New laptop, alt F1 is not bringing up the menus

[Linux for blind general discussion]

Hi,
I just got a new Lenovo Ideapad and installed Linux Mint MATE on it which works just fine on my HP.
But on this Lenovo, alt F1 is not pulling up my menus.
On my HP with Linux Mint, all I have to do is press alt F1 and it brings up my menus in GUI so i can get to systems or internet etc.
On this Lenovo, when I press alt F1, it just mutes the speech.
So then I have to press F1 again to unmute the speech.
 Its like the laptop completely ignores the input of alt and it only acknowledges F1 and mutes it.
To be fair, even with the copy of Windows10 that it came with, even with Windows it would not acknowledge the alt F4 to close a window.
Its like the F keys on this laptop are not doing what they are traditionally assigned to do. So now in Linux alt F1 is not pulling up my menus so I can't navigate my GUI.
I bought the laptop locally, so if this cannot be solved, then I will return it and get a different one instead.
Do any of you have issues with Lenovo Ideapads and the F keys?
Any other ways to bring up the menus in GUI?
Otherwise I'll have to return it and replace it.
Thanks,
SL