FN + any function key powering off my laptop!

jhenrick

Honorable
Jul 29, 2013
2
0
10,510
Here's a confusing one:

When I push FN (function) key plus any key it interacts with (f1-f8, and f11, f12, insert) my laptop immediately shuts off, like pushing the power button - except with the power button, you have to hold it for 3-4 seconds before it shuts down. FN plus a fn-key causes power off in less than half a second.

Bought the laptop about 5 months ago, the FN keys all worked properly until about a week ago, when this problem started.

Details:

My laptop is a NP365e5c-s01us. Windows 8.1 preview is installed.

- When I push my FN key by itself and hold, nothing happens.
- When I push and hold any key FN interacts with (volume up/down, brightness up/down, etc.) nothing happens.
- When I hold FN and quickly push any key it interacts with, nothing happens (it doesn't work, but also doesn't power off)
- It does not happen in BIOS
- It doesn't happen on boot until Windows starts booting (when the screen is still black, and the goofy like circle "working" icon is animated). That is the first time during boot that it will act as a shut-off switch

Testing I have performed:
- Opened the laptop, made sure nothing is on the connectors or slots that the ribbon goes in
- Made a new user account, logged in there, and it still happens.
- Uninstalled the keyboard from Device Manager, reboot to automatically reinstall, and it still happens.
- Started up in Safe Mode (such as it is in windows 8) and it still causes power down.
- Checked if it happens in BIOS, it does not cause shut down.
- Checked in BIOS to see if I could completely disable the FN key, but there are no choices in there.

What are my next steps? Check for a BIOS update? Try to plug in another laptop keyboard with FN key and see if it happens still? Try reverting to Windows 8?

Thanks for any insight, this is frustrating!