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Caps Lock Light out on Magic Keyboard

the caps lock light is out on my Magic Keyboard (no batteries) - the old fix of removing the batteries will not work - any suggestions

Posted on Jan 30, 2021 5:43 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 30, 2021 6:24 AM

I’ll assume this is the wireless keyboard, that the keyboard is charged, and that this keyboard works as expected other than caps lock...


If it’d not been charged, try that now.


In your keyboard preferences settings confirm that the modifier key settings are as you expect. It’s possible to re-map and to disable these key settings, and that’ll then effect whether caps lock uses the caps lock key, or some other key, or disabled with no key at all.


If not the above, reset both the SMC and NVRAM, and try again.


If not the above, I’ve met a weird (and rare) preferences and settings bug in a few spots in macOS Catalina, so one other thing to try: disable the modifier keys, reboot, and then restore your preferred the modifier keys settings. The weird bug seems to be a settings caching issue, so the controls have no effect. Switching the setting, rebooting, and restoring the setting has worked around this (presumably preferences-related) misbehavior. Rebooting alone has cured a few problems, but the SMC/NVRAM has already had you reboot.


Failing the settings, and the weird preferences bug...


Try the keyboard on another computer. See if the keyboard works as expected there.


Try a different wired or wireless keyboard for testing. See if this is the Mac or the keyboard.


The tests should show if the problem stays with the keyboard, or with the Mac.


If the different keyboard works and if your wireless keyboard doesn’t, then your wireless keyboard has probably failed. Various vendors offer wired and wireless keyboards for Mac, including Apple, Matias, and others.


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 30, 2021 6:24 AM in response to terlen

I’ll assume this is the wireless keyboard, that the keyboard is charged, and that this keyboard works as expected other than caps lock...


If it’d not been charged, try that now.


In your keyboard preferences settings confirm that the modifier key settings are as you expect. It’s possible to re-map and to disable these key settings, and that’ll then effect whether caps lock uses the caps lock key, or some other key, or disabled with no key at all.


If not the above, reset both the SMC and NVRAM, and try again.


If not the above, I’ve met a weird (and rare) preferences and settings bug in a few spots in macOS Catalina, so one other thing to try: disable the modifier keys, reboot, and then restore your preferred the modifier keys settings. The weird bug seems to be a settings caching issue, so the controls have no effect. Switching the setting, rebooting, and restoring the setting has worked around this (presumably preferences-related) misbehavior. Rebooting alone has cured a few problems, but the SMC/NVRAM has already had you reboot.


Failing the settings, and the weird preferences bug...


Try the keyboard on another computer. See if the keyboard works as expected there.


Try a different wired or wireless keyboard for testing. See if this is the Mac or the keyboard.


The tests should show if the problem stays with the keyboard, or with the Mac.


If the different keyboard works and if your wireless keyboard doesn’t, then your wireless keyboard has probably failed. Various vendors offer wired and wireless keyboards for Mac, including Apple, Matias, and others.


Caps Lock Light out on Magic Keyboard

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