Wireless keyboard won't turn on after changing battery

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.

So Apple is going to replace it no problem. Anyone with this issue & has a Mac with AppleCare should call & let them know. I told the rep about this post & the tin foil trick. This is one of the reasons AppleCare is well worth the price.

Thanks JasonBChen -

Ok- same prob - batteries went flat, then the KB refused to turn on, tried lots of sets of batteries, no luck.

Read the post about the plastic cap and putting a piece of a paper clip in - looked into the battery barrel with a touch - could see the "ring" but couldn't work out why it would have adversely changed? Decided to give the paper clip idea a go but instead used picture hanging wire. I cut of a little, screwed it into a clump, dropped it in - put the batteries in and IT WORKED!

I can only hypothesis that leaving the batteries in for an extended period of time (after they've run flat) causes them to 'leak' onto the terminal points. The new metal 'bit' scraps this slightly and makes contact with the terminal possible?

I doubted it would work but gave it a go and it did - try it for yourself

RE: NO CONNECTION FROM KEYBOARD TO COMPUTER (after changing the batteries, green light on indicated)

This has been an ongoing issue for most people and unfortunately it happened to me. I made an appt with the apple "genius" and went to the apple store with my aluminum keyboard and tested it. My keyboard worked. So I went back to work and tried what the apple "genius" told me to do but nothing helped. He actually told me to turn the Bluetooth Off but I forgot that it would be completely impossible because my mouse would lose its connection...the genius should have told me in case you have a wireless mouse then there is another option, but the "genius" didn't. Go figure.

Apple self help guides you through all the steps to fix technical problems and usually most work, that is if you are patiently reading through all the steps, or not easily frustrated. I did all the necessary steps but again nothing helped.

I figured the only thing I didn't do was sort of "reboot" the keyboard, by taking out the batteries and start all over again. Sure enough after placing the batteries back in, the computer immediately recognized my keyboard. Again, go figure.


RE: NO CONNECTION FROM KEYBOARD TO COMPUTER --- DURING LOG IN (after changing the batteries, green light on indicated - solid light for a couple of seconds, blinks twice after)

NO SOLUTION. Purchase or use an old keyboard that connects to your computer with a USB to log in and type your password then proceed to the necessary troubleshooting.

Good luck.

Well my issues wasn't remedied with a piece of tin foil as the power light kept flashing after the battery change.

But reading Moraesan's response on page 4 or 5 (I forgot which it is) I resolved to turn off the bluetooth devices in my room, then power off the iMac, then power back on. When prompted with the access number I had to type it in twice but it finally worked. I didn't hit the return/enter key, I was just notified that the keyboard was paired in the bluetooth set up menu.

Sorry but this seems like a common problem that should have been addressed on the trouble shooting section on mac forums every where and the fact that I have been searching so many places threads and found a solution buried on page 4 of a thread where the other solution is to drop a piece of foil to ensure batteries meet the connector is ridiculous. I'd expect this from a PC forum but not Apple. I love Mac so much but this really tarnished my faith in their products. More so than over heating iPhone batteries or video chips in iBook G4s. Don't let my iPad disappoint please!

Another vote for the magic tinfoil. The keyboard isn't actually mine, but when the user took the batteries out to change them a 'small grey plastic washer' fell out, I'm told. The user just put the washer back in the compartment and then the batteries and then.... nothing. I couldn't get it to work, searched these forums and used the tinfoil trick and off we go. Thanks

Paul

Thank you !

My wireless keyboard also would not turn on after a battery change -- I have deployed the little ball of aluminium foil as recommended on this forum and it turned on straight away.

p.s. Apple -- you may want to ship the foil ball with these keyboards...customer service and all that.