Wireless keyboard won't turn on after changing battery

This is ridiculous! My keyboard stop working and I just found this discussion thread. It seems a lot of people have the same problem for this past 2 years!
I've tried the foil ball tip twice and finally got it to work.
Basically the size and the location of the ball probably matters too. It can't be too small, can't be too big either.
But I just feel NOT happy about the fact we need to use a tip like this to solve the issue. Apple you should do something!! 😟

I thought you all were crazy, but I had nothing to lose.
I had already tried 3 sets of batteries and even followed a different thread which had me sand the bottom + contact with a dremel tool, all to no avail.
So I decided to try the "foil theory" if nothing else for the amusement factor.
Well, I am writing this from my wireless keyboard! I cannot believe this worked!
Good post you guys.

Same here. Kudos to the foil solution. My wireless keyboard is now working again (after a good deal of battery changing frustration), thanks to a little ball of tinfoil. Apple should put this solution on their website. Thanks to all of you for sharing!

Well,

I recently came across this problem too last night and was very negative about getting it working again, but here I am on the same keyboard.

This is how I solved the problem:-

With the battery chamber cleaned (quickily with no technical stuff, a bit of kitchen towel and a chop stick did the trick) I left the keyboard, battery chamber left open, in the sun for half an hour, including the batteries to give them some sun love.

Then, still feeling negative I passed all parts to my girlfriend who put all together with good vibes and on re-assembly no 2, it works!!!!!

Nothing technical just a bit of positivity and perserverance.

Hope this helps.

Mr.Ghandi

Ok...my problem is similar, yet different. One day I decided to use my 4 month old aluminum wireless keyboard, and it wasn't working. I thought maybe it just needed to be re-paired with the computer since I had unplugged it for a couple minutes (while it was already off). Anyways, I tried to re-pair it with the computer, pressed the power button, and the green LED light came on for approximately 5 seconds before turning off. Thinking it was the batteries that were dead, I went out and bought new batteries. Same thing...green LED came on for 5 seconds and then turned off. My computer still recognizes it...when I search for BT devices, it locates the keyboard in the 5 seconds the light is on, but the keyboard itself doesn't stay on. Hopefully some one has some idea...perhaps its the start of the tin foil problem.

Scratch my problem...I am an idiot and discovered what was wrong by complete accident...apparently my keyboard managed to pair itself with my macbook pro...I guess it likes my laptop better then my new iMac or something, pffffft.

I am a little bit disappointed.. I had same problems 1 year ago and after some troubleshooting I had to bring it to the Apple store to get it replaced. Same things happened to me today : I knew I ran out of batteries the last week... so today I replaced them (because I could not use the keyboard at all while trying to log in) but unfortunately I got no light on the keyboard while trying to power on... same similar failure as in the past... so today I will return it to the shop... thanks to my Applecare contract!!! but what is the real issue ? is this a known bug ?

I thought I would share my current experience with this problem and I what I've discovered.

I have the aluminum wireless keyboard. I believe I've had it more than a year. Just recently I was getting a low battery warning, although I didn't think the batteries were that old. However, I put some fresh rechargeable batteries in. It worked at first, but very quickly I got the low battery indicator again and then the keyboard would no longer turn on. Considering I would need to buy a new keyboard I decided to try a few things. I tried the tinfoil and paper clip tricks mentioned, but neither worked. I decided to remove the plastic door that was on the underside of the keyboard (maybe that voids the warranty, so be careful!!) When I looked inside I noticed one of the wires had a bare spot where you could see the wiring under the plastic! That could cause a short and drain the batteries. So I put the newly charged batteries and tried them in my digital camera and, sure enough, they were dead!! So now I was sure there was a short in the keyboard. I tried pushing the wire with the bare spot to a place it wouldn't touch anything and put more new batteries inside. Now the keyboard is working again! However, I don't know if that's the only short, or if the wiring will move around again when I'm using it.

Anyways, I thought possibly this might help someone.

DB

Same ball of foil fix for me too. I guess dropping the AA's down the chute when putting new ones in dented the positive contact at the bottom, and the tinfoil bridges the gap. Unfortunate that this is required, but I'm back in action, no harm done.

So, I ran into this problem as well and found this forum topic. I tried a few things here and eventually decided that my keyboard was faulty when everything failed. After a couple of discussions with two different arrogant and rude Apple support personnel (Why do I say that? Each of them spoke to me as if the possibility of a faulty product from Apple is impossible.), I took the keyboard to a local Apple store. They were able to pair the keyboard with a couple of systems at the store. At that point, since my wireless mouse had successfully re-paired with my Mac Pro when I migrated it from my iMac to my Mac Pro, I had to assume that something else was at play. I took the keyboard home and tried it again with my Mac Pro. It failed. I took it to my iMac which recognized the keyboard and connected with it (I should have checked this before going to the store)s. The O/S requested that I enter a passcode (I don't recall this being necessary two years ago when I first used it, but I could just be forgetting.). I skipped that but it was still working. I then went to the bluetooth preferences and removed the keyboard from the iMac and went to my Mac Pro. The Mac Pro recognized the keyboard this time and requested that I enter a passcode. I entered the passcode on the wireless keyboard and hit return. It began working. The moral of the story is: remove your keyboard from your other Mac before attempting to pair it with another, even if they are over 50 feet apart OR remove the device from your Mac and rediscover it.

I cut the end off of a paperclip and laid on top of last battery then carefully put cap on. Seems to work same as tin foil trick. The spring in the battery compartment must be manufactured weakly. Apple needs to fix this problem.

Add me to the list of many who used Google, Apple Discussions and some tin foil to resurrect my aluminum BT keyboard. Had identical symptoms as nearly everyone one else.

Wonder how many people have trashed their keyboards w/o realizing they could get them working again. I suspect eBay may have some deals on one to two year old Apple BT keyboards. ;^)

Just rescued my wireless BT keyboard with the Apple patented rolled up foil trick. However, I still have 14 days left of my year warranty, is it worthwhile taking it back and chancing my arm for a new one?

having it replaced with applecare is fast and simple. So I would recommend you to enjoy it to get clean and brand new keyboard until apple decides to fix it from the fabric. And if you have a warranty, use it. that will avoid any problem.

Add another keyboard being revived with the tin foil ball. I was going crazy because this keyboard is the only one I have in the house currently. I'm hoping Apple will send me a replacement when Applecare calls me later this morning. I'll let everyone know the outcome.

OH btw the keyboard was bought in Feb 09 so it's less than a year old.