iTunes function keys don't work anymore

[mamouneyya]

After upgrading to Lion and iTunes 10.4, the remote keyboard keys on my MacBook Pro (F7, F8 and F9) don't work anymore. Anyone else has this issue? Anyone knows a way that could fix that?

Thanks!

 

[Amberfool]

After upgrading to Lion and iTunes 10.4, the remote keyboard keys on my MacBook Pro (F7, F8 and F9) don't work anymore. Anyone else has this issue? Anyone knows a way that could fix that?

Thanks!

When you press them does anything happen? Not necessarily iTunes related, just anything. And in the keyboard section of System Preferences, is the 'Use F1, F2 etc as standard function keys' checked? For me it's unchecked and everything works as it should, but when checked, F8 gives me mission Control, F11 clears the desktop, one of the other ones brings up dashboard, and the rest don't work.

 

[jman240]

Try this
http://macsteps.com/blog/tips/how-to-quickly-toggle-your-keyboards-function-keys/

 

[mamouneyya]

Okey, I wasn't clear enough maybe. The problem happens just for those three function keys, and yes, that option is already unchecked in my preferences. All of the function keys work as expected except the iTunes three buttons.

When you press them does anything happen?

Nope, at all.

Thanks for trying to help guys. Any other suggestion?

 

[Amberfool]

Looked around on the web and the two suggestions I found were to firstly check that nothing else is interfering, one user found SoundCloud created some problems, and the second suggestion is to reset the SMC.

Instructions: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

 

[basher]

Try clearing PRAM.

 

[mamouneyya]

Looked around on the web and the two suggestions I found were to firstly check that nothing else is interfering, one user found SoundCloud created some problems, and the second suggestion is to reset the SMC.

Instructions: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

I already reset the SMC, but that wasn't for this specific issue. It was suggested here to fix the battery life reduction in Lion, and it made a big difference for me by the way.. it didn't fix this issue though.

I've also tried to open Activity Monitor and quit any sound-related app that could be interfering, also with no hope.

Try clearing PRAM.

Hmm, do you really think this is related? Taking a look at Contents of PRAM section in this support article, it doesn't seem to be related, no?

 

[mamouneyya]

Just to confirm, the classical voodoo solutions that were suggested here (resetting SMC, PRAM, etc) all didn't work.

Trying to diagnose, I tried to create a new user account to test, and I found that the problem doesn't exist in the new account. I tried then to compare the both user home directories until I came to the file that was making the issue. It's called .CFUserTextEncoding and it was placed directly under my original user home (the one that had the issue). Just renamed it to CFUserTextEncoding, restart.. and voila! the problem solved.

I am still interested though to know about the file, what does it do and why it was in my home directory.. maybe it's something with the migration process? because I upgraded to Lion vs making a fresh install.

 

[shredman]

how to do fix?

how exactly do you rename that file? like how do I find it?

thanks!

 

[mamouneyya]

Open Terminal and type:

sudo mv ~/.CFUserTextEncoding ~/CFUserTextEncoding

it will ask for the user password. Note that nothing will be appeared on the screen while typing. This is intended behavior so don't worry and just type. Hit Enter when you finish.

If you just want to check if the file does exist, type:

ls -a ~/

you'll get a list of all the files under your home directory including hidden files (files starting with a dot), so you can see if the file is actually there. If not, or if you get a message saying that no such file when trying to run the renaming line above, then it's most probably you have a different problem other than the one I had.