[gutsy] special keys on laptop don't work on Toshiba Satellite A105

Something came along and fixed my gnome-power-manager which also fixed the ability to dim the LCD. Now, the keyboard keys (fn+F6/F7) work. However, most of the other keys still do not.

OK, here are the keys and the result of showkey -s:

Keys that worked:
special key "play/pause" 0xE0 0x22 0xE0 0xA2
special key "stop" 0xE0 0x24 0xE0 0xA4
special key "back" 0xE0 0x10 0xE0 0x90
special key "fwd" 0xE0 0x19 0xE0 0x99

Keys that don't work (all return nothing):
special key "web"
special key "music"
fn+Esc muse/unmute
fn+F1 lock
fn+F2 (lightbulb?)
fn+F3 suspend
fn+F4 hibernate
fn+F8 wifi
fn+F9 (trackpad?)
fn+space bar (zoom)

uname -a
Linux matts-laptop 2.6.22-8-generic #1 SMP Thu Jul 12 15:59:45 GMT 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

Please attach the dmesg when pressing the keys.

Thanks
chuck

On 7/30/07, Chuck Short <email address hidden> wrote:
> Please attach the dmesg when pressing the keys.
>

When I press the special keys, nothing is shown in dmesg. i.e. I type
dmesg, make note of the last line, press all of the special keys,
check dmesg and the last line from before is still the last line.
--
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode

Kill gdm (/etc/init.d/gdm stop), then become root from a console login: 'sudo su -'. Use 'showkey' to see what the kernel is passing up.

I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro A100 and have also lost the use of special keys in .22
showkey (as root) shows no output for internet/media, play/pause, stop and back/forward,
fn+F? shows the same output whether fn is pressed or not.
Attached is my dmesg output.

And output of lsmod and uname -a
(I also forgot to mention I'm running Kubuntu)
stdin@goten:~$ uname -a
Linux goten 2.6.22-9-generic #1 SMP Fri Aug 3 00:50:37 GMT 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

Same Problem on my Toshiba Satellite Pro A100. Special keys are not working with Gutsy.

Same problem with Gutsy working on my Toshiba Satellite A105 - S4074.
kernel: 2.6.22-13-generic

As far as I remember most of keys were working on 7.04 and after update to 7.10 but stopped to work after next updates of 7.10. To make some of keys working on 7.04 (especially multimedia keys such as "play/pause", "stop", "forward", "backward" or "open browser", "brightness up", "brightness down" and "switch video output") I had to update my Phoenix BIOS. Unfortunately the rest of keys wasn't working even then.

Keys that were working could have been configured with KeyTouch. Now it doesn't solve the problem too.

I'm having the same problem, and the brightness keys still do not work on my Satellite A105.

Same problem on my A100/E, worked in Feisty.

Dnia 13-10-2007, So o godzinie 21:44 +0000, Jonathan Musther pisze:

> Same problem on my A100/E, worked in Feisty.

Brightness keys, "play/payse", "next track" and "previous track" started
to work. Unfortunately keys: "WWW Browser", "play video", "mute on/off",
"wifi on/off", "touchpad on/off", etc. still don't work.

Same problem on my Toshiba A100 with Gutsy (Final release) but most of the Fn Keys worked in Feisty.

dmesg reports nothing when the Fn keys or special multimedia keys are pressed.
xev/showkey reports nothing when the multimedia keys are pressed and pressing Fn+F1-F12 reports the same thing as pressing F1-F12

Most of these keys worked fine in Feisty, specifically:
Fn+Esc (Mute)
Fn+F1 (Lock)
Fn+F3 (Suspend)
Fn+F5 (Switch displays)
Fn+F6,F7 (Lower,Increase screen brightness)
Multimedia keys: Play/Pause, Stop, Next/Forward, Launch Browser

Same here, on Toshiba Satellite Pro A100-PSAAA, using BIOS v5.90.

Keys used to work in Feisty, and no more in Gutsy. Using showkey -s, the keycodes are those from 'normal' keys (I mean, with or without pressing 'Fn' it's the same).

Confirmed on Satellite A105-S4254.

In Feisty, the function keys mostly did stuff, (although most of it was broken) but now they generate the exact same keycodes as without the Fn key.

