Keyboard Keys - Brightness Control

I have a Sony Vaio VGN series Laptop. Originally shipped with Windows 7 x64 Home Edition(OEM). It had Fn keys combination to control volume and brightness. A nice overlay would show up on the screen to show current levels
Fn + F3: Volume Down
Fn + F4: Volume Up
Fn + F5: Brightness Down
Fn + F6: Brightness Up

Few months back, after a HDD failure I had to install Windows 7 professional(Retail). Now, even after installing all the Sony Vaio drivers, the brightness control is totally disabled. Volume control works but without any onscreen overlay.

Latest Update: Recently I Purchased windows 8. Now the volume control has a different overlay(on the top left part) but brightness control is still not working.
Any Ideas on how to fix this?

club_pranay said:
I have a Sony Vaio VGN series Laptop. Originally shipped with Windows 7 x64 Home Edition(OEM). It had Fn keys combination to control volume and brightness. A nice overlay would show up on the screen to show current levels
Fn + F3: Volume Down
Fn + F4: Volume Up
Fn + F5: Brightness Down
Fn + F6: Brightness Up

Few months back, after a HDD failure I had to install Windows 7 professional(Retail). Now, even after installing all the Sony Vaio drivers, the brightness control is totally disabled. Volume control works but without any onscreen overlay.

Latest Update: Recently I Purchased windows 8. Now the volume control has a different overlay(on the top left part) but brightness control is still not working.
Any Ideas on how to fix this?

Are you able to change brightness from control panel?

I had a vgn series laptop with vista and installed 7, it was very difficult for me to get fn keys working but I got it working and maybe I can help you

Install keyboard hotkey driver. It should b included in the driver bundle. Or download it from product's official page.

d6bmg said:
Install keyboard hotkey driver. It should b included in the driver bundle. Or download it from product's official page.

.. You can even try from the battery settings option..

kARTechnology said:
Are you able to change brightness from control panel?

I had a vgn series laptop with vista and installed 7, it was very difficult for me to get fn keys working but I got it working and maybe I can help you

Yes. I can control the brightness through settings. Let me know what you did. I appreciate your help.

d6bmg said:
Install keyboard hotkey driver. It should b included in the driver bundle. Or download it from product's official page.

I particularly installed the VAIO® Event Service and its subsequent updates from the driver's page. nothing helped

I am going to try this tutorial (*blog.komeil.com/2009/07/fn-f5-f6-brightness-windows-7-sony-vaio.html) i'll update if it helped.

Thanks guys

Then you may try to reinstall them and see what happens.

d6bmg said:
Then you may try to reinstall them and see what happens.

I did it.
Problem Solved!!

Here's what i did.
Key is to install these in the EXACT order.
1. Sony Firmware Extension Parser Device Driver (SODOTH)
2. Sony Shared Library (SOASSL)
3. Setting Utility Series (SOASUS)/VAIO Event Service (SOAVES)

Here's what Sony eSupport website says on the Sony® Notebook Utilities download page:

Sony® Shared Library: Unless stated otherwise, this file must be installed BEFORE the Sony® Notebook Utilities in order for it to work properly. This update is required if you have performed a clean install of the Windows 7 operating system (i.e., installed from a commercial, off-the-shelf, version rather than using the Recovery Wizard or Recovery Media).

Thanks guys