Quick Launch buttons issue - no longer work

[tcc_2]

Did some searching and it seems like the QuickPlay button is suppose to act this way...totally stupid if you ask me.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=124328

[WestChase]

Hello all. I am glad to see how much public attention this post continues to receive.

By the way, there is another similar post in this forum which can be found here:
http : // forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1090609

(you'll need to first remove the spaces from the above URL)

In early January 2008, I came across a technical article that stated HP BIOS had a major security flaw in that rogue scripting could be written and placed on a website that would have the ability to alter the BIOS and/or shut down one's computer.

The point I am trying to make is that I revisited HP's support site (for my specific model) and discovered several new updates for my DV9035NR "pavilion entertainment pc". I downloaded and installed the updates immediately. Here are my results (based on daily using the laptop for 2 weeks after applying the updates):

1. The blue buttons on the "quickplay" bar no longer sound that annoying beep when pressed. They function normally; just without the noise similar to the internal speaker / DOS beep.

2. Placing my laptop is sleep / suspend mode no longer rendered the quickplay bar inoperable. Unfortunately, as I sat down to write this post, I notice that the volume - and + buttons are completely dim YET they continue to work. Prior to this recent update, I was able to visibly witness the slider move up/down in the Volume Control window while pressing the quickplay -/+ buttons. However, even though I hear the volume changing, the slider no longer moves in tandem with the quickplay button (you have to reopen the Volume Control window to see the current volume setting). I had not experienced this situation for the better part of these past two weeks. Perhaps the temporary success was nothing more than a coincidence.

The files in particular that I installed from HP support were:

1. "WinFlash for HP Notebook System BIOS with Intel Processor" - sp38012 from 2007-11-22 Version F.29

2. Although unrelated, "LightScribe Host Software" - sp36971 from 2007-11-08 Version 1.10.13.1

3. Although unrelated, "Intel PROWireless Drivers" - sp37755 from 2007-10-31 Version 7.10

4. Although unrelated, "Broadcom Wireless LAN Driver" - sp36684 from 2007-08-15 Version 6.20

Please continue to share your feedback and experiences here.

Also, kindly include as web addresses and other information, to assist the rest of us with locating anything interesting you may have found.

Thanks and God bless,
West

[sumr]

West, thanks for the update on your updates : )

I think I'll give it a bit more time to see if your updates continue to work without bugs. Please let us know if you continue to run smoothly after a month or so. Then, I'll give the updates a try. It would be nice to enable hibernate again.

[tcc_2]

Sumr, if yoou're missing the hibernate feature and only have the suspend/sleep you need to enable it.
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Windows-Vista-re-enable-hibernate-feature-t146675.html

Had this happen when I did ran a disk cleanup.

[sumr]

My earlier posts describe how I disabled hibernate because of the Quick Launch Button issue.

Thanks for the feedback anyway : )

[WestChase]

March 2008. I am completely dismayed. While the previously described actions seemed to resolve this issue (a band aid at best), the issue has continued to surface and progressively deteriorate.

Other than applying Microsoft XP SP3, as well as Microsoft critical updates and patches, I haven't touched the BIOS or other settings related to this issue.

Yet, my QuickPlay buttons still become unstable at random intervals; no conclusive action on my part renders them inoperable.

Even the shutdown, pull the plug, remove the battery trick no longer fully restores the QuickPlay button functionality - particularly Mute, Volume -, Volume +.

As of this moment, the Volume -/+ buttons are not illuminated yet continue to adjust the volume. The Mute button remains illuminate in blue, despite pressing it to successfully toggle the audio on and off. Yet, within a few days, these button will cease to function in this manner.

The last time these buttons failed to work in every capacity, performing the aforementioned "remove the battery" trick produced negligible results.

Is it fair to assume that HP is not going to correct this bug, especially in light of the fact that this model laptop is no longer in production (as of 2007)? I wish I could just abandon things at my job, when they cease to work as I intended.

Dismayed,
West

[sumr]

I'm sorry to hear that the fix didn't work for you. It was handy of HP to abandon the hardware versus fix it!

The button fix still works for me.

Two ideas:

- Did you remove your recovery partition? If so, search their site for "Restoring HP QuickPlay Boot. " The HP site says, "However, if the Recovery Partition has been removed from the notebook using PC Recovery, HPQuickPlay Boot no longer functions correctly"

- Also, they post on another page altogether: "On December 13, 2007, a critical security patch for the HP Quick Launch Buttons was released as softPaq SP38166. This patch resolves the security vulnerability for all notebook PC models, but disables the HP Info Center application and button functionality on business notebook PC models."

