Laptop Studio XPS Hotkeys Not working

Update: recently just installed Windows 7 beta build 7100. Media keys have worked all day without going out once. This surprises me considering it means it is software related. Maybe a bugged vista driver that dell refuses to fix or doesnt care enough about.

Will post back in if anything changes.

Thanks for the update Teajay. Keep us posted if you have any further developments.  Interesting to hear that its appearing to be a driver / software issue rather than a hardware / capacitor issue.  If this is the case then surely it should be pretty straight forward for dell to release an updated driver for the media buttons to fix this.  Im not holding my breath tho.

Ran Windows7 beta build 7100 for two full days. Keys worked fine and  never quit, but do to compatibility errors with games/websites/software i decided to go back to vista. Reloaded from scratch from disc back to Vista SP1. Currtently i have NO programs installed other than Firefox (screw IE8) and within and hour of finished vista installation, BAM! keys go out. So concluded, it seems to be a Vista error. Will most likely be sending it in to Dell  to see what little they can do.

Ah this disappointd the same problem here with my pc

Hey del please try to help us here

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Don't know what I was thinking (I don't even have that antivirus), I meant synaptic.  There is a driver update for synaptic and I notice that Dell calls the hotkeys touch keys, so I wondered if anyone knows if they go along with the touchpad.

I have had this problem for months and was close to throwing the laptop away.  24 hours ago i installed the new BIOS A11 for the XPS 1340 and so far it seems to have solved the hotkeys problem, the hotkeys work fine.  the BIOS A11 has also solved a numebr of other awful problems the XPS 1340 was having with sleep, wake and logging onto wireless networks.   why Dell didn't sort this out before it left the factory is a mystery to me.  let me know how others get on.

I run Windows 7 Ultimate (full RTM - TechNet is useful), and my keys stopped working too... So it has nothing to do with Vista, it's a general problem.

Thanks for letting us know skoop99. Wont rush to upgrade then!  The BIOS update didnt seem to do much either

I spoke with Dell support about this issue and they had a service person come to me and install a whole new hotkey panel. This seems to have resolved the issue for me. 

I was encountering this before the A11 BIOS were released so I cannot comment as to their effectiveness. One would hope that the new BIOS solves this issue. 

Anyway, if you cannot resolve this issue yourself, talk with Dell. I was impressed with how they responded in my case. 

Ring dell and request a new media panel.  A technician will come out the following day and replace it - its about a 20 min job.  I havent had an issue with mine since

Dear All,

Wasted 2 hours of my time with Dell today on the exactly the same issue of Hot Keys. At first techician wanted me to pay for the software support £139.00 saying that this is a software issue and that my warranty only covers hardware. It's only after I've insisted that  this issue existed since day 1 that they agreed to help. Full hardware diagnostics run, all fine. The want me now to reinstall all from scratch which I refused, Iam prety sure that that would not resolve this. They must know about this issue but they simply wont admit.

My main problem is that DCP would not connect to mobile broadband at all and sometimes takes 3-4 restarts to get everything working.

I have gone to BIOS A11 and installed new version of DCP, still no improvent. My main worry is that after my hot key bar goes windows vista wouldn't shut down, the only way to do it is to press power button for 4-5 seconds. Of couse Vista complains on the following start-up.

 Not to mention  that this "mean machine" cost me £1800.00 (SSD 256Gb etc) :emotion-1:

Shutdown, unplug and take the battery out.  Press the power button to ensure all residual charge is drained.  Then put the battery in, plug in and turn on. 

Dell will send someone out tomorrow to replace the media panel if you call them now and its only a 20 min job. 

I have the same problem on my SXPS 16. Can anyone tell me how to turn the wireless on without the hotkey. It would be helpful until I can get this fixed. Thanks guys!

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