How to UNpair keyboard without original computer

I had a problem that my bluetooth keyboard wasn't connecting after ~1 year of good behaviour.

I found this thread to force the keyboard into pairing mode but it still failed to connect after deleting the original entry from my MBP bluetooth devices list.

Turned out that I had to change the passcode phrase option so that instead of the MBP sending 0000 I set it to generate a code automatically which I had to type [and press enter] on the keyboard, then it connected.

just thought I'd add this in case it helps others.

Best regards

Lee

I had similar problms. I suspect the keyboard noticed the mac it was previously paired with, so refused to go into pairing mode. Steps to fix:

1. Remove keyboard batteries.

2. Turn off bluetooth on your mac.

3. Replace the batteries and turn on the keyboard.

4. This made the keyboard go into pairing mode.

5. Turn on bluetooth on the mac.

6. Follow your nose.

Thank you Colin and avbell, the combined instructions finally worked for me using a 2009 aluminum wireless keyboard. What a pain though. Hopefully Apple engineering will put a recessed reset button underneath the keyboard to make it easier when moving between systems.

I've tried the method posted here several times. But it's not working. It would seem my only hope is if there's a way to force the keyboard into pairing mode. Or a key combination that will reset it to factory defaults. Has anyone come across any other way to get the keyboard to go into pairing mode?

Wow, talk about ironic. No sooner had I made my previous post and I found how to resolve the issue.

I switched off all Bluetooth devices in my house. Including: iPhone, iPad, PC Computer, MacBook and Bluetooth headset.

Then switched on Apple Bluetooth keyboard, then bluetooth on MacBook Pro. Bingo! My MacBook Pro found the keyboard and is working well.

But may I just say to the Apple gurus who might be listening, please add a reset button. It would save mucho minutos!

Grats

Here is something people can try: My keyboard wasn't going into pairing mode, because it was pairing with my iPad 30 feet away in the next room! As soon as I turned of bluetooth on every Apple device anywhere nearby, it went into pairing mode (blinking green light). I had forgotten that a year ago, I had paired it with the iPad. (Still not sure why my desktop "forgot" its keyboard in the first place...) Anyway, try turning off bluetooth on nearby devices.

Thnaks to all for ideas. For me the solution was take the iPad and silver wireless keyboard well away from the MBP. Then it paired no sweat. I was pairing my iPad 1 with a silver/white Apple wireless keyboard. All up to took about 90 mins to get it thanks to the many ideas all summed up and trial and error method used.

Abu K

I followed these suggestions though I had tried similar things and they helped. Finally what worked was holding it down, but also toggling the passcode options first and setting the passcode. Don't know if that was it, or the time it worked I also let the power button go and started tapping it. It is crazy that it just did not want to pair, even though I was holding down the pairing button on startup and tried pushing the only button a few different ways.

I was hoping it wasn't broken and am glad, but surprised it was that finnicky. Thanks for the tips!

I followed all the tips here and couldn't get it to work. I remembered I had paired this device to my ipad a LONG time ago and even though the keyboard didnt have batteries installed for a LONG time it was still paired. Finally after unpairing in the ipad it started blinking and then I was able to pair with my MBP, man that was crazy...

My wireless keyboard just randomly stopped working. Here's what I did to get it back working:

1. Take out batteries, put back in

2. While holding down on button on keyboard, open keyboard under system settings & connect.

NOTE: do not stop holding down keyboard on button until keyboard shows connected

3. Keyboard should connect & ask you to type in pass code and enter. Do this, making sure to still hold down keyboard "on".

4. Screen on Mac will say connected

Hope this helps....cheers!

I had the exact same problem. I couldn't pair my MacBook Air with my wireless keyboard all of a sudden. It had powrked fine for months. Turns out one of my kids brought the iPad that I had previously used with the keyboard into my room and it was preventing my keyboard from pairing with the MacBook Air. As soon as I turned off the iPad and powered the keyboard down and back up, it worked like a champ. A hard reset button on the keyboard to drop previously paired settings would be a great idea!

Holding down the keyboard power button until the LED starts to flash has the effect of unpairing it. If you hold the button down and it doesn't flash, but just goes off, that was you turning it off. Just repeat the holding down again, then it should flash, and you can then select it on your Mac.

Same here! My problem was that even holding the button down, it would not quit connecting with another apple device i had paired with a while ago. It just ignored my holding down the button until I found out what it was synching with and turned bt off.

I think holding down the reset button only pairs if you don't already have it paired with a device close by, in which case it will ignore your reset and pairing attempts until you turn that other device off. Real complicated for only having one simple button seemingly!

When I hold down the one button it has, I really expect it to "re-pair" like other devices do and synch with what I am currently asking it to. I didn't need to "unpair" it, there just is no manual button to "re-pair" it until you turn off your old device or find out what it is pairing or attempting to pair with, and get it out of range I think.

That didn't work for me. Just holding down the button until it flashed still had issues because it kept preferring another device I had paired with a long time ago. I had to turn off bluetooth on all other devices, like many here. Just holding the button down until it flashed was just an endless loop of frustration until I turned off other bluetooth devices closeby. I know the difference between holding it down until it flashes, to pair, or holding it down until it turns off, as I did it enough times.

I had the same problem, and after following all the intructions for each post, then only one that worked was walking into my back yard!. After turning on my computer I noticed that the keyboard wasnt working so I tried to unpair it, which it wouldnt do. I'm running windows 8 and it was telling me that it could not unpair the device. I had to go into "Services" by typing "services.msc" in the run window. Then i had to double click on "Bluetooth Support Service" and activate the service. Something must have turned it off. But this was effecting my being able to remove any bluetooth devices. After I had activated the service and unpaired the device it would still not let me reconnect it. I powered down my pc and took the batteries out of the keyboard, replaced them, and then held the power button to force paring mode. Again, this did not work. Even with my PC being powered down it still was effecting my keyboard in some way. So my last resort was walking into my back yard and force pairing again, and this worked. Then i walked back to my PC, powered up, searched for BT devices and it had found it and connect within seconds.