Re: How do you activate and deactivate the num lock
Hi Esther. I have thought of a hardware problem, I am not sure, we will try this. Thank you. Best regards Annie. 2010/6/27, Esther mori...@mac.com: Hi Annie, This is beginning to sound as though the input keyboard or some such setting was changed. If the Num lock key is activated, you will not be able to type anything under q w e r t y and you will only start getting numbers under the right hand part of that row of keys 4 5 6 *. Macbook models in 2008 and later don't have Num lock keys. The closest thing you can do is to turn on Mouse Keys under the Universal Access menu of System Preferences. Mouse Keys is a keyboard setting that lets users with motion disabilities move the position of the cursor with the numeric keypad keys, so the 5 key represents the current position of the cursor, and if you press the key above it (8) your cursor moves up one screen pixel, while if you press the key below it (2) you move down one screen pixel, and similarly for motions to the left (4), right (6), and diagonally up the left (7) or right (9) and diagonally down to the left (1) or right (3). When they took away the embedded numeric keypad on the Mac laptops, they had to leave these functions in for Mouse Keys, so the 7 8 9, u i o, and j k l keys on the Macbook keyboard took the place of the numbers 1-9 on the numeric keypad for cursor movement. Normally, you have to select Mouse Keys from the Universal Access menu to turn it on. There is a check box to allow you to press the option key 5 times in succession to turn Mouse Keys on or off. You hear a kind of chittering noise when that happens. If your friend can type on the left side of the keyboard (or anywhere outside of the keys I mentioned) and get characters, even if they are strange ones or numbers, then it sounds as though the input keyboard has gotten switched in some weird fashion. I think (I'm not sure) that control of the input keyboard is in a preference file called com.Apple.HIToolbox.plist in your user Library/Preferences folder. That is, if you are in Finder, and go to your Home directory (Command- Shift-H), then use Command-Shift-G (for Go to Folder) and type in: Library/Preferences (without the quotation marks) and press return, you'll be in the Preferences folder where you can find the com.Apple.HIToolbox.plist file. If you move this out of that directory, your machine should reset to using the default values. (I know that's a peculiar file name, but I think it stands for Human Interface Toolbox). The problem is, I don't know how to switch or navigate with the keyboard in its current state. Is it possible to just shut down and reboot? Also, is there another user account that can be used? I keep a test account so that I can check whether odd behavior is due to a strange state or setting in my account -- such as corrupted plist files -- as opposed to a problem with the Mac as a whole. Also, I set up my Sharing preferences so that I can do a remote login -- even to my own account if something is frozen. Then I can log in and make changes through the Terminal. Those are most of my current thoughts. Is it possible that your friend could have turned on mouse keys? Are there other characters that appear when the left side of the keyboard is used? This sounds pretty enigmatic; could it simply be a hardware wiring problem with the keyboard? Cheers, Esther On Jun 27, 2010, Annie Skov Nielsen wrote: Hi Esther. I know that my frends macbook is newer, I think it is from 2009. So it does not work with f6 or fn+f6. But I can not find anything about how it can be done on a newer mac. Hope you can help. Best regards Annie. 2010/6/27, Esther mori...@mac.com: Hi Annie, If your friend's Macbook was made earlier than about November 2007 and has the Num lock key, then you're correct, you can toggle it off with either Fn+F6 or F6. The first combination is more likely for VoiceOver use. It depends on your Keyboard setup under System Preferences -- whether you have the box checked for Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys on the first tab of the Keyboard Mouse Menu. But either Fn+F6 or just F6 should switch the Num lock key off. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Jun 27, 2010, Annie Skov Nielsen wrote: Hi all. One of my friends has made a mistake and got activated the num lock on his mac book. How is it possible to deactivate it again. I thought it was fn +f6, but I am not sure about that, it does not work on my own mac. The problem is that the row with the letters q w e r t y u i o shows numbers instead of letters. Best regards Annie. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups MacVisionaries group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at
How do you activate and deactivate the num lock
Hi all. One of my friends has made a mistake and got activated the num lock on his mac book. How is it possible to deactivate it again. I thought it was fn +f6, but I am not sure about that, it does not work on my own mac. The problem is that the row with the letters q w e r t y u i o shows numbers instead of letters. Best regards Annie. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups MacVisionaries group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
Re: How do you activate and deactivate the num lock
Hi Annie, If your friend's Macbook was made earlier than about November 2007 and has the Num lock key, then you're correct, you can toggle it off with either Fn+F6 or F6. The first combination is more likely for VoiceOver use. It depends on your Keyboard setup under System Preferences -- whether you have the box checked for Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys on the first tab of the Keyboard Mouse Menu. But either Fn+F6 or just F6 should switch the Num lock key off. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Jun 27, 2010, Annie Skov Nielsen wrote: Hi all. One of my friends has made a mistake and got activated the num lock on his mac book. How is it possible to deactivate it again. I thought it was fn +f6, but I am not sure about that, it does not work on my own mac. The problem is that the row with the letters q w e r t y u i o shows numbers instead of letters. Best regards Annie. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups MacVisionaries group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
Re: How do you activate and deactivate the num lock
