Wireless keyboard won't turn on after changing battery

nice long thread here.... ridiculous problem. similar story -

"2007" wireless keyboard worked great for 4 months, even after changing batteries. Then all of a sudden out of the blue stopped working. I tried to pair it again and it wouldn't work. It wouldn't find the keyboard initially, then it would see the name after turning it off and on several times. At that point would not pair. Tried another computer... same thing.... over and over.. found the tinfoil trick and that wouldn't work. My keyboard never "blinks" so never seems to go into discoverable mode. Light is only solid or off. Of course I am using fresh batteries.

Isn't it about time for a recall?

"I have an Apple Care plan, so I called and was told to shut down. Then remove the power cord from the back of my iMac, wait one minute, plug it back in. Fire up, and then attempt to set up a new device in BT. It worked on the first try. Then to double check, I shut down and restarted and the mouse stayed connect and paired!"

This worked for me Yeahhhhhhh

Had same problem of no power after battery replacement. Trouble shot issue to positive terminal in battery cylinder deep inside. Only easy work around was to wind tape on three AAA batteries and put a 1/2 inch screw on negative end and lock the battery cap back on. May have shorter life but for whatever reason the AA batteries are not connecting to the + terminal.

If I had read your comments a bit earlier I would also have used the tin foil trick... now I have to wait for the apple service partner to send me a replacement which could take about 2 weeks... 😟

Anyway..thanks for sharing...

BR

Dominik

As like others in this discussion, I changed batteries (4 times, rechargeable & brand name alkaline) in wireless keyboard only to find it inoperable - no green light.

Since my hardware is older, White extended wireless keyboard, the 'foil ball' trick didn't work (battery chamber separated into 2 compartments...2AA on one side 2AA the otherside).

BTW when I got the 'check battery' notice:
• I flipped the keyboard over turned the keyboard 'Off' then 'On' green light went out, then back on [So I know the light did work].

• Went to BT prefpane MOUSE[green bars] the KEYBOARD[red bars] turned off keyboard replace batteries and the problem began.


I opened the keyboard tested the connections it appears the [Switch] may be toast...any suggestions??

Hi all,
some day later I had the same problem.
Today morning I've called Apple, then go to the Premium Reseller where i bought my mac mini + accessories: keyboard changed in 5 minutes with new model (2 batteries). Previously I had aluminium type with 3 batteries.

I feel as though somebody should explain the essence of your frustrations and "Why" the foil ball works (in this particular instance)

Happened to me and this is what i discovered...

The keyboard is shipped with a "design-flawed" plastic cap which sits internally on top of your on/off switch,plastic end facing the battery.
Here it is pictured on top of my MBP.
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6082/img0104s.jpg
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/9730/img0101nd.jpg
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/1103/img0102fm.jpg

It is my guess that over time,the height of the metal point diminishes and leaves you with a ridiculous gap
when placing the batteries into place.
The foil ball simply fills the space.
Go figure - i took mine out with a chopstick that had steel wool cello taped to it.
I worked it for 5 or so minutes by inserting and turning and it just fell out.

The keyboard works perfectly without it so i deduce it's a service-curve ball from Apple.
I posted this in case anyone was feeling as inquisitive as me as to why.

Panic this morning. I replaced my batteries and notice a gray/white cap came loose inside. I ignored put in the new batteries. The keyboard wouldn't come on. I was resigned to thinking the keyboard had died and was moments away from spending €70 on a replacement. Then I found this thread and tried the tinfoil trick. It worked!!! wow! Excellent! Thanks for this advice!

That happened to me when I was prompted to change batteries last night. Frustration!!! What has just worked--and I hope continues to work--was moistening the nodes at the positive end of each battery. Maybe only the first one in needed to be moistened. The idea came in from the responder who had used a tiny piece of metal to make sure there was contact.

Tinfoil did the trick. Fabulous.

My keyboard was getting power: the light turned on for a few seconds. But then lost power almost immediately, even with fresh batteries. Tinfoil did the trick: working great now.

So my keyboard died after almost 3 yrs. The green light just wouldn't come on. I decided to go buy the wired keyboard instead seeing as it was a bit of a pain to have to change the batteries fairly often and that a wireless keyboard was a bit pointless. 2 days later I stumble upon this thread, stick a bit of foil in, and the thing comes back to life.

Looks like the wireless one will be going to ebay. Wireless keyboards just aren't worth it. Wireless mice I can understand.

Why can't apple make these things last a bit longer? Like the mighty mouse scroll ball was also shocking.

I think you're right....somebody should explain.....but I guess they rely on the ingenuity of people to fix their problems. Thanks for fixing mine. I hope I can be of help in the future....Tin foil - who would have thunk!!

Anybody could confirm that the two-battery version of the Apple Wireless Keyboard (introduced at the end of 2009) is failing either or it is just the three-battery version affected by this design flaw ?

Hi, I just wanted to say that I'm one more happy user of the aluminium foil trick. After trying out multiple sets of batteries I finally googled and found this thread. I made my aluminium foil ball from one quarter of a yoghurt can lid. Dropped the ball to the battery compartment and the keyboard works again. Thank you very much!

Addendum to the foil ball trick:

Been there done that previously and it worked like a charm - Now I find that after the recent firmware update I couldn't pair the keyboard no matter what - No flashing light, just a solid light and then it would turn off again. Gave up for a couple of days.

Solution: Hold down the 'Enter' key when you power up the keyboard and then hold down the power button for 10 secs - Result - Flashing Pairing Light and everything restored to normal use. Tried all the other solutions so far.

Is this one of those fixes that isn't really a fix though, and just by chance it paired - I don't see this information anywhere else?