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Apple wireless keyboard stopped working after latest Mavericks update

MacBook Pro 15 late 2008. Did initial Mavericks upgrade and Apple wireless keyboard and magic mouse continued to work fine. Prior to Mavericks upgrade they were working fine under Mountain Lion and earlier OS X versions.


After installing the most recent Mavericks patch update on Nov 8, the Apple wireless keyboard stopped working and now it will not pair. It sees the keyboard, but when click on Pair it says "Connecting..." and tries and tries, then says "Couldn't connect to the device." Keyboard has brand new batteries.


Have reset SMC and PRAM several times with no improvement. Have deleted bluetooth plist and lockfile (when present) and rebooted with no improvement.


Magic Mouse pairs and works fine. Only having problem with the keyboard.


Has anyone found a reliable fix for this or is this a bug in the latest Mavericks update?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 11, 2013 7:44 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Nov 13, 2013 12:43 PM

Hello Guest5,




We've got an article that can help get your Keyboard paired to your Mac.


Troubleshooting wireless mouse and keyboard issues

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3048




Cheers,

Allen

36 replies

Nov 22, 2013 11:25 AM in response to Guest5

Hi there, I have the exact same issue with a Macbook Air (mid-2011). Unfortunately Apple's troubleshooting instructions do not address the issue at all. Waiting for 20 secs also does not always help. I don't have the same issues with my Apple wireless mouse or my Belkin Wireless Numeric Keypad. It looks like the Mavericks update introduced a bug in the Apple wireless keyboard pairing process.


The only solution I found is to log in with the Macbook Air's own keyboard and to pair the Apple wireless keyboard manually by turning it off and then on and Connecting the keyboard manually under the Bluetooth options. Really quite unpractical and bothersome.


Hope this issue will be addressed by Apple shortly. Releasing such buggy upgrades clearly falls short of my expectations.

Nov 23, 2013 12:43 AM in response to Guest5

Just a thought: my wireless keyboard is not the most recent. It dates back to 2009 (model no. A1314). Is your keyboard also an older one or perhaps the same model no.? If so, the bug could be associated with older Apple wireless keyboards (or with that model no. in particular).


It wouldn't be the first time that Apple somehow forgets to test new software releases with older hardware. Call that planned obsolescence if you will :-(

Nov 27, 2013 1:04 PM in response to texic

Yes - the keyboard I'm having trouble with on MacBook Pro 15 late 2008 is A1314 and it goes back a few years.


When it stops connecting, it never connects, and I have to delete the keyboard under Bluetooth and go back through the pairing process again. After that it seems to work for a few days and then out of the blue it will stop connecting and I have to go through the delete & re-pair sequence.

Dec 2, 2013 6:50 PM in response to CarlAVII

Incorrect. This is a bug introduced by the update. The keyboard keeps trying to connect. It burns out batteries in a couple of weeks. The iMac or whatever cannot see the keybord, and doesn't send the login combination number. A little research makes clear this is abug. Stop sending people to the troubleshooting file, because it won't help until the bug is fixed. Until then, dont use a wirelss keyboard. Let hope it is fixed in the next patch.

Jan 31, 2014 11:56 AM in response to Guest5

Since changing my laptop to a more recent rMBP 13" (brand new and thus with a clean Mavericks installation), the issue seems to have (almost) disappeared.

Might it be due to leftovers from previous versions of MacOS? Did some of you attempt a fresh install of Mavericks? Could this address the issue?

Apple wireless keyboard stopped working after latest Mavericks update

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