[SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

robsmith11 · 2018-01-08 12:52:40

After updating a large number of packages on my Dell XPS 13 9350, my Fn key is working in reverse. F1-F12 are now triggered by default and the Fn key is needed to trigger the multimedia functions.

Does anyone know what update caused this change in behavior? Is there an easy way to get the old behavior back?

Last edited by robsmith11 (2018-01-14 07:50:33)

Trilby · 2018-01-08 12:56:16

robsmith11 wrote:

After updating a large number of packages ... Does anyone know what update caused this...

You do, but you've not shared the relevant information. What packages were updated? Check/post your pacman log.

In general, though, your syptoms might not be a software issue. This can often be toggled in bios settings.

robsmith11 · 2018-01-08 14:36:27

Trilby wrote:

You do, but you've not shared the relevant information. What packages were updated?

As I said, it's a rather large list, so it's not of much use. I posted this to see if anyone else had a similar issue and had already tracked down the cause.
And I haven't touched the BIOS recently.

[2017-12-28 04:09] [ALPM] upgraded linux (4.13.3-1 -> 4.14.6-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-1 -> 0.17-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded libutil-linux (2.30.2-1 -> 2.31.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded tzdata (2017b-1 -> 2017c-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded filesystem (2017.03-2 -> 2017.10-2)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded glibc (2.26-4 -> 2.26-8)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded gcc-libs (7.2.0-3 -> 7.2.1-2)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded ncurses (6.0+20170902-1 -> 6.0+20170902-3)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded glib2 (2.52.3-1 -> 2.54.2-2)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded libpng (1.6.32-1 -> 1.6.34-2)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded libjpeg-turbo (1.5.2-1 -> 1.5.3-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded libtiff (4.0.8-2 -> 4.0.9-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded icu (59.1-2 -> 60.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded libxml2 (2.9.5+6+g07e227ed-1 -> 2.9.7+4+g72182550-2)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded gdk-pixbuf2 (2.36.9-1 -> 2.36.11-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded gtk-update-icon-cache (3.22.21-1 -> 3.22.26+47+g3a1a7135a2-3)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded libthai (0.1.26-1 -> 0.1.27-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded expat (2.2.4-1 -> 2.2.5-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded harfbuzz (1.5.1-1 -> 1.7.4-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded fontconfig (2.12.6-1 -> 2.12.6+5+g665584a-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded cairo (1.15.8-2 -> 1.15.10-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded pango (1.40.12-1 -> 1.40.14-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded librsvg (2:2.40.18+20+g63ddae4-1 -> 2:2.40.20-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded adwaita-icon-theme (3.24.0-1 -> 3.26.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded alsa-lib (1.1.4.1-2 -> 1.1.5-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded hwids (20170715-1 -> 20171003-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded pciutils (3.5.5-1 -> 3.5.6-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded fftw (3.3.6-2 -> 3.3.7-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded libogg (1.3.2-1 -> 1.3.3-2)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded alsa-utils (1.1.4-1 -> 1.1.5-2)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded libgcrypt (1.8.1-1 -> 1.8.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded libsystemd (234.11-9 -> 236.0-2)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded android-tools (8.0.0_r11-1 -> 8.1.0_r1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:29] [ALPM] upgraded archlinux-keyring (20170823-1 -> 20171213-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded dbus (1.10.24-1 -> 1.12.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded at-spi2-core (2.24.1-1 -> 2.26.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded atk (2.24.0-2 -> 2.26.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded at-spi2-atk (2.24.1-1 -> 2.26.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded avahi (0.7-1 -> 0.7-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded binutils (2.29.0-1 -> 2.29.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libical (2.0.0-2 -> 3.0.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded bluez (5.47-2 -> 5.47-3)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded device-mapper (2.02.174-2 -> 2.02.177-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded cryptsetup (1.7.5-1 -> 2.0.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libnftnl (1.0.7-1 -> 1.0.8-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libnl (3.3.0-1 -> 3.4.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded iptables (1.6.1-1 -> 1.6.1-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded pambase (20130928-1 -> 20171006-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded e2fsprogs (1.43.6-1 -> 1.43.7-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded openssl (1.1.0.f-2 -> 1.1.0.g-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded krb5 (1.15.1-1 -> 1.16-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded shadow (4.5-2 -> 4.5-4)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded util-linux (2.30.2-1 -> 2.31.