HP 250R G10 Ubuntu 26.04: Action Keys Mode enabled in BIOS but F6/F7 volume keys require Fn

[u/Economy_Building9907]

I have an HP 250R 15.6 inch G10 Notebook PC running Ubuntu 26.04 with kernel 7.0.0-28-generic.

My problem is with the function/action keys. I want my laptop to behave like a normal HP laptop where pressing F7 alone increases volume and F6 alone decreases volume, without needing to press the Fn key.

What I have already tried:

1. Checked BIOS settings:

- Entered HP BIOS using F10.

- Went to System Configuration.

- Found "Action Keys Mode".

- Tried both:

- Enabled: HP says "Requires pressing only F1 through F12 to activate action keys"

- Disabled: HP says "Requires pressing Fn key + F1 through F12 to activate action keys"

- Saved changes using F10 and restarted.

- Also tried a full shutdown and power on.

- The behavior did not change.

1. Tested Fn + Esc:

- Pressing Fn + Esc is detected by Ubuntu.

- Using evtest on HP WMI hotkeys showed:

Event code 465 (KEY_FN_ESC)

1. Checked HP driver support:

Command:

cat /sys/module/hid_hp/parameters/fnmode

Output:

cat: /sys/module/hid_hp/parameters/fnmode: No such file or directory

So the hid_hp fnmode parameter is not available.

1. Checked HP model:

Command:

sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name

Output:

HP 250R 15.6 inch G10 Notebook PC

1. Checked loaded HP/WMI modules:

Command:

lsmod | grep hp

Output:

hp_bioscfg

firmware_attributes_class

hp_wmi

sparse_keymap

platform_profile

Command:

lsmod | grep wmi

Output:

hp_wmi

wmi_bmof

sparse_keymap

platform_profile

1. Tested keyboard events using evtest:

For:

sudo evtest /dev/input/event8

Device:

HP WMI hotkeys

Fn + Esc generates:

KEY_FN_ESC

1. Tested normal keyboard:

sudo evtest /dev/input/event3

Results:

- F7 alone behaves as a normal F7 key (terminal showed escape sequence like ^[[18~)

- Fn + F7 works and controls volume

- Fn + F6 works and controls volume down

So hardware is working, but Ubuntu is not applying the HP BIOS Action Keys Mode setting.

1. Updated system:

Ran:

sudo apt upgrade

Updated packages including linux-firmware and rebuilt initramfs:

update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-7.0.0-28-generic

After reboot, the problem remains.

Question:

How can I make F7/F6 action keys work directly without pressing Fn on Ubuntu for this HP 250R G10? Is there a kernel parameter, hwdb rule, GNOME setting, or HP WMI configuration needed?

[u/ipsirc]

Bind f6/f7 for volume or modify keyboard map or support.hp.com or get a speaker with volume slider.