Apple Wireless Keyboard won't power up

Make sure your batteries are in the right way. I had expected something wrong with the power not the actual keyboard. On the back there is little diagram showing how to put your batteries in.

This worked for me: an old (3 battery) wireless keyboard came back to life with a bit of aluminum stuffed in there.

that's great...I know how relieved I was when this worked for me. I have a new Mac with an updated keyboard....they have changed the design with a shorter battery channel. works great but if it ever does a glitch I know the "old fix" is always available :-)

Also can use a spring out of an old pin laying around, did mine & has been good to go since! Great and simple fix! Updated keyboards have been modified to resolve this issue.

Foil trick worked for me, took it to the apple store and they told me I needed to either repair it for £49 or buy a new one for £55. Shame they don't read their own forums.

Thanks for the elegant solution to this problem, I tried it and it WORKED!!! After 3 months of intermittent keyboard failures and witch craft type fixes suggested by Apple staff and other web sites yours worked first start up. Apple store staff wanted us to buy a new wireless key board, that would have miraculously worked! I don't understand why they do not tell the Apple store staff about this fix, I was close to going back to a PC and trash my iMac because of this. I get that they want to sell keyboards but Apple has had incredible reliability and if that trait is lost, a consumer will have a hard time justifying the higher cost.

I had the problem today - wireless 2 battery keyboard wouldn't power up. I was working on it this morning, it stopped so I put new batteries in, no power, put other new batteries in, no power, tested new batteries on another appliance and they worked, so it's not faulty batteries, and they were put in the right way.

Googled and linked to this Apple forum and saw the steel wool and ball of foil tricks - tried them both without success, still no power. I watched a YouTube of advice but it essentially said put the foil in, but of interest, the keyboard he thought wasn't working started working again (maybe he'd left some foil in it).

Rang Apple support, first person I got asked me my life details, then asked me to spell them, then said he is sure we can fix my issues by working together and other meaningless aphorisms, then put me through to customer help. Next person said we will work together on fixing this issue etc etc, asked my life details again, then asked me to spell them, double checked, then must have finally got my profile up, was silently reading for a while then, and only then he asked what the problem is, and kept rephrasing repeating everything I said, and I upfront said the keyboard is three years old so out of warranty, he repeated that back at me. I mentioned the foil fix, he then keenly asked where on the internet I found that information (as if I've been looking on tinpot sites) and I replied the Apple Community forum at apple.com, more silence as he was typing notes I guess. He said he's an iphone person so he will find an iMac person for me to speak with, an expert who is better able to work with me to fix my issue. Long hold. Then I got another person, who asked me my life details, then asked me to spell them, then told me there's a problem with the serial number of my iMac that Apple has, I re-re-repeated it, and suggested that perhaps it's an o not a zero and that might help her, Apple care person brushed that aside and asked me for any other email address I use, again asking me to spell it. Only then did she ask after more 'no worries, let's work on this issue together to resolve it today and other meaningless aphorisms' what my issue is. She seemed to be googling it herself as she repeated keywords (power up etc.).

This was now 28 minutes into the phone call. I explained a third time that my keyboard won't power up after placing in new batteries. I said I'd been working and it stopped etc. I sensed she was writing this all down. She then said "'I've read the notes and you've been trying to fix your issue via a resolution from an internet site." I explained it's the Apple forums, and part of my died inside as I realised she could already see what my issue is because everyone had taken notes, so why she was wasting my time asking me what the issue was....... She then asked me about the batteries, I replied I'd tested them. She then told me to go to an Apple Store.................... which is an hours drive away.......

The phone call took over 30 minutes and afterwards I went to an office supply store and am typing this on a cheap logitech keyboard. I've wasted a lot of valuable time today on this. Dear Apple: Take my details once, cut back on the meaningless aphorisms and actually try to fix the problem.

hi Melody,

I feel your pain! when you get the kind of apple responses you received today request to speak to a

Senior Advisor after the first person asks for all your pertinent info. Usually the response in regards to this battery/keyboard glitch is to order a new one. I have a newer mac (early 2014) and the keyboard is designed differently in terms of batteries. so far, no problems. the tinfoil worked for me with the older keyboard for quite some time. and when I sold the mac I told the buyer how to manage the keyboard. some people have used the spring in a ball point pen instead of the foil..anything that makes contact. good luck and hope you get your problem fixed.

thanks Rosie, yes it would save everyone's time and be a much better service to me if I was just told upfront it can't be fixed and needs to be replaced. Had that happened, I probably would have just driven 5 mins to JB HiFi and bought another Apple keyboard - problem solved in a few minutes. Imagine if I took their advice and drove to an Apple store to be told that in person ... another 2.5 hours wasted on top of half an hour! Time is money. Thanks for the tip re senior advisor!

Hey, thanks for this AMAZING trick! 6 years later, but I just found this thread-thanks ya'll!

Aluminium foil ball/disc worked for me too - fantastic! I'd not used it for a couple of year and couldn't work out why it wasn't working - thought it might have corroded, I can't work it out because you'd think it would be shorting the positive terminal against the case and the negative already seems to connect to the case via the metal screw in end plug. However it does work. As soon as I did it and pressed the power, the green light came on and it paired. RESULT.

I used a small screwdriver to scratch the contact, put the batteries back in and all is working well.

Whoever conceived this simple, effective stop-gap fix, I hereby applaud and thank you with all the electronics know-how and hardware hacker spirit that is who I am. I have just bought one of these AMAZING keyboards for a mere £10 + FREE shipping, sold as "dead" - this fix sorted it in one minute flat.

I have made a video which details how to effect this fix; please, feel free to spread it far and wide, this keyboard is STUNNINGLY GOOD:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-iAU7Jr9D0

... until next time it happens. A better fix needs to be found.

its 2017 and its still happening.

my mac mini died due to Sierra - then I lost all wireless -then I went back to elcappitan - then I lost my childrens homework as time machine then wrote over the last 2 weeks of saving (not having a good day ) and then my 10 year old keyboard died.

I went for a long walk

I went to the apple store - no appts for a week

I scoured the internet

I didn't sleep very well

I went for ANOTHER long walk -

wireless mysteriously reconnected??

Sonos library mysteriously reconnected??

and then I found this link to fix your keyboard - mine is ten years old - and now its working again!

aluminium foil mr ives - brilliant!