Mac Forum / General / Hardware / September 2007

Before assuming your remote is faulty, a few things to consider:

Have you ever used a different Apple Remote with that computer, or have
you let someone else use the computer and they might have used an Apple
Remote with it? If you have multiple computers with Apple Remotes, might
you have mixed them up?

If so, it is possible that the computer has been "paired" with a
different remote, which would make it ignore the one you are using.

(For more information about pairing a remote, go into Mac Help in
Finder's Help menu, and type "pair remote" as a search string.)

To turn off pairing, go into System Preferences > Security.

Near the bottom are two relevant items:

1. "Disable remote control infrared receiver". Make sure that one is not
checked.

2. If your computer has been paired with a remote, System Preferences
will say "This computer will work with only the paired remote." and it
has an Unpair button. Click that button.

If neither of these suggestions are helpful, then either your remote is
faulty or your computer's infrared receiver is faulty.

You can at least check that the computer thinks it has an IR receiver by
going into About This Mac > More Info (brings up System Profiler), then
clicking on USB in the left column and see whether the USB Device Tree
lists "IR Receiver" anywhere.

The next step would be to take your computer and remote control to an
Apple store and get them to test it: try another remote with your
computer, and try your remote with another computer. That should prove
which one is misbehaving.