Apple USB keyboard not working since Catalina update

Same here. It reminds me of the old "add an extender to the keyboard USB cable" issue that has been working for years now. Upgrade to Catalina and we're back to rebooting or unplugging the USB cables 2 or 3 times to get it to work.

There are a number of threads about this now. All flavours and ages of Macbook. Come on Apple. This is fundamental testing before an OS release. Come on Apple...

Here is a solution:

I think the root cause for this issue is that a keyboard connection is not triggering a USB Event.

This issue almost always shows up when the laptop was being used without a USB keyboard for some time. So, when you want to connect the keyboard again, first connect a USB pen drive which will get recognised. This kind of wakes up the USB driver and then if you connect your keyboard, it will work.

I have tried it numerous times now and it has worked every single time.

Deleting this file and emptying trash did NOT resolve the issue for me. Intermittently, my iMac still does not recognize that an Apple keyboard is attached via USB cable. The wireless trackpad is recognized correctly.

I tried those steps without success. What was finally successful was just restarting the computer many times and disconnecting the power between restarts. Eventually (25 times?), the bug works itself out. No reasons given. I would have expected this from an X86 Microsoft operating system. Experiencing it on an iMac is disappointing.

It seems that this is no longer an issue and has been quietly fixed in the latest MacOS update (10.15.2). Whilst I'm happy it is now working, the radio silence from Apple about the issue is rather disturbing. I've also tried to search for a changelog and release notes on the latest update, but cannot find anything. Anyone know where one can find the changelog/release notes?

The issue was not resolved for me on the latest MacOS update. The other tips posted here also are not working for me. I have to restart my computer every time to get my external apple keyboard working.

Same issue, I am using the Apple keyboard but after the upgrade to Catalina the external USB keyboard requires a reboot each time it is unplugged/plugged back in. The others fix/workaround posted in this thread doesn't work for me

Late to the game, but I have been trying various things to get this solved so I don't have to restart. The only thing that has worked for me is to put the computer to sleep (not restart) and re-plug in my keyboard while it is in "sleep mode" and then open it back up. Restarting it also works, but that is just annoying to have to do.

Hi,

Running Catalina 10.15.3 (19D76). The wired Apple Extended Keyboard died all of a sudden on me. Wouldn't be recognized when connected to a Thunderbolt Display, or directly connected to a MacBook Pro 15" 2017.

I followed suggestions on this thread, namely deleting the com.apple.HIToolbox.plist and killing the com.apple.hiservices-xpcservice on the Activity Monitor.

What finally worked for me was connecting the keyboard to an old USB hub + USB-to-USB-C adapter. This is a really old issue and an unnecessary nuisance.

Still have this problem as will since Catalina. Apple USB keyboard not recognised every now and then after wake.

Especially embarrassing to Apple since any other USB keyboard works fine.

The only consistent solution is to kill hiservices mentioned earlier, unplug replug the keyboard 1-2x times and eventually it would be recognised. Until it won't be after a while.

This is especially annoying when the internal keyboard + trackpad stops responding due to probably a different hardware issue with my 2015 MacBook Pro. In this case I either have to use a non Apple keyboard or remote desktop to do the above service killing.

This happens with keyboard "a" on macbook "a" at work, happens at home with keyboard "b" on identical 2015 macbook "b", and happens with keyboard "c" on collegue's touchbar macbook "c".

Also hasn't happened before upgrading the OS, so I'm pretty sure we can rule out the hardware issue.

The keyboard is fine. Never had an issue with it. I tested the keyboard on all four ports.

The hub draws power from the USB-C port, without an external power source.

FWIW, the Shift key was giving me problems and with the "SMC reset" the problem went away, for a while. Now I'm back to writing and skimming the text to correct failed uppercases.

Unfortunately it made no difference. The issue has happened again.

Btw the keyboard shows up in the System Report, it just doesn't work (no presses registered, caps lock doesn't light up, no attached usb devices work):

Keyboard Hub:

  Product ID: 0x1006

  Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)

  Version: 96.15

  Serial Number: 000000000000

  Speed: Up to 480 Mb/s

  Manufacturer: Apple, Inc.

  Location ID: 0x14110000 / 12

  Current Available (mA): 500

  Current Required (mA): 300

  Extra Operating Current (mA): 0

I tried everything suggested (clearing NVRAM, multiple reboots, removing the HI* file), nothing worked. Then I shut the machine down completely and went out for a run. When I came back I restarted and now it works. So obviously a bug and there are many reports on it so I don't know why apple doesn't investigate and fix it.