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Keyboard problem

Avatar Roy Rainford
The 'short' Apple wireless keyboard on my iMac has stopped working. Bluetooth is still working on the mouse and trackpad. Battery level shows 69% in System Prefs and even so, I tried new batteries at 100%. (2 x AA).
The green small light on top of the keyboard will not stay on. When I press it to switch on it glows green for 3-4 seconds then goes out. Wondering if the switch is faulty? However it was ok this morning and I haven;t used the switch for months.
I have another keyboard on my older iMac (being used for this message) and wonder if this could be used temporarily on the newer iMac? However I tried this but it wasn't picked up by Bluetooth. Does it have to be 'paired' in some way?

Re: Keyboard problem

Avatar Mick Burrell
Go to System Preferences and in the keyboard section use Set Up a Bluetooth Keyboard

Re: Keyboard problem

Avatar Roy Rainford
Thanks Mick. I had tried that but the iMac didn't find the old keyboard even after about five minutes of 'searching'. After seeing your comment I thought perhaps I hadn't given it long enough to search so tried again and gave it longer to connect. The retry didn't work at first so tried again for longer (about 10 mins) and it did connect. I keyed in the pass numbers that came up to pair the devices and was able to type only one symbol before it lost contact again. Am now back on the old iMac which works as normal.
Not sure what is happening on the newer iMac because the mouse and trackpad both work.

Re: Keyboard problem

Avatar Roy Rainford
After switching the keyboard on/off several times and going through the System Prefs procedure again - Eureka! It came back to life!
Haven't a clue what the problem was but hope it continues to work.

Re: Keyboard problem

Avatar Tony Still
Roy,
Could you be turning it off accidentally? I ask because I think it's rather too easy to confuse on and off!

My other half has the 'short' aluminium Apple keyboard that I think is the same as you describe. The behaviour of the light is as follows (disclaimer: I've never seen this written down, I have deduced what it actually does).

Press and hold the button:
If the light comes on after several seconds of darkness, you have turned on the keyboard. The light will EXTINGUISH AGAIN when you release the button but the keyboard remains on (though it will hibernate if you don't use it for a while)
If the light comes on immediately and extinguishes after several seconds then the keyboard was on but you have now turned it off.

Not keeping the light lit seems like rather extreme power-saving but it is consistent with the Apple mouse whose light is generally off (though it's a bit like the fridge door in that it lights when you pick up the mouse...).

Tony

Re: Keyboard problem

Avatar Roy Rainford
Thanks for your comments Tony. I think you are right about turning it off accidentally. It is the 'short' one and space is limited on my keyboard shelf. Alongside is my trackpad and I see that the corner of that just hits the on/off button of the keyboard in the centre. Your 'press and hold' comments are very helpful thanks again.
Roy
 
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