HP Quick Launch buttons doing weird things in Vista

Hi all,

I've just rebuilt my HP Compaq 8510w laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate x64. The stability is good but there's a problem with the Quick Launch buttons.

They appear to work ok but the odd is that when I press the mute button, it does work, the light comes on to indicate it's muted but then the light goes off after a few minutes. The volume stays muted.

In addition, once the light is off the machine is muted, when I press the button again, the volume is UNmuted but the light comes on, indicating the volume SHOULD be muted. Unless I manually turn the light off and unmute the volume the button seems to do the opposite to what it's supposed to.

Any ideas? I'm lost! I've reinstalled and uninstalled the HP Quick Launch Buttons softpaq but it's made no difference.

Thanks!

 

That happens to me, and it's annoying. Sometimes (since the buttons are so sensitive) I press it like a bazillion times because my hand grazes over it, it will do that. I just watch where I place my hands. Have you installed the most recent drivers from HP?

 

Yep, all the drivers I'm using are the latest from HP as of about 2 days ago (with the exception of the graphics drivers - I always use the chipset manufacturer's drivers, not the machine vendor's).

Right now the volume is on and the light is off - seems normal. If I press the button, the volume gets muted but I guarantee within a few minutes the light will go off while the volume will stay muted. It's very frustrating.

I know I'm not bumping the button though.

(There ya go, the light just turned off but the volume is still muted! It didn't even stay lit long enough for me to type this reply.)

 

Check your BIOS versions and see if you can't get a update for it.

Let us know.

 

Hey there,

I'm already running the latest BIOS version for the 8510w (F.0F) - it's made no difference. Thanks for the tip though!

 

i installed the drivers a few times. at first my mute button would mute but always stayed blue and my volume control would lock up my computer for 2min or so. now after reinstalling the drivers my mute button works fine but the volume still doesn't work.

 

I know how you feel. My mute button works, but the volume freaks out my laptop. The translucent volume display comes up and locks up my laptop for a couple of minutes. Then after vista 64 comes back the volume hasnt even changed. Worked fine in vista 32.

 

exactly what mine dose

 

Have any of you guys tried Vista SP1?

 

Nope I haven't tried Vista SP1 yet - isn't it still beta? I Google searched for it and managed to find what I thought was the Microsoft page about SP1 but there's no download links.

Is it final yet? If so, how do you get it? They're usually so easy to get ...

 

I see the only way to get Vista SP1 is through technet or MSDN, neither of which I belong to. The public release is supposed to be mid-March, which was yesterday according to my calendar! hehe ...

 

I've installed SP1 and it made no difference so I've logged a call with HP. They just emailed me back and said to install the Quick Launch Buttons software - as if I don't have that installed already!

 

That is happening to me too! (In fact, I found this thread by searching for the problem)

I haven't figured it out, but it seems like it only happens when I turn off the computer with the sound muted. Then, when I turn on the computer, the hardware (HP and the mute button LED) remember that I had it on mute. Vista does not seem to remember and starts up UNmuted. So then I don't hear any sounds no matter how much I hit the hardware mute button, because either the hardware of the OS is muted). Only thing that works is by manually toggling the mute in Vista, which is annoying!

Just one of the many quirks I'm experiencing with Vista...

-Josh

 

Remove then reinstall the sound driver softpaq ... that fixed the problem for me.

 

Chrisrnz do you know if that fixes the semi opaque volume meter from freaking out too? I've been having insane problems with it. Whenever I disable HPKBDAPP.exe, my buttons work perfectly! But unfortunately my mic then doesn't work. I would really just love to turn off the volume notification, anyone know how to accomplish that?

 

Sorry, I don't know what you mean by semi-opaque volume meter ... is that the notification that shows up when you adjust the volume using the quick launch buttons?

 

Yes, I know of some models that don't get that meter that pops up but unfortunately on mine it does. Whenever I use the quick launch buttons for volume my system freezes to almost a halt. It's especially bad in programs like firefox. When I disable that exe I mentioned, the buttons work like a charm but it disables other functions. Do you have the notification on your system and if so did disabling that driver stop it? Thanks for the response.

 

Regarding the volume meter mentioned by teslarossa, I have the exact same problem. When I use the quick launch buttons to change the volume, almost any app that is in focus will freeze up, and that annoying "semi-opaque" volume meter just starts to flicker and wont go away until I force-quit whatever app it freezes. Firefox, Itunes, skype, aim, they all freeze up. real pain in the butt, any ideas?