Dnia 20-10-2007, So o godzinie 17:56 +0000, David Benjamin pisze:
> Confirmed on Satellite A105-S4254.
>
> In Feisty, the function keys mostly did stuff, (although most of it was
> broken) but now they generate the exact same keycodes as without the Fn
> key.
In previous mail I wrote that some function keys started to work in
Gutsy (it was updated from Feisty) after some updates.
Today I made clean install of Gutsy and none of Fn and multimedia keys
work.

Here is an interesting discovery to add to my previous comment:
I realized that if I suspend my laptop and later bring it out of suspension, the Fn + F6,F7 (Dim/Increase screen brightness) suddenly start working.

If I simply start my computer and never suspend it, the Fn+F6,F7 keys will never work.

Fn-X keys and Special keys doesn't work on my model as well.
Plus, I can't control screen brightness well (battery applet does come things but that's kind of random).

Model Commercial Name : Toshiba Satellite A100-455
System Version : PSAA9E-14W03VFR
BIOS : 5.90

They didn't work on Feisty too.

Same problem on my Satellite A100-411 (PSAARE).

Most of the keys worked fine on Feisty, but they don't on Gutsy :-(
There seems not to be any BIOS update available at this moment.
My version is Phoenix 5.90

same on a toshiba A130-135.
only work. fn+esc, fn+f1, fn+f2

Same here, Toshiba A100

It's not only Toshiba that's affected, also HP Compaq Business Notebook nx9040
All keys worked in Feisty, but not on Gutsy.

I accidently pressed fn+space bar (zoom) and my desktop has all its icons zoomed and I do not know which keys will zoom-out. I want my desktop settings to be in the classic mode. Does anyone know how it fix my problem?

I accidently pressed fn+space bar (zoom) and my desktop has all its icons zoomed. Now, I do not know which keys will zoom-out. I want my desktop settings to be in the classic mode. Does anyone know how to fix my problem?

hi folks,
I got the same problem.. any of the special keys works in my Toshiba laptop..
does anyone know how to fix this?
thanks,
felix

I have made a clean install of hardy alpha 2. Fn and multimedia keys started to work with new kernel (except "play media" key from multimedia keys). Unfortunately all these keys stop to work after suspend and resume. This situation is almost an inverse of previous where keys were starting to work after resume.

Khorne, thanks for testing the newer Hardy release. For anyone else interested, the Hardy Heron Alpha series was recently released. Alpha2 and subsequent releases contain an updated version of the kernel. You can download and try the new Hardy Heron Alpha release from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/ . Please note that Alpha3 will be released within the next day or two so you may want to wait. You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. General information regarding the release can also be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ .

For the keys which still do not work for the newer release, please provide the information outlined here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/HotkeyResearch

Also, Khorne, regarding the issue of keys not working after Suspend/Resume, can you open a new bug report. It's helpful to keep bug reports targeting a specific issue on a specific set of hardware. We'd like to keep this report strictly to hotkeys not even from the start. We can always go back and duplicate reports later on. Thanks!

I've opened a new task against the actively developed kernel and am closing the task against linux-source-2.6.22 as it does not meet the criteria for a stable release update. You can learn more about the stable release update process at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates . Thanks!

On Śr, 2008-01-09 at 23:33 +0000, Leann Ogasawara wrote:

> For the keys which still do not work for the newer release, please
> provide the information outlined here:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/HotkeyResearch

Ok, situation now looks a bit different. Some changes were made by
KeyTouch. I purged it so I could test clean Ubuntu install (now I have
everything up to date with Hardy Release Schedule)

So keys:

## "Play/Pause" ##
- Should do: Play music in default music player (or open this MP and
then play music)it should also pause music.
- code that is generated: XF86AudioPause

The problem is that it's not generating "Play" code but only "Pause"

## "Open WWW/Multimedia Player" ## - Only LEFT side is OK!
- Left side should do: Open default www browser (ok)
- code that is generated: XF86WWW

- Right side should do: Open default multimedia (video) player (NOT OK -
does nothing)
- code that is generated: does NOT generate any code

## Fn + F1 ##
It locks screen and it works ok only when is manually assigned.
- code that is generated: Super_L

## Fn + F2 ##
- Should do: In Windows it switches between different power management
(presentation, performance, Long Life, etc.)
- code that is generated: does NOT generate any code

maybe it's ok due to Ubuntu philosophy

## Fn + F3 ##
Ok - It suspends laptop

## Fn + F4 ##
It should hibernate system but does nothing
- code that is generated: does NOT generate any code

## Fn + F5 ##
Ok? - It should enable external monitor port and I think it does. The
problem is that it causes a crash (reload) of QT (I have reportet it in
another bug)
- code that is generated: XF86Display

