Wireless keyboard won't turn on after changing battery

😁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.

Not necessarily. Most of the problems related here occur because the design of the battery terminal has changed over the years and is now shorter than it used to be. Consequently, when the terminal seats itself into the female end of the keyboard terminal it is no long enough to make contact at the base of the keyboard terminal. The use of the aluminium ball solves the problem by filling up the space between the keyboard terminal and the shorter battery terminal.

Whether Apple has changed the design of the keyboard terminal yet to solve this problem I don't know.

Brilliant, this worked for me with the 2007 (3 Battery) model. I have recharged batteries, tried new batteries...

Was just about top go buy a new keyboard...

But no need to, just put a peice of tinfoil down the tube and the problem is fixed!

Now to replace my car radio ariel with a wire coat hanger.......

Same here. 2007 3-battery wireless keyboard. Worked fine. Replaced batteries. No power. Did the aluminum foil pea-size bit. Works perfectly.

Samphire is correct: the battery terminal moves over time. No corrosion on mine, but could see the positive terminal visibly not straight.

Not sure how tbiss got a scissors to the terminal; must be a different keyboard. You certainly can't reach the terminal with scissors on mine. A bit of emory cloth on the end of a pencil works though. Still needed the aluminum foil.

Solution: There's a Gray Plastic part that gets turned around in there. You have to take the batteries out and Tap the Keyboard on something to make the Plastic part come out enough to turn it around, then carefully put the batteries back in and try it again.

The FLAT part of the Plastic has to be against the battery. It has a hole in it, therefore the battery will make contact. If this plastic is turned the wrong way the battery doesn't make contact.

How the heck it gets turned around just by taking the batteries out is a mystery. I guess it sticks to the battery after a while.

Hope this helps, it certainly worked for me. There's a lot of post here, so to be clear, this is the fix if you don't get the Green Light (Power) after replacing the Batteries.

PhilW

PhilW3995 wrote:

Solution: There's a Gray Plastic part that gets turned around in there. You have to take the batteries out and Tap the Keyboard on something to make the Plastic part come out enough to turn it around, then carefully put the batteries back in and try it again.

The FLAT part of the Plastic has to be against the battery. It has a hole in it, therefore the battery will make contact. If this plastic is turned the wrong way the battery doesn't make contact.

How the heck it gets turned around just by taking the batteries out is a mystery. I guess it sticks to the battery after a while.

Hope this helps, it certainly worked for me. There's a lot of post here, so to be clear, this is the fix if you don't get the Green Light (Power) after replacing the Batteries.

PhilW

Phil hits the nail on the head here. I have two of these keyboards (both are the 3-battery A1255) and one exhibits the issue while the other does not. The one that works flawlessly has the flat face of the grey spacer facing the battery. Unfortunately, this bit is not only capable of fliping around, but getting locked into place facing the wrong direction. I've tried pulling mine out with an automotive pick but can't get it to release from the contact which just moves with it as far as the spring behind it will allow.

I've even gone so far as to disassemble the electonics portion of the keyboard and although I could get everything else out, that darned battery contact assembly looks to be held in (or together) with a circlip. It's well out of reach from the recess where the brains are housed so I'm sure it requires a special tool to remove if it's not held in with a permanent one-way locking mechanism. Unfortunately, it looks like the best solution for me remains a 1.5mm ball of aluminum foil and a strip of scotch tape along the sides of the batteries. (The latter allows you to insert them as a single mass that doesn't bounce the aluminum out of place.)

Folks, I had the same problem, and later discovered - the positive side of the battery goes inwards into the "tunnel". Its kinda non obvious - at least to me, and i struggled for few hours.

Hope this helps.... positive button inside, negative flat portion outside.