Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I have an Apple wired aluminium keyboard that has stopped working. The USB hub *does* work (i.e. when it's connected to my (2009) MacPro I'm able to use the keyboard's USB ports as normal). However, no keystrokes are registered on the computer. I've tried it with other computers with the same results. Any thoughts?
Edward
Mac Pro, PowerMac G5, Intel macbook pro and (aged) Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.7)
What about keyboard USB cord is twisted or not?
If you connect your keyboard to, say MacBook Pro, it works or not?
Cord is not twisted. Keyboard keys do not work with any other computer. But the USB hub on the keyboard works perfectly.
Then your keyboard is malfunction. You'd better get new one.
Great - sort of worked that out - I was wondering if there's a fix. Perhaps not. Thanks for the reply any way!
Edward
Edward,
By now you've probably gone and wasted money on a new keyboard. There's probably nothing wrong with it, this used to happen to me as well. In fact, it just happened for the first time in about year and now I'm forced to use a different Mac because the keyboard will not work. I mistakenly unplugged it from the iMac thinking it was the iPhone USB cord. When I plugged it back in, it wouldn't work. I restarted and it wouldn't work. I can plug this same keyboard into another machine and it will work just fine, I can even plug it into a Windows machine and it will work but this APPLE keyboard won't work on my MAC. REALLY?! I spent days trying to figure this out with tech support, and they could not help me. I abandoned the keyboard for awhile. One day, I just plugged it back in and it just worked.
Super.
I have the same problem as Edward. Wired extended keyboard functions all dead (including caps lock LED), but USB hub works. Keyboard was working fine until I unplugged it with computer on. Now it will not work on any computer with multiple restarts.
I have gone back to wireless keyboard (less desirable without 10 key numeric keypad), and will retry in a couple of days. If anyone has any other workarounds please post as I'm pretty sure my keyboard is not dead and this is a firmware / software issue.
2009 IMAC running OS 10.9.5, but since my keyboard won't interface with any other mac or PC computer OS and HW probably don't matter.
Apple keyboards have firmware and NVRAM. USB devices and cables can have trouble and have to "sit on shelf" to clear their NVRAM.
Resetting NVRAM and SMC is about all you can do, and avoid using hub (as then you have a hub plugged into a 2nd hub) and use a spare keyboard. I had a newly purchases $60 Apple pro extended keyboard, end up using the $12 MS white keyboard I picked up to help with troubleshooting.
Usually, avoid a hub! keyboards have their own hub, that is how they get to support and have USB ports on them. (My MS keyboards do not have extra USB ports).
Not sure but I guess iMac owners found the thread through searches.
The USB power budget for a Mac keyboard attached to most Macs is extremely limited. Using the keyboard's Hub for anything except a single low powered mouse may cause the keyboard to malfunction.
I learned this when I plugged a nominal self-powered (supposedly does not draw any power) USB device into the keyboard's USB port. The device worked fine, and the keyboard's alpha and upper numerics worked fine. When I next used the numeric keypad to enter a credit card number, my card was refused. Debugging showed that the numeric keypad was sending an occasional wrong key.
Removed the device from the keyboard Hub, and all was well again.
Apple wired aluminium keyboard not working
