Disable Physical Volume Toggle Buttons - HP Spectre X360 (2016)

[paytonfrost]

The side volume toggle on my Spectre does not work, it only registers a continuous "volume down" which causes the volume to be perpetually at 0. This also causes a perpetiaul indicator to appear in the upper left hand corner of the screen. 

I do not believe this is a software issue (I originally did) since I did a system restore to a known good state and the problem still persisted. Additionally, if I press in on the side volume toggle enough, the volume will rise, but as soon as I let go, it falls once again back to 0. 

I do not use these voulume buttons. I would like to disable them. However, I am weary about going into the device manager and disabling anything that looks like volume control. I am also weary about opening up the laptop and disabling the volume keys manually. 

I found a fellow who had a similar issue with volume toggle (https://goo.gl/osKja7), however, the device driver he mentions, "GPIO Buttons Driver" does not exist on my machine. I am still hopeful there is a way to find the keys and disable them.

The strange thing is this affects far more than I thought: I can't press the windows key to bring up the start menu, I can't switch windows, windows lose focus randomly, opening up a new window will often not make it active. It's an annoying issue, and I am considering just opening up the bottom, but I would like to find a better way first.

Any help would be appreciated. 

Thanks. 

[MKazi]

@paytonfrost

Thanks for reaching out to us on HP Support Forums. I came across your post and would like to help. 

I understand that you have an HP Spectre x360 - 13-w023dx. I read that the volume button is not working correctly. The volume down causes the volume to be zero. This also causes a perpetual indicator to appear in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Secondly, the Windows menu does not appear after pressing the Windows key.

There is no way to disable the volume down button.

To assist you better, I would like to know the following information:

• Since how long are you facing this issue?
• Does the volume button look pressed towards the down position?
• Did any software changes or updates take place on the laptop?

While you respond to that, I recommend you to perform the Microsoft Push Button Reset. This repairs your computer by reinstalling the operating system. This can be done either while preserving your personal data and customizations, or removing all your personal data.

Hope this helps. Feel free to keep me posted. Cheers! 🙂

[paytonfrost]

MKazi, thanks for the reply!

1. I've had this issue for about 1 week

2. The volume toggle does not appear to be pressed in the down position nor does it feel that way

3.  No software changes have taken place, but even so, I did a system restore to a known good point and the problem persisted

I do not think this is a software problem, I believe it is a hardware issue with the buttons no longer responding. The buttons also feel different, they are not "clicky" they are stiff. Therefore, before I resorted to sending in for a hardware fix, I wanted to see if there was a way to simply disable the buttons. I didn't use them anyway. 

A note about the windows key: I mentioned that because that's a function that would be interrupted if another key was being perpetually pressed (such as volume down). However, Windows+2 to launch from the taskbar still works, Windows+Tab still works. Additionally, I am unable to bring up the virtual keyboard. It flashes for a second and then disappears, again, as if another key was being perpetually pressed, interrupting the function.

The best fix, in my opinion, is to disable the volume toggle altogether. When looking at similar problems, it appears that this might be accomplished in the device manager by disabling the driver responsible. However, I'm not sure which one that would be. If I could know that, I believe this issue would be solved.

[MKazi]

@paytonfrost

You're most welcome.

You've been fabulous to work with considering your superb technical skills, remarkable patience and great attitude. Kudos to you for that.

I'm afraid there is no way to disable the volume button that way. You may contact our HP phone support team to explore the available service options for your HP laptop.

Let me know how this pans out. Feel free to keep me posted. All the best! 🙂

[Geoff_Dmt]

Hi paytonfrost ,

I have been looking on the internet for a while and I finally find the exact same problem on the same model!

I own a HP Spectre x360 (13-ac000nf)  and have the same issue (volume keeps going down, while the key is perfectly fine and not sticky - pushed down).

Have you been able to find what the issue is? That would be awesome if you could tell me as I have been struggling for days and haven't found a solution yet.

Thank you!

Geoff

[warrentyy]

Hi @Geoff_Dmt and @payton ,

I have an issue like this on my HP Spectre x360 - 13-ap0008ca. Similar situation, the volume down key doesn't seem pressed at all, feels the same as all other buttons. Almost randomly i'll watch the volume decrease in the top left until it's muted, and then the same volume display will continue to show up as the OS receives the "volume down" signal. 

I couldn't find a solution online that indicated that this was a software issue, and all of my keyboard drivers are up to date, as well as my volume drivers for good measure, but my next point will indicate that this can only be a hardware or keyboard issue.

I actually used a Sharpkeys to change the value of the Volume Down key to Volume up in the registry itself and found that after a restart, the volume would keep going up. So it's not that the OS or any application is trying to lower the volume, it's that there is an input signal being inadvertently sent from that key to the circuit board which obviously can't tell you didn't mean to press it so it functions like it would normally.

My solution: you can use Sharpkeys to set the value of a button in the registry to any other button; just set that key to a key that does nothing. Sharpkeys actually has a way to turn the key off in the registry, thereby disabling it (screenshot below for key mapping). I tested this myself and it "fixed" the issue. No more volume decreasing, the button does nothing. I mapped my Prev_Track key to Volume Down instead so i still have that functionality.

All that being said, for it to be a hardware issue, it's a strange coincidence that the issue is occurring with the volume down key for other users.

I tried using a keylogger to track this issue but the one I tried (Best Free Keylogger) doesn't record system buttons.

Any thoughts?

[PressyB]

Very helpful solution to use Sharpkeys!! Even though I would prefer to figure out how to use the actual down volume button.... this is the BEST solution for the time being! 

[paytonfrost]

Good idea thinking of sharp keys, I actually use that to re-map some things on my keyboard since the layout isn't ideal. However, the solution I ended up wasn't anything software, it was hardware. I popped open the back and severed the connection on the side volume keys. Fixed it completely and I'm inclined to believe that cause of this problem was a hardware one all along. Shame it couldn't be fixed with software, but I understand that the side volume keys are perhaps a bit different than the regular ones. 

I don't miss the keys, however, I do wish that the bottom was a little easier to get into since prying off the thin rubber feet (not think) wasn't intuitive.