Volume buttons not working in 14.04

When using the volume buttons (+, -, mute) there is no reaction, neither on laptop keyboard nor on USB keyboard. No popup, no volume change, and no sound indication.

Volume control with the mouse works fine.

The buttons are working and get recognized:

Checked with keyboard system settings tool: they get recognized by the tool both from the laptop directly as well as from my USB keyboard.

Who can help?

Looks like a known bug on Launchpad.

According to the thread, the current fix is to...

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T)

2. Type the following three commands to reset the volume/mute keys on your keyboard...

   gsettings reset org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys volume-up
   gsettings reset org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys volume-down
   gsettings reset org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys volume-mute
   

It worked for me, hope it works for you too.

If resetting the keyboard shortcuts didn't work (such as in my case) move or delete the .gconf directory:

cd && mv .gconf .gconf.old

Logout and log back in again.