USB Keyboard Plugged into Monitor Often Doesn't Work

Same problem here. What always works is for me is a very simple solution - the keyboard comes with an usb extension cord - connect it to your keyboard and then to your display. Done. It's not ideal because the keyboard cord is quite long now but at least it works.

Cheers.

Well as crazy an idea as I though extending the cord lenght was, I gave it a try. After many in home tests and 5 seprate trips away from the home office and back again I have yet to have the keyboard fail to respond properly.

I went so far to troublshoot the issue by looking at System report under Hardware -> USB -> USB Hi-Speed Bus -> Hub (1st instance) ->Hub -> [Keyboard Hub -> Apple Keyboard ]= only appears when system recognizes the keyboard. With the USB extension cable plugged in it connects every time.

Sounds like a timming issue in the display hub or keyboard where extending cable length changes impedance. Cable fix narrows down the issue to most likely being the display hub.

Macbook Pro Retina, Mid 2012 2.6Ghz, 16GB; OS X 10.8.4

LED Cinema Display

Apple USB Keyboard A1243

4ft USB extension cable. Connected to LED Cinema Display (Does not matter which port)

Nice find Chris Panas!

The only consistent solution I've found is to this problem is to get the Apple Store to replace the keyboard. Here's a few things to note:

I work in a business where we purchased 14 Thunderbolt monitors with 14 of the Apple USB keyboards. There were a few keyboards that had various combinations of results with a few different monitors (the symptom described--keyboard doesn't respond when plugged into Thunderbolt monitor and laptop gets attached, yet will work when plugged into laptop directly).

I took the keyboard and Thunderbolt display to the Apple Store where a genius started working various combinations to see if he could recreate the problem. It started working at first, then started showing the symptoms. He tried a different monitor and he tried his laptop and no matter what combination, the keyboard wouldn't work unless plugged into the laptop directly. I asked him to try a different Apple USB keyboard and it worked fine. He then replaced my keyboard.

In short, the keyboard is the only part in the combination that consistently seems to show the problem. When it's hooked into one Thunderbolt monitor, it may not show a problem. When hooked to another, it may show the problem. And sometimes when hooked into any Thunderbolt monitor it shows the problem. I'm not sure what the problem is in the keyboard, electrical or otherwise, but sometimes they just don't work with the Thunderbolt display, period. The other thing is timing--the problem would begin to show around a few days to a week later. I don't remember ever seeing the problem when we first use the keyboard.

Of the 14 keyboards we originally purchased, I returned 3 keyboards for replacements. Of those 3 replacements, I returned 1. In total, 4 keyboards had to be replaced and I haven't seen the problem since.

Intersting. I would be inclined do the same, if it didn't require schlepping the TBD to the Apple store.

This sheds some light on the keyboard problem, but there I still see some quirkyness in waking the TBD.

I have a backup drive connected to the TBD via Thunderbolt cable. This is my Time Machine drive and I expect it to perform backups as necessary when my MBP is connected to the TBD. Unfortunatley, the drive isn't always recognized, even as an external drive. It sometimes requires unplugging and reconencting the Thunderbolt cable to the external drive. Only then will it be recognized and identified as the Time Machine drive. The connection success rate is about 50%.

I'm going to try a different (longer, and Apple brand) Thunderbolt cable between the two, akin to adding the externsion USB cable to the keyboard and see if anything changes.

Anyone else have a problem with other periferals connected thrugh TBD (ethernet, mouse, etc..) being recognized when waking up? Is power cycling the TBD before connecting the MBP the answer?

I've been getting this problem for years. Still have it. This time on a Mac Mini with TB display. Was fine for a while, now it's come back the past few weeks. Every time I reboot the keyboard and mouse don't power up and respond. I've found that on the login screen, if I unplug the TB display and plug it back in (with the keyboard/mouse etc still plugged into the back of the TB display) then it all registers and works fine, until the next reboot.

OS X 10.8.4, Mac Mini 2011 quad core.

Using a USB extender cable has solved the problem for me!

