Dell Laptop Some FN Keys not working with MX21

[Fornhamfred]

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Snapshot created on:
System:    Kernel: 5.10.0-11-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-11-amd64 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.16.1 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-21_x64 Wildflower October 20  2021 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Portable System: Dell product: Inspiron N5040 v: A02 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Dell model: 0VD5G3 v: A02 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A02 date: 05/31/2011 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 41.9 Wh (100.0%) condition: 41.9/47.5 Wh (88.2%) volts: 12.2 
           min: 10.8 model: Sanyo DELL 7XFJJ86 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
CPU:       Info: Dual Core model: Intel Pentium P6200 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Nehalem family: 6 
           model-id: 25 (37) stepping: 5 microcode: 7 cache: L2: 3 MiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 8511 
           Speed: 1055 MHz min/max: 931/2128 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1055 2: 1058 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported 
           Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion 
           Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: spec_store_bypass 
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, 
           STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell driver: i915 
           v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0046 class-ID: 0300 
           Device-2: Realtek Integrated Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-1.4:4 
           chip-ID: 0bda:58c0 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.16.1 driver: loaded: intel 
           display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0") 
           s-diag: 414mm (16.3") 
           Monitor-1: LVDS1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 101 size: 344x193mm (13.5x7.6") 
           diag: 394mm (15.5") 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (ILK) v: 2.1 Mesa 20.3.5 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Dell 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:3b56 class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.0-11-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Dell driver: ath9k 
           v: kernel modules: wl port: f000 bus-ID: 12:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:002b class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell driver: r8169 
           v: kernel port: e000 bus-ID: 13:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136 class-ID: 0200 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 43.79 GiB (9.4%) 
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
           ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WD5000BPVT-75HXZT3 
           size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s 
           type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 1A01 scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 30.01 GiB size: 29.37 GiB (97.87%) used: 8.8 GiB (30.0%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda6 maj-min: 8:6 
           ID-2: /home raw-size: 50 GiB size: 48.97 GiB (97.93%) used: 19.44 GiB (39.7%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7 maj-min: 8:7 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 7.81 GiB used: 1.5 MiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/sda5 maj-min: 8:5 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:     Packages: note: see --pkg apt: 2057 lib: 1035 flatpak: 0 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/megasync.list 
           1: deb https://mega.nz/linux/MEGAsync/Debian_testing/ ./
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mxlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/packages/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teamviewer.list 
           1: deb http://linux.teamviewer.com/deb stable main
Info:      Processes: 216 Uptime: 15m wakeups: 2 Memory: 3.64 GiB used: 1.7 GiB (46.6%) 
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 
           alt: 10 Shell: quick-system-in default: Bash v: 5.1.4 running-in: quick-system-in 
           inxi: 3.3.06 

I installed MX21 in November and only just realised that the FN sound keys are not working. These were working fine on MX19. Tried installing Kernel 4.19 but no change

[razor2021]

For Dell laptop, in your BIOS, do you have a choice for "post behavior" and then "FN Lock Options"? Check/Enable if so. Or is this just a few FN keys but not all?

[Fornhamfred]

For Dell laptop, in your BIOS, do you have a choice for "post behavior" and then "FN Lock Options"? Check/Enable if so. Or is this just a few FN keys but not all?

Function Key Behavior gives function key or multimedia key of which Function key is set at present. Yes not all the keys are not working particularly the sound keys.

[razor2021]

Have you tried the Keyboard app and test your keyboard there? Click on the Applications Menu and choose Keyboard. And test which layout works.

[Fornhamfred]

Have you tried the Keyboard app and test your keyboard there? Click on the Applications Menu and choose Keyboard. And test which layout works.

Cannot find a layout which has any effect.

[razor2021]

Does your Fn key have an LED built-in? On your Dell laptop, if you select Fn + Esc keys (enable/disable the dual Fn function), does your Fn keys then work like normal?

[Fornhamfred]

Does your Fn key have an LED built-in? On your Dell laptop, if you select Fn + Esc keys (enable/disable the dual Fn function), does your Fn keys then work like normal?

No LED, It seems that only the keys relating to sound do not work. As stated before all keys work fine with 19.2.

[Fornhamfred]

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Huckleberry Finn]

What if you press Fn+Esc keys once, then try ?

[razor2021]

Also, its just me. If Fn+Esc does not work, I would still update the Dell Bios from A02 to A05.

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Machine:   Type: Portable System: Dell product: Inspiron N5040 v: A02 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Dell model: 0VD5G3 v: A02 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A02 date: 05/31/2011 

And the latest on Dell website for this laptop model is --> https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-ca ... 40/drivers

Not saying that will fix anything, but always good to have the proper updated BIOS prior to doing anything else. But that's just me, to remove any issues with outdated BIOS/drivers etc.