F-Keys are Alternate by default on a Gateway Toshiba Laptop

I just bought this laptop.

It's a Gateway branded Toshiba laptop. The F-keys (F1 ... F12) all have default and alternate actions. Default actions are when you press the key, alternate actions are achieved by holding the Fn key and pressing them.

The problem I have is that the "unusual" actions (like Gateway backup) are the defaults for the F keys. So when I press F5 to refresh, it uses the alternate functionality (try to connect to a projector).

How can I flip the default and alternate functionality, i.e. make F5 a real "F5" and not the special key functions?

Solution 1:

Usually there is a BIOS/CMOS setting to select the default functionality of those keys.

Check there for an option which chooses F-keys or functions, something like that.

Really that's the only place to look, as the Fn-Fx keystrokes are interpreted by the hardware long before the OS sees the input. On some older machines, there was a control panel applet which twiddled bits in the cmos settings to change things. Icky.