Toshiba Satellite A105-S4034 FN key function problems

[dacflyer]

for some weird reason my FN keys have quit working right as if they have been reassigned.
noticed the other day when i wanted to dim my screen FN + F6 the screen did not dim, rather it seems it acts like a TAB key now. and when i FN + F7 to brighten the screen a pop up window ask me if i want to turn caret browsing on or off...
what has happened ?
where do i fix this ?
where is the program that controls these functions ? or where do i reset the defaults?
or where can i reinstall the drivers ?
running XP sp3 here..
Toshiba satellite A105-S4034
i looked on the web but unable to find an answer.
any help please , thanks..

[dobrien]

You might try their Fn-esse program.
It is described on Page 159 -163 in the owners manual. You supposed to clear
the function keys.

[dacflyer]

i do not have the owners manual

[CeaSaR]

I did a search and found this. Hope something works.

CeaSaR

[dobrien]

This might help!
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais ... 1073768663
It is Toshiba site for the laptop just click on the User Guide Tab. You can look at the
User Guide or download a PDF version of the Manual.
Good Luck !!

[dacflyer]

well the link to the toshiba drivers was a help, i reinstalled hotkey drivers and toshiba controls, but they did no good. i still have the same problem my FN + keys are still mis-assigned Grrrr
i do not know what or why they are reassigned.

another thing i noticed - when i press the FN key. the green indicator light under the F10 key lights up.
but this F10 is said to be the curser key overlay on/off
so i know the FN key is functioning.. but as a test if i press the F6 or F7 keys for screen brightness, they act as if i am not pressing the FN key.. as i described earlier.... there has to be a fix.. i do not wanna have to reload this thing.
i got too many programs and files installed.

any other ideas anyone ?

[Janitor Tzap]

well the link to the toshiba drivers was a help, i reinstalled hotkey drivers and toshiba controls, but they did no good. i still have the same problem my FN + keys are still mis-assigned Grrrr
i do not know what or why they are reassigned.

another thing i noticed - when i press the FN key. the green indicator light under the F10 key lights up.
but this F10 is said to be the curser key overlay on/off
so i know the FN key is functioning.. but as a test if i press the F6 or F7 keys for screen brightness, they act as if i am not pressing the FN key.. as i described earlier.... there has to be a fix.. i do not wanna have to reload this thing.
i got too many programs and files installed.

any other ideas anyone ?

Hmm.....
I wonder if you have a locking function for the FN function keys?

Try this......
Press the FN Key.
Hold it down then press the F10 Key.
Does the light go out?
Yes?
Then release the keys.
Now try the FN + F6 or F7 Key combinations.
If they work now.
Then try the FN + F10 Key combination, and see if it locks it again.

Granted, I'm just guessing here.
What you really need is the Operators manual for this Laptop.

Do you still have a Restore Disk?
It may have the PDF file, with the instructions you need to program the FN Key Function Combinations.

Otherwise.....
If all else fails.
Do a backup of the Laptop's Hard Drive.
Then Format the Hard Drive, and then restore the OS with the Restore Disk.

Note:
If the problem surfaced when you installed a newer OS.
Say the Laptop was running WinXP SP3, and you upgraded to Windows 7.
There are probably driver issues that can't be easily resolved.

Good Luck!


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[dacflyer]

i did not upgrade to OS7,, this uses XP.

but check this out.. as a experiment a friend of mind found out that Toshiba Common Module when activated a pop up window would say "common module terminated" so he did some more searching and trying to reload the drivers and such.. come to find out AVG is blocking it from working.. when trying to reload common module from Toshiba website ,AVG would pop up during the installation saying it is blocking threats within the file..
well my buddy made AVG ignore the threat, but it was still blocking it somehow, so he had to disable AVG then retried to install the file.. and what do ya know.. POOF FN functions start to work.
so AVG is the culprit.
after the files were installed. only 1 threat popped up.. i do not recall what it was. but ignore was selected.

so my guess is when AVG did a automatic update , it disrupted things somehow..
i am using the free avg. so i am not sure if avg will do anything about this problem or not..
i do not understand why it did this..
toshiba's site claims its virus free.. so.. right now things work.. will see what happens after this does a virus scan over night.. i'll keep ya posted tomorrow..

[Janitor Tzap]

Hmm......

AVG was the culprit.

I don't use AVG, but I've had problems with Zone Alarm Security Suite,
or other scanners mistaking some programs as malicious.

You should be able to go into AVG settings, and set it to ignore the program.
Though AVG maybe going off because the Toshiba site is using some type of tracking tools along with the program.

They maybe benign, but you never know.
I found out the hard way that some nasty scripts can piggy back onto even known good download sites.
Thus, trying to isolate the program from the piggy backing script was hard.
I'm now running Noscript & Add Blocker Plus to keep tabs on the sites I visit.
So, far this has kept my computer {mostly} from getting infected.

I'd check the Toshiba Forums and the AVG Forums.
See how many others have seen this problem.
What they found was the cause, and what was the solution they came up with.


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[dacflyer]

was a tough thing to beat.. but with my buddy's help we got it..

[dacflyer]

Arggggghhhh !!
problem comes back when i reboot computer..
in the AVG virus Vault i get this.... file MAY BE infected by unknown virus.. WTF
and...
found regestry key with references to infected file.

just found out that i can send the files to AVG for analysis, so i just sent both files.. maybe i have some luck,,, but it will not let me send a note to go along with it..
so i have to wait and see if they reply..
i start to dislike Free AVG...

[CeaSaR]

Oh man, I hate to dis AVG, but I had to switch from it because of wonky problems
it would create. I changed to Avast! (free version) and things have been pretty
smooth. Only thing that drove me buggy was the continual pop-up informing me
that it had updated. Turned it off in Settings>Sounds and have been happy since.

CeaSaR

[Janitor Tzap]

Arggggghhhh !!
problem comes back when i reboot computer..
in the AVG virus Vault i get this.... file MAY BE infected by unknown virus.. WTF
and...
found registry key with references to infected file.

Completely uninstall AVG.
Down load CCleaner.
http://www.piriform.com/download
Install it and run both the "Cleaner" and "Registry" cleaner.
When you run the "Registry" cleaner.
It will show you old unused Reg entries,
and junk from programs that you've removed.
Go ahead and run it.
You may need to run it more than once to completely remove the bad or old reg's.
Next reinstall the "Common module".
Once you have the FN Key functions working.
Run CCleaner again.
The "Registry" cleaner will turn up the old Reg Settings.
Clean them out.
Reboot the System to be sure the FN Key Functions are still working.
Now Reinstall AVG.
Check the FN Key Functions are still working.
Then Reboot the System, check the FN Key Functions are still working.
If it's Okay, run CCleaner again for good measure.

If you still are having issues with AVG.
Just uninstall it completely and follow CeaSaR's advice and use Avast! instead.

Just found out that i can send the files to AVG for analysis, so i just sent both files.. maybe i have some luck,,, but it will not let me send a note to go along with it..
so i have to wait and see if they reply..
i start to dislike Free AVG...

I don't know what their debugging team is like.
But if it's like most software companies.
You won't hear anything for several days, or they won't even respond.


Well,
Good luck with it Dacflyer.


Signed: Janitor Tzap

[Janitor Tzap]

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[Janitor Tzap]

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