Arch Linux

madwayl

Member

Registered: 2025-05-28

Posts: 4

[SOLVED] Fn Keys on MSI Laptop not working on Fresh Install

When I press on the usual Mute/Volume +/- and/or Brightness +/- and also Print Key - the keys that usually worked on my previous arch installation (with archinstall + HyDE for hyprland setup) worked flawlessly as it did on Fedora 41/42.

I tried to re-install Arch Linux with archinstall on USB Live Boot only, and this time some config/package is missing, which I couldn't figure out what. On pressing these keys they provide for every key press (

dmesg -w

):

[ 3803.731942] msi_wmi: Unknown event received
[ 3902.370434] msi_wmi: Unknown event received
[ 3902.971992] msi_wmi: Unknown event received

I referred the arch Wiki, so either I got confused and missed some or there isn't any mentions of my particular issue.

Laptop Model: MSI Modern 15H AI C1MG
Kernel Version: 6.14.7-arch2-1
DE/WM: Hyprland on Wayland

Changing kernel from linux to linux-lts did not resolve the issue.

I treid loading all the kernel modules that I checked on other topics: msi_wmi, wmi, sparse-keymap, intel-hid, intel-vbtn - loading them through

modprobe

did not help.

These keys are visible through

libinput

(showup as event3 and event4 keys),

evtest

and through

showkeys -s

on TTY.

From libinput debug-events:

-event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.551sKEY_MUTE (113) released
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.665sKEY_MUTE (113) pressed
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.777sKEY_VOLUMEDOWN (114) pressed
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.852sKEY_MUTE (113) released
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.889sKEY_VOLUMEDOWN (114) released
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +13.950sKEY_VOLUMEUP (115) pressed
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +14.136sKEY_VOLUMEUP (115) released

and from evtest:

Event: time 1748371777.260809, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1748371777.447210, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value a0
Event: time 1748371777.447210, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 113 (KEY_MUTE), value 0

I also tried setting the keys manually (using

setkeycodes

) but did not help, unfortunately. checked with KEY_MUTE

setkeycodes a0 113

- which also didn't help.

I'm unsure of as-in what has to be done and this has been quite tough, through I've managed to fix other problems I had with my arch installation and setup. I'd be glad if someone can help with this. Thanks!

Last edited by madwayl (2025-05-29 05:31:25)

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 74,288

Re: [SOLVED] Fn Keys on MSI Laptop not working on Fresh Install

When I press on the usual Mute/Volume +/- and/or Brightness +/- and also Print Key - the keys that usually worked on my previous arch installation

and they

-event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.551sKEY_MUTE (113) released
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.665sKEY_MUTE (113) pressed
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.777sKEY_VOLUMEDOWN (114) pressed
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.852sKEY_MUTE (113) released
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +12.889sKEY_VOLUMEDOWN (114) released
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +13.950sKEY_VOLUMEUP (115) pressed
 event3   KEYBOARD_KEY                 +14.136sKEY_VOLUMEUP (115) released

do now.
The problem is likely just that they're not bound to any action?

https://wiki.hyprland.org/Configuring/Binds/

---

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madwayl

Member

Registered: 2025-05-28

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] Fn Keys on MSI Laptop not working on Fresh Install

The problem is likely just that they're not bound to any action?

https://wiki.hyprland.org/Configuring/Binds/

I've bound them with my keybindings on Hyprland .conf file, below:

binddel = , XF86MonBrightnessUp, $d increase brightness , exec, $scriptPath/brightness-control.sh 'all' + 5 # increase brightness
binddel = , XF86MonBrightnessDown, $d decrease brightness , exec, $scriptPath/brightness-control.sh 'all' - 5 # decrease brightness
binddl  = , XF86AudioMute,$d  toggle mute output, exec, $scriptPath/volumecontrol.sh -o m # toggle audio mute
binddl  = , XF86AudioMicMute,$d un/mute microphone  , exec, $scriptPath/volumecontrol.sh -i m # toggle microphone mute
binddel = , XF86AudioLowerVolume, $d decrease volume , exec, $scriptPath/volumecontrol.sh -o d # decrease volume
binddel = , XF86AudioRaiseVolume, $d increase volume , exec, $scriptPath/volumecontrol.sh -o i # increase volume

These keybindings were same as before, and the scripts run well enough. Issues are with the keys. They don't appear with the wev command too.

So the setup doesn't seem to be related to Hyprland setup maybe something related to kernel? or others, that I'm yet to debug on.

Does localectl also affect the mappings of these keys, These are my default ones:

$ localectl status
System Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8
    VC Keymap: us
   X11 Layout: us
    X11 Model: pc105+inet
  X11 Options: terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp

Which one should I be choosing if this is wrong?

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 74,288

Re: [SOLVED] Fn Keys on MSI Laptop not working on Fresh Install

They won't show up in wev if you've assigned them to some shortcuts.
Comment those, restart hyprland, check wev again.
If they show up, have a look at the $scriptPath, resp. bind them to sth. like "/usr/bin/touch /tmp/pressed.XF86AudioMute" to track their invocation.

---

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madwayl

Member

Registered: 2025-05-28

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] Fn Keys on MSI Laptop not working on Fresh Install

They won't show up in wev if you've assigned them to some shortcuts.

I didn't know that.

Comment those, restart hyprland, check wev again.

It was indeed the issue with hyprland's config. I removed them and they worked. I had it set as below thinking the `$` would work like the bash as I've set `$HOME`:

$scriptPath=$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/hypr/scripts

resetting the variable $XDG_CONFIG_HOME worked.

Thank you, I had this for a day, and didn't think them through and thought the kernel messages meant something that's wrong with kernel. I was indeed wrong.