SuperSelrak
Level 1 (32 points)
Mac OS X

Q: W7 function keys not working

Hello all,

 

 

So I just revived an old hard drive partition which contained Windows 7 using Bootcamp. Unfortunately, the function keys (sound volume, keyboard backlight, screen brightness) are not working. I can still set the sound volume through the Windows GUI, and can also adjust screen brightness (I havent found the keyboard backlight however). Everything else is working fine -keyboard, trackpad, USB ports ... (except Internet, see my other post). I tried reinstalling the Bootcamp utilities from Windows, but to no avail. More information about my Macbook below. Any clues ? Thanks in advance !


Charles

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), 15 in. 2.2 GHz Quad Intel i7 8 GB

Posted on Feb 11, 2015 2:19 PM

Close
SuperSelrak

Q: W7 function keys not working

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Feb 11, 2015 2:19 PM in response to SuperSelrak
    Level 7 (24,855 points)
    Safari
    Feb 11, 2015 2:19 PM in response to SuperSelrak

    Do you have any unknown devices in Device Manager? How was this W7 partition "revived"? What BC driver version did you use for Repair?

  • by SuperSelrak,

    SuperSelrak SuperSelrak Feb 11, 2015 2:21 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (32 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 11, 2015 2:21 PM in response to Loner T

    Loner T wrote:

     

    How was this W7 partition "revived"?

     

    I hadn't started it in months, and when I did, I was warned that there was no Bootable device. I then plugged in an external hard drive with a Windows partition and booted from there. That probably caused the MBR to be repaired, and to then boot on the original Windows partition. Since then ... Well you know.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Feb 11, 2015 3:48 PM in response to SuperSelrak
    Level 7 (24,855 points)
    Safari
    Feb 11, 2015 3:48 PM in response to SuperSelrak

    This will also cause Driver issues, because the external Windows drivers will be different from the internal Windows partition. It overwrote drivers from the external partition.

     

    Use Windows SysPrep (on the internal drive, not on your external drive) and then run BC Drivers from

     

    Boot Camp: System requirements for Microsoft Windows operating systems - Apple Support

     

    and reinstall/repair as necessary .

     

    Boot Camp: Install or repair Boot Camp drivers

  • by SuperSelrak,

    SuperSelrak SuperSelrak Feb 12, 2015 2:15 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (32 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 12, 2015 2:15 AM in response to Loner T

    Loner T wrote:

     

    Do you have any unknown devices in Device Manager?

    No I don't. Everything is there.

     

    Loner T wrote:

     

    What BC driver version did you use for Repair?

    Boot Camp assistant version 5.1.2 (484) (is that it ?)

  • by SuperSelrak,

    SuperSelrak SuperSelrak Feb 12, 2015 6:00 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (32 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 12, 2015 6:00 AM in response to Loner T

    Ok so thanks for you help and suggestions. I do have one new problem now, which has nothing to do with this discussion, except that it occurred as I tried following your advice.

     

    I open the BCA and ask to download the latest BC software. It then asks on which drive I want to download them. With all attempted devices I get the same message : "Please format your USB drive into a unique FAT partition" :

     

    - USB Hard Drive with multiple partitions, one of which is a large enough NTFS partition

    - SD Card 32GB connected with a USB cable and seen as a USB Mass Storage device with a unique FAT32 partition.

     

    As you can already guess I do not have a large enough USB thumb drive (8 GB is necessary, they say). Does it only work with such a drive or do I have another problem ?

     

    Also, a side question : do you think these drivers being erased when booting from outside are also the explanation for the Internet access problem ?

     

    Thanks again for your help.

  • by SuperSelrak,

    SuperSelrak SuperSelrak Feb 12, 2015 6:12 AM in response to SuperSelrak
    Level 1 (32 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 12, 2015 6:12 AM in response to SuperSelrak

    I reformatted the SD card into a single FAT partition with an MBR. Don't know what changed, but Bootcamp likes it better.

     

    The saga continues however : after notifying me my Mac can only handle W7 (which is fine) the BCA tells me "Impossible to install this software because it is unavailable from the software update server.". Is the server down ? Am I asking for a wrong software ? (I didn't specifically choose anyway, I just chose "Download latest BC software").

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Feb 12, 2015 7:34 AM in response to SuperSelrak
    Level 7 (24,855 points)
    Safari
    Feb 12, 2015 7:34 AM in response to SuperSelrak

    Please use a USB2 flash drive, SD cards will cause problems, because the freshly installed Windows does not provide native SD card drivers. Such drivers are only available, after BC drivers are installed.