Wireless button (f12) not working after windows 8 pro upgrade

[tusharsonowal]

"switched on and off"? do you mean on and off suddenly while working, or when you restart/log off/toggle wifi switch? if it is the first case, then you probably have some hardware issues.

[tusharsonowal]

Hi again guys

a couple of days ago, i clicked on the action centre flag and it had a message which read something like 'install wireless button'. i clicked on it and it said 'tap to install wireless button' (or something similar), and then it downloaded a setup file sp59835.exe and installed it.

right now, i can toggle wifi on and off with the colors changing without any problems. so the f12 button problem is fixed in my laptop. you guys should check your action centre too.

thanks and regards

[Grimberg]

the new wireless button driver only makes our laptops to toggle airplane mode on and off, but in reality it does nothing. HP people did that just because they had no better jokes to do instead of fixing our problem.

I did your trick but it does nothing. Others were saying about clicking F10 while starting up but for me F10 or function+F10 does nothing either.

Anybody from HP that wants to work a bit and help us?

[srikanthsd]

Do this.
Download and install the new bluetooth driver and wifi driver. Now install wireless button driver. This should fix the problem.

[HpTreeFrog]

Several days ago I upgraded Pavilion dv7t-6b00 to Windows 8 (in-place upgrade from Win7). Before upgrading to Win8 I updated to latest BIOS v. F.1B, on which Win7 operated fine.

On initial Win8 start-up the wireless keyboard button (F12) LED remained orange and pressing did not turn it to white. And within Win8 I could not enable WiFi.

In BIOS Setup I reverted to default BIOS Settings, and on Win8 startup up the wifi button turned from orange to white, and then was able to enable wifi within Win8 and successfully access the internet. However, now the LED remains white (never turns orange when pressed). On screen dislay shows pressing the toggles Airplane mode on/off. But I cannot disable wifi independently, as I could before.

So I installed Wireless Button Driver v. 1.0.6.0 (HP SoftPaq SP58720), but observed no change.

Today I discovered, that back in November, HP published an updated HP Wireless Button Driver (v. 1.0.6.1) and released in SP59835, which supercedes SP58720. But HP does not specify the update for all notebooks. (Thus why it would not show up in HP Support Assistant Action Center if specific notebook is not supported).

Although the Pav dv7 is not specified for the updated driver, I installed anyway. But no improvement.

I assume HP will need to release an updated BIOS for my dv7 model, so the Wireless Button works as it is suppose to.  
 
See if the updated button driver is supported in your notebook model iin notes at
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp59501-60000/sp59835.html

And download driver at:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&softwareitem=ob-112632-1

Hope this helps someone.

[Raigne]

OK, This worked for me.

1. go to action center

2.go into troubleshooting

3.than go into configure a device under hardware and sound

4. fallow instructions for any drivers that need fixing

this pulled up my hotkey driver so i clicked the solution and it worked yay!

[Janski27]

Yes, I previously installed the Wireless Button Driver sp58720 before I restarted my computer.

I also noticed that after I put my computer to sleep, then do the wake-up, the F12 button is still orange.  However, I can now hit it and it turns white.  If I go into PC Settings/Wireless, I see that Wi-Fi is no longer grayed-out.  Hitting the button now toggles the setting from Airplane mode ON/Wireless devices OFF to Airplane mode OFF/Wireless devices ON.  Turning one setting ON (either in PC Settings or with F12), turns the other setting OFF.

Before I did the sleep and wake, or anytime I simply reboot, I am able to toggle the state of Airplane mode with F12 (even thought it stayed orange), but Wi-Fi always stayed grayed out and nothing happened to that setting.

So, my daily process is to boot in the morning, go to the Settings charm/Power and select Sleep.  Wait till the computer goes to sleep and the laptop power button is blinking.  Then hit the power button to wake.  Once you are logged back in you should be able to hit F12 and see it change to white.  You should be able to verify in Settings/Change PC Settings, that when F12 is white, Wireless devices are ON.

Good luck.  After reading all the posts on this topic, it sounds like there are variations of the same problem occurring, perhaps depending on the model and age of each persons laptop.

[HpTreeFrog]

When you refer to "Action Center" are you referring to HP Support Assistant (HPSA)? I'm not observing 'Troubleshooting" in the the version of HPSA I have installed on dv7 (installed the latest version couple days ago) V. 7.0.39.15 (Config file 7.0.3026.1709) My HPSA home page now says a new version of Support Assistant is available and when I clikc the update button the HPSF updater pops up, and after it appears to have completed, HPSF updater says I have the latest version of HPSA (7.0.39.15). But a refresh of my HPSA home page still shows an update of HPSA is available and my HPSA icon in taskbar shows a red exclamation point. Which is it HP? HP support services appear to be taking a nose dive.

[HpTreeFrog]

OK, i see you were referring to Action Center in Win8 Control Panel, which utilizes Windows Update to auto search for and auto download/install hardware drivers from Microsoft. This method does not allow the user to identify the drivers before downloading/installing (disregards Windows update custom settings). Can you please identify, from your Windows Update log, the specific driver (and version number) which you downloaded from Microsoft that you believe solved your issue? Previous best practice has always been to avoid installing hardware drivers via Microsoft Update and instead download directly from the PC manufacturer (e.g. HP) and/or hardware device manufacturer vendor website. So with the release of Windows 8, does HP and informed PC engineers/techs now recommend otherwise?

[Janski27]

Interesting behavor this morning when I boot the system:

- F12 orange, Airplane mode off, Wireless and Bluetooth off, I hit F12, it turns white and wireless comes on, connects and works.  But, toggling F12 from white to orange and back, does not affect Airplane mode at all.

- I re-boot my system, and now F12 is stuck in orange, but Airplane mode toggles.  I need to use the sleep/wake trick to get my wireless back.  And F12 can then toggle both Airplane mode ON/OFF and Wireless ON/OFF.

So, while I can get it to work, there is some obvious inconsistency with HOW it works.  The behavor of F12 upon re-boot appears random.  It would seem that the new Microsoft feature of Airplane mode and it's interaction with Wireless ON/OFF is a source of confusion for laptop manufacturers.  (While searching for the problem originally, I see that laptops from vendors other than HP are having the problem.)

Very frustrating.