CF-W5 questions

Hi all,

I've had a CF-T1 (US version) for 4 years, and recently got a CF-W5 (Japanese version, but with English XP installed). I've got a few questions, any help would be most welcome:

1. I can't find the online reference for the W5, perhaps because the original (Japanese) XP was wiped out and the manual wasn't retained. Does anyone have a copy of this, or a URL pointing to it? I was hoping to find an English version, but a Japanese version would be okay too.

2. The optical drive emits a lot of noise and vibration when playing a DVD. I'm hoping to find a way to reduce the speed of the drive, but haven't found anything yet. Does anyone have experience with this?

3. The FN keys (for controlling things like screen brightness, volume, etc) don't seem to be working. On my T1, these work via FN+F2, FN+F3, etc. Any hint on how to get these working with the W5? I suspect it may be an issue with the Japanese keyboard, since many of the keys aren't currently mapped to what is printed on the plastic.

Thanks in advance for any help!

-Jason

 

Welcome to the forum!

1. Try going here for the manuals you need.

https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pc/itn/manual/menu_en.html

2. Try going into the BIOS (Click F2 at boot-up) and see if there is a selection for CD Rom speed. Most Toughbooks have it.

3. Sounds like the hotkey manager is not installed. Try going here to download the driver...

https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pc/cgi-bin/itn/toughbook/dl01.cgi

or here...

http://panasonic.ca/english/customercare/sandd/softwarequery.asp

or here...

https://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/w...ePage?langId=-1&storeId=15001&catalogId=13401

Good luck and please post back with what happens so that others can learn!

Rick

 

Thanks for the info!

The manual site was perfect, exactly what I needed.

As for the DVD drive speed, I don't have a setting for that in my BIOS. However I did find a couple of software solutions: Nero has a utility called DriveSpeed, and there's another one called CD Bremse ( http://www.cd-bremse.de/cdbremse.htm), both of these are effective in lowering the drive speed, and therefore the noise/vibrations.

There does seem to be a BIOS update available ( http://faq.askpc.panasonic.co.jp/faq/1038/app/servlet/qadoc?001593), but I don't know if the update has a drive speed setting, and I'm wary of messing with the BIOS.

The hotkeys are the only remaining problem. I tried drivers from the sites mentioned below, a lot of them won't install on my W5 -- I'm thinking that mine is a Japan-only model (CF-W5K) because it isn't mentioned on the US/Canadian pages. I did find a Japanese page ( http://askpc.panasonic.co.jp/s/download/install/w5kw4.html), these drivers do install, but still no brightness/volume hotkeys.

I know the FN key is working, because I'm able to use it for "home"/"end" with the cursor keys. And FN+F3 (switch display to external) briefly flashes the screen, so it's doing something. But FN+F1/FN+F2 (brightness) still do nothing. I'm still trying various things, if I discover anything I'll follow up.

-Jason

 

If you go into Device Manager do you see any uninstalled items?

 

For the love of God... why do my lights keep dimming/brightening??? This is maddening.....

 

Sorry, I'll keep my testing to a minimum.

Nope, I don't. I do see one disabled item (one of my network adapters), but nothing uninstalled.

Still trying various combinations of drivers, nothing yet. I wonder if there's any other way to adjust the brightness -- I generally only need to do it once, and then leave it like that. So if I could use some software to do it, I'd be fine without the hotkeys.

-Jason

 

I have a CF-W5L that has been Vista Upgraded (from Dynamism.com) with the Japanese keyboard. Like Jason8, I am also trying to upgrade Hotkey drivers or Hotkey Appendix Application so I can dim and/or brighten the screen via the function keys. I can not find a driver that works with Vista for my exact notebook model CF-W5L. I also can not see the screen dimmer gauge to adjust in the power option profiles. If I try to use or base a new power option plan on the Power Saver power plan when on batteries - the default profile dims the screen way too much. So therefore I can not take advantage of the long battery life using the Power Saver Plan or creating any like it since I can not see the screen.

I need to be able to adjust the screen brightness some other way and Fn F5 and Fn F6 would be nice...if they worked.

Help, anyone??

 

Sorry, nothing to add -- I wasn't able to find anything out on the web, and couldn't get any of the official hotkey drivers to work properly, so I gave up and settled for the slightly-too-bright screen.

I do remember seeing information about someone who wrote Linux drivers for the hotkeys (to support Linux running on the Panasonics). In theory that code could be compiled on Windows to create a driver, but I'm sure it would be difficult. The website for that is: http://www.da-cha.jp/letsnote

Was Dynamism not any help? I thought they would have a way to fix this.

-Jason

 

I wish I knew more about this... this model is the only one I lack knowledge on because I have never used one ...

 

I know this is an older post, but I too got an imported W5 from Jap. I had issues with my function keys not working for my volume controls. I think I just went to the Panasonic website, downloaded and reinstalled the latest drivers to fix my issue- I'm able to use all the function keys.

_nate

 

Outstanding! Thanks for posting that Pacarino.