Wireless keyboard won't turn on after changing battery

Same problem here.
The keyboard power light wouldn't come on after installing new batteries, and my computer
couldn't find my keyboard.

I thought the keyboard had died. I wiggled the batteries, checked their voltages, tried a bunch of stuff... Nothing worked.
I finally gave up on it and found a spare pc usb keyboard in the house so I could get up and running again.

Then I came to this discussion group and read several posts, including one where someone said something about dirty battery terminal contacts inside the battery compartment.

So I had a look inside - with a magnifying glass, and I noticed on the contacts in the keyboard compartment where the positive end touches (the opposite side of the negative springs) there were small black discolorations. I used an exacto knife and gently scrapped that black stuff off, put the new batteries back in and bingo! the keyboard immediately came back to life!!!
Wow, that's all it was!
Some tiny little bit of corrosion was preventing contact, so no power was getting thru.
My keyboard is the wireless white unit with the numeric keypad and clear casing,
but this fix might well apply to other battery powered wireless keyboards.

hey guys i just had this same problem;
The keyboard simply wasnt turning on, even with fresh batteries.
i bashed the thing around for a bit and stuck some chop sticks inside, eventually i got this grey 'cap' thing a couple other people mentioned here. i threw that cap in the garbage, you dont need it and its obviously causing a connection issue between the batteries and the keyboard. then i put the batteries in and bingo!
good luck

Easiest fix there is, although I wouldn't have thought of it until reading these posts. I have a model A1016 - the white keyboard with keypad - and it was simply a matter of cleaning the contact with a cue tip! It's the same fix for my trackball or mouse. The contacts simply get dirty over time and have to be cleaned. I'm not sure this is really an Apple problem.

Just to let you guys know the aluminium foil trick works a treat - I'm using it now. But I discovered it only after I'd arranged for a replacement to be shipped out. Shame on Apple for not alerting its customers to this piece of shoddy workmanship or even posting up the solution. Apple Tech support simply reckoned the keyboard was "dead" and didn't offer this workaround.

EVERYONE who is having this problem needs to call in and file a complaint. This is a factory default that they should cover. Apple will not do anything till they get enough formal complaints though. This happened to me this morning and that is what I was told by the apple representative. So lets make those calls and get our keyboards fixed!

I have a month old wireless keyboard that will not turn on. Some times it will, sometimes it wont. When it does come on it works fine. When it doesnt work, the green light wont come on. I have tried multiple sets of new batteries. I think I might have a faulty unit. Is there a way to reset the device?

I just now got my new wireless keyboard, it wouldn't pair up w/laptop; disconnected from my iMac; new batteries, no power... ?? **Put in the foil, so obviously not making contac

Thanks everyone for the info!

I just encountered the same problem today. The Apple Wireless Keyboard (sans number pad, 3 AA batteries) was working. I replaced the batteries, it was dead. The power light would not come on.

While some in this thread have cited dirty contacts, I can see that the batteries are no longer fitting the same way (I have an identical keyboard to compare to.) There appears to be a plastic ring around the positive contact inside the battery chamber that gets displaced, preventing the batteries from fitting up against the positive contact. Or, possibly, the spring holding the positive contact up is not functioning.

Before I read about the aluminum-ball trick, I made a small brass ring of about the right diameter and thickness, and the keyboard now works fine. The batteries still don't go in as far as normal, but they do now make contact.

Possibly the aluminum ball would be slightly better, as it would crush to more nearly the right thickness.

Removing the batteries turns the keyboard off. All that you have to do is to replace the batteries and turn the keyboard on again. Go the opposite end to where you put the batteries in. It looks like the circular cover for the battery bay, but is at the non-opening end of the cylinder shaped battery bay. Just press it. The green light should come on and the keyboard should work again.

HI: I also just discovered the same problem. I cut off the end of the spring found inside a dead ball-point pen and dropped it into the well. Now it will at least turn on. WARNING: Don't let the spring be long enough to contact the aluminum barrel or you will have one smoking-hot keyboard.

Pairing it with my iMAC (which works fine with a bluetooth mouse) is another problem. It sees the keyboard but won't pair with it.

(I have always found Bluetooth to be a royal PITA.)
(also, no matter how sophisticated the device, the battery holders/contacts/switches always seem to be the weak link)

Hi, girlr, thank you very much from Barcelona(Spain). I was totally desparate about this problem and now I've saved my keyboard thanks to something really simple :

Take all Batteries Out.
Roll up a small piece of Tin Foil about the size of a Pea.
Drop the Tin Foil Ball down the Battery Compartment.
Put your Batteries Back In.It must be a little difficult to close them.
You should have a Working Keyboard.

And it worked for me!!! Thanks again.

For everyone with the dead keyboard/aluminum foil fix issue, I think I have discovered the root cause of the problem.

The problem stems from a difference in the design of AA batteries! I don't know if this is an across the board design change for all manufacturers or if it varies. The issue is the length of the "nubbin" that protrudes on the positive end of the battery. Many have mentioned the gray plastic piece at the bottom of the battery cavity, this has a recess to accept the outer width of the battery, then a small hole for the "nubbin", it is the depth of this hole that causes the problem many are facing, the new "nubbin" is too short to make a connection at the bottom of the battery cavity.

To test my theory, I retrieved my dead batteries out the trash and compared the length of the "nubbin" on the old batteries vs the new ones I put in, sure enough there is a difference in length, the nubbin on the old batteries was ever so slightly longer. This is why the aluminum foil ball is working for everyone, it fills the very small gap and completes the connection.

If anyone else still has their old batteries the worked, but new ones didn't, try comparing them, you will see what I'm talking about.

Replace battery in keyboard - then found it did not pair again.
Fiddled around trying to pair a bluetooth device - using Apple instructions. No success and the mouse then failed to pair!

Spent a frustrating few hours (luckily had a USB keyboard and mouse available) trying to fix it. Both devices work - both are seen by the bluetooth both say they are connected but NOT paired. Cannot fix this even after rebooting and repairing preferences.

Then saw the suggestion on this post that you need to shut down the computer - disconnect the power cord, have a cup of tea and return and restart.

Did all this and the computer asked me about the mouse - paired it and then the keyboard - put in the coded numbers and all working fine now!!!

My solution was even simpler. Turns out I had the batteries in backwards. I was getting ready to drop in the aluminum foil "pea' when I noticed the icons hidden on the bottom of the keyboard (they really are quite inconspicuous). What had fooled me was that the connector at the bottom of the tube looks exactly like the nubbin on the end of a battery so I naturally assumed the flat end of the battery went in first. Pretty dumb, huh? But I bet I'm not the only one to have done this.

Had the same prob and checked thru the threads. Have solved the problem at least for now. It seems that the battery contacts wear in the middle and when you put new batteries in they don't connect properly.

Bit Heath Robinson but... get a lead pencil. Use it liberally on to the two middle contacts. As the carbon in the pencil conducts electricity a better contact is made and hey presto back and working