Mac Keyboard USB ports

Joined
Jul 21, 2013
Messages
153
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Your Mac's Specs
Mid 2012 MBP - 13" i5 3210M, 16GB RAM, 240GB SSD, 500GB storage (in place of optical).
i have a full sized wired Mac keyboard connected to my Windows Vista PC
and there are 2 USB ports on the keyboard
any time that i try to use the ports it doesnt work
is there something that im missing?
why put USB ports on a keyboard and not supply enough power to get them to work?

thanks for any help
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
The Apple aluminum wired keyboard is designed to work with OS X. The latest model from Apple will only work properly with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and later. Regarding the USB hub (2 ports), they're specifically designed for low power USB devices: mouse, trackpad, powered printer, and so forth. They will not properly supply power to most external hard drives or provide enough current to charge an iPod or iPhone.
 
OP
D
Joined
Jul 21, 2013
Messages
153
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Your Mac's Specs
Mid 2012 MBP - 13" i5 3210M, 16GB RAM, 240GB SSD, 500GB storage (in place of optical).
it wont power the thumb drives that ive tried either
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
it wont power the thumb drives that ive tried either

It will power a mouse or trackpad...which is what those ports are designed for.

- Nick
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Like I said above... the wired aluminum keyboard is designed to work with Mac OS X. It appears it's not compatible (USB) with Windows Vista or perhaps your PC's USB hub.

Open Control Panel, go to your hardware tree and expand the USB hub portion under USB devices and see if it's even "seeing" the USB hub on the keyboard. It's probably not showing up at all.
 
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Messages
2,511
Reaction score
134
Points
63
Location
Warrington, UK
Your Mac's Specs
PPC Mini, 10.4.11. Intel Mini, 10.6.8. MacBook Pro, 10.14.6. M1 MBA 11.6.3 iPhone 5 iOS 12.5,
it wont power the thumb drives that ive tried either
Seems like it depends on the thumbdrive. On our keyboard, most seem to work, but one that I tried, didn't.
 
OP
D
Joined
Jul 21, 2013
Messages
153
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Your Mac's Specs
Mid 2012 MBP - 13" i5 3210M, 16GB RAM, 240GB SSD, 500GB storage (in place of optical).
okay i hear you
so it will work with the magic mouse wireless charger?
last question i promise
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
Probably not designed for OS X exclusively but try it and see.
 
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
6,879
Reaction score
191
Points
63
Location
Tucson, AZ
Your Mac's Specs
Way... way too many specs to list.
okay i hear you
so it will work with the magic mouse wireless charger?
last question i promise

Charger is often more power hungry than a simple mouse is, but try it. It'll either work, or it won't.
 
Joined
Nov 19, 2006
Messages
1,774
Reaction score
81
Points
48
Location
York, UK
Your Mac's Specs
iMac: 5K 27” (2020), 3.3 GHz, 32Gb RAM. iPad2, iPad mini4, iPhone 13 Mini, Apple Watch SE
No problems here using memory sticks in the keyboard USB, nor charging my iPhone (or syncing with iTunes/iPhoto).
 
Joined
Sep 14, 2011
Messages
344
Reaction score
19
Points
18
Location
Romford, Essex, England, GB
Your Mac's Specs
Mac mini Server 4,1 (2.66GHz Core2Duo CPU, 16GB RAM, 120GB SSD, 500GB HD), iPhone SE 2nd gen (128GB)
The Apple aluminum wired keyboard is designed to work with OS X. The latest model from Apple will only work properly with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and later. Regarding the USB hub (2 ports), they're specifically designed for low power USB devices: mouse, trackpad, powered printer, and so forth. They will not properly supply power to most external hard drives or provide enough current to charge an iPod or iPhone.
I don't think it's a software issue, I think it's a hardware one.

The USB buses (forgive the tautology) on Macs are far more advanced than those on almost all PCs, capable of delivering variable (& potentially quite high) amounts of power to each individual USB port, meaning that a Mac will increase the amount of power supplied if one plugs a memory stick or even a rechargeable device into their keyboard & mouse combo; while the USB buses (sorry again) on most PCs only deliver one set amount of power to all the ports (usually quite a low amount, in order to avoid the risk of damaging anything connected; for instance I know that, despite running from a 450W PSU - of which a maximum of ~374W I believe is used when my PC is working intensively - the USB ports on my PC provide significantly less than 2W of power, as that is the rating of my tablet's mains charger, and my tablet cannot charge while syncing to my PC).
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top