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded systemd (234.11-9 -> 236.0-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded bluez-utils (5.47-2 -> 5.47-3)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded boost-libs (1.65.1-1 -> 1.65.1-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded python (3.6.2-1 -> 3.6.4-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded python-setuptools (1:36.5.0-1 -> 1:38.2.5-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded borg (1.0.11-1 -> 1.1.3-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded p11-kit (0.23.8-1 -> 0.23.9-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded ca-certificates-mozilla (3.33-1 -> 3.34.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded llvm-libs (5.0.0-1 -> 5.0.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded mpfr (3.1.5.p2-1 -> 3.1.6.p1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded gcc (7.2.0-3 -> 7.2.1-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded clang (5.0.0-1 -> 5.0.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded lcms2 (2.8-2 -> 2.9-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded polkit (0.113+29+g3272a98-1 -> 0.113+34+g29ba7af-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded sqlite (3.20.1-1 -> 3.21.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded dconf (0.26.0+1+g701d19d-1 -> 0.26.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libgudev (231+1+g0841288-1 -> 232-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded colord (1.4.1-1 -> 1.4.1+6+gf08c25d-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libconfig (1.6-2 -> 1.7.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libpciaccess (0.13.5-1 -> 0.14-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libdrm (2.4.83-1 -> 2.4.89-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded mesa (17.2.1-3 -> 17.3.0-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libglvnd (0.2.999+g4ba53457-2 -> 1.0.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded compton (0.1_beta2.5-8 -> 0.1_beta2.5-10)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libunistring (0.9.7-1 -> 0.9.8-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libpsl (0.18.0-1 -> 0.19.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libnghttp2 (1.23.1-1 -> 1.28.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded curl (7.55.1-2 -> 7.57.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded dmenu (4.7-1 -> 4.7-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libxslt (1.1.30-2 -> 1.1.32+3+g32c88216-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded docbook-xsl (1.79.2-3 -> 1.79.2-4)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded tinyxml2 (5.0.1-1 -> 6.0.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded fuse-common (3.2.0-1 -> 3.2.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded encfs (1.9.2-1 -> 1.9.2-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded feh (2.20-1 -> 2.22.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded nettle (3.3-1 -> 3.4-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded gnutls (3.5.15-1 -> 3.5.16-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded lame (3.99.5-3 -> 3.100-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libvdpau (1.1.1-2 -> 1.1.1+3+ga21bf7a-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded openjpeg2 (2.2.0-1 -> 2.3.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libxcursor (1.1.14-2 -> 1.1.15-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded sdl2 (2.0.6-1 -> 2.0.7-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libass (0.13.7-1 -> 0.14.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libva (1.8.3-1 -> 2.0.0-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded x265 (2.5-1 -> 2.6-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded ffmpeg (1:3.3.4-1 -> 1:3.4.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded fuse3 (3.2.0-1 -> 3.2.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded gawk (4.1.4-2 -> 4.2.0-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded git (2.14.2-1 -> 2.15.1-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded python-psutil (5.3.1-1 -> 5.4.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded glances (2.11.1-1 -> 2.11.1-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded gsettings-desktop-schemas (3.24.0-1 -> 3.24.1+3+ge869987-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded glib-networking (2.50.0-2 -> 2.54.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libassuan (2.4.3-1 -> 2.5.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded pinentry (1.0.0-1 -> 1.1.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded gnupg (2.2.1-1 -> 2.2.4-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded gpgme (1.9.0-3 -> 1.10.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded xkeyboard-config (2.21-2 -> 2.22-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libxkbcommon (0.7.2-1 -> 0.8.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded json-glib (1.2.8-1 -> 1.4.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded wayland-protocols (1.10-1 -> 1.12-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libcups (2.2.4-2 -> 2.2.6-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded tar (1.29-2 -> 1.30-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libtool (2.4.6+40+g6ca5e224-1 -> 2.4.6+40+g6ca5e224-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libsoup (2.58.2-1 -> 2.60.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded gtk3 (3.22.21-1 -> 3.22.26+47+g3a1a7135a2-3)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded texinfo (6.4-1 -> 6.5-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libatomic_ops (7.4.6-1 -> 7.4.8-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded guile (2.2.2-1 -> 2.2.3-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded harfbuzz-icu (1.5.1-1 -> 1.7.4-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded imagemagick (6.9.9.17-1 -> 7.0.7.16-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded procps-ng (3.3.12-1 -> 3.3.12-2)

