Some genius at HP decided the function keys F1 through F12 aren’t important enough and demoted them to second level functions. To access them you now need to pres the Fn + Function key combination to get the normal behavior.
The default behavior for those keys now is what you would normally have had to hold the Fn key to access. Like turning your wireless card on and off, adjusting the display brightness, etc… F5 it looks like enables/disables the backlight on my keyboard. Um no. Setting the display brightness does NOT need to be a top level function, idiot! I’ll set it once and never touch it again.
In the mean time, F3 is used all the time for opening Find/Replace dialogs. I use F5 all the time to refresh web pages, folders, my IDE, etc. I can handle holding the Fn key to toggle my wireless on and off or changing display outputs. In the mean time I want my function keys back.
The fix isn’t a simple control panel setting either. You actually have to go into the computer BIOS to change it. When the computer boots you have to hit F10 to enter the BIOS settings. (Remember to hold the Fn key or you might just be trying to eject your CD-ROM).
Once at the BIOS menu navigate to the “System Configuration” settings. Select “Action Keys Mode” and turn that crap off. Reboot and your sanity and balance in the universe will have been restored.