Hi stevefromlittlerock,

Welcome to the Support Communities!  It sounds like you have followed the instructions in the article below to access your infrared (IR) on your MacBook Pro.  Have you restarted your computer or tried to do this from another User account?  It sounds like you may have a permissions issue on your Mac.

OS X Yosemite: Turn infrared reception on or off
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18680?viewlocale=en_US

OS X Yosemite: Turn infrared reception on or off

 

You can turn infrared (IR) reception on or off in Security & Privacy preferences. When you turn on IR reception for your Mac, any IR device close to your Mac can control it. You can turn IR reception off to prevent unwanted control of your Mac or to prevent pairing with an IR remote control. 

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then click General.

2. Click the lock icon  to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password. 

3. Click Advanced.

4. Select “Disable remote control infrared receiver” to turn off IR reception, or deselect it to turn on IR reception.

5. To set your Mac to respond to the commands of a specific remote control, click Pair, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Pair and unpair an Apple Remote

 

Last Modified: Nov 18, 2014

OS X Yosemite: Set permissions for items on your Mac
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18894

OS X Yosemite: Set permissions for items on your Mac

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Permission settings determine who can view and alter files on the computer.

Assign permissions to users and groups

1. Select a disk, folder, or file, then choose File > Get Info.

2. If the information in Sharing & Permissions isn’t visible, click the disclosure triangle.

3. If necessary, click the lock icon  to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password. 

4. Click a user or group in the Name column, then choose a privilege setting from the pop-up menu. 

   • Read & Write: Allows a user to open the item and change it. 

   • Read Only: Allows a user to open the item, but not change its contents. 

   • Write Only: Makes a folder into a drop box. Users can copy items to the drop box, but can’t open it. Only the owner of the drop box can open it. 

   • No Access: Blocks all access to the item. 

Apply permissions to all items in a folder or a disk

1. Select a folder or a disk, then choose File > Get Info.

2. Click the lock icon  to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password. 

3. Click the Action pop-up menu , then choose “Apply to enclosed items.” 

 

Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck - Apple Support
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203176

Try Disk Utility

Use these steps to use the Disk Utility app to verify or repair a disk.

 

1. If you're using OS X Lion or later, start the computer from Recovery System or Internet Recovery. If you're using an older version of OS X and your computer came with a Mac OS X Install disc, insert the installation disc and restart the computer while holding the C key instead.
2. When your computer finishes starting up, choose Disk Utility from the Utilities window, or from the Installer menu if you're started from an installation disc.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Startup Disk (usually named "Macintosh HD").
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.

I hope this information helps ....

- Judy