Have you ever had a day when NOTHING seems to go right for you? Simple things not working correctly, but annoying. I sat down yesterday to relax & play some music .... it didn't happen. My Edirol UM-1X interface died, but fortunately I had a replacement. Then I had to reload the drivers until I finally got it to work - 3 hours later. This morning was no better; fired up my laptop, opened BIAB and NOTHING. Anyway, to cut a long story short, here is my current problem that I can't seem to fix. I load songs using F3, and save then by using Alt F2. However, whenever I press any of the F keys I get a volume control in the top left corner of my sreen, rather that the options. I know it's just a simple setting but I can't find how to fix it. Any Ideas?.
Oh, and the batteries in my computer keyboard died and leaked battery acid everywhere. I need a drink
Exactly, and one is really tempted to throw the lot out the window, just play a little blues guitar; i'm off to the pub and have me a pint to your health ... F
.... Dab rubbing alcohol throughout where the battery leaked. A friend taught me that and it seems to work.... Deb
I'd use demineralized or destillated water instead, and only if the residue is't washed away alcohol, but then the 96% pure version (='rubbing'??) alcohol. Careful with rubber and similar, and eventual carbon parts, like sometimes used for the key switches, and alcohol. Some contact cleaning sprays might work also, but then careful with glued carbon contacts and strips like used in pot meters and faders. -F
Keith, I feel your pain. Been there - done that with some really bad days.
I do know that weak or bad batteries in a computer keyboard can cause all kinds of problems. That may or may not be the F key problems but I do know that when my wife's keyboard was dying all kinds of weird things were going on, like sometimes pressing a key would give a different than expected response, sometimes even no response.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
The F key issue may be as simple as a shift key. Laptop F keys sometimes have THREE “pages”: Normal, Shift, and Function, the last being toggled by an Fn or Fcn key. It may be gray or subdued compared to the regular keys; may or may not have an indicator similar to Caps Lock or Num Lock; and probably latches (remains in the state of the last key press, unlike the Shift key). In other words, you may have toggled it without being aware of it.
The Fn Shift on my HP laptop is at lower left, between the CTRL and Windows keys, but I have also seen them in line with the F keys themselves.
HTH,
Richard
Last edited by Ryszard; 01/28/1812:22 PM. Reason: Clarification
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
My HP laptop has a BIOS setting that lets the F-keys either function as a function key, or as a special feature key (for example, F2 dims the display, F3 brightens it) Similarly for volume control. When it is set in feature mode, rather than function-key mode, you just hit the F-key to get the feature. If you want the actual function key, you just hold down the Fn key in the lower left of the keyboard while pressing the function key you want (F1, F2, F3, etc.) If you have it set in function key mode, you just press the function key to get it, but hold down the Fn key while pressing a function key to get the special feature you want. Sounds like that might be part of your problem. Just reboot and go into BIOS setup to see what your setting is.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
Hi again, Thank you all for your replies (and for your sympathy) I was very agitated yesterday when I posted, and I guess I just wanted to vent my frustrations.
I'm going to try again with a cool mind and some patience.I'm sure it's something very simple.
Oh, and another thing that went wrong yesterday, neither my keyboard or mouse would work, so I had to reinstall all of the drivers. Sheesh!!
John, he shouldn’t have to go into BIOS. If you read the post previous to yours, you will see that he should be able to do it from the keyboard.
I did read the previous post and fully understood it. My post wasn't about whether you could access all the features from the keyboard, but as to what the "default" behavior for the function keys should be.
The BIOS setting is just to toggle the default behavior. You have access to either/or. It's just a matter of which feature requires pushing the Fn key while hitting a function key.
My wife uses dim/bright, volume up/down, etc more than function keys, so she leaves hers with the default behavior of the Function keys to do those things without having to concurrently press the Fn button on the lower left. I do the exact opposite, since I use the actual function keys more than the special features.
If there is a way to toggle the "default" behavior from the keyboard, please let me know (as the instructions I received with my laptop was to toggle it in the BIOS settings).
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
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With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
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