Wireless keyboard won't turn on after changing battery

Had this problem last night for the first time with my wireless keyboard. Found this thread this morning and pleased to say dropping a small ball of aluminium foil onto the + terminal worked for me too! BIG THANKS.

Rob.

Put a slightly larger ball of foil in and press the right hand side of the top of the keyboard to get the green light on. Keep it pressed until the keyboard connects, then it doesn't seem to matter if the light goes off when you stop pressing. Good luck!

I had to really press down the piece that I put in to make the batteries fit so I don't think that I could fit a bigger piece in. According to the Apple bluetooth support the green light on the keyboard should flash on and off as this means it can be connected via bluetooth. My keyboard is doing this but is not showing up on the bluetooth list. Also I must add that I only got my keyboard two months ago so I don't know if this trick would work on my model?

This solved my problem...Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

arthurc wrote:

Same thing today. Low battery warning on the wireless keyboard (model A1255). Replacing them resulted in a keyboard that would not power on (no green light on power button press). One of the posts indicated it was a bad battery contact on the + terminal (thanks for the clue!). Looking down the tube, there is indeed a plastic ring that the battery rests on. I took a paper clip and created a small spiral of metal and snipped off the remainder. I dropped it down the tube and rattled it around to fall into the hole. Dropped in the fresh batteries and voila... it works. YMMV.

In general Apple stuff is pretty well built. I'm surprised that something so trivial is happening.

Message was edited by: lindaleelou

If the light is blinking try re-paring it using Set up Bluetooth Keyboard. I put a metal earring backing in mine and was a tight squeeze to close the battery compartment. Worked like a dream! Thanks again arthurc!

NSNO1878 wrote:

I had to really press down the piece that I put in to make the batteries fit so I don't think that I could fit a bigger piece in. According to the Apple bluetooth support the green light on the keyboard should flash on and off as this means it can be connected via bluetooth. My keyboard is doing this but is not showing up on the bluetooth list. Also I must add that I only got my keyboard two months ago so I don't know if this trick would work on my model?

To fix it, I took a 2 cm x 2 cm piece of tin foil from the kitchen, folded it into a little ball and dropped it into the battery compartment. I then made sure the tin foil ball was resting on the metal contact at the bottom of the compartment and dropped in the batteries. After putting in the cap, the keyboard turned on.

😁The Bluetooth feature on your Apple computer provides a wireless connection for your wireless keyboard and mouse, but you need to replace the battery periodically to ensure that the peripheral device continues working as expected. If your computer cannot detect your wireless mouse after you replace the battery, you may simply need to restart the mouse. If the problem persists, you can resolve common connection issues by unpairing the device and the computer and then pairing them again.

1.Turn off your Bluetooth-enabled mouse. Click the Apple icon on the desktop, then click "Restart" to restart the computer. Wait for the computer to restart and return to the desktop, then power on the wireless mouse. The monitor will display a mouse icon and "Connected" when the computer detects the wireless mouse.

2.Click "System Preferences" on the desktop's dock and select "Bluetooth." Click the name of the mouse in the Bluetooth window. Click the "Settings" icon in the bottom-left corner of the window, and select "Disconnect." Wait for the indicator light below the mouse icon to turn red, which signifies that the mouse is disconnected from the computer. Plug a wired mouse into your computer's USB port, then click the "Settings" icon. Click "Connect" to reestablish the connection between the wireless mouse and the computer.

3.Click "System Preferences" on the desktop dock using a wired mouse, and click "Bluetooth" in the System Preferences window. Click the wireless mouse's name, and click "-" to remove the wireless mouse configuration from your computer. Click "Yes" to confirm that you want to delete the configuration settings. Click the left arrow button in the top-left corner of the window, and click "Mouse." Turn on your wireless mouse, and click "Set Up Bluetooth Mouse" in the Mouse window. Click "Pair" once the computer detects the mouse in the Bluetooth Setup Wizard.

Had the same problem but with the old white large keyboard. I read this thread and figured the connector to the battery had something on it. I looked at the connector and saw nothing. I then just ran a knife against all the connectors and put in batteries and it worked.

Another keyboard saved from the trash

The alumnium ball (piece) in the battery tube worked.🙂

I am reposting this solution, but I did not discover it.😉

Instructions:

1. Open the battery tube and remove the batteries.

2. Place a small pea sized ball of alumnium in the battery tube.

3. Install the batteries. (Make sure batteries are in the right direction)

4. Close and lock.

5. Turn on Keyboard.

Thanks everyone on this thread for this solution!😀

Same thing happened to me. I had a spare bluetooth keyboard that I didn't use much. Batteries went dead and I could never get it working again. Pulled off the cover when I saw your post and noticed the discoloring you mentioned. Scraped it off with a scissors, popped in the batteries and I'm fully functional again. Thanks!🙂

Success!!

Tried the ball of foil behind the batteries, no luck.

Pryed off the rounded gray plastic cover under the keyboard by working it back and forth, thus exposing the other battery terminal, and used my fingernail to snap the spring against the battery a few times, and it worked!

My guess is the problem is a loose connection somewhere in the spring part of this battery contact.

You could also try using a pencil and pushing it into the slot, and work the contact and spring up and down a few times, and maybe then scrape the contact surfaces a bit to optimize conduction.

Is your keyboard paired with more than one device?

Had the same experience as many of you after changing batteries on the 2 year old aluminum Bluetooth keyboard that I use with my iMac. I tried the tinfoil trick. No luck.

Happened to carry the keyboard into the bedroom to get a coin to open the battery cover again and discovered that the KB was still paired with my iPad. Unpaired KB from iPad. Noticed that light on KB was now flashing. Went back to iMac. Went through the BT keyboard setup again on the iMac and this time it worked.

I had same problem as the Original Post, but fixed it !!!!! easily after reading one of the replys here. It is a slight corrosion on the + PLUS side connectors of the battery compartments. Take the end of some scissors and scrape / sctrach the end of the silver contact points in each of the two battery bays. It worked immedialty after many battery exchange attempts of new batteries. Looks like a very slight amount will cause the Connection to be lost, and the green light to Not light up.

Same issue as many others have described. Receive low battery warning and after changing batteries the keyboard is a brick. The pea sized aluminum foil ball put in before batteries fixes the problem. Way to go Apple. I think virtually ALL of my many Apple devices has some hardware/software design flaw in it these days. Apple needs to slow down and get it right before releasing flawed products.

Chef and others:

Per my post directly above, and before trying pea sized balls of Aluminum, seriously, try cleaning (scrape with scissors) the tiny dark spot on the positive side contact within the keyboard battery compartment.

Corrosion happens to all metals, (well maybe not Gold$) more or less depending on age and air quality.

The aluminum fix simply contacts a greater area of the contact and finds un-corroded metal to touch. The battery only touches the very crown of the contact. Just clean that point and your back in business.