Function keys

Question

Level 1

11 points

Function keys

I'm new to macs, having had one for only a little over a month now. I'm pretty happy with it.

I have been annoyed, however, with the laptop's function keys. The brightness, sound, etc. functions are sometimes useful, but whenever I need to use an actual Fn key, I have to press the Fn key. So I changed the settings to "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard," which worked great, except that it also changed backspace to delete forward and made the numeric keypad active unless I press the Fn key. Is there any way to make just the F1, F2, etc. keys active without changing every other key's usability?

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Oct 18, 2007 3:32 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Oct 18, 2007 3:48 AM in response to m_huber

Setting that preference did not do for me as described. Everything on my MBP works as advertised with the Function keys turned on normal.
Did you try turning off the keypad with the function key?

Reply

Answer 2

m_huber Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 18, 2007 6:15 AM in response to Barney-15E

I can turn off the keypad with the Fn key, but that somewhat defeats the purpose. I can lock the Fn key down with sticky keys, but then I'm just doing two things to have the available functionality that I have without doing anything. I've flipped the button a few times, and each time I test the jkl buttons, it comes out 123. I just don't understand.

Reply

Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Oct 18, 2007 7:07 PM in response to m_huber

Ok, you've got me completely confused.
If you turn on F-Keys to act as F-Keys, that doesn't (or shouldn't) affect the keypad. The keypad is toggled on and off using a fn+F6 (num lock). It will glow green when active.
You can't have the number pad and the letter keys under the keypad keys active at the same time.

Reply

Answer 4

m_huber Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 19, 2007 6:07 PM in response to Barney-15E

That may be true, but when I press Fn-j, the computer types the numeral 1. When I click the "use F1, F2..." button, then when I press j, the computer types the numeral 1. I have restarted a couple of times to check to see if it was that simple. It wasn't. I am also confused.

Reply

Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Oct 19, 2007 7:32 PM in response to m_huber

Try creating a new user and see if you have the problem with it.
Sounds like a corrupted plist file; however, I haven't figured out which it is.

Reply

Answer 6

m_huber Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 19, 2007 10:01 PM in response to Barney-15E

I hope it isn't too disappointing that it didn't work. Do I need to consider re-installing OSX?

Reply

Answer 7

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Oct 20, 2007 7:08 AM in response to m_huber

Being that a new user exhibits the same behavior, if it is a plist, the default one is corrupted. Or, it could be something else. As I can't find a plist to remove, you may indeed have to Archive and Install.
Sorry I couldn't come up with a fix.

Reply

Answer 8

m_huber Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 20, 2007 11:41 AM in response to Barney-15E

I think I'll just wait a week and upgrade my OS. Thanks for your help.

Reply

Answer 9

Oct 27, 2007 1:55 AM in response to m_huber

I think we have found a bug. If the following conditions are true then the symptoms described are present.

Conditions
System Preferences->Keyboard & Mouse->Keyboard - "Use the F1-F12 keys to control software features" is checked
System Preferences->Universal Access->Keyboard - "Stick Keys" is on

Symptoms
The system acts as if the fn key is pressed constantly or toggled on.

Of course pressing fn twice to lock it on actually locks it off allowing the numeric "pad" and the forward delete keys to act as the correct letter keys and backspace respectively. However, this again makes the F1-F12 keys control brightness and volume, etc.

When "Use the F1-F12 keys to control software features" is not checked, the problems do not occur.

My suggestion would be uncheck "Use the F1-F12 keys to control software features" or turn off Sticky Keys if you can. Perhaps you could assign new keyboard shortcuts to the programs that use the regular F1-F12 if there aren't too many and you really need Sticky Keys. You can change or add new keyboard shortcuts using System Preferences->Keyboard & Mouse->Keyboard Shortcuts.

If you are having this problem and Sticky Keys isn't enabled, try toggling it on and then off again to see if this resolves the problem.

I hope this helps and welcome to the Mac.

P.S. I found this post while searching for a solution to this problem. I tried the problematic settings on a new user and they still occurred.

Reply

Answer 10

m_huber Author

Level 1

11 points

Nov 3, 2007 7:08 PM in response to SanJoseBen

What an absolutely bizarre bug. You got it right -- unchecking stickykeys solved the problem. Thanks.

Reply