Apple wireless keyboard refuses to pair with iMac or Mac Mini

Question

Level 1

4 points

Apple wireless keyboard refuses to pair with iMac or Mac Mini

I realise this is an old problem but I have yet to see a solution and I have looked all over the apple support site and forums.

I have an iMac G5 (OSX 10.4.10) and an Intel Mac Mini (OSX 10.4.10) both with built-in bluetooth modules. Apple wireless keyboard worked fine with Mac Mini for 12 months until 1st change of batteries. Now pairing of the keyboard with either Mac fails.

Running the Bluetooth Setup Assistant: no visible device when scanning for Keyboards. When scanning Any Device, the keyboard appears. I have the Bluetooth System Preferences window open when selecting the keyboard in this list. When the Assistant goes through to the 'Gathering information...' window, the keyboard appears briefly in the System Preferences list but then disappears after about a second. (Though this seems to happen with successful pairings as well).

Finally on progressing to the "Pairing with device" window - the message at the bottom says "Connecting to device..." - which then turns into "Connection Established". However no amount of entering the passkey on the keyboard results in a successful pairing. I have tried it many times - pressing enter at the end, but the window never acknowedges receipt.

Bluetooth mouse still works fine.

I have the Kbd/Mouse Firmware update 1.1, Bluetooth F/ware 1.2.1

I have tried:

* resetting the PRAM/NVRAM.
* using the defaults command to blow away com.apple.bluetooth.plist settings and resetting machine
* deleting all previous bluetooth devices from the devices list in Bluetooth Prefs
* repairing disk permissions before pairing attempt
* applying all relevant bluetooth and wireless kbd firmware patches

Also:

* keyboard has fresh batteries
* light flashes when it it turned on
* I do press enter after entering the passkey

I am at my wits' end here. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Message was edited by: digbyC

iMac G5 and Intel Mac Mini (Core Duo), Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Sep 8, 2007 9:06 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 1, 2007 9:03 AM in response to digbyC

Hey all,
As with most of you, I'm experiencing the same issues with both my mouse and keyboard not pairing after changing batteries. I spoke with my tech guy at work and he knows of the problem and told me how to fix it - which I tried but couldn't do it. So I brought them into work and gave then to my tech guy just to see if they would pair with another Mac G5. He was having the same problem but was able to get them to pair. This is what he did -

1. Ran the BT set up.
2. When he made it to the enter passkey and typed in the PK but it didn't work, he would hit the continue button, turn the keyboard off/on super fast and retype in the PK.

After a few times, it worked. He also suggested pulling the batteries out and placing them back in in the middle of the process. He doesn't know why this works other then saying "it's finicky".

Just one other note. He got my mouse to connect with no problem. I couldn't at home. I'm writing this at work and will try this solution tonight and let everyone know if it works for me.

Hope this helps

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Answer 2

Oct 26, 2007 2:56 PM in response to digbyC

I have exactly same problem - have tried the keyboard with three different macs (10.3, 10.4 and 10.5). Unfortunately have not found any solution but buy a new keyboard.

I suspect that the problem might be somehow related to keyboard firmware resetting to older version not compatible with current OSX versions. But this is just guessing.

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Answer 3

Nov 15, 2007 2:20 PM in response to Joonas Lehtinen

Similar issue. After upgrading to 10.5 on my G4 silver door, I tried to establish connection with white wireless keyboard. After entering pass key it recognises the keyboard and connects but only for about ten seconds then says connection failed. New batteries. Tried the turning it on at various stages etc. Never had this problem with 10.4x. So I too suspect 10.5 is the problem.

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Answer 4

JHW79

Level 1

0 points

Nov 29, 2007 7:01 AM in response to digbyC

For what it's worth, above solution did the trick for me. Running Leopard with new small aluminium bluetooth keyboard. Computer eventually recognised keyboard but wouldn't pair. Turn off and on - the green light should stay solid for about three seconds. That's how long you have to type in the pairing number and hit enter. If you're a quick typer, this works every time (or at least, last 3 times for me).

j

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Answer 5

vaxa

Level 1

0 points

Sep 25, 2007 4:40 PM in response to digbyC

same on me... try pairing keyboard on ma G5... stucked dialog box, but keyboard is visible in BT Preference pane. 😟
keyboard work on other macs, but not my G5.

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Answer 6

Oct 9, 2007 6:32 PM in response to Peter Gatto

Did you hit return key after inputting the key? I didn't do that for the first few times I tried pairing the new keyboard, once I did then it paired just fine

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Answer 7

dean628

Level 1

15 points

Dec 12, 2007 6:11 PM in response to digbyC

i called Mac support U.S. Support: 1-800-800-2775-they are sending a new KB out of warranty. This exceeds my expectations.

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Answer 8

Dec 24, 2007 1:02 PM in response to Peter Gatto

Same problem, and this fixed it, thanks so much!

10.5.1, MacBook Pro, Apple Wireless Keyboard (Aluminum)

Hit the keyboard power button right before typing the passkey - that seemed to do it.

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