The F4 button does not work on my new macbook air 13 128 lion

Question

The F4 button does not work on my new macbook air 13 128 lion

The F4 button (Launchpad) does not work on my painfully new beautiful 13 inch 128 MB MacBook Air.

I hope I am posting this in the proper way but I am, no way to soften this, clueless about how people do things around here.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.2), Keyboard problem

Posted on Nov 9, 2011 3:42 PM

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Answer 1

captfred

Level 7

26,446 points

Nov 9, 2011 4:16 PM in response to Adam in Jaffa

You're doing just fine.

First verify that the other keys perform the function printed on them. F1-dim the monitor F2-Brighten etc.

If you hold the FN key down (bottom left corner) when you press F4, does it work. If so, uncheck "Use al F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard tab.

If that's not the issue then check System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Launchpad & Dock in the list to left > check Show Launchpad.

Regards,

Captfred

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Answer 2

captfred

Level 7

26,446 points

Nov 9, 2011 4:26 PM in response to Adam in Jaffa

To check if the key is "physically" working, turn on the keyboard viewer so you can see if the system recognizes that the key has been pressed.

System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard tab > check "Show Keyboard & Character Viewers in the menu bar".

The click the menulet in the menubar and select keyboard viewer. Press the key and see if it registers.

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Answer 3

Nov 9, 2011 4:43 PM in response to Adam in Jaffa

Hi captferd,

I dont know ho to add this response to your kind hel the cool way. I just found the answer that worked here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3200680

It is:

Hi Arthur,

I also had exactly this problem until 5 minutes ago. It seems to happen when transferring the user account from another Mac (MacBook Air Late 2011 in my case). However, the fix is pretty simple: You just need to delete one file. Open Terminal and enter the following command:

rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist

Then you need to re-login oder restart your MacBook.

The command does not delete any of your specific keyboard shortcuts you have defined.

Greetings,

Christian

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