Function Key not working, how to turn on wifi on Windows 7

[Ian50]

Thanks jorkki

We're still working on this silly issue. I agree, HP should have developed a standalone-downloadable fix for this. It's been an issue for about a decade now over Win7,8,10, Vista ...

[jorkki]

The other day I Googled for the PCIe Mini pinout and sure enough there is this Pin 20 Wireless Disable signal.

Googling for WiFi Pin20 immediately brought countless hits how people have been circumventing the issues by just masking this pin on the card (must have pull-up on the card, haven't checked, as the signal is active low).

Apparently Pin 51 is the for Bluetooth as it is mentioned often in combination with another Intel card, 7260 AC

So if you don't find a software solution, this kludge should probably work.

Seems to be similar trick for the M.2 cards as well:

https://thecomputerperson.wordpress.com/2016/11/04/how-to-mask-off-the-wifi-power-off-pins-on-m-2-ng...

[Ian50]

Thanks jorkki - some enterprising analyses.

It does appear that masking off the correct pin on the wifi card is a workable kludge to keep the wifi power permanently on the PCI card irrespective of the F12 Airplane key ... I would need to have about a week of guaranteed available time, or about $400 for a local techie, before I attempted that. I can comfortably pull desktops apart but notebooks are waaay more difficult for my ageing eyesight.

What irritates me most here - and Paul T's phrase "That's nuts" is apt - is that the Airplane F12 key works perfectly on my HP250 G5 notebook in Win7 Pro x64 and does work perfectly on the HP250 G6 notebook in Win10 Home & Pro, *BUT* does not work at all, is in permanently "off" state, on the G6 machine with Win7 Pro x64. This is obviously done deliberately but *how* it is done has escaped us so far.

Yep, that's nuts. For the time, probably now the state-of-play as it were, the external usb3 wifi adapter workaround is in place. Cost about AUD$30, works perfectly on both 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz router frequencies, and is relatively unobtrusive. Yes, it takes up residence in the *only* usb3 slot the machine offers but usb3 hubs are also cheap and would also be needed anyway if one added (say) external usb3 disks as well.

[jorkki]

I think the next phase of the investigation would be to download the SoftPaq and unpack it with e.g. 7-zip and try to install the driver from the Device Manager directly using the .inf file and to see where it fails . I can see that there is the file HPRadioMgr64.exe that is the actual executable. Somewhere there must be the Windows version check which should be defeatable with some skill. Unfortunately I don't have Windows 7 to even begin to try. The button driver seems to be common to many models so it could even be that a suitable older version would work out of the box.

On mine (Pavilion 15)  I have the version 1.1.20.1 which seems to be available on Windows Update only at his point. Strangely in Device Manager there is a note 'This device needs further initialization' but I have not noticed any issues. The latest driver is a fresh 1.1.22.1 version in sp85302.exe which I have not installed yet.

[Ian50]

In truth, I tried the INF route for both Win10 and Win8.1 AC1368 drivers some time ago. As I commented to Paul T at the time, I could find no difference apart from the substitution of WINB for WIN7 and additional CAT files that UniExtract found no relevant information inside of. Very disappointed I was, actually, after all that tedious work.

I had also hoped an older version of the driver, even for the AC1365, may resolve the issue - nope.

All of that led me to conclude that the AC1368 adapter driver was not the problem - the issue lay elsewhere. So I looked at keyboard drivers, the HP RadioManager file, a slew of possibilities. Nothing but frustration.

By the way, when you try to install the HP RadioManager file into the G6 in Win7 Pro x64, an extremely annoying nastygram fronts up: "The System is Inadequate for Installing This". Apart from the bleeding obvious "this-won't-work", that's about as helpful as the old "an error has occurred".

Is it something as fundamental as different pin threshholds for power between the G5 and G6 chips ?

[Ian50]

The HPRadioManager.exe loads on boot in Win10 (I'd already concluded this was so) but is not needed for Win7, I read. I believe this because there is no Registry key for it in my G5, even though the Airplane F12 key works perfectly on that machine.

I think this basically means the issue is a G6 power control issue that Win10 can handle but Win7 is unaware of.

[CF4]

Hi

I was intrigued by this and read so many solutions, I now need Optrex arf arf.

So the Function keys are Hardware rather than Software, not OS related directly, hence working with Linux as well as some OS's from Microsoft.  But I question whether W7 somehow limits/blocks function keys.

Solutions offered...

@ Tracymperry

just press f10 as the notebook is booting up (so before the desktop is loaded after you restart) and then press f9 and then YES to restore default settings. 

Tried the F10, F9, F10 , problem solved within 1 minute. A great piece of information shared.

I have the same problem with my HP620, the SOLUTION I came up with is that most linux based OSs  have a turn on/off wireless feature, so I boot in USB stick, click the wireless tray icon, and turn the wireless on (which turns the wifi button indicator from orange to white on my keyboard) and reboot to windows. It's a shame that windows doesn't have this usefull feature.

But don't let me distract anyone.

[jorkki]

I wonder if mere Optrex would be enough if I suffered from this misery. I think a glass of good old Lagavulin would be just a start.

[Ian50]

> " ... But I question whether W7 somehow limits/blocks function keys"

Well, as I've said several times, the blankety-blank Airplane F12 key works perfectly in Win7 on my G5 machine, but not in Win7 on the G6 machine. So Win7 isn't the problem per se.

> " Tried the F10, F9, F10 "

Did that, no effect on the Airplane F12 key on the G6 machine.

> "But don't let me distract anyone"

Well, ok, if you insist

It is good, though, that this issue has attracted attention. Maybe eventually, an actual answer could possibly turn up.

BTW, I had to search for the point of "Optrex" as that brand name is non-existent in Aus.

Lagavulin I do know

[CF4]

Hi

Well since there is no BIOS per se, it's UEFI with a simulated / emulated BIOS it is possible that HP have applied crippleware in their custom implementation, but why?

I tried the On Screen Keyboard and couldn't generate an F11 let alone an F12.

Lagavulin I had to look up.

Since I have W7 but no need to install it, I may never be able to simulate the conditions and just spout platitudes.