i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

media control hotkeys don't work

Mon, 27 Oct 2014 13:54:30 +0000

Hey guys! I'm struggeling with the hotkeys for volume up / down and mute. Other Hotkeys like wifi on/off, brightness do work (Lenovo E325) I checked xev and it tells me for the not working keys:

FocusOut event, serial 29, synthetic NO, window 0x2400001,
    mode NotifyGrab, detail NotifyAncestor

FocusIn event, serial 29, synthetic NO, window 0x2400001,
    mode NotifyUngrab, detail NotifyAncestor

KeymapNotify event, serial 29, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  2   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   
           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

The grab/ungrab part tells me, that it is used by another process? But which? In Unity I have no problems using the keys. So I installed pa-applet and it tells me, that when i start it:

Failed to grab XF86AudioRaiseVolume 

Failed to grab XF86AudioLowerVolume

actually the keys are bind correctly when i start a xterm w/o a wm. So the problem seems to be with i3.Any ideas? Cheers

Answer by Adaephon for

Hey guys!

I'm struggeling with the hotkeys for volume up / down and mute. Other Hotkeys like wifi on/off, brightness do work (Lenovo E325) I checked xev and it tells me for the not working keys:

FocusOut event, serial 29, synthetic NO, window 0x2400001,
    mode NotifyGrab, detail NotifyAncestor

FocusIn event, serial 29, synthetic NO, window 0x2400001,
    mode NotifyUngrab, detail NotifyAncestor

KeymapNotify event, serial 29, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  2   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   
           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

The grab/ungrab part tells me, that it is used by another process? But which? In Unity I have no problems using the keys. So I installed pa-applet and it tells me, that when i start it:

Failed to grab XF86AudioRaiseVolume 

Failed to grab XF86AudioLowerVolume

actually the keys are bind correctly when i start a xterm w/o a wm. So the problem seems to be with i3.Any ideas? Cheers

Mon, 27 Oct 2014 14:40:37 +0000

It seems that *i3* or some other application is grabbing these keys. At hey are "swallowed" by the other program the only thing `xev` notices is that it lost the input focus for a very short time ("FocusOut", "FocusIn"). Please check if you have any `bindsym` bindings to `XF86AudioRaiseVolume` or `XF86AudioLowerVolume` in your `~/.i3/config` and remove/comment them. It could also be `bindcode` bindings. (For me the codes are `122` and `123` but that may differ depending on keyboard, layout and driver) Also, if some other program already listens to those keys, they would also not be shown by `xev` and it could explain the error message you get from `pa-applet`. The most likely culprit would be another mixer or some media-player as many of them allow global keyboard shortcuts and would have reason to bind these keys.

Comment by Adaephon for
It seems that i3 or some other application is grabbing these keys. At hey are "swallowed" by the other program the only thing `xev` notices is that it lost the input focus for a very short time ("FocusOut", "FocusIn").

Please check if you have any `bindsym` bindings to `XF86AudioRaiseVolume` or `XF86AudioLowerVolume` in your `~/.i3/config` and remove/comment them. It could also be `bindcode` bindings. (For me the codes are `122` and `123` but that may differ depending on keyboard, layout and driver)

Also, if some other program already listens to those keys, they would also not be shown by `xev` and it could explain the error message you get from `pa-applet`. The most likely culprit would be another mixer or some media-player as many of them allow global keyboard shortcuts and would have reason to bind these keys.

Tue, 28 Oct 2014 11:41:22 +0000

Not really. I, too, have Ubuntu 14.04, but without this issue. Do you have a way to upload your `~/.i3/config`, `~/.xsession` and `~/.xsessionrc` (if they exists, that is)?

Comment by tripe for
It seems that i3 or some other application is grabbing these keys. At hey are "swallowed" by the other program the only thing `xev` notices is that it lost the input focus for a very short time ("FocusOut", "FocusIn").