Hope this helps! By the way, I'm running XP Pro V2002 SP2 on my 64 bit machine. I also flashed my bios with sp36368.exe found on their site.

[rulers]

I have a similar problem, I accidently press some buttons, like the volume and its a nuisance. I really hate these buttons and want to disable them .... but there is no option to do so!! Tried to unisntall the HP Quick Buttons software, but not helps either.

Can anyone help disable the buttons? Maybe something can be changed in the registery (say, changing the button keys to zero 000000000000). Anyone help?

[rulers]

Update:

I have tried searching the registry for anything QBL-related, but only found following two locations:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Software Explorers\Disabled RunKey\Run
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-239277579-2818820354-3002204094-1006\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel

These are just Disabled or Adjusted properties, and probably of no use. So to me it appears that there is nothing I can do using registry.

Tried searching the hard drive for "qlb" or "quick launch", but apart from some folders and system log files, also little help (There were two folders "QLB" and "QLBTEMP" in C:/SWSetup. I tried removing these folders, and restarting computer, but QL buttons still work)


One more idea I had was to disable the keys through registry. Some time ago I succeded in disabling the Caps Lock key, using the following procedure:


Go to Start â Run â regedit
Go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout
Right-click on the right half of the screen and choose New â Binary
Name the new Value Scancode Map
Enter 00000000000000000200000000003A0000000000
Close the "Registry Editor" by selecting "Exit" from the "File" menu.
Reboot.


The "3A" in above code it hexadecimal (Scan Code) referring to the Caps Lock. So my idea was to use corresponding hexadecimals for QL buttons, to disable them. To find the hexadecimals I used KeyView program (http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/tef/wintools/keyview.exe). I found following Scan Codes for the QL buttons (left to right)

Decimal: 89, 8, 32, 46, 48 (all except bluetooth button)
Hex: 59, 8, 20, 2e, 30

However, there are overlaps with my existing keyboard buttons:

8 - overlaps with "7"
32 - overlaps with "d"
46 - overlaps with "c"
48 - overlaps with "b"

So clearly there are problems using this method. The KeyView program picks up the QL buttons having same Scan Codes as some existing buttons, so I doubt I can disable QL buttons like this.

I'm not sure what else to try ... may be the only solution is to go to a computer shop and ask them to open up my laptop and unplug the QLB bar.

Too bad HP made so difficult to customise its product.

[OldGuy_1]

Just a note that may be of some help to others having this problem. I contacted HP Tech Supp via a Chat session yesterday. The tech (Adolph) confirmed that the blue led Quick Launch keys for the Volume - & + should in fact be lit, but as I explained to him the had gone out a while back. He provided me with a file to download via an FTP address he gave me. It is as follows...
"Adolph: HP Quick Launch Buttons:
Adolph: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp39001-39500/sp39425.exe
Adolph: Do not click on the link. Please copy the link and paste it in the internet explorer address bar and click on go.
Adolph: Installation Instructions

1. Download the SoftPaq .EXE file to a directory
on your hard drive.

2. Execute the downloaded file and follow the
on-screen instructions.

3. Restart the notebook."
.... I followed those instructions and saved the file to my desktop and after it completed downloading, I ran it. It completed successfully and I restarted my laptop. The led's were still not lit. So I Googled this site and started reading. One of the posts made reference to removing the battery and then replacing it again. I did this and immediately after hitting the power key the leds lit. Before I had started I had verified that the mute button functioned properly and that the volume did go up and down, and that when I had the mixer displayed, that the sliders on screen followed the - or + depressions. Everything was functioning properly, but the leds were just not lit. After removing and replacing the battery I checked this functionality and everything was still the same but now the leds were lit. I need to let you know that the file that Adolph provided is most likely hardware AND software dependent. I'm not positive, but if you don't have the same PC as I have, you may want to talk with the HP Tech Supp to see what they recommend. I am running Vista Home Premium on an HP dv6245us with 1GB of ram. That's all. Nothing fancy. But if you are on any other platform, again, I would caution you to contact HP for their recommendations. Thanks to all of you previous posters. The brainstorming helped alot.
Michael