Keeping my Apple Wireless Keyboard paired to Bluetooth.

Barry,

Sorry for being so long in responding to your gracious reply.

I'm a bit confused about the Bluetooth issue, clearly. My iMac does NOT have built-in Bluetooth. When I went to buy the wireless keyboard and mouse, the tech rep for the vendor asked me to check (told me how) and I saw that there was no Bluetooth icon in Hardware in System Preferences. That's why I bought the dongle. And since they were a third-party vendor that only sold Mac stuff, the dongle was supposed to be correct. And I went to the Apple site when I was having my initial problems, and they mentioned Kensington as one of the compatible ones, which then Kensington's site confirmed.

So I'm just baffled. I don't want to buy a new dongle, but I will if it will solve the problem. I have to pair the damned keyboard even when I come out of sleep mode, and it still doesn't recognize the keyboard immediately (even when I lean the keyboard against the bottom of the iMac), so it is truly annoying.

Any clarification about built-in Bluetooth (I couldn't find it noted on any descriptions of the iMac in a cursory search I just did) and more advice will be welcomed.

Thanks so much,

Scrabbledemon

I bought the iMac refurbished from an authorized, but small, dealer out of Olympia. He's also a Mac repair person. And I bought the dongle online when I bought the keyboard and mouse. So there's no real place to go.

I haven't been in touch with the guy I bought it from, which in retrospect is kind of dumb of me. But he wasn't responsive with problems I had early in my ownership, and I basically didn't even think of him. I was pursuing these issues through other arenas (such as here).

I'll email him and hope he responds. I have a phone number for him, but it's always been a direct-to-voice mail affair when I've called. These factors have likely contributed to my omitting him as a resource.

I thank you for your guidance. If there's a resolution to this problem (even if it involves hardware flying through windows) I'll post it here.

By the way, I have friends in Camas, and it's a lovely place to visit. I'm closer to Tacoma.

Barry,

I just this minute—six months after purchasing the keyboard, mouse, and adapter (as Kensington refers to it)—got my problem resolved. Maybe.

I moved on to trying to get help from Kensington, and I made the mistake of using email support (actually cutting and pasting my question, because the keyboard wouldn't "discover" to be paired). It was the weekend, and there was no phone support available. After explaining my problem in excruciating (it took me an hour and a half with cut and paste) detail, I got a response saying that it was a pleasure helping me. But he didn't help me. This was the only response.

So I wrote back, fairly irate (the keyboard had paired up), and then he responded apologetically and asked for the dongle's model number and serial number—both of which were included as information in the first communication!

By this time it was Friday afternoon, I didn't have the opportunity to call Kensington, because they stop support calls at 4:30, though I can't understand this at all, since support calls go to India, clearly.

So I reached someone by phone today, and after I explained the problem in detail, she asked me whether I used Vista or Windows something or other. I said (pretty excitedly, I'll admit), that I already told her I was using an iMac! Then I launched into an impassioned plea for her to admit it if she didn't know about Macs and to forward me to someone who did, and that I wouldn't hold it against her. I had already had such a frustrating experience, I explained, that I really wanted to make sure that the person who helped me knew about Macs and their operating systems. Well, somewhere during that, she hung up on me. Without a word.

So I took a deep breath and called back and took a different approach with the next person, confirming right off that the woman who answered the call this time could answer questions regarding Apple products. She listened, asked some intelligent questions, and then matter-of-factly told me that the problem was with the Kensington adapter and that she'd send me a new one. Just like that.

Now why it took such an act of Congress (or Parliament) to get an actual answer is beyond my understanding, because she also said, without embellishment, that the 33085 model adapter is discontinued and she'll be sending me a 33348 that will work properly.

This may finally be the end of my sad story and sadder experiences. But really, is it so hard to actually know something and have information of a technical-support nature when your job is technical support? From my experiences, the answer would seem to be "yes."

Thank you for your help and suggestions and for being a vessel to receive my words of frustration and vexation.

So unless the same thing happens with the new dongle, I guess my problem can be marked "resolved."

Take care,

Roberta (AKA scabbledemon)

Okay, are you ready for this?

I got my replacement Kensington dongle delivered today, and it has a booklet with comprehensive instructions of how to install the adapter when using Windows, complete with CD. And what does it say for Mac?

"Visit www.apple.com for Bluetooth Software Driver and instructions for connecting devices."

That's it. Nothing else, unless you count the same message in 10 other languages.

So I went to www.apple.com and, with an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu, looked up Bluetooth Software Driver. Skip to the end of a frustrating 15 minutes, and I could not update my system with either the firmware or software updates. The Bluetooth software, I was told, is up to date.

So, I hotswapped in the new dongle for the old, and neither the mouse nor the keyboard worked. Thinking this was a mistake, I shut down with the power button. And waited. And started up again. And nothing. And hotswapped in the old dongle, and I can function again (but with the old keyboard rigamarole).

Maybe hotswapping wasn't a good idea, but that's what I did. But now I don't know what to do. I simply can't find anything on the Apple site about installing the dongle itself, just all the devices to work with it. Now I'm afraid to do anything.

Barry! Help me! I feel like a complete moron. And it doesn't feel good.

I look forward to your reply,

Roberta

Barry,

Thanks for such a quick response. I hope it doesn't come to contacting Kensington again. I have a root canal I need to have first.

I'll try the PRAM thing (which I actually know how to do!) first and then the SMC thing (which is new to me). But I'm going to have to gird my loins before I make the attempts.

I'll let you know what happens. I may yet be able to check off that my problem has been resolved.

R

Barry,

This is too funny, in that way that you say funny but you don't really mean it.

I can't reset the PRAM, because once I've shut down the computer, the keyboard won't work until I go through the rigamarole of pairing it.

So, here I go having to call Kensington.

I'll let you know what happens.

R

Barry,

I'll apparently do anything so that I don't have to call Kensington again. I actually have borrowed a wired keyboard and mouse from a friend in San Francisco (he sent them to me) so I could reset the PRAM and install the new dongle.

The dongle is in, the wireless mouse and keyboard paired up as if they had eyes (maybe they do, in their way), and I'm almost hopeful.

Strangely, for the past couple of days the date and time haven't shown up on my menu bar and I can't set them. The little color wheel just spins and spins, and I have to do a force quit. This is unrelated to the mouse and keyboard, but it's always something, isn't it? I never had this kind of trouble when I wrote everything on a typewriter.

If things go well with the keyboard over the next couple of days, I'll let you know and call this problem resolved.

I'd love to work at my polling place for the general, but I know I don't have the stamina to make it through the whole day. I wish they had a little flexibility about working at polling places, letting workers do shifts and having more workers at busy times, fewer when it's quiet. The elections system really needs some revamping.