On the HP Elitebook 840 G1 the "Fn+F8" combination does not disable to microphone mute LED and also does not actually mute the Microphone. This has been a consistent issue since 18.04 up to 20.04. sudo showkey -s does not show anything for Fn+F8 key combo. This bug was reported here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/systemd/+bug/1848862 I found similar bugs with other HP Laptops with potential fixes: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1705586 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/systemd/+bug/1334968 https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HP_EliteBook_840_G1#Enable_the_microphone_muting_key
I lack the technical know-how to enable and test on my own. However, if you could provide a step by step instructions then could give the following solutions a try: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HP_EliteBook_840_G1#Enable_the_microphone_muting_key https://gist.github.com/HappyCodingRobot/df400e16d0615e98e2c1eee738925d0b https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/systemd/+bug/1535219 I got the following keyboard type after typing "cat /proc/bus/input/devices" command in terminal: I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=ab41 N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard" P: Phys=isa0060/serio0/input0 S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input3 U: Uniq= H: Handlers=sysrq kbd event3 leds B: PROP=0 B: EV=120013 B: KEY=20000 20000000020 0 0 1500f02100000 3803078f900d401 feffffdfffefffff fffffffffffffffe B: MSC=10 B: LED=7
I was able to solve the microphone mute problem by following the answer provided by "Manfred Hampl (m-hampl)" on the following page: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/systemd/+question/690306 Steps to resolve the problem replicated below: Open a terminal window and issue the command gedit ~/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb Add the following two lines in the file that opens. evdev:atkbd:dmi:bvn*:bvr*:bd*:svnHewlett-Packard*:pn*EliteBook*:pvr* KEYBOARD_KEY_81=f20 # Fn+F8 on Elitebook, map to F20 Save the file and close the editor. Next, issue the following commands: sudo cp ~/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb /lib/udev/hwdb.d/ sudo systemd-hwdb update sudo udevadm trigger rm ~/61-hp-mic-mute-hotkey.hwdb At this point the Fn+F8 combo key functions to turn on/off the microphone and the associated led light. @Jaroslav Kysela Is this something that can be turned into an out of the box solution in future linux versions? This would resolve issues for many HP laptop users. Especially non technical users like myself. Many thanks in advance for your work.
At best report this to systemd people. They maintain the udev hwdb.
@Takashi Iwai(In reply to Takashi Iwai from comment #3) > At best report this to systemd people. They maintain the udev hwdb. How/Where do I report to the systemd people? I don't mind reporting if you please provide me the appropriate link. Many thanks.
You can report it over github issue.
(In reply to Takashi Iwai from comment #5) > You can report it over github issue. Is the following link appropriate for reporting? https://github.com/systemd/systemd/tree/master/src/udev
I guess yes. I close this bug here since it's not really a kernel driver issue.