Acer Spin 1 SP111-32N fn key remapping

Hi, and welcome to my frustrated post. I've been trying to remap the f1..f12 keys to work without simultaneously needing to hold fn key. The manual and this forum alike say to just go tho bios and set function key behavior in the main section, but on my insydeh20 1.4 bios from acer, [https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7324?b=1&pn=NX.GRMEC.002] this setting is missing. Tried to downgrade to 1.1 at least of a while to set the behavior and go back to 1.4, but 1.1 won't even flash when it detects that it is not a newer version than current. Is there any other fix for this, or do i have to keep looking at a black screen every time i instinctively try to close a window with alt+f4 until i finally lose sanity altogether?

Accepted answers

padgett

Then the issue is with the keyboard or BIOS and not the software. There are many (64) keyboards available for different languages but suspect you need a either an ASSY UCASE BLACK W/KB US INTERNATIONAL 6B.GL5N1.009 or an ASSY UCASE BLACK W/EMMC RUB & KB US INTER 6B.GL2N1.009 depending on which drive you have.

If you do R&R then you need to get a 31N and not a 32N and I would want to get one with at least a 128GB drive (250 or 500 is better).

All comments

padgett

Do not understand, my Spin1 has the function keys on the top row, no need for fn. Or are you talking about the functions like turn off wireless (fn-f3) ?

On mine fn-f4 puts it to sleep (why you get the black scream). alt-f4 closes the current window.

brano

Oh padgett, how i evny you right now! Yes, the F keys are on the top row on mine too, yet they are in blue like the fn key and work only with fn pressed. Otherwise, the white pictogram happens - thus alt+f4 disables screen, alt+fn+f4 would close the current window if i ever remembered to press the fn key. Maybe the preset behavior varies between regions? Btw on mine f4 literally just disables the screen, sleep mode si on f1.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/3p/9rdmr5hr5r4o.jpg

padgett

I've never seen a keyboard like that, mine is much more conventional but mine is a SP111-31N (N-stylus).

Where did you buy it ?

ps what happens when you have cats and leave a case open...

Now a synapse just fired from many years ago that Windows sets the keyboard layout and that is a function of the language selected.

Click on Start>Settings>Time & language>Region & language>the language you wish to add a keyboard layout to.

Note there are 14 different variations of "English". I suspect you have something other than "United States" & you are in Australia.

brano

It's a localized Czech version of the keyboard. Why did Acer think screwing keyboard shortcuts going from 31N to 32N is really mind-boggling. As for windows keyboard settings, sadly, no, i'm using english-us as default, with location set to Slovakia. Doesn't seem windows cares to much about the latter, since it preset the date format to US month-day-year instead of day-month-year that is standard in most of Europe...

From what i gathered it looks like this "feature" (it's a bug imo, and a big one at that) was manageable in 1.01 bios ["the-function-key-solution" right here in discussions], yet got omitted out of 1.04 version. Or maybe was in bios only for spin5. Drives me crazy to pres f5 to reload a page in browser and lowering screen brightness instead

padgett

Well about the only thing left would be to write a machine code program to determine the actual scan code when you press a function key. F5 should return a 116 (decimal) with no control key codes (e.g. alt). If it does then the issue is with the Windows software. If not, the problem is with the keyboard itself and may be replaceable.

You may be able to go here to test. It seems to work for me.

brano

Thought of that, tried autoHotKey to just remap the keys, but, as with most notebooks, the fn key is untraceable by software. 116 gets returned only with fn key pressed, otherwise, display brightness gets changed and the key press doesn't register at all. I also thought that if the device doesn't have a fn lock key, i could "make one myself" by just sticking the fn key down with something, so it is always pressed - but that is also a no-go, since fn acts like a numlock too (not vice versa tough - as numlock shares it's place with f12). At this point, i just give up. They bricked this device good and proper. Since i still have about a week to return it, i'm going to do that and look for something similar, with a proper keyboard. Ideally with a non-restrictive bios too. What a shame - other than this, it would make a superb thin client. Thank you for trying to help tough, it is much appreciated!

padgett

Then the issue is with the keyboard or BIOS and not the software. There are many (64) keyboards available for different languages but suspect you need a either an ASSY UCASE BLACK W/KB US INTERNATIONAL 6B.GL5N1.009 or an ASSY UCASE BLACK W/EMMC RUB & KB US INTER 6B.GL2N1.009 depending on which drive you have.

If you do R&R then you need to get a 31N and not a 32N and I would want to get one with at least a 128GB drive (250 or 500 is better).

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