M17 Problem hiding UI when recoring with Fraps in Second life

This may be a stupid question but I have posed it to many friendly computer geeks who have given various suggestions but no clear instructions or assurances that anything will work, plus i've tried them and no luck so far. I received a M17 Alienware laptop for Christmas. I use it primarily for Second Life. One of my fave things to do is record and make little machinima in SL. With this new computer the Fraps and Second Life standard to hide the user interface when recording is to hit the control alt f1 key combination. This does NOT work with my M17. No combination of the fn key works either. I'm told most likely f1 is designated. But no one can tell me exactly in clear, slow, exact steps what I am to do to change this and what if any repercussions changing anything associated migh be or how to get it back if needed in the future. It's been suggested I change the Second Life veiwer program which I did in fact try with some expert help but it was not recommended by the viewer moderators who said they will provide no support for doing this. In the end I found what we thought was needed to be changed to use an alternate key (instead of f1) but it just would not hold a change. If anyone uses fraps to record on a M17 in the vitural world of Second life please help me. I'm so frustrated and i'm not good with all this techincal computer stuff. It used to be soooo easy. EVERYONE uses the contrl alt f1 combination to hide the user interface. I had high hopes of getting my new computer and everything working well. I did go under the advanced menu and uncheck UI after rendering features and that actually does the same thing and DID take away the UI as needed and normal, but then w/out the UI you can no longer do anything to get the UI back w/out a relog since the key combo won't work. That wont work for what I do. Is there a quick fix for this problem or easy adjustment? I can't find info on this in any fraps, google serach, computer forums, machinima, youtube forum or other information. Please help, there must be others recording on a M17 laptop in Second Life using fraps. Thanks

 

have you tried using an external keyboard on your R4 then pressing the ctrl alt f1 combo? at least this way you could determine if it's a hardware/keyboard issue or not.

 

I haven't tried using an external keyboard but I did contact Dell/Alienware suport over the weekend. The tech advised me that the f1 key is designated and not to change that key for anything as it is associated with several functions including some things with the battery etc. He was going to pass the question on to Dell's gaming experts for further consideration, so I am still patiently waiting for info on this. I find it hard to believe there are not many Second Life users recording with Fraps on a M17 laptop. I have run across a few users (not with M17s) who dont care about the user interface being present during filming, because they edit it out at rendering time. These happen to be guys with huge screens though and I need all the screen space I can get on a small laptop, plus I'm still using basic movie editing tools that dont allow for editing out a portion of or re-sizing the footage that I'm aware of. I suppose in the end I could try to purchase an expensive Adobe editing program and attempt to do this, but will take forever to learen as I did try a demo once, and it's costly just for my recreation. But since I enjoy this so much in the end if there is no other answer to this I might have to try. It just seems that with so many M17s sold there must be a easy fix. Thanks for any ideas at all. Any more suggestions please????