I've tried multiple USB inputs on my MacBook Air but the USB keyboard does not work since upgrading to Catalina.
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.
Works once. Then then next day, same problem again. It's not a solution having to this everytime.
Sounds like shutting down for a while did essentially what resetting the SMC does.
Still, they are all just temporary fixes. It'll come back.
And, it is broken again. Shut mac down for 10 minutes, doesn't work. Reset SMC, doesn't work. I guess I should go for a long run.
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.
Forgot to mention that I also did all the "magic" startup reset procedures several times, but the issue came back after a while. Once I even ran the diagnotics at startup without issues.
Well I haven't tried that one before...
Apple USB keyboard not working since Catalina update
