Wireless keyboard won't turn on after changing battery

Had my Apple wireless keyboard for only 6 months, whilst this was a fantastic device when it was working, I started seeing the fault above. No little green LED, even with new batteries. Tried a piece of aluminium....and hey presto it worked again. Clearly this is a design defect, and needs to be rectified by Apple.

Fortunately I'm still under warranty, so I'm taking mine back tomorrow!

+1 on the aluminum foil ball solution for the A1255. Brilliant! I used a ball about the size of a small pea.

Same original issue for me -- this was the second or third set of replacement batteries over the keyboard's life, with no issues previous. This time, no LED. Nothing appeared wrong. Thanks for this thread and the great solution! Definitely a design problem here.

ok. After a week of going absolutely crazy trying to press the keyboard on / off switch, change batteries, go into bluetooth settings, etc...I find this Aluminum Foil post & I decided to try it. Low & behold, it worked. Unbelievable. So basically the Keyboards are manufactured poorly. Apple really does need to get a handle on Product Control. I thank the person who discovered the Aluminum foil trick. You saved the day. Why we should have to "Jimmy Rig" a brand new high tech product, is beyond me ?

Oh WOW, this is sad. Just had the same problem happen to me 5 min ago and got here with a little bit of googling. I tried the aluminum ball trick and it worked on the first shot. GG Apple.

I bought this in 2007 so it's not in warranty anymore.

Adi

Quite sad IMO. I cannot believe a brand new Product from Apple could have these type of almost silly issues. And clever Users are coming up with these easy fixes. Something like the Plus Terminal not making contact is just so ridiculous. Especially in a new Product. How does that wear out? I only put Batteries in it ONCE. I guess we have to depend on Creative Users to find fixes for our Apple Products. My problem is, doesn't Apple read this stuff ? If they don't, they should. I got a Tech on the phone about the KB and it took him 20 Minutes to find what KB I was referring to. I kept telling him. Your newest Bluetooth KB. It did not help. He could not find Model Number. True Story !

On a different note, I just updated iTunes & it wouldn't synch with my Apple TV, Something about Port 3689 needed to be Opened. I did a factory restore & then did the update on the ATV. I hope it works and STAYS working. When you do nothing but an Update, it should make things better, not worse.

These are symptoms I'm having:

This seems to be a widespread problem. I get this issue (((((((((wireless keyboard <— those extra parens were from the keyboard dying… ), as well Logitech, Kensington and Mighty Mouse erratic behavior. I've reset PRAM, reset the power manager, changed wireless channels, speeds; ADDED another Airport WDS access point, and yes, even REINSTALLED THE OS. Nothing.

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I found the solution to my problem!!! I had the same problem as you guys.....tried to change batteries, restart, usb and call Apple Support without any solutions. Then I went to MAC store to change my keyboard and mouse to a new one. When I got home, the problem still continued.... So tried for more 2 days! And nothing.....until I decided to do everything again step by step.....And finally I got the keyboard paired with my computer!!!
1. Disconect all USB devices I had attached to my computer.
2. Took the Iphone away from the computer (just in case.... 🙂
3. Turned the computer off and the keyboard off too.
4. Turned the computer on.
5. Put new batteries on the keyboard and turned it on.
6. It poped-up a window about the bloototh device (as I deleted previously the bluetooth keyboard device....Was only the mouse one).
7. I chose "keyboard" device and clicked "continue".
8. It was saying that my computer was trying to find the keyboard.
9. My computer found the keyboard. I clicked continue.
10. My computer was trying to pair, but appeard the password number. Then I thought: "how the ** am I going to type a password if there's no box to type and keyboard is not working???". Then I tried to do something tha I thought wouldn't work.......
11. I typed the password numbers as showned. Without any password box to type, anywhere! Just type! Just like they said..... and presse ENTER key!!! It worked!!!! The solution was the ENTER key I wasn't typing after the numbers. I couldn't belive my keyboard is working now! Very simple but I didn't know, and neither the Apple support didn't know....(as they asked me to change the keyboard). To confirm my theory, I unistalled the keyboard again and then I did the same steps to pair again. It worked perfectly!

Cheers Dino great tip, had the same problem keyboard not starting, tried your tin foil fix worked like a charm! Apple really need to address these issues people fork out good money for this gear, we shouldn't need to be fixing this stuff with tinfoil!!!

I'm really glad it worked for you but again, I found the Fix from someone else on here, so I cannot take credit for it. And yes, I'm still amazed my Keyboard is still working after changing batteries since I inserted the Aluminum Foil. I'm not too happy about having the Aluminum piece just shoved in my Keyboard but it works, so I'm not even trying to take it out & test it again. Thanks.

Just to add another voice to this. Same thing here: low battery level, replaced batteries but then didn't get a green light. Tried another set of batteries, but didn't work. Found this thread, inserted aluminum and now I'm typing on the resurrected keyboard.

Thanks for the tip! And.....to Apple: You guys need to fix this! Most people probably just throw away their keyboards when they stop working and that's really not okay given the price of this thing and how easy the fix was. But this is Apple's job, not ours.

Same story, change batteries then dead. after reading all of the comments I tried the aluminum foil trick.... I WORKS! Somebody tell me why so many people are having the same problem at the same time and the answer is "aluminum foil"!!! Get real, I thought we were using MAC machines. do the foil though that does work!

My keyboard has no problem connecting the batteries although I did the tinfoil trick just in case.

My keyboard will show the green light for like a second then it disappears which I assume means that the keyboard turns off and doesn't give the computer a chance to connect to it.

Is there any fix for this? It just started last week I believe. I rarely even use this mac so as far as the keyboard being used and abused that is not the case at all as it normally just sits here doing nothing.

Hi,

I have the same problem; reinserted the little gray cap and can't get it out. Aluminum wireless keyboard won't power up. No green light. Nothing.

Did you find a solution? Does the foil work if you've already reinserted the gray cap? I'd like to know before I stick anything else down there.

Also, can the small plastic shield covering one of the batteries in the battery compartment be removed or is it permanent?

Thanks!
Joan

I had this issue happen a couple months ago. I balled up some solder, dropped it in and it worked. I went to change my batteries yesterday, and the ball came out with the batteries - and now I can't get it working again.

Has there been any official word on getting this fix? I'm out of warranty and don't want to pay $80 for a new wireless keyboard with battery compartment issues.

I used a small portion of a paper clip on the contacts inside and it started to work again. Thanks for the suggestion. But what kind of product is that Apple? I mean, I loved Apple products but these small stuffs makes you literally scratch your head.

Please do something about it.