## Fn + F6 ##
Ok - Brightness down - works fine

## Fn + F7 ##
Ok - Brightness up - works fine

## Fn + F8 ##
It should enable/disable wireless card (connection) - not working
- code that is generated: does NOT generate any code

## Fn + F9 ##
It should enable/disable touchpad - not working
- code that is generated: does NOT generate any code

## Fn + F10 ##
Ok - Enables numeric keyboard - works fine

## Fn + Space key ##
Should Zoom Desktop - not working
- code that is generated: does NOT generate any code

##########

Ok, I'm going to open new bug because keys (including some I've listed
above) start to work only after resume.

If you need some more info or more detailed please let me know. I'll
surely help of course when I could do that.

Thanks for cooperation ;)
At least, I'm going to sleep,
goodnight :)

Hi Khorne,

Thanks for gathering this information. Unfortunately, I don't think you gathered the actual key codes. The key codes should be in the form of a number. If you could also include:

sudo dmidecode -s system-manufacturer
sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name
sudo dmidecode -s system-version

Thanks!

On Śr, 2008-01-23 at 14:03 +0000, Leann Ogasawara wrote:
> Hi Khorne,
>
> Thanks for gathering this information. Unfortunately, I don't think you
> gathered the actual key codes. The key codes should be in the form of a
> number.
That's what i thought. I've gathered this info using "key shortcuts".

This time I've used xev. _Commented_ output of xev is attached
(xev.txt).

Most keys generate (I think) proper code but nothing seems to work. Only
keys that generates acpi events are working ok (except hibernation key).

TOSHIBA

Satellite A105

PSAA8U-0LH02K

# WWW key (not working this time):

KeyPress event, serial 27, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x59, subw 0x0, time 3806706, (796,525), root:(797,573),
    state 0x10, keycode 178 (keysym 0x1008ff2e, XF86WWW), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 27, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x59, subw 0x0, time 3806706, (796,525), root:(797,573),
    state 0x10, keycode 178 (keysym 0x1008ff2e, XF86WWW), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

# Multimedia key - NO OUTPUT

# Play/pause (not working this time):

KeyPress event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x59, subw 0x0, time 3843985, (796,525), root:(797,573),
    state 0x10, keycode 162 (keysym 0x1008ff31, XF86AudioPause), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x59, subw 0x0, time 3843985, (796,525), root:(797,573),
    state 0x10, keycode 162 (keysym 0x1008ff31, XF86AudioPause), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

# Stop (not working this time):

KeyPress event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x59, subw 0x0, time 3879769, (796,525), root:(797,573),
    state 0x10, keycode 164 (keysym 0x1008ff15, XF86AudioStop), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x59, subw 0x0, time 3879769, (796,525), root:(797,573),
    state 0x10, keycode 164 (keysym 0x1008ff15, XF86AudioStop), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

# Previous (not working this time):

KeyPress event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x59, subw 0x0, time 3894836, (796,525), root:(797,573),
    state 0x10, keycode 144 (keysym 0x1008ff16, XF86AudioPrev), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x59, subw 0x0, time 3894846, (796,525), root:(797,573),
    state 0x10, keycode 144 (keysym 0x1008ff16, XF86AudioPrev), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

# Next (not working this time):

KeyPress event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
    root 0x59, subw 0x0, time 39060...

I have a Toshiba Satellite M55-S331 and I have the same problem. Fn+Esc and Fn+F6 and Fn+F7 work but all the other ones and the Web, Media Player, Play/Pause, Stop, Next, and Previous keys do not work and do not show anything in the dmesg. Hang on Fn+F1 does show a message in dmesg. None of the others do.

Attached is my dmesg log with the last two lines showing the scancodes from the Fn+F1.

After last kernel update power button stopped to work (Hardy, 2.6.24-10-generic)
here it is output of:
sudo tail -f /var/log/acpid

I got it working.

How ?

Just boot, go into suspend-to-ram (not disk), and then wake up !
This way, I got brightness buttons working. Seems it doesn't afect the others, but it might be a good clue ...

Toshiba A100-543
Model No : PSAA9L
Phoenix BIOS v 1.80

None of the function keys work.

My main issue is I am unable to control the LCD brightness. I can't even read or write to the /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness file.

