Wireless Keyboard is on or off?

You can turn the keyboard off while the computer is on. Hold the power button down for a couple seconds, and release it when the green light goes out. The keyboard is then off.

My light comes on momentarily then it goes off but the keyboard is on. The only way for me to check is to tap one of the volume keys, if it beeps it's on, if it doesn't it's off.

Is the light supposed to stay on?

Hi Guys new to the forum and my first post.

I have exactly the same problem, when you turn the keyboard on, the status light stays on momentarily and then goes off and doesn't activate again unless you press the on-off switch again which promotes exactly the same response as turning the keyboard on.

The problem is that there is no way of knowing whether the unit has actually deactivated or turned
off. Press the on/off several times and you are you are completely at a loss to know the status of the keyboard.

The manual would have you believe that the status light should be on at all time when the unit is activated, but this is certainly not the case for myself and Zeusest.

I have had my system only 2 weeks and I am on my second set of batteries.

From pcave

Message was edited by: pcave

Brand new wireless keyboard just out of the box. Page 3 of the manual reads, "Note: When the Power On light is off, the keyboard is off."

When I turn the keyboard on, the power light comes on for a few seconds, then goes off. The keyboard continues to work. The only way to know if it's on is to try using it. There is no other indication of functionality. Simply pressing the on/off switch does not turn it off. I tried the suggestion in the discussion group of holding the on/off switch for a few seconds. That seemed to work, because when I tested it, an image appeared with the words "Connection Lost."

My question: Does not having the Power On light "on" when the keyboard is switched on indicate a hardware problem? If so, I want to return the keyboard while it's still under warranty. I called Apple Tech support and no one could answer the question. They told me to return it. Again, all of the OTHER functions of the keyboard work fine. I don't have a Caps Lock problem either, which I see many others complaining about in the Discussions. Thanks for you feedback. Diane

Hi dianepm.....I'm edgaru and I have the same situation with my brand new wireless keyboard.
I discovered a problem when I noticed that the caps lock light wasn't working any more and I had to take the batteries out and replace them back to reset it. After that, the caps lock light comes on again but it I've been forced to do this three times already. Then I tried to check on the status of my keyboard and pushed the on/off switch but as your case, that on/off light just last a few seconds and then went off...Is this **** thing On or Off ??????
Do you know who can tell me what is the real thing?
Thank you,
edgaru

This was exactly what I needed to do to power the keyboard on and off. I don't know whether we can vote for whether an answer that solved a problem, but your's was it. FWIW, the instruction manual was not +at all+ clear on how to power down the keyboard. Thank goodness for on-line communities...

Apart from not being able to understand the little green light, I'm having problems with my iMac wireless keyboard (aluminium, iMac, Leopard, batteries fine) losing connection both intermittently, and for hours at a time persistently. As soon as I get it working I get “Connection Lost”, or it goes mental, repeating and omitting keystrokes. I think it may be because there are a couple of local networks broadcasting on the same channel (11) as the keyboard. (I may be wrong as I can't understand how Airport and Bluetooth are related.)

I thought I would try changing the keyboard's channel, but the Utility that's suposed to do it in Leopard (AirPort Utility.app 5.3.2) doesn't seem to work. When it scans for Apple wireless devices, it can't find my keyboard even when it is connected and working. 'Rescan' is all it offers me to do. The window has boxes down the left hand side, but they are empty.
The Tiger version (AirPort Admin Utility) has more functions and a toolbar.

I call it AlKey because it seems to be drunk most of the time. When it works it's brilliant, the best I've ever had.

A few days ago this happened:
No connection at all. Tried to install Aluminium Keyboard Update 1.0 - crashed. System Prefs crashes when click on Keyboard & Mouse. Now trying restart. ⌚... Keyboard came on with 5-bar battery in Keyboard & Mouse>>Bluetooth. Then immediately Connection Lost. *Now it shoNws NNNNNNNNN NonN, but won’t type except when I use my old clacky black wired keyboard.oooooo but late ...ow Both active channels 11 NneNtworks (Belkin & Netgear) show big simultaneous noise spikes in AirRadar. [*I typed “Now” on Alkey] Maybe there's something wrong with AlKey's buffer where it lines up the keystrokes before transmitting them.

Since then either won't connect at all, or "Connection Lost" after a few seconds. Sometimes it just sits there turning itself on and off while I and the iMac sit still and silent. My test for on/off is to press the Exposé key. Sometimes I get "Connection Lost", immediately press Exposé and t's on. Puzzling.

I've tried asking about this on other Forums, but get no useful reply. Is it something so obvious to everybody but me?

I’ve installed Aluminium Keyboard Update 1.0 several times, but Software Update still keeps offering it to me.

Are the signals of Bluetooth to a keyboard of a different electromagnetic type from those Airport Extreme uses to do networks?

I'm not sure why the power on light can't be made so it's continually illuminated while the kb is on. Light on - kb ON, light off - kb OFF. Seems simple enough. Surely that little LED can't use that much power that it would be an issue for battery life plus it would serve as a reminder that the kb is on. And why not auto on auto off? Same goes for the mouse. After a period of inactivity they should power down automatically and restart automatically. My Logitech cordless mouse can do it so it's not an impossible task.