Hi, It's actually interesting. I checked the help and it said FN-F6 as well, though I just get a ding. I have it set up so that FN is used for hardware keys too. Regards, Nic Mobile Me: nic2...@me.com GoogleTalk: chojiro1...@gmail.com Facebook Twitter Skype: Kvalme MSN Messenger: nico...@home3.gvdnet.dk Yahoo! Messenger: cin368 AIM: cincinster On Jun 27, 2010, at 10:59 PM, Esther wrote: Hi Annie, If your friend's Macbook was made earlier than about November 2007 and has the Num lock key, then you're correct, you can toggle it off with either Fn+F6 or F6. The first combination is more likely for VoiceOver use. It depends on your Keyboard setup under System Preferences -- whether you have the box checked for Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys on the first tab of the Keyboard Mouse Menu. But either Fn+F6 or just F6 should switch the Num lock key off. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Jun 27, 2010, Annie Skov Nielsen wrote: Hi all. One of my friends has made a mistake and got activated the num lock on his mac book. How is it possible to deactivate it again. I thought it was fn +f6, but I am not sure about that, it does not work on my own mac. The problem is that the row with the letters q w e r t y u i o shows numbers instead of letters. Best regards Annie. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups MacVisionaries group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups MacVisionaries group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
Re: How do you activate and deactivate the num lock
Hi Esther. I know that my frends macbook is newer, I think it is from 2009. So it does not work with f6 or fn+f6. But I can not find anything about how it can be done on a newer mac. Hope you can help. Best regards Annie. 2010/6/27, Esther mori...@mac.com: Hi Annie, If your friend's Macbook was made earlier than about November 2007 and has the Num lock key, then you're correct, you can toggle it off with either Fn+F6 or F6. The first combination is more likely for VoiceOver use. It depends on your Keyboard setup under System Preferences -- whether you have the box checked for Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys on the first tab of the Keyboard Mouse Menu. But either Fn+F6 or just F6 should switch the Num lock key off. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Jun 27, 2010, Annie Skov Nielsen wrote: Hi all. One of my friends has made a mistake and got activated the num lock on his mac book. How is it possible to deactivate it again. I thought it was fn +f6, but I am not sure about that, it does not work on my own mac. The problem is that the row with the letters q w e r t y u i o shows numbers instead of letters. Best regards Annie. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups MacVisionaries group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups MacVisionaries group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
Re: How do you activate and deactivate the num lock
Hi Annie, This is beginning to sound as though the input keyboard or some such setting was changed. If the Num lock key is activated, you will not be able to type anything under q w e r t y and you will only start getting numbers under the right hand part of that row of keys 4 5 6 *. Macbook models in 2008 and later don't have Num lock keys. The closest thing you can do is to turn on Mouse Keys under the Universal Access menu of System Preferences. Mouse Keys is a keyboard setting that lets users with motion disabilities move the position of the cursor with the numeric keypad keys, so the 5 key represents the current position of the cursor, and if you press the key above it (8) your cursor moves up one screen pixel, while if you press the key below it (2) you move down one screen pixel, and similarly for motions to the left (4), right (6), and diagonally up the left (7) or right (9) and diagonally down to the left (1) or right (3). When they took away the embedded numeric keypad on the Mac laptops, they had to leave these functions in for Mouse Keys, so the 7 8 9, u i o, and j k l keys on the Macbook keyboard took the place of the numbers 1-9 on the numeric keypad for cursor movement. Normally, you have to select Mouse Keys from the Universal Access menu to turn it on. There is a check box to allow you to press the option key 5 times in succession to turn Mouse Keys on or off. You hear a kind of chittering noise when that happens. If your friend can type on the left side of the keyboard (or anywhere outside of the keys I mentioned) and get characters, even if they are strange ones or numbers, then it sounds as though the input keyboard has gotten switched in some weird fashion. I think (I'm not sure) that control of the input keyboard is in a preference file called com.Apple.HIToolbox.plist in your user Library/Preferences folder. That is, if you are in Finder, and go to your Home directory (Command- Shift-H), then use Command-Shift-G (for Go to Folder) and type in: Library/Preferences (without the quotation marks) and press return, you'll be in the Preferences folder where you can find the com.Apple.HIToolbox.plist file. If you move this out of that directory, your machine should reset to using the default values. (I know that's a peculiar file name, but I think it stands for Human Interface Toolbox). The problem is, I don't know how to switch or navigate with the keyboard in its current state. Is it possible to just shut down and reboot? Also, is there another user account that can be used? I keep a test account so that I can check whether odd behavior is due to a strange state or setting in my account -- such as corrupted plist files -- as opposed to a problem with the Mac as a whole. Also, I set up my Sharing preferences so that I can do a remote login -- even to my own account if something is frozen. Then I can log in and make changes through the Terminal. Those are most of my current thoughts. Is it possible that your friend could have turned on mouse keys? Are there other characters that appear when the left side of the keyboard is used? This sounds pretty enigmatic; could it simply be a hardware wiring problem with the keyboard? Cheers, Esther On Jun 27, 2010, Annie Skov Nielsen wrote: Hi Esther. I know that my frends macbook is newer, I think it is from 2009. So it does not work with f6 or fn+f6. But I can not find anything about how it can be done on a newer mac. Hope you can help. Best regards Annie. 2010/6/27, Esther mori...@mac.com: Hi Annie, If your friend's Macbook was made earlier than about November 2007 and has the Num lock key, then you're correct, you can toggle it off with either Fn+F6 or F6. The first combination is more likely for VoiceOver use. It depends on your Keyboard setup under System Preferences -- whether you have the box checked for Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys on the first tab of the Keyboard Mouse Menu. But either Fn+F6 or just F6 should switch the Num lock key off. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Jun 27, 2010, Annie Skov Nielsen wrote: Hi all. One of my friends has made a mistake and got activated the num lock on his mac book. How is it possible to deactivate it again. I thought it was fn +f6, but I am not sure about that, it does not work on my own mac. The problem is that the row with the letters q w e r t y u i o shows numbers instead of letters. Best regards Annie. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups MacVisionaries group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
