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

[Janski27]

I've been messing with this for two weeks.  All drivers are up-to-date including the addition of the button driver, and BIOS is updated.  Computer is dv6t-7000.

Every time I boot I get a different result:

- F12 orange, under PC Settings/Wireless, both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth under Wireless Devices are OFF and grayed out.  Airplane mode is OFF.  Hitting F12 turns it to white and turns on (blue bar) both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.  Airplane mode stays OFF.  I can toggle Wi-Fi and Bluetooth OFF and ON with button changing from orange to white, but can NEVER change the state of Airplane Mode.

- I reboot, and now Airplane Mode can be turned OFF and ON, but F12 stays orange.  No effect of the bars for the Wireless Drivers.

The only way I can solve is to go to the Settings charm, Power, then select Sleep.  I wait for it to go to sleep and when the power button on the laptop is flashing, I hit to to wake the computer.  Go back in to Settings charm, PC Settings, Wireless.  The Wireless bars are grayed out and off, but hitting F12 will turn it to white and the settings will turn to ON.

Given how it never does the same thing twice in a row, it sounds like there is a problem in the driver code during initialization.

I realize we all have different laptop models, but try the Settings charm, Power, Sleep - then wake after laptop power button flashing.  After you wake the computer, and BEFORE you hit the F12 button, go to Settings charm/PC Settings/Wireless - you can watch the state of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth bars change as you hit the button, then stop when you get the correct combination.  Be patient, as you may need to hit F12 more than once to get the correct devices tuned on.

[Grimberg]

Your Sleep trick worked on my dv7! No HP representative was able to tell us this! Will they ever come up with an updated driver for F12?

[haleytn]

Thanks.  Your sleep trick worked for my m7 also.

[TableFlipper]

So... when is HP going to implement this into the normal bootup?

[HpTreeFrog]

So does your solution result in changing the F12 button LED from white to orange (or orange to white) when pressing the button and toggling airplane mode on/off? Mine just stays white.

[Janski27]

The "sleep" solution does turn my F12 from orange to white, even though there is a few second delay sometimes.  I can then toggle back and forth.

The thing that is still random is the state of the ON/OFF under PC Settings/Wireless.  It comes up with various combinations off or on.  Sometimes F12 only toggles Airplane Mode.  Other times, only Bluetooth.  Sometimes no effect at all on Airplane Mode, but it does Bluetooth and wireless together.

Also, after you wake, then toggle to white, pay close attention to the PC Settings/Wireless modes.  Are they grayed out, or just OFF.  You may need to click/touch them on.

These relative states are all symptoms of the driver not doing a clean reset on the F12 and wireless.

[Grimberg]

So what happens if after doing the sleep trick you uninstall the F12 wireless button driver so it no longer toggles the airplane mode on and off?

[gizmoabhinav]

I reset my BIOS settings and now its working fine! I can switch it off and on 🙂 Thanks a lot!

[nachoman]

I had the same problem, and I found a fix on the HP website. I don't know if this problem has been resolved, or if we can post executables in this forum, but just do a search for wireless keyboard button driver. I have the file if anyone wants it.

Tim

[RLK0502]

the sleep trick worked for me as well