To those monitoring these forums; pass it on to the engineers will ya? 🙂

Thanks in advance.

I would actually rather the light stay off, since it would drain the battery faster. There isn't ever a need to turn off the keyboard since it goes to sleep when not in use, and lasts for months, if not a year, on one set of batteries.

So is there some setting that allows you to get such long battery life because on my friends wireless apple kb the battery is only lasting 5-6 months at best. If there is I'll pass it on to her. My logitech wireless kb on my pc OTH has lasted about 2 and a half years and it doesn't even have a power off button, so whatever the difference in technology used, longer battery life is evidently possible. Perhaps the problem is apple's using bluetooth vs whatever logitech is using?

I am also new to the forum and to posting. I, too, cannot figure out when my wireless keyboard is "on" or "off." My iMac is 3 weeks old (I bought it three weeks ago) and I already just changed my first set of three batteries. Maybe the batteries that came with the keyboard were bad? Anyway, here is what I have learned:

Bluetooth works both ways; you CANNOT turn off the keyboard while the computer is running. I have tried. The green light in the upper right corner lights up, then goes off, but the keyboard still works. Somehow the connection via bluetooth is still connected even while trying to shut off the keyboard hoping for "connection lost" message. It won't happen. Therefore, try this:

To turn off the computer, mouse, and keyboard:

(1) Go the the Apple icon in the upper left-hand corner of the menu bar, and click on "shut down". A box will open up telling you the computer will shut down in 60 seconds unless you click the button. Click it, and let the computer do its routine shutdown proceedures.

(2) After the screen goes dark:

(a) Turn off the mouse. That part is easy -- just a sliding switch on the bottom.
(b) Turn off the keyboard. Press the button on the top right side once, and the green light will come on. Because the computer is now off, so is the "bluetooth" so now nothing is "talking" to the keyboard so the keyboard will shut off. Wait a few seconds after that, and press the "Caps Lock." The green "Caps Lock Status Light" will NOT come on. Why? The keyboard is OFF!


Now, to turn the computer on, follow these steps:

(1) Turn the mouse on.
(2) Turn on the keyboard by pressing the button once. The green light on the top right will momentarily turn on, then shut off. DON'T PRESS THE "CAPS LOCK" BUTTON TO TEST WHETHER OR NOT THE KEYBOARD IS ON!!! Why? Since the computer was not turned on yet, the "bluetooth" is not activated yet, and the keyboard doesn't know what to do.

(3) Turn on the computer. As it goes through its start-up procedure (booting up), bluetooth will turn on and sync the mouse and keyboard with the computer. Now when the computer is ready for action, type anything and the keyboard will work! Press the "Caps Lock" button, and the green light will come on! Now, with bluetooth running, the keyboard and "Caps Lock" know what to do.


Summary: To turn off the computer, turn it off, and after it is off, turn off the mouse and keyboard.

To turn on the computer, turn on the mouse, turn on the keyboard (but don't hit any other key yet), then turn on the computer. Once the computer is up and running, so is the mouse and keyboard.

This has been my experience, and I hope it helps you. Good luck!

Leodavinci0 may be able to turn his wireless keyboard on and off, but not me! I must first shut off the computer in order to shut off the bluetooth so that two-way communication is stopped between the computer and the keyboard -- then I can turn the keyboard off. I cannot turn the keyboard off while the computer is running and while bluetooth is running. That's just the way it is (unfortunately). Sorry!

it disconnects continuously, and it doesnt give any reference as to when its connected or not.(sometimes after disconnecting it reconnects, but i can only tell because it all of a sudden states again that it was disconnected)
i brought it to the apple store and they said it was the batteries and that the KB woks fine.
so i took it back (even tho i had replaced batteries twice already) but still the same.
could it be that my mac mini (10.5.5) is right underneath my TV?(i use a tv with dvi for a screen)
that seems to be unlikely to me as my phone connection seems to work fine when paired with the mac. So far i have only found posts on this problem without a solution. And apple wont take it back because it's out of its original packaging and they wont replace it because they say it works fine.
i find this stuff way too expensive however to be kind of working.
As a matter of fact, half of the time i'm retyping what i just typed and waving my keyboard around the room in front of my mac as a lightsaber just to see if that will make it connect.

if anyone at apple actually is administrating this post, please do something. ITS RIDICULOUS!!!

Hi Bob & all other readers.

Glad I found this forum - it's certainly cleared up a couple of points!

1. How to turn the keyboard off. Yes, the method suggested here (hold the power button in until the light disappears) works for me with the computer both on or off. The manual, as has been said elswhere, is rather disingenuous with its "if the light is on the keyboard is on; if it's off the keyboard is off". It certainly implied to me that the light should be on all the time when the keyboard is on.

2. I'm not alone in noticing how quickly the mouse and keyboard eat batteries. Had to replace both keyboard and mouse batteries (the original supplied sets) after 3 months. The replacements (non lithium) - well known brand (supposed to last longer than others!) - gave up in just over 3 weeks in the mouse. The keyboard set is still in use, but I'm down to 3 bars in the bluetooth indicator.

Bob talked about changing the Bluetooth channel - I didn't know this was an option. However, the Airport Utility can't help because it is for WLAN devices, not Bluetooth.