Different keycodes for F3 and F4 on external keyboard vs laptop keyboard

I'm using a Debian derivative with xmonad on my laptop (Lenovo X230). I have a docking station and an external keyboard and trackball connected to it. The keyboard is the Kinesis Advantage. Everything was working fine, when suddenly, F3 and F4 stopped working through the external keyboard. Meaning, that the hotkeys I have them mapped to vix xmonad are not responding. However, they still works on laptop directly.

I ran "showkey -k" and mapped out the F keys on both keyboards. Here are the results:

|-----+---------+--------|
| Key | Kinesis | Laptop |
|-----+---------+--------|
| F1  |      59 |     59 |
| F2  |      60 |     60 |
| F3  |     165 |     61 |
| F4  |     164 |     62 |
| F5  |      63 |     63 |
| F6  |      64 |     64 |
|-----+---------+--------|

For some reason, F3 and F4 emit different keycodes when pressed on the external keyboard then on the internal laptop keyboard. I've tried resetting the Kinesis keyboard, but nothing seems to change.

Would anyone happen to have any clue what is going on?

Thank you

Answer

I found someone with a similar problem here.

It seems the Kinesis keyboard has a multimedia setting.

Finally, I found the answer on the Kinesis FAQ. My F3 and F4 keys were behaving like multimedia keys (see manual to configure these). This feature can be disabled by holding = and pressing P for PC (you can also use W for Windows and M for Mac).

So try =+P and see if it's resolved. (or =+W or =+M)

From the FAQ:

9. Function keys not working on USB Advantage Keyboard

It's possible the "Multi Media" features of the keyboard have been
enabled, which changes some of the function keys.

To check, open up some kind of text editor and press and hold the
equals key and tap the letter "s". You should see some text on the
screen. If you see any of the function keys listed inside the brackets
[F3 F4 etc. ] then you know the Multi Media features are active.

Normally, this is turned on by holding down the equals key and tapping
the letter "n."

To disable the Multi Media feature, enter the Instant Configuration
you're currently in.

So for example, if your keyboard is in Windows Mode, select Windows
mode by holding down the equals key and tapping "w" (=w). (=m for mac
mode and =p for PC mode)

This will clear the settings and your function keys should behave as
expected.