Control button not working? Other keyboard anomalies

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essjay2009 Author

Level 1

8 points

Control button not working? Other keyboard anomalies

I've got a new 15 inch MacBook Pro with the upgraded glossy screen. It appears as if the Control button does not work. Is there any definitive way to test this? At the moment I've got spaces set up to use the control button for navigating between spaces via the arrow keys and numbers, which isn't working. If I remap it to use the option button, it works.

The other thing that's slightly concerning is that my keyboard does not look like the keyboards on apple.com. The Control button, as in the screenshots on Apple.com and on many other review sites (although very few sites seem to take their own pictures, prefering to use Apple's stock shots), is labelled ctrl on my machine. Similarly, the Option/Alt button uses the switch icon, and Command has cmd. I've got the British edition, and was wondering if this is why?

Can anyone shed any light on this before I look like an idiot in the Apple store?

Thanks.

MacBook

Posted on Apr 19, 2011 12:49 PM

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Answer 1

captfred

Level 7

26,516 points

Apr 19, 2011 1:07 PM in response to essjay2009

To see if the Control key works, You can use the Keyboard viewer. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard tab > check "show keyboard & Character Viewer in the menu bar.

Then in the menu bar select the keyboard viewer. The keys should highlight in the viewer as you click them.

Regards,

Captfred

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Answer 2

essjay2009 Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 19, 2011 1:19 PM in response to captfred

Thanks. It does appear as if the ctrl key is dead. Any idea on what should appear on the keyboard for a British set up? Even the Apple.com/uk site uses images of the US keyboard. The wireless keyboard appears to still use ctrl (both the one sitting next to me, which is from launch, and the ones on the site), so I'm suspecting it's the way it is on British keyboards. But a definitive answer would be appreciated.

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