What has to be done if the FN key is not working on a laptop

Only a really small part of laptops can be seen with the large full-size keyboard, especially with the one that has a number of additional functional keys. Most laptop manufacturers place additional keys on the F1-F12 line and add the FN key so that it will be easier to use them. It will be much more difficult to work on a laptop without those keys because they allow you to quickly add / reduce brightness, increase / decrease sound and perform other necessary actions.

Many users have to face a problem when the FN key is not working after reinstalling Windows operating system and in other situations. Accordingly, the ability to control the functional keys in this situation is lost, which directly affects the laptop’s usability. In this article, we will tell you what has to be done if the FN key does not work on the keyboard of your laptop.

Table of contents:
1. Why the FN key does not work on the keyboard
2. FN key is not working on Lenovo laptop
3. FN key is not working on Asus laptop
4. FN key is not working on Acer laptop
5. FN key is not working on HP laptop
6. FN key is not working on Dell laptop
7. FN key is not working on Sony laptop

Why the FN key does not work on the keyboard

If we exclude the possibility that the FN key does not work due to a mechanical failure, we can assume only two options – problems with Windows or problems with BIOS. The most common causes of FN key malfunction are as follows:

• Your computer does not have specialized laptop drivers, some of which are responsible for the functional key operation. Most often, such a problem is encountered by those users who have reinstalled Windows and installed drivers from a set where software was assembled for various types of hardware. Also, such a problem may occur if you install drivers from the disk, but, for example, they partially or fully do not support the operating system (most often it will be Windows 10);
• To use the FN key on your computer, you need to install specialized software developed by the laptop manufacturers and this software should constantly work in the background. If this software is not running, the FN key will not be able to perform its functions;
• FN key is disabled because of some changes made in BIOS. It is worth noting that not all laptops have the option of disabling FN key through BIOS.

Currently on the market one can find a huge number of laptops from various manufacturers. And for different laptops there will be different ways to solve problems with FN key. Below we are going to present the basic algorithms of actions that will help to correct the situation on laptops of the most popular brands.

FN key is not working on Lenovo laptop

Lenovo is one of the most popular laptop brands in the world. If the FN key does not work on one of the computer manufactured by this brand, you need to go to the drivers section on the official Lenovo website and download the necessary software. Since this company produces a huge number of products and their website is quite complicated, we recommend entering the search query “your laptop model + driver”. One of the first links will be the one leading to the drivers section at the official Lenovo resource.

It is worth noting one feature of Lenovo drivers. A large number of them is presented on the company’s website, and it is not always clear which set should be downloaded for a particular laptop model. Let’s have a small tour through the available sets:

• Hotkey Features Integration for Windows 10. On this page you can find a list of all laptop models that this driver set fits;
• Lenovo Energy Management. This kit is designed for the most modern Lenovo laptops;
• Lenovo OnScreen Display Utility. The utility responsible for the function keys operation. It is a part of Hotkey Features Integration, but if necessary it can be downloaded separately.

It is worth noting that Lenovo laptop owners often complain about a problem when only the keyboard shortcuts responsible for turning on / off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi do not work properly. In such a situation, you need to separately download drivers for wireless networks, which can also be found on the official Lenovo website.

If the problem is not related to Windows and operating system drivers, you may need to check BIOS settings. Depending on the laptop model, you need to find the “HotKey Mode” or “Fn and Ctrl Key Swap” BIOS options.

FN key is not working on Asus laptop

If the FN key does not work on the Asus laptop, it means that the necessary drivers are not installed on the computer or there have been made some changes to the autoload. Two conditions must be met for the FN key to operate in the right order:

• Your computer must have the appropriate set of drivers installed (this set is called ATKPackage – ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities). To download it, just go to the official Asus website (better by searching for “your laptop model + support”), select your computer’s version of the operating system (correctly specifying the bit count), click on the required set of drivers (located in the ATK section), download and install the utility;
• The hcontrol.exe process must be running in the background. It will be added to the automatic download after installing the ATKACPI driver set on the computer.

Most often, Asus laptops have no BIOS settings that allow you to enable / disable or change the FN key operation.

FN key is not working on Acer laptop

Acer has an extremely convenient and enjoyable website that makes it easy to find the necessary set of drivers for a particular laptop model. To do this, go to the website, in the “Select a device” section specify the exact modification number of your laptop and select the correct version of the operating system (pay attention to the bit count). After all is done you will be able to see a list of available drivers.

In order for the FN key to work, a set of drivers for the chipset must be installed, and you must also start the installation of the Launch Manager application (located in the “Application” section). If this does not help to fix the problem with the non-working FN key, also try downloading and installing Acer Power Manager.

FN button is not working on HP laptop

To find drivers for a specific HP laptop model, you will have to perform the following steps:

1. Type “Your laptop model + support” in the search engine;
2. Go to the official HP website and click “Go” in the “Software and drivers” section;
3. Now you need to select the right operating system version;
4. After that there will open a list of available drivers. In order for the FN key to work on an HP laptop, you need to install these drivers:

• HP Software Framework (section: “Software – Solutions”);
• HP On-Screen Display (section: “Software – Solutions”);
• HP Quick Launch program (section: “Software – Solutions”);
• HP Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) (section: “Utility – Tools”).

After installing all the required applications, restart your computer and check if the FN key works properly.

It is worth noting that BIOS provides the ability to configure the FN key in HP laptops. Any user can set it so that the FN button will always be pressed, that is, the F1-F12 keys will work if you press FN, and the function buttons will work without pressing FN. This option can be configured in the “System Configuration” section by choosing “Action Keys Mode”.

FN key is not working on Dell laptop

If a Dell laptop user has encountered a problem with a non-working FN key, he also needs to install a set of drivers that provide a correct operation of this functional key. From the official Dell website you will need to download and install the following applications: Dell Foundation Services – Application, Dell QuickSet Application and Dell Power Manager Lite Application.

All of the above drivers must be loaded for a specific laptop model in the correct operating system version. To do it you will need to:

1. Go to the official Dell website and select a laptop model. This can be done in various ways: use an online utility, enter the service code or another product identifier, or find your laptop in the list;
2. Then in the left menu, click on the “Drivers and Downloads” section and select operating system for which the drivers will be loaded;
3. Next you need to find necessary drivers and applications in the list, download and install them.

Also FN key may not work on Dell laptops due to incorrect BIOS settings. The situation here is similar to HP laptops, that is, you need to press the FN key to use F1-F12 or multimedia buttons. This setting is located in BIOS “Advanced” section; it is called the “Function key Behavior”.

FN key is not working on Sony laptop

Sony Vaio laptops are also subject to a problem where the FN button stops working due to incorrect (or uninstalled) drivers. The problem with finding drivers for Sony laptops is due to the fact that Sony Vaio is no longer officially manufactured. However, Sony website has preserved all the necessary software to maintain the company’s computers.

To download drivers and utilities for Sony Vaio, you need to go to this page and select the desired laptop model. Next on the model page you will need to click on the correct operating system version and download the necessary drivers.

For the FN key to work properly on a Sony Vaio laptop, you need 3 utilities:

• Sony Firmware Extension Parser Driver
• Sony Shared Library
• Sony Notebook Utilities

Important note: If after downloading and installing these three utilities, the problem with the non-working FN key is still there, try also downloading and installing the Vaio Event Service utility (if it is available for your laptop model).