Have tried everything, but just cannot get the brightness to be adjusted.

Have toyed with the idea of upgrading the BIOS (think latest version is 5.60), but not sure if that will cause new problems. If someone can report if upgrading BIOS enabled them to fix brightness, might consider it.

Where can I check status of this problem in this site ? whether if its being worked upon, if there is a solution etc. ?

I've just upgraded my Toshiba A100 to Hardy, and it looks like those keys works now :)

At least, WWW works :)

Mine are all working now (Hardy - Toshiba A100).

Here's my latest status for my Satellite A105:

Web, Play/Pause, Stop, Forward & Reverse all work. The Media Player key itself doesn't work - it should probably launch Rhythmbox, but it does not.

Fn+Esc (mute / unmute) does register in the computer and an icon comes up which shows muting and unmuting, but it doesn't actually affect the volume at all. Fn+F1 (lock) does not work. Fn+F2, power profiles, does not work. Fn+F3, hardware suspend, does work (but resume doesn't work). Fn+F4, software suspend, does not work. Fn+F5, toggle between laptop and other monitor, does not work. Fn+F6 and Fn+F7, brightness down and up respectively, do work but the brightness doesn't really go down as far as I'd like for some situations. Fn+F8, something to do with WiFi, does not work. Fn+F9, to toggle the touchpad, does not work. (I especially wish that one worked!) FN+F10, zoom, does not work. Fn+F11, numpad lock, does work. Fn+F12, sync, does not work. Fn+1 and Fn+2 don't work, but I'm not sure what they're supposed to do. Fn+Space, to zoom, does not work.

Hi all,

   After upgrading to Hardy, the special keys on my A105 still didn't work. However, today I upgrade the BIOS version (Phoenix) to 6.00. And now it works! Ryan already gave the precise description about what works and what doesn't work. For those people who want
to have brightness control on your A105, you should consider to upgrade your BIOS!

Hi Mathew,

Can you confirm with the latest Hardy if this is resolved for you? Can you also comment if a BIOS update to 6.00 was required? Thanks.

For hardy it was almost resolved (almost means all keys except "Open multimedia player" that is combined with "Open WWW browser").

In Intrepid alpha they are not working at all but they're producing events (i.e. I can see the key name when I'm trying to set shortcut for it). Of course "Open multimedia player" is not working at all (even it's not invoking any event).

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

I am sorry but I don't understand what this means. Where are we suppose to report these kinds of things.

This problem still persists in Jaunty.

None of my hot keys have ever worked on any iteration of Ubuntu from Dapper on. Will this ever be fixed addresses???

Fn keys on this Toshiba laptop don't work on Karmic too.

On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 6:53 AM, laptoplinux <email address hidden>wrote:

> I am sorry but I don't understand what this means. Where are we suppose
> to report these kinds of things.
>
> This problem still persists in Jaunty.
>
> None of my hot keys have ever worked on any iteration of Ubuntu from
> Dapper on. Will this ever be fixed addresses???
>
> --
> [gutsy] special keys on laptop don't work on Toshiba Satellite A105
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/128320
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

On Tue, Sep 08, 2009 at 04:53:05AM -0000, laptoplinux wrote:
> I am sorry but I don't understand what this means. Where are we suppose
> to report these kinds of things.
>
> This problem still persists in Jaunty.
>
> None of my hot keys have ever worked on any iteration of Ubuntu from
> Dapper on. Will this ever be fixed addresses???

Those messages simply are administrative updates changing the way we
handle bugs. This is the correct place to report bugs of this kind.
You might try the debugging suggested at the URL below:

    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Hotkeys/Troubleshooting

Karmic Koala 9.10 has this issue on my Toshiba Portege R100. I don't know how to link two bug reports together, but there is an other report here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/471934

I think this is a same issue or there might be relationship between them. There are several ACPI related problems with Toshiba laptops.

This problem still persists in Karmic.

I don't get it. A few versions ago, it was working (well, at least in Mint-ubuntu it did - I didn't use Plain ubuntu back then).
You just installed the appropriate power management and utils, and it would work.
Now it doesn't since a couple last versions now... and with Toshiba's marketshare and prevalence, I really don't understand how you guys don't test this before letting a package come out of beta.

This problem persists in Lucid and has manifested itself in every release since at Dapper for me. Is it just not a priority? It would be nice to be able to use my hotkeys.

Still persists in Maverick. Clearly not a priority?

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.