Wireless keyboard won't connect

Im stuck on the login screen so what do i do???? Please help The keyboard keeps flashing. when i turn the computer off and back on it does not ask me or try to connect to the keyboard! Please help i do not have a wired keyboard available!

I'm running Mavericks; I finally got my keyboard to pair. But, I don't get step #9. There is no gear icon (in Mavericks), I can't figure out how to "update services" for the keyboard. HELP

8) Go to back to Bluetooth preferences and select the keyboard in the device list.

9) Press the gear icon and select 'Update Services'. Without this last step you may have to reconnect the keyboard from the Bluetooth menu after every startup.

Thanks for the Help. You'd think Apple would have Bluetooth figured out by now. Geez Apple, really!?

"Why is there nothing in the Apple documentation about holding down the power button???"

- couldn't agree more!: Ran into same problem today (I have used the hardware for almost three years) and was about ready to discard the keyboard, when I got the idea to test it against my wife's iPad - no problems at all!

I 'googled' the problem and found this article:

http://davemeehan.com/technology/how-to-reset-an-apple-wireless-bluetooth-keyboa rd-mouse-or-trackpad

Worked instantly! 🙂

Repeated failures until I went out to my DRIVEWAY, faraway from all bluetooth and wireless phone signals. There it succeeded on the first try. Amazed.

Clearly the Apple BT Keyboard was developed in a lab, not in a 2014 home.

TM100 - thanks for that key piece of info I have never heard mentioned before - hold the power button whilst pairing!

This just helped with with a keyboard which wouldn't pair otherwise!

Good work dude 🙂

Mavericks Fix - 10.9.2

I am adding this update to this method as the fix for this problem is so old it was for a pre Mavericks OS.

This is an additional solution that I have found to be a huge benefit to this problem.

First

Go to Bluetooth Preferences and delete every device no matter if they are working or not. Understand that if you are not working on a MacBookPro if you have no wired mouse and no wired keyboard... you aren't going to be able to move the cursor to turn things on etc... so you have to have a trackpad or Wired mouse available to you.

Once you have removed other keyboards and devices like the Jambox Speaker that was connected to my MacBookPro... the Mac seems far more able to pair with your BlueTooth keyboard alot faster.

Removing the batteries resets the keyboard and not powering it back on [and holding down] the power button on your BT keyboard is critical ... only do this once you go into the "Set Up Bluetooth Keyboard" menu > Keyboard > In System Preferences.

I simppl could NOT connect my Keyboard AT ALL with the Jambox Speaker connected first. Removing that - I was able to connect the keyboard on the second try with removing the batteries from the keyboard and holding down the powerkey to get the blinking green light on the keyboard.

TIP:- Lifting your keyboard up so the light is right next to the screen menu you are looking at means you can easily look at both ... to make sure its in the blinking pairing mode and the menu is seaching for your keyboard. Otherwise you have to keep looking down and back and it will drive you bonkers.

Good luck...

g

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

I spent over an hour and a half trying to figure out the issue and actually started looking on-line for a new keyboard!

But then I noticed this keyboard suddenly worked on my other apple next to it, the connection jumped over, so now I knew it worked!

Then I came upon your solution!

And the first time it worked!!!

Awesome!!

Many thanks TM

I had to modify your solution a tad:

in step 3 I couldn't see a + sign anywhere

Notwithstanding I carried on to 4 and keeping power button depressed attempted to Pair. No success x 5

I turned Bluetooth off and on and repeated 4 - success - the code appeared and I am typing this on the wireless keyboard.

I have Mavericks on my MBP

Message was edited by: PFJ30

I had this problem back in April, 2014 and it worked like a charm, now it's happened again and it won't work. Actually both the keyboard and trackpad were down but I got the trackpad paired.

This morning the bluetooth icon wasnt even in System Preferences nor in the Library, I restarted my iMac and ok it shows now and I made it discoverable but it still won't pair, I tried your instructions over and over, no good.

In Library/Preferences it shows as com.apple.BluetoothFileExchange.plist, and that's the only one, is that the correct plist?

Any suggestions, it's now afternoon and still trying 😟

I would just like to add that I was having a problem pairing my apple bluetooth keyboard to my macbook pro and I tried this solution but it didn't work for me. I later realized that the problem was that I also had my keyboard paired with my iPhone so whenever i turned my keyboard on to pair it with my laptop it was only discoverable for about 1-2 seconds then it would connect to my phone. I turned my phone's bluetooth off and I was able to pair the keyboard with no problems.

None of these will work for me. 😟 My keyboard somehow seems to disconnect when we have power outages here. I also do not have the "+" sign, which I did not realize until after I already deleted the Apple keyboard from my Bluetooth "Devices" list. How did you all without the "+" sign get your keyboard to connect again??

I have my iPad & iPhone Bluetooth turned off and I even powered both of them off as well. I just put new batteries in the keyboard so that does not seem to be the issue. Can anyone please help me? This is driving me nuts!

I am using an iMac desktop version 10.9.5.

Thank you!

Mine does not have the '+' sign on bluetooth either - I went on to the bluetooth page, then took batteries out, replaced them and held down the power button continuously whilst the keyboard appeared as a device on the list (I did not need to add a device) - and then as TM100 said, do this all whilst holding down the power button, pressing 'pair' when it pops up- it will then give you a code which you can type (releasing the power button).

Hopefully this helps!

This solution works great to re-pair my keyboard and trackpad, but I have to do it every morning when I come into the office, which is a huge pain. Has anyone had the issue of a keyboard and trackpad needing to be reset on a near daily basis after taking your laptop out of the building? I'm at my wits' end.

It has taken nearly a whole day to resolve the issue I had with my Bluetooth keyboard failing to reconnect with my Macbook Pro. Although the Mac could see the keyboard it resolutely refused to pair with it. Eventually I turned everything in the house off, the wifi network and all other devices including my Magic Mouse that might be filling it with spurious radio waves and hey presto it connected first time.

I figure it is all down to interference and lack of signal strength.