Keyboard Keeps Losing Connection

Question

iVain Author

Level 1

18 points

Keyboard Keeps Losing Connection

My keyboard keeps losing the connection with my iMac randomly.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6), 3.06 GHz 1.0TB Serial ATA Drive 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB NVIDA GeForce GT

Posted on Jun 8, 2010 8:36 AM

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Answer 1

Rick Lang

Level 4

1,237 points

Jun 11, 2010 10:50 AM in response to iVain

Lots of possibilities to investigate:

Is there another Bluetooth device active that may be interfering with the connection? Can you turn off the other device if present when not needed? You might try to remove the keyboard bluetooth connection to the iMac and then redefine the keyboard to the iMac. Or you could try an SMC reset or PRAM reset of the iMac. Or power off the keyboard, remove the batteries, insert the batteries, and then power it on. Or...

Have you checked the battery level in the keyboard? It may be functional but getting very low (mine is still fine with 15% power left in the original battery but rechargeables are ready to be inserted when the batteries die).

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Answer 2

Jan 7, 2012 7:24 AM in response to CarltonBanks

Mine stopped doing it few days after my last post. It hasn't done it again since. The only thing new was I changed the batteries, but the ones that were in there read fine on my meter. I had rechargibles in there, and even thoough it shows 75% charge, the keyboard just stopped working. The new batteries seem to have fixed it, but it might have been unrelated.

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Answer 3

Jun 30, 2010 9:15 AM in response to iVain

I have the same issue.

I've turned off the keyboard and turned it on.

It seems that the Mac still sees it because it acknowledges it disappears and when it comes back

BUT.

None of the key strokes are recognized by programs.

Interestingly if you call up the "Show Keyboard Viewer" ... it shows when and if I tap a key. Now that's pretty weird.

My only solution so far is to reboot. But I may try the "disconnect" bluetooth device method I've read in this forum next.

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Answer 4

chiff

Level 1

12 points

Nov 11, 2010 6:49 AM in response to iVain

I have the same issue too. Using an aluminium bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse with a 24" aluminium iMac (iMac8,1) running 10.6.4.

The connection to the keyboard keeps getting lost for no particular reason. Sometimes it comes back, sometimes you have to press the power button on the keyboard to get it to reconnect. And occasionally the magic mouse disconnects itself.

There are no other bluetooth devices around the mac so the only interference, if there is any, would be coming from the apple peripherals themselves.

I don't want to go back to wired equivalents, but this situation is becoming unworkable. Could it be an issue with the keyboard's firmware?

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Answer 5

Paul_31

Level 6

14,172 points

Nov 11, 2010 6:57 AM in response to chiff

Have you tried making the keyboard a 'favourite' in Bluetooth Preferences - it resolved my Bluetooth connectivity issues with my MagicMouse?
System Preferences>Bluetooth - select your keyboard on the left and then click on the 'cog' at the bottom and then choose 'add to favourites'.
While you're at it you may as well do the same for the MagicMouse.
Might be worth doing a restart after doing this.

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Answer 6

chiff

Level 1

12 points

Nov 11, 2010 9:26 AM in response to Paul_31

Thanks Paul - I have given it a go. While in the blutooth prefPane I also noticed there were a lot of pairings that were no longer in use so I deleted all those too.

It's worth mentioning that 'Add to favourites' doesn't appear in the cog menu until after you've selected 'Show More Info'.

Will report on how it goes. Fingers crossed.

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Answer 7

Nov 21, 2010 4:27 AM in response to Sewer Sleuth

I had this same problem with my PPC iMac.

After much mucking about with no reliable results, I carefully installed the wireless keyboard in my trash can, and went back to a cheap wired keyboard.

Typing has worked flawlessly ever since! 🙂

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Answer 8

Nov 26, 2010 3:40 PM in response to Philbert27

I've set both the keyboard and mouse to 'favourites' and it still keeps happening.

Also, on the odd occasion when I want to Bootcamp into Windoze, holding the alt key down doesn't work because the keyboard doesn't get recognised quickly enough. So, I have a wired keyboard plugged in as well just for dual booting.

I too am starting to question the usefulness of this £60 keyboard.

????????????????

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Answer 9

Dec 3, 2010 2:13 PM in response to Sewer Sleuth

Ok, I've been running it with the mouse and keyboard set to 'favourite' for a week or so and the keyboard keeps dropping out with regular monotony. The mouse never appears to drop out. The keyboard worked faultlessly for most of this year, and the problems only started quite recently after the iMac did an Apple software update - I think from 10.6.3 to 10.6.4 but could be wrong.

Anyone got a good fix, apart from going back to the old faithful with its added bonus of a separate number pad?

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Answer 10

Spikeyg

Level 1

4 points

Dec 16, 2010 3:07 AM in response to Sewer Sleuth

I had this problem as well, only noticed it happening a couple of weeks ago, but it seems to stop when i swith the bluetooth off on my iphone (4.2.1) - so in my case it seems (at the moment anyway) to be the iphone that was interfering.

for info keyboard and track pad are set to favourites and have removed ipad and iphone from bluetooth paired devices.

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Answer 11

Jan 26, 2011 1:06 AM in response to iVain

27" imac iI had same problem

I had put cheap batteries in and discovered that the keyboard eats these at a much faster rate than high quality ones. The batt meter would not even show. When changed to quality Batts keyboard works fine all the time. Can,t explain why this would be but no problems at all with good quality duracell.

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Answer 12

Jan 27, 2011 6:48 AM in response to jmooseman

Exactly the same problem for me with Magic Trackpad on 2007 iMac. It was fine until batteries went flat and had to be replaced. Replaced with the same make/model (Panasonic Evoia long life). Battery is showing as 99% but now connection keeps dropping. Will not show up when you go to Bluetooth Set up Assistant, so cannot designate as favourite but it will reconnect by itself, sometimes automatically eventually and sometimes, you have to switch the Trackpad off and on again. I do not want to switch on "wake from Bluetooth" as this iMac is beside my bed and with "wake from Bluetooth" enabled, would wake at random intervals during night.

Wilson

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Answer 13

Dec 13, 2011 7:50 PM in response to iVain

This just started happening to me. I never had any problem at all. Turned out it was my son's MacBook Pro. He doesn't have any Blutooth peripherals, but his Blutooth was on. I had him shut it off and all is well.

I just discovered this now from reading comments in this thread about the iPhone doing it.

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Answer 14

Jan 7, 2012 1:42 AM in response to iVain

yep im having same issue on my brand new 2011 i5 27 inch imac.

mouse works fine and always stays connected

bluetooth wireless keyboard that came with the imac keeps losing connection thoughout the day.

i do have an ipad, iphone and macbook pro also sitting on the same desk, not sure if that interferes

but it really shouldnt. u know.

it should just work..

idk what to do. i have usb windows keyboard mouse plugged in for the time being but hate using this black keyboard after getting used to the 'chicket' keys

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Answer 15

jonelb

Level 1

0 points

Jan 21, 2012 9:47 PM in response to iVain

I've had this problem for the first time since installing a new 27" iMac and bluetooth magic mouse and keyboard 3 weeks ago. I lose connection with keyboard only and it comes back by itself with 15 seconds. I have a habit of slamming my finger on the last letter of a sentence when typing and I noticed that it seemed to lose connection only when I did this. So I tested it with a few good ring finger slams and it lost connection every time. (Not hitting it real hard mind you) This made me think it is a hardware problem with the new keyboard - so I'm trying out the old bluetooth keyboard I had with my previous iMac and there are no problems so far.

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