Please check if you have any `bindsym` bindings to `XF86AudioRaiseVolume` or `XF86AudioLowerVolume` in your `~/.i3/config` and remove/comment them. It could also be `bindcode` bindings. (For me the codes are `122` and `123` but that may differ depending on keyboard, layout and driver)

Also, if some other program already listens to those keys, they would also not be shown by `xev` and it could explain the error message you get from `pa-applet`. The most likely culprit would be another mixer or some media-player as many of them allow global keyboard shortcuts and would have reason to bind these keys.

Mon, 27 Oct 2014 15:14:19 +0000

did so, problem is still there. (btw: ty for formatting my entry)

Comment by Adaephon for
It seems that i3 or some other application is grabbing these keys. At hey are "swallowed" by the other program the only thing `xev` notices is that it lost the input focus for a very short time ("FocusOut", "FocusIn").

Please check if you have any `bindsym` bindings to `XF86AudioRaiseVolume` or `XF86AudioLowerVolume` in your `~/.i3/config` and remove/comment them. It could also be `bindcode` bindings. (For me the codes are `122` and `123` but that may differ depending on keyboard, layout and driver)

Also, if some other program already listens to those keys, they would also not be shown by `xev` and it could explain the error message you get from `pa-applet`. The most likely culprit would be another mixer or some media-player as many of them allow global keyboard shortcuts and would have reason to bind these keys.

Tue, 28 Oct 2014 10:21:57 +0000

Yes, it could be another process. I already updated my answer accordingly. Do you use some session manager, gnome, xfce, unity, etc.?

Comment by tripe for
It seems that i3 or some other application is grabbing these keys. At hey are "swallowed" by the other program the only thing `xev` notices is that it lost the input focus for a very short time ("FocusOut", "FocusIn").

Please check if you have any `bindsym` bindings to `XF86AudioRaiseVolume` or `XF86AudioLowerVolume` in your `~/.i3/config` and remove/comment them. It could also be `bindcode` bindings. (For me the codes are `122` and `123` but that may differ depending on keyboard, layout and driver)

Also, if some other program already listens to those keys, they would also not be shown by `xev` and it could explain the error message you get from `pa-applet`. The most likely culprit would be another mixer or some media-player as many of them allow global keyboard shortcuts and would have reason to bind these keys.

Tue, 28 Oct 2014 10:46:03 +0000

Ive isntalled Ubuntu 14.04. Does that help?

Comment by tripe for
It seems that i3 or some other application is grabbing these keys. At hey are "swallowed" by the other program the only thing `xev` notices is that it lost the input focus for a very short time ("FocusOut", "FocusIn").

Please check if you have any `bindsym` bindings to `XF86AudioRaiseVolume` or `XF86AudioLowerVolume` in your `~/.i3/config` and remove/comment them. It could also be `bindcode` bindings. (For me the codes are `122` and `123` but that may differ depending on keyboard, layout and driver)

Also, if some other program already listens to those keys, they would also not be shown by `xev` and it could explain the error message you get from `pa-applet`. The most likely culprit would be another mixer or some media-player as many of them allow global keyboard shortcuts and would have reason to bind these keys.

Tue, 28 Oct 2014 08:37:53 +0000

yes, there were. yes i did reload i3, but did not help. can it be another process than sth in the i3conf?

Comment by Adaephon for
It seems that i3 or some other application is grabbing these keys. At hey are "swallowed" by the other program the only thing `xev` notices is that it lost the input focus for a very short time ("FocusOut", "FocusIn").

Please check if you have any `bindsym` bindings to `XF86AudioRaiseVolume` or `XF86AudioLowerVolume` in your `~/.i3/config` and remove/comment them. It could also be `bindcode` bindings. (For me the codes are `122` and `123` but that may differ depending on keyboard, layout and driver)

Also, if some other program already listens to those keys, they would also not be shown by `xev` and it could explain the error message you get from `pa-applet`. The most likely culprit would be another mixer or some media-player as many of them allow global keyboard shortcuts and would have reason to bind these keys.

Tue, 28 Oct 2014 05:45:45 +0000

Where there any bindings? If so did you reload/restart *i3*?