall and reinstall Settings several times but nothing happens

 

1. Can you switch the Wifi on / off in Settings?

2. Did you use the graphics driver provided by Samsung or let Windows install whatever it wanted?

John

 

Yes, I can switch wifi on and off in Settings. The LED on F12 only goes off when I turn Airplane mode on. I have installed the intel driver from SW Update.

 

This could be several problems colluding:

1) Some Fn-keys (such as the audio control) are supported directly by Windows and should work regardless of whether Settings is installed.

2) The screen brightness Fn-keys DO depend on Settings, but also rely on screen brightness control working in the graphics driver. Are you able to adjust screen brightness in Windows power options (click the battery icon in the taskbar tray)?

3) If screen brightness is not working correctly in Windows power options, check that Adaptive Brightness is disabled. It can be difficult on some models. Check this post and this post for details.

4) If Easy Settings (for Win7) was ever installed (because at first Fn-keys didn't seem to work, maybe due to Adaptive Brightness) that could have caused some mess. Easy Settings contains a lot of hacky code that is hardly even compatible with Win7, let alone Win8. It could have messed up some of the tasks that need to be loaded when Windows starts, and it might require surgery to fix -- even after Easy Settings have been uninstalled.

I would probably just do another clean install, then use this post as guidance for which drivers to install and which to avoid. Basically, install everything on that list (that SW Update offers you) and install nothing beyond that list (even if SW Update offers it).

If you let SW Update do the installation automatically (unchecking the items you don't want) that ensures the correct installation order -- and saves you several reboots.

 

I've made a clean install of Windows 8 again and install only the drivers you described in your post. But the FN keys sill doens't work

Windows 8 is up to date and except the drivers no software is installed.

Any idea ?

 

Wow, thanks for the update and thanks for trying.

Did you disable Adaptive Brightness in those different places listed in the post I linked? Are you able to adjust brightness using the slider in Windows power options?

You said you can adjust keyboard backlight (Fn-F9 & F10) and open Settings (Fn-F1), correct? That means the Fn-keys module DOES actually work.

One idea could be to try an older version of Settings. I know that sounds counter intuitive, but it appears that Samsung has different branches of Settings versions, with the 2.1.x and 2.2.x series matching relatively recent models, while 2.0.x match previous models. It is very possible that they depend on certain BIOS features in each computer.

I had 2.1 on my older NP700Z3A (which I had found under AB9+) and SW Update offered an update to 2.2. Both 2.1 and 2.2 worked on my computer, but lacked a few features (Fast Start/Lid Open wake, BLE, ExpressCache). After I reverted to 2.0, SW Update no longer offered me that update, indicating I went to a different branch. I am currently on 2.0.0.55 which seems to be the best fit for my model and supports the most features.

I see that 2.0.0.38 is the latest Settings offered for NP900X4D, so 2.0.0.55 would probably work as well. You can find it under NP880Z5E-X03CA.

But Settings version doesn't matter if the functions that we're trying to activate with the Fn-keys are not supported by the underlying driver -- such as the HD4000 graphics driver used to handle Brightness. So do check that first.

 

Dear Dannemand,

I have disabled Adaptiv Brightness in all those diffrent places, nothing happends. And yes, I can adjust the brigthness using the Windows slider.

In Ubuntu 12.04 TLS the FN keys work out of the box, its a little bit annoying that they won't work in Windows -.-

My 900X4D is just 2 weeks old

I trie an older version of Settings, maybe that works.