keyboard mapping: Fn key stopped working

[jeffk]

I have an averatec 3200-series AV3225HS laptop running ~x86. Until recently, the function key (Fn) worked fine. Fn has stopped working (in the Fn sense, it now sends a different key combination) in both linux console and X/Gnome, which causes a problem in preventing access to PgUp/Dn, screen brightness, etc.

Fn+F6, F7 = ~
(there are other combinations I can't test during this post, Fn+PgDN = E, I think)

Also recently, of >sys-apps/hal-0.5.7.1-r5 (through sys-apps/hal-0.5.9.1) (/etc/init.d/hald) started hanging on startup. Down grading to =sys-apps/hal-0.5.7.1-r5 seems to work fine. I don't know if this is related in any way.

I use screen, and this has also started behaving strangely, with a different scrollback behavior at a minimum.

I don't see any recently emerged key mapping type packages, but if someone knows what to look for, I'll investigate more closely.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[vaxbrat]

spilled any liquids like a good wine on it lately?