Windows 7: f9-f12 dont work

brand new computer, brand new keyboard, brand new clean install of windows 7 (it did it before this and after this). here's the issue:

f1-f8 work fine for everything in every program, f9-f12 dont do anything anywhere as far as i can tell. f9 has the play/pause function, f10 stop, f11 rewind, f12 fast forward.



these may very well work if im playing a dvd, i havent tried. but honestly i could care less if they work with a dvd but dont work anywhere else. i tried looking around the keyboards drivers and whatnot but i dont see anywhere i can set shortcuts or erase bindings that have been put on a key. is there another program or place i need to look into to unbind or reassign these?

pS: the keys themselves actually work as i can hit them during "press any key to continue"...

thanks in advance.

have you got a Fn key on your keyboard? try holding that then pressing them, alot of keys have 2 functions tied to them especially on laptops

okay i found the Fn keyand it makes the keys work. now my question is this. how do i make them work like they're supposed to? why the hell do i want to hit 2 keys everytime i want to f9-f12, i want to only hit Fn when i want the alternate function such as play stop etc. it seems stupid that they give priority to the part that doesnt ever get used.

the short answer to your question is that generally F9-F12 are not used... I honestly cant remember the last time i used them, whereas my media keys get used quite a bit. OFC i have a desktop keyboard with seperate media keys so its sort of a non issue for me.

Can i suggest you try keytweaker? there is a link here: FREE Great Programs for Windows 7 for gods sake make a system image or something first though. just in case something goes wrong.... its a simple program, but you know what they say