I can haz Numlock?

[CSchmidt]

Just bought a stock G74SX-XR1 a couple days ago.

Love this machine, none of the problems with keyboard or trackpad that others have reported (most likely electrical shorts from packing material not removed at the factory). The only fly in the ointment is the replacement of the numlock with a "launch calculator". I'm a Blender 3D user, and it uses the numkeys for changing views. It wouldn't be a big deal, but numlock is "off". Is there any way to turn it on? I only need to do it once.

After some seaching, I've discovered there is work being done on it. But no updates in awhile. Is there any news?

I don't have a USB keyboard (still PS/2 attached to my tower) and would rather not have to shell out more money.
I have tried the [L-shift]+[fn]+[CapsLock] and [fn]+[Shift]+[Calc] but it doesn't do it. I don't want to change BIOS or software yet and mess up a perfectly good a machine.

I find it hard to believe that it would be that difficult for the calculator key to do the numlock too. The [delete] and [insert] functions are on the same key.

[BrodyBoy]

No fix that I know of. They seem to have made a conscious decision, when designing this laptop, to use a non-standard approach to the numpad. It's not even a num-lock key without the ATK package installed....even though that's the default in every other computer on the planet!

Frankly, I think they should just chuck the whole calculator button idea in the next BIOS update. Anybody who uses the calculator a lot can put a link to it on their desktop or taskbar.

I doubt that packing materials account for the keyboard and touchpad issues, BTW.

[JRd1st]

The next bios should fix a.lot of things... 😉

[Doan]

If numlock was off, you wouldn't be able to use the number keys on the keypad; so it is on. Also, if you plug a keyboard in, you'll see the numlock light on. When I press the numlock key, it disables numlock for about one second, then auto-reenables it, so even with an external keyboard, I don't think you could use the numlock key for anything. Unless you do some tinkering, of course.

What was the thinking behind the calculator key on a gaming laptop? The only thing I can think of, is for people who crunch numbers to get that perfect build on competitive games. Chances are, if you have this laptop, you have a smartphone with a much more accessible touchscreen calculator, that won't require minimizing full-screen games.

[JRd1st]

Doan wrote:

What was the thinking behind the calculator key on a gaming laptop? The only thing I can think of, is for people who crunch numbers to get that perfect build on competitive games. Chances are, if you have this laptop, you have a smartphone with a much more accessible touchscreen calculator, that won't require minimizing full-screen games.

I bet they were able to get a huge batch of keyboards with calc keys in place of the numlock, reeaalll cheap in huge numbers.

[BrodyBoy]

I'm not a gamer, but isn't the whole problem (for gamers) that the G74 num-pad doesn't have any of the alternate directional functions (up, pg up, etc)? If so, it's utterly inexplicable. Every keyboard I've ever seen has that, I think....it's been standard forever. Yet they change it on a gaming machine?

I think you must be right, JR. They got a good price on keyboards where Sunrex printed the wrong key graphics!

[fostert]

I flashed BIOS 203 (from 201) when I got my G74, and I believe the numlock LED went from off to being turned on all the time with 203??? Would that help you?

[BrodyBoy]

fostert wrote:
I flashed BIOS 203 (from 201) when I got my G74, and I believe the numlock LED went from off to being turned on all the time with 203??? Would that help you?

It's not an LED problem. It's that there's no standard numerical keypad. It really is just a calculator, I guess.

[CSchmidt]

I was talking about the packing around the components before they were installed. These components, especially the contacts are a bit fragile when they aren't installed. I recall reading about that somewhere, that someone forgot to remove some tape at the factory when they were installing the parts. Mind you I don't know how much humans are involved with the final assembly of these machines.

Does anyone know if plugging in a keyboard with a normal numpad will work? Will this machine even recognize [numpad1], [numpad3], etc.??

[BrodyBoy]

CSchmidt wrote:
I was talking about the packing around the components before they were installed. These components, especially the contacts are a bit fragile when they aren't installed. I recall reading about that somewhere, that someone forgot to remove some tape at the factory when they were installing the parts. Mind you I don't know how much humans are involved with the final assembly of these machines.

Does anyone know if plugging in a keyboard with a normal numpad will work? Will this machine even recognize [numpad1], [numpad3], etc.??

Having disassembled a few of these, it's not leftover packing items, but the actual materials used in assembly....by design...that are either not applied properly or were a bad idea to begin with. Both G73 and G74 touchpads use a tape-based grounding system (as opposed to a rigid metal contact with the chassis) that is inherently vulnerable to failure. Sloppy assembly accentuates the bad design, and the result is that some units ship with touchpads doomed to fail.

There isn't an analogous weakness in the keyboard assembly protocol, as far as I can see. I just think that Asus uses really cheap keyboards. They often look and feel cheap. They can get spongy, they can get clicky...they can start making funny noises for no reason. It doesn't surprise me that the "quality outliers" end up in a few notebooks, so some owners end up with a few keys that just don't work right.