[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded intel-gpu-tools (1.19-1 -> 1.20-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded iproute2 (4.13.0-1 -> 4.14.1-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded iw (4.9-1 -> 4.9-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded ldns (1.7.0-3 -> 1.7.0-4)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libwacom (0.24-1 -> 0.26-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libinput (1.8.2-1 -> 1.9.4-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libpipeline (1.4.2-1 -> 1.5.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libxfont2 (2.0.1-1 -> 2.0.3-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded libxkbcommon-x11 (0.7.2-1 -> 0.8.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded licenses (20140629-2 -> 20171006-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded linux-firmware (20170907.a61ac5c-1 -> 20171206.fdee922-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded mkinitcpio-busybox (1.26.1-1 -> 1.27.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded mkinitcpio (23-2 -> 24-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded linux (4.14.6-1 -> 4.14.8-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded llvm (5.0.0-1 -> 5.0.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded logrotate (3.12.3-1 -> 3.13.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded thin-provisioning-tools (0.7.2-1 -> 0.7.5-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded lvm2 (2.02.174-2 -> 2.02.177-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded man-pages (4.13-1 -> 4.14-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded mercurial (4.3.2-1 -> 4.4.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded protobuf (3.3.2-1 -> 3.4.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded openssh (7.5p1-2 -> 7.6p1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded mosh (1.3.2-1 -> 1.3.2-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded nano (2.8.7-1 -> 2.9.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded netcdf (4.4.1.1-1 -> 4.5.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded netctl (1.13-2 -> 1.14-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded nss (3.33-1 -> 3.34.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded openssl-1.0 (1.0.2.l-1 -> 1.0.2.n-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded orc (0.4.27-1 -> 0.4.28-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded pacman-mirrorlist (20170907-1 -> 20171203-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded pepper-flash (27.0.0.130-1 -> 28.0.0.126-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded poppler (0.59.0-1 -> 0.61.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded python-llfuse (1.2-1 -> 1.3.2-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded tslib (1.13-1 -> 1.14-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded qt5-base (5.9.1-5 -> 5.10.0-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded re2 (20170801-1 -> 20171201-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded reiserfsprogs (3.6.25-1 -> 3.6.27-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded rsync (3.1.2-3 -> 3.1.2-8)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded rtkit (0.11+6+g417bb7d-1 -> 0.11+8+ge0a51fe-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded s-nail (14.9.4-1 -> 14.9.6-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded smartmontools (6.5-1 -> 6.6-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded snappy (1.1.4-1 -> 1.1.7-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded sshfs (3.3.0-4 -> 3.3.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded systemd-sysvcompat (234.11-9 -> 236.0-2)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded tmux (2.5-3 -> 2.6-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded usbutils (008-1 -> 009-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded virtualbox-host-modules-arch (5.2.4-1 -> 5.2.4-3)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded wireless-regdb (2016.06.10-1 -> 2017.03.07-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded wpa_supplicant (1:2.6-8 -> 1:2.6-11)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded xfsprogs (4.12.0-1 -> 4.13.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded xorg-bdftopcf (1.0.5-1 -> 1.1-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded xorg-server-common (1.19.3-3 -> 1.19.5-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded xorg-server (1.19.3-3 -> 1.19.5-1)
[2017-12-28 04:30] [ALPM] upgraded xorg-server-xvfb (1.19.3-3 -> 1.19.5-1)

Last edited by robsmith11 (2018-01-08 14:37:04)

Trilby · 2018-01-08 15:12:04

robsmith11 wrote:

As I said, it's a rather large list, so it's not of much use.

It may not be of use to you, but it is essential to those who would be equipped to help you. Even if someone else had the same problem, progress would come from comparing their recent updates to yours. Even in the absence of that, we now have a manageable list of suspects to chose from, of which there are only a few interesting candidates - prior to sharing the list we'd have to ask you about every single candidate package in the repos.

Does this problem present only in X and/or do the function keys work as you'd prefer in the tty?

phw · 2018-01-13 15:35:27

Even If you haven't touched the BIOS, you should double check this. AFAIK this can be toggled in BIOS settings for Dell XPS (it definitely can be set for Dell Inspirons).

robsmith11 · 2018-01-14 07:50:14

phw wrote:

Even If you haven't touched the BIOS, you should double check this. AFAIK this can be toggled in BIOS settings for Dell XPS (it definitely can be set for Dell Inspirons).

Hmm.. you're right. I found the option in the BIOS settings and now it's back to normal. I have no clue how it got flipped..

phw · 2018-01-14 10:09:10

Dell published firmware updates a few days ago, maybe they got applied and in that process it flipped? Otherwise I have no good idea what could have happened

Asriel · 2018-01-15 11:07:05

If you press Fn-Esc the behavior will change. So it can be changed on the fly accidentally by pressing this combination.

robsmith11 · 2018-01-15 14:13:46

Asriel wrote:

If you press Fn-Esc the behavior will change. So it can be changed on the fly accidentally by pressing this combination.

Oh wow... I never even noticed that. I must be going blind

Arch Linux

#1 2018-01-08 12:52:40

[SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

#2 2018-01-08 12:56:16

Re: [SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

#3 2018-01-08 14:36:27

Re: [SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

#4 2018-01-08 15:12:04

Re: [SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

#5 2018-01-13 15:35:27

Re: [SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

#6 2018-01-14 07:50:14

Re: [SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

#7 2018-01-14 10:09:10

Re: [SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

#8 2018-01-15 11:07:05

Re: [SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

#9 2018-01-15 14:13:46

Re: [SOLVED] Fn key behavior inverted after recent update

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