You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “How to Reset an Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard, Mouse or Trackpad (Troubleshooting Pairing and Other Common Problems)”.
Travelling Through Life
You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “How to Reset an Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard, Mouse or Trackpad (Troubleshooting Pairing and Other Common Problems)”.
Thanks, it worked. The ultimate work around however is to go onto Amazon and buy a USB keyboard and a USB hub for 20 bucks per and other such devices and then locate every bluetooth mouse, trackpad and keyboard in your house and throw them in the trash. Your life and blood pressure will improve instantly. Do not recycle them to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. You will just be passing on the problems. Destroy them for the good of mankind.
Thank you!! I have also paired my keyboard to apple tv. Because of this, I lost the connection to my mac. I have to unpair and unplug the apple tv for my keyboard to be paired to my mac again.
Thanks again.
Worked excellently! I had tried so many different things in the Apple Support forum, but this worked for me. Thanks!
Hi, thanks a lot. It solved my problem. I was trying to connect my apple BT keybord, but everytime it ask to check the device battery and turn it on. but now finally it started working. thanks again.
There is no ‘Set Up Bluetooth Device’ in the drop down bluetooth menu on OS Mavericks, it seems.
Stuck.
Choose “Open Bluetooth Preferences” instead, and it will start the search for Bluetooth devices.
After reading many threads in the apple forum and trying multiple things with no success; I found this page. Thank you! holding the power button down through the whole set up cleared up my problem. Many thanks for taking the time to post this info!!
Awesome! I just got a new computer but still have my old one in my office. I never thought about the possibility of interference. This is the first time that Apple support has not been able to help me, but you were! Thanks, Dave. I never would have been able to figure this out on my own.
Worked for me, thanks Dave. Turns out my son couldn’t find batteries and borrowed my keyboard briefly a while back. All good now.
Got that motorhome dream myself 🙂
I had this problem and improved it with a hair dryer! The fix here did not work but I figured that it was caused by high humidity. So took out the batteries and gave it some gentle heat with the hair dryer. This brought the keys back for a bit then I had to do it again. It is not perfect yet and may need some more heat/drying time but this shows up that it is a contact issue with 6 keys in my case.
I don’t think this was the same problem, certainly a damp atmosphere is going to play havoc with any electrical contacts, but glad that you managed to sort yourself out.
like many of your other replies, i have had endless misery with my 27″iMac since upgrading to Yosemite. as a lifelong mac user, i’ve almost reached my breaking point. i had to lug my machine into a genius bar, after 2 days of agony, and after they ‘fixed’ the problem, i came home to find my wireless mouse, keyboard and trackpad simply would not pair.
your advice worked like a charm. you need to farm out your knowledge to the apple store folks. they seem to have lost their mojo….
thanks, dave, for this. life saver (and massive time saver) for sure.
emerson e.
Thanks a lot Dave, I can stop pulling my hair out now!
Like so many others, I spent hours trying to get my keyboard paired with my Macbook with no success. Then I came across a link to this page and hey presto, it works. I don’t know you from Adam, but just to say thanks for sharing the info. Good karma is headed your way 🙂
it worked for me. thanks a lot. great help.
Confirmed, your suggestion to continually hold the power button is the key.
I’ve yet to find any official Apple site or expert make a similar recommendation.
All suggestions are “happy day” guidance that ends with the expectation of success.
Thanks for being correct and thorough.
I was going crazy trying to get my keyboard to pair. My keyboard is even older than this post, so I wasn’t sure if the hardware had changed. I finally found that my keyboard was connected to a nearby iPad, which is why it was not responding to any of my laptops. Aaaaahhhhr!
After several hours of trying, I almost gave up…whoever alerted us that the previous pairing with another device in the vicinity could be the reason for connection difficulties has my sincere thanks. I had forgotten having previously hooked up with my iPad. Once I had disconnectd my keyboard from the iPad, connecting the keyboard to my iMac proceeded without any problems at all. Thank you!!!
Thanks for the advice I followed the instructions it took a couple of goes but it worked for me it must be holding the power button in that’s done the trick this was a couple of days ago and its still working you have to make sure to delete the keyboard before trying to reset it
Hello Dave, and many thanks for your notes. It appears I’m having the same difficulties as everyone reports, except your ‘reset’ approach does not appear to work for me. I’m using a late 2009 iMac running OS X Yosemite, and attempting to pair a used Apple Wireless Keyboard I purchased from someone in Southern California, several hundred miles away. My wireless trackpad pairs flawlessly. My iMac and iPad Air both “recognize” the Apple Wireless Keyboard, but when I attempt to pair, the keyboard is unresponsive, even when trying your ‘hold the power button down’ approach. A pairing code appears on the iMac, but when I press the respective keys nothing happens (the blue highlighting the code figure to enter will not advance to the next when pressed). I’ve tried entering the code anyway (despite the apparent unresponsiveness of the keyboard) and pressed ‘return,’ without success. The iMac invariably returns the message “Pairing failed.” I get the same result when attempting to pair the keyboard to my iPad, which similarly ‘recognizes’ the keyboard but the keyboard will not respond. I’m still convinced this is a software or setting problem as described by so many, but the reset solution just isn’t working for me. Do you have any other ideas? Have I missed something? (Yes, I’m using fresh batteries, and yes, I’m holding down the ‘power’ button when turning the keyboard on until I receive a pairing code.)
If the keyboard is new to you, I would suspect that it is faulty. Perhaps the person you obtained it from did not realise this. I would try pairing with another computer (see if a friend can help), if you get the same problem then it almost certainly the keyboard at fault.
thanks so much! it worked where the new machine had knocked the pairing out with the old machine.
My wireless keyboard and track pad work fine. However, I purchased a number keypad when we bought our MAC and it worked fine and all of a sudden has stopped working. Its the kind that connects to the keyboard. I have changed out batteries, made sure it was turned on, etc. Nothing. When I connect it to my keyboard and press the button on the end, a little green light comes on on the key board but goes off almost immediately.
Sorry, I wasn’t sure if you meant you now have a new keypad or trying to fix the old one. I’m not familiar with these keypads – does it need pairing independently from the keyboard? Try the same process as mentioned in the article.