imac 2012, usb keyboard not recognized

Just wanted to say thank you so much.

I came back from holiday, installed an upgrade on my iMac and found out my French keyboard doesn't work anymore (I'm a translator...so it's a pretty huge problem). I started panicking, found this answer about using the apple extension: bingo, it works!

Feeling much better now!

Thanks a lot!

H.

Yet another person here who this thread saved. I never would have thought to simply use an extension cable and that the iMac connections are loose/bad.

The keyboard stopped working after a reboot. I plugged it into a different iMac and it worked fine. Read this thread and the extension cable saved the day. Thanks!

And my keyboard was just saved with the USB extension. I would never have figured this out. Thanks all for your help.

SurfDive45's solution solved 2 year problem with USB keyboard not getting recognized. I just didn't think apple would have a hardware cable problem. Thank you!!!

This just happened to me after a reboot on a 2009 iMac. Read this post, found an extension cable in a drawer and now the keyboard words fine.

My keyboard used to work direct into the machine although I have a cable extension.

I had nearly the same problem after trying my apple USB keyboard on a Windows machine (which did not recognize the number pad by the way)

My iMac after that wouldn't recognize the keyboard but thanks to your suggestion it works with the extension. Are you sure it is a physical connection problem and not some sort of firmware in the actual USB cable - so it works if you have a second cable between the keyboard and the machine?

Otherwise I would advise against plugging an Apple k/b in to a non apple machine as it seems to have distorted the connections in some way by doing that.

I confirm the same problem with the USB keyboard and the iMac. I had detected a problematic operation from time to time, but didn't pay much attention to it. Until finally, one day the keybord refused repeatedly to connect and the bluetooth facility was activated instead. I used the extension cable and the problem seems now to be fixed. Are you sure, it won't happen the same with the extension USB cable after some time? (btw my iMac is only a couple of months old). Shouldn't the keyboard falling within the products guarantee?

Thanks for the feedback!🙂

I have been running with this fix on several of our school 50 odd iMacs, and the problem hasn't recurred. I would defintely ask for a replacement under warranty, but I suspect you may find the same thing occur further down the track. I believe it is a production problem with Apples USB Keyboard plugs that I'm not even sure Apple are aware of !!!

If I go into Keyboard prefs then it still says "not recognized". I tried with and without cable and different USB ports. However, the keyboard is working correctly, just the OS says it doesn't know what kind of keyboard it is. SO i just left it.

I wonder if there was something in the last OS update that is causing this? I've had my 27in iMac for a year and had this problem (with a brand new keyboard, I chose a USB keyboard because I wanted the extended number pad) but it righted itself. Then it was absolutely fine, until last week when it happened onece... and then righted itself again, after a reboot.

This morning, when I have piles of urgent work to do, I rebooted my machine to solve another problem and the keyboard is now undiscoverable. I've rebooted a number of times, checked the cables, etc, no joy. So I can't work.

And I have no USB extension available. So I'm going to have to drive to a store to find one. Thanks Apple.

Hi, can I ask what sort of extension cable you use? I'm going to have to buy one this morning, because I can't work now that my keyboard is undiscoverable, too.

Apple supply a white USB extension cable with all their new keyboards. This is the one you should use if you can find one. It has a really tight connection with the key USB plug. Not sure if you can buy it from Apple online or in store. Good luck.

Thanks for replying so quickly! I'll go an hunt out my old packaging and see if there's one nestling in there 🙂

If not, I'll look online. Thanks so much for your help.

Excellent. I've had this non-working issue with two USB keyboards and two different Imacs for ages. I have spent a few minutes here and there looking for a solution, tried tons of stuff, but this is the first suggestion that has worked immediately. I am typing this on my (previously) non-working keyboard. Many thanks, armandckj!