I’ve got a Dell Latitude D600, running XP and the latest version of iTunes (7, I think), and a baffling little problem.
The setup: I open iTunes. I leave iTunes running for five, ten minutes. I have at least one other window open (usually Firefox and/or a word processor and/or Tetris) and on top.
There are, normally, three ways for me to mute the computer’s volume: access the volume control window via the control panel or taskbar, use the buttons above my keyboard, or us the Fn/mute combo (it’s the ‘end’ key, on my computer, FWIW).
In the above setup, the keyboard combo or hotkeys don’t work for muting the volume. Raising or lowering? Yes. Muting it through the volume control window? Yes. But if I hit the mute button on my keyboard, the mute icon blinks for an instant then immediately goes away. If I hold it down, it’s “mute/unmute/mute/unmute” etc.
Now, if I alt-tab over to iTunes, the mute button on the keyboard starts working again. If I go back to another window, it doesn’t. Other than right now, as I’m testing it for the sake of writing this post. The mute button works if I’m in Firefox or iTunes, but not the third window I have up. Previously, it wouldn’t work in Firefox either.
If I close iTunes, the mute button starts working again.
I’m completely stumped. Is this some random iTunes bug that I’ve discovered? Anyone have any ideas as to how or why this is happening?