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When I try to use System Preferences to remap my caps lock key to a control key, it simply makes the key have no effect. I'm on a mid-2008 iMac, 24-inch, with a wired aluminum USB keyboard that it came with. What do you think could be the problem?

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How do you determine that it has no effect? Does capslock perform the caps-locking function when not being remapped? Can you remap it e.g. to Option or Command, and does it perform its intended action then? Remember that on Mac OS X, you use Command for most keyboard shortcuts, not Control. – Daniel Beck Dec 24 '10 at 21:31
Yes, it performs Caps Lock fine. I can tell because Control-Click doesn't work when I try to use the caps lock key as control after remapping it. Remapping it to command or option has no effect, either; the key only does anything if I leave it unmapped. – Jordan Kay Dec 24 '10 at 21:45
If you're replying to a previous comment by another user, add @PrefixOfUserName to your comment, e.g. @Dan or @Daniel. Only then the other user gets notified of your comment. // Remapping works on my machine. You close the "sheet" dialog after specifying the remapping, right? Do you maybe have another keyboard to connect to your machine, or another Mac to connect the keyboard to, to determine the source of your problem? – Daniel Beck Dec 25 '10 at 18:20
Also, I'm asking for problem location since my 10.6.4 system with internal Macbook Pro mid 2010 keyboard does not have this issue. I can Capslock-W to close windows just fine with the command mapping, and Capslock-Click opens context menus when mapping to Ctrl. You also might want to edit your question to reflect the issues you have with all alternative mappings. – Daniel Beck Dec 25 '10 at 21:24
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