New Keyboard, Different Layout

Question

Hi all, I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop. I recently replaced the keyboard because the Right Arrow key had stopped working all together and restores, reinstalls, reseating etc failed to fix it. I didn't realise when I purchased the new keyboard but it has a slightly different layout. So now, even though I am now able to use my Right Arrow key again, the keyboard has different positions for certain functions yet it still responds as if it were the old keyboard.  For example - To Mute the laptop sound on my old keyboard I would have had to press the 'F7' button which doubled up as the Mute button. Mute was the primary function and I would use the 'FN' key to use whatever the F7 function was for the program I was using at the time. Brightness could be controlled by the F4 & F5 Keys. The Wireless could be switched on and off by pressing the F2 Key.  The new keyboard is not laid out like this. In fact, the brightness on the new keyboard is supposed to be controlled by holding down the 'FN' key whilst pressing the Up or Down Arrow. However, the computer still responds as if the old keyboard is installed and I have to use F4 and F5 still to control brightness and F7 to mute the machine etc. I would assume this is something to do with the Keyboard Driver Software. I have searched the internet far and wide but cannot seem to find any Driver Software for the Dell Inspiron Keyboard. I wondered if anybody here had any insight as to how I fix this so that my new keyboard responds in the manner in which it has been designed to respond instead of the manner in which the old keyboard did. It can be quite confusing, especially to other people in the house who aren't as used to the old keyboard layout as I may be. Any help would be appreciated.

MicroTest · Answer

The software that controls the Multimedia keys is "quickset".If quickset were not installed you would have only access to F1 .... F12 => Fn & F1....F12 would not work.

1.=======================

Find out which Dell laptop normally uses your new keyboard,download quickset for this model and install it on your inspiron 1545.(create a system restore point before installing this software in case something goes wrong)

2.=======================

You wrote that only the right arrow key of the original keyboard didn't work anymore.If all other keys are still functional you could use "autohotkey" (free remapping software) to remap the "End" key to make it behave like the right arrow key.The "End" - key is directly located above the right arrow key (I know that because I have an inspiron 1545 in front of me.... ;-) ) let me know if you want to try this fix (it's not a big deal)

3.=======================

I was able to use autohotkey to remap all 4 arrow keys on my inspiron 1545 the following way:

CTRL & up/down = brightness

CTRL & left = battery

CTRL & right = Mute

battery and mute works perfectly,brightness slightly delayed

It's a possible fix - but a bit more complicated as I don't know the scancodes of your new keyboard and the results might be disappointing.

5.=======================

maybe someone has better ideas - editing registry whatever.......

cbush1981 · Answer

Hi there,

Thank you for your answer. However, quickset is not installed and hasn't been since I reformatted the computer a couple of weeks ago (Before I took out the old keyboard) - The secondary functions have always worked, even on the old keyboard, without quickset and have continued to work on the new keyboard still without quickset.

There must be a driver elsewhere that is making the computer think I still have the old keyboard - or perhaps a registry entry?

I am not interested in mapping the keys manually to behave as other keys. I wish to use the keyboard in it's entirity as it is intended to be used. Using the "End" key as a right arrow is not an acceptable fix for me since I would prefer to use the "End" key as an "End" key but thank you for your suggestion.

Any other ideas?

MicroTest · Answer

I have to apologize - you are right.I disabled quickset, restartet and had to realize that it is still possible to change brightness etc.The only difference is that you don't get the nice on screen display.

Right now I have no other useful ideas - only assumptions.

I don't know how much you paid for the new keyboard but sometimes you get those for $5 or $10......

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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