Wireless Keyboard Stopped Communicating With Mac

I use an Apple wireless keyboard and the Not Connected message appeared this morning on my MacBook Pro. The KB and MBP are in close proximity to one another and I have never seen this message before in this position. It will occur when I take the MBP elsewhere in the house and always reconnects automatically when brought back to the KB.

Even though I had not received a low battery alert, I changed the batteries. When turning the KB on, I noted the blink-blink-pause pattern denoting that the KB should be discoverable.

In System Preferences, I checked to see if Bluetooth was on and the MBP discoverable. Then went to Keyboard/Set Up Bluetooth Keyboard and it will not discover the keyboard. I then went to Change Keyboard Type and it would not recognize it there either.

I removed and reinstalled the KB batteries, restarted the MBP, turned the KB on and got the two blink pattern, repeated the set up process in System Preferences and no change.

Any and all thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Hi Rick

Not sure why this is happening but I found this suggestion for when you have trouble:

If you are having problems with getting an Apple Wireless Bluetooth keyboard, mouse or trackpad from connecting to your Mac (iMac, Macbook or Mac Pro), you can try this trick. The following mentions the keyboard, but it should work for other wireless devices that have a on/off switch of the contact type (i.e. press on and off, rather than a physical slide switch).

Switch off the keyboard by holding down the power button for at least 3 seconds
Click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar
Click on “Set Up Bluetooth Device” or “Open Bluetooth Preferences”
Turn on the keyboard by holding down the power button, BUT DO NOT LET GO OF THE POWER BUTTON. It must be kept held down through the entire process.
The Setup Assistant will find the keyboard, so click the name of the keyboard, and then click on “Continue”. Make sure you are still holding the power button down.
You will be prompted for the Pairing Code. You can now release the power button, type the pairing code on the keyboard and then press return. There will be a slight delay whilst the pairing completes (a few seconds)
The keyboard will now be Paired.
So just to clarify, the trick is to continually HOLD DOWN THE POWER BUTTON.

It's worth a try. Let me know if it worked.

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately the process did not work.

I tried it two ways, each time keeping the KB power button depressed for at least one minute; 1) clicked on the Bluetooth icon and Open Bluetooth Preferences and 2) opened System Preferences/Keyboard/Set Up Bluetooth Keyboard.

Continually pressing the KB power button results in the same blink-blink-pause sequence as simply turning it on normally. That makes me wonder if this process was intended for a prior model Apple or a non-Apple keyboard.

As you said, worth a try. Leave no stone unturned. Thanks again for taking your time to reply.

Hi Rick,

Try what Lisa stated in the thread above to do a complete reset process, hat is the same for any bluetooth keyboard.
The point of the matter is, your keyboard is desynced to your Mac.
So try what Lisa stated. In windows I would always have to take the batteries out and press a reset button or a combination of the two to resync.
If it only works in certain areas of your house. Bluetooth is a frequency susceptable to radio interferance. Perhaps something has changed in your area. Maybe a cordless phone is too close to it, Electromagnetic forces from wires in your housing and or outside radio frequency interferance can cause this.

-hope this helps. Im new to the Mac world but I know windows fluently.

Hi Stev8,

I not only tried what Lisa suggested, as listed in the reply above, but prior to that I also removed the batteries after I had installed new ones.

I read in a thread from another forum, that was dated several years ago, that a poster had taken the batteries out for 30 minutes (?) and had done a few other things to get his KB to work. His process did not work either, but I believe he was dealing with a prior model KB that seemed problematic around 2008.

In any case, you are correct that the KB is desynced. I just tried a test to determine if the problem is with the KB or the laptop. The KB will connect to my iPad. The iPad will not connect to the laptop. So the KB is Ok and the problem lies in the laptop.

Thank you for your reply and welcome to the Mac