Occasionally it will take maybe a minute to recognize the external keyboard after plugging in the Thunderbolt cable, but I've been batting 100% all week since this solution was first recommended above.

Amazing that it works -- and that it took so long for this workaround to come up.

Ditto, 27 thunderbolt display+MBP 15 inch retina (bought feb 2013), apple keyboard with attached mouse. It didn't do it right away, took a few months. Have to unplug and replugin keyboard a few times in different ports to make work.

I then hooked up the provided extension cable as suggested in this thread. Plugged it into the Thunderbolt display. It came up just fine and I'm typing up this note

I, too, use the Apple keyboard with numeric keyboard and have found, like you, that I must use the power adapter from the display to my MBP in order for everything to function as expected.

Clinton

I have a

Macbook Pro Retina, Mid 2012 2.6Ghz, 16GB; OS X 10.8.4

LED Cinema Display

Apple USB Keyboard A1243

and am running into the same problem with my keyboard.

So getting a longer monitor cable will fix this? Seriously?

Hi,

It's still working for me (using the USB extension cable) over a week later with multiple shut downs, sleeps, pulling the Thunderbolt and power cable out, and all sorts of "normal" usage of moving your laptop between multiple places.

Computer

Late 2012 Apple Macbook Pro Retina 17"

Home:

Apple Thunderbolt 27" display

Ethernet via port

Work:

Dell IPS monitor

*Using Monoprice mini-display port to Display port/HDMI apdater (using Display port, not HDMI right now)

Thunderport to Ethernet adpater

Not having anymore bus problems once I put in the USB extension cable as was suggestion.

When I get home from work and jack into the Thunderbolt cable for the monitor into the Macbook, my USB keyboard attached to Thunderbolt Display, Thunderbolt display attached Lacie Raid drive, Thunderbolt atttached, firewire Apogee Duet, and Thunderbolt attached USB "piano" ... all come online and function as expected.

I can plug in additional USB harddrives to the Macbook itself and all of this is working without conflicts.

Highly recommend. I was surprised as the rest of you.

I've had the same problem... A new Macbook Air occasionally not recognizing a new, external Apple extended keyboard. (It worked 100% of the time with a 4-year-old Microsoft keyboard.)

I finally tried the completely illogical solution of adding a USB extension to the Apple keyboard's plug, and it seems to be working great.

Go figure.

As I see we have the same issue with a new Mac Air, thunderbolt display and a numeric usb keyboard.

So just to make it clear; I just need to buy a USB extension cable and connect it between the keyboard usb cable and the back of the Thunderbolt display (connect the thunderbolt cable and power cable to the Mac Air and close the Mac Air top) ... and this solves the problem?

I don't have a Thunderbolt display, it's a Viewsonic I think (I'm not in front of it right now).

My problem was that the Macbook Air wasn't recognizing the Apple extended keyboard, which was plugged into a USB port. The display was not part of the equation.

The solution was to add a USB extension to the end of the keyboard USB cord, thereby extending it, then plugging it into the same USB port. (I used the extension that came with the keyboard.)

I'd image the same solution would work it the keyboard was plugged into a Thunderbolt display.

RESOLVED: Adding an Apple USB extension resolved this for me. This was mentioned in a previous post. The caveat is that I cannot use the USB keyboard to wake the my MBP w/thunderbolt only the bluetooth mouse.

Assuming the reason is it tipped me over the line for spending enough money to get this feature... 😉 j/k

I have the same exact problem.

- Apple 27 TBD

- late 2011 MBA running OSX 10.8.5 and

- Apple USB keyboard (ideally) attached to the TB display

Everything runs the latest firmware, I'm always keen on keeping everything up to date and running the latest software (being a software engineer). Attaching the keyboard directly to the MBA works just fine. Attaching it back to the TB display is an exercise in futility 19/20 times.

I've methodically tried every combination of plugging and unplugging things, waiting the typical 5-10 seconds USB needs to recognise stuff and so on. I have yet to establish a pattern that works every time.

This is a very annoying thing and I expect better from a 1200€ display and a 56€ keyboard.