Fn keys - What, Where and How?

[LAUBO]

Hi everyone!

I am interested in finding out how the Fn key actually works. For example, pressing Fn+'up' increases my volume. What is fundamentally going on here? Is there a 'hot-key' program running in the background? Is it a part of the BIOS, and therefore not part of Windows? Can I change the command - for example making Fn+'up' mean increase screen-brightness, instead of volume?

These are purely theoretical questions. I simply want to know how it works.

Thanks!
Laurens


PS. The theory can be applied to finding out what happens when I press Fn+F3 and Bluetooth starts up, in order to answer the question posed here: http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/281949-how-change-bluetooth-tray-icon-2.html

 

[ThrashZone]

See if this helps,
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/software-easily-remapping-windows-keyboard-layout.htm

 

[LAUBO]

Thank you for your suggestion - it seems a useful program. However, it does not seem to work with key-combinations.

It is explained in the programs manual that every key corresponds to a 'scancode', e.g. my F3 key has scancode '61'. It goes on to say that buttons such as Shift or Fn don't have a scancode but alter the code from other buttons, e.g. Fn+F3 ≠ '61' but something else. The program can't provide the exact answer, though, for key-combinations.

Even if I were to know the scancode for the combination Fn+F3, I still don't know how it affects my Laptop. Where do the commands (scancodes) go to? Which 'program' links the code to an action such as 'start-up Bluetooth tray exe' or 'increase desktop volume'.

Any experts with some theoretical knowledge, let me know!

 

[maxie]

The article below might be of some help

Fn key - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[LAUBO]

I like how you refer to Wikipedia as an 'article'. But no, the article didn't really help. The only thing it mentions is that "the Fn key is a hardware meta-key which is not remappable through operating system level keyboard remapping tools". Which relates to my question "Is it a part of the BIOS, and therefore not part of Windows?". Still, I wonder, which 'program' links the code to an action such as 'start-up Bluetooth tray exe' or 'increase desktop volume'.

 

[maxie]

Some manufactures use the BIOS interrupt handle to control the FN keys ... I wish you good luck in finding a solution

 

[ThrashZone]

Thank you for your suggestion - it seems a useful program. However, it does not seem to work with key-combinations.

See if this thread helps,
http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/46667-remap-fn-key.html

 

[lmao4u]

My laptop actually has little pictures on the F keys to show what each FN function is for,

A few months ago, they all stopped working except for the screen Brightness one, it turns out Asus has their own driver which supposedly functions them, I tried every single "ATKACP driver version" however none helped, it would then just bring up errors, if I tried to change the compatibility settings (advice from asus themselves)
and what was strange, even uninstalling it in device manager, the screen brightness one still functioned.

Even installing various ATK Hotkey drivers as well as hacked ones did nothing.

Took me many months of messing with it off and on.

Now, I can't exactly remember how I fixed it, it was either reinstalling the chipset or the audio driver.
I believe it was the audio driver itself which fixed it.

I assume that a player or something I uninstalled with Revo-Pro removed a shared DLL or something along those lines.

This tells me Asus's ATKACP, which runs in SYS, is worthless, because it was a windows DLL error that reinstalling ATKACP couldn't fix.

So if anyone ever has these issues, and ATKACP doesn't fix it, reinstall your audio driver.
I am almost 90% sure, its how I fixed mine.

I was going to uninstall the ATKACP driver to see what would happen, because I believe its a worthless driver, considering that the screen brightness FN worked the whole time nothing else did and even worked w/o the ATKACP driver installed, but my motto is, if its not broke, do not fit it.

And its taking up almost no ram.