Sony Vaio Hotkey Utility Driver Download
Keena Wiegert
I use a VPCEH2KFX Sony VAIO laptop. After I installed windows 10 and the keyboard shortcut drivers from sony website, non of the hotkeys that was defined for Fn + F1 to F7 except volume keys still does not work.Does anyone know the reason and the solution to reassign these hotkeys?
I recently purchased a Dell 1470 notebook and immediately noticed that the keys were "bouncing" (multiple keystrokes registered for a single keypress). The problem is not isolated to just my laptop or model; as you will find here, it is showing up on others as well. If you are experiencing this problem, I feel for you.
The problem was sporadic, but occurred often enough to make my typing look like that of a third-grader (no offense intended to any third-graders out there). The problem persisted, even after three keyboard change-outs along with an OS wipe/ factory restore and also a motherboard swap-out. A thorny problem, indeed. At that point, it was determined that the problem was driver-related. The keyboard driver is supplied by Microsoft, thus placing me at the complete mercy of the driver development team(s). Searching revealed no resolutions to this issue, no driver updates or patches, neither at Microsoft, nor at Dell, nor on the WorldWideWeb.
Now, being a firmware/software developer myself, I am familiar with keyboard bounce... it exists in all interfaces that have an electro-mechanical switch involved. The objective is to turn the "chatter" at the switch closure into a clean change of state... "off" to "on", with no chatter at the boundary. (If you are curious about the topic, you can read about it in detail here.) Computer keyboards certainly fall into that category. I realized that the problem existed either in the keyboard driver, the keyboard controller, or the design of the keyboard itself. I also realized that this issue is not glaringly common enough to garner much priority from developers. Hence, at least for the forseeable future, this was an "orphan" issue.
Not being a driver developer myself, I took this issue as an excuse to learn AutoHotkey. I knew about it enough to figure that it could be used to build a keybounce-filtering utility. Sure enough, I have written an AHK script that does just that: it detects the bounce pattern in the key stream and filters them out on their way to Windows. You can get it here:
If you are already familiar with AHK and have it installed (it's a great tool BTW), then just download and run the AHK script. If not, then you might prefer the compiled script (it's the EXE above). With the EXE, you won't need to install AHK at all. Just download the EXE into a safe place, then create a shortcut to it, and place that shortcut into your Startup folder (Start > All Programs > Startup). The script will then run automatically on the next startup.
The filter has a "window time" where it looks for bounces (repeats). Keybounces usually last in the 10's of milliseconds, being as low as 1 msec for a clean switch closure and as high as 100 msec or more for a particularly dirty one. I set the default gating window to 40 msec, as a working ballpark figure. I didn't want to make it too high, because this gating time also sets the upper limit on the auto-repeat rate. In fact, if you find while running the script that your auto-repeat is choppy or doesn't work at all, you'll want to lower the auto-repeat rate until it works again (don't worry, you'll get it back). Just go to Control Panel > Keyboard > Repeat Rate and adjust the slider down until it works reliably again. (note: that has changed: see updates/edits below...) If you do find that you still get double keys (or triples... I feel for you), then you should increase the gating time. To do it, right click on the shortcut to the script that you created above, then select "Properties". Click inside the "Target" box, and at the end of the line, after the "KeybounceFilter.exe", add a space, and then a number for the gate time in milliseconds, then click "Apply". So for example, if you want the gate time to be 50 msec rather than the default of 40 msec, then the Target Line should look like this:
You will then need to re-run the script (restart, or just right-click the little "H" icon in the tray, select "Exit", then re-run the shortcut). Also remember to re-adjust the keyboard repeat rate afterward. The optimal choice of gating time is therefore striking a balance between the quality of the filtering achieved and the maximum repeat rate that will be available to you. (note: that has changed: see updates/edits below...) The filtering probably won't be 100% perfect, but it should go a very long way to helping maintain your sanity (no guarantees, of course).
Note that for practical reasons, Shift+cAPSLOCK will also be disabled in this mode, but both Ctrl+cAPSLOCK and Alt+cAPSLOCK will still perform the dreaded cAPSLOCK function (just in case you really need it). Note also that passing zero (0) for the second argument acts the same as passing no second argument, i.e. it leaves cAPSLOCK still enabled (boo!). Enjoy and God Bless!
Edit (3-13-2011): Due to popular request (and because it was really bugging me, too), the script has been updated to allow the keyboard auto-repeat feature to work (much more) properly. Before this change, the gate time for the bounce filter would set an upper limit on the repeat rate, with longer gate times resulting in lower allowable repeat rates. Now, you can set the auto-repeat rate as high as you like, and it will fly as intended. (In fact, the faster that you set it, the better that it will work!) The feature works by setting an upper limit on how many bounces are filtered in a row. In practice, real key bounces should result in fewer than three or four strikes in a row, so the default switchover is set to pass key repeats with more than 3 in a row. This does add a slight delay to the auto-repeat before it really "kicks in". You can lower the delay by either increasing the auto-repeat rate (yay!) or lowering the switchover threshold by passing a third numerical argument to the command line. So for example, setting the Properties>Target line of the Startup Shortcut described above as follows:
would set the switchover threshold to 2, while also disabling cAPSLOCK and setting the 50 msec gate time as before. The danger of lowering the switchover threshold is that really bad bounces (undesired repeats of three or more) would begin to get through. So use caution, and season to taste. This update should now remove the one large remaining peeve that existed from the start of this utility. As always, enjoy, and God Bless!
I have not had a chance to even try the other (Regedit) method, so I am sorry but I cannot comment much on it. Did you do the Regedit according to the method on Page 2 of this thread? (It's in Post #5 of Page 2.) It would appear to me that the key parameter there is the BounceTime=35 (increase this one for more filtering).
It might be possible to modify the AHK script so that it allows the repeats to go through at full speed. It would work something like this: If it detects a lot of the same key in a row, all within the gate time of each other, then it would switch to let the keys go through unfiltered. This would continue until a different key comes along, or the same key after the gate time, at which time it would switch back. The number representing "a lot" would be best made programmable, since some keyboards probably have very bad bouncing, but probably 4-5 would work OK in most cases.
Doing this would require significant programming, probably as much as went in to the first one. I may do it once I become bothered enough by the slow repeat rate, and then, when I get some time to do it.
To all who are following this thread, the script has been updated again to allow the auto-repeat to now work at useful repeat rates. The upper limit on the repeat rate that was imposed by the gate time has been removed. Please check the top post for details and links to the downloads.
Anyway, they took it away...and sent it back untouched, on the grounds that they'd tested it and couldn't find a problem. This is even though the problem is easy enough to reproduce....And now Sony have informed me that it's not a known issue....Despite the presence on the internet of a Vaio with a very bad dose of this problem and the comment from the owner that Sony took it for repair THREE TIMES, on each occasion saying there was no problem!!
So...your wonderful little debounce programme may be my only hope......But tell me something: when I use it my laptop gets quite hot and the fan goes into overtime...Is that normal? Is there a way of avoiding this?
Al, sorry to see about your Sony troubles. Not sure why your laptop is getting hot with the utility running. Did you try Task Manager to see if it's using a lot of CPU? Task Manager > Processes tab, click on CPU, then see where KeyBounceFilter.exe is on the list. On my Dell, it's very low on the list, and no observable impact.
I think you may be right...All I can say is that I noticed that the utility would occasionally create a little window message saying something like '1,540 hotkeys have been identified'....Something like that. I figure that this may well relate to the over-heating issue.
Well...I went back to the entries in that other forum, and carefully tried the registry route again. And this time it worked!! I think that before, I failed to switch on Filter Keys as a first step. Having done that, I uninstalled your utility (much as I love it and have kept it very much on standby!!)
The GREATEST aspect of this development (which marks the first time in four months that I've been able to use this Sony Vaio properly) is that I am freed from the tender mercies of Sony's technical support (as they are laughingly termed) systems. I don't have to face the prospect of the machine going back to them over and over, only or them to deny that there's any problem! In this regard, I refer to the video at =653470. This is a remarkable little film of a Vaio with a ver bad case of the souble character syndrome...a Vaio that was returned to Sony no less than THREE TIMES, only for Sony to claim each time that they couldn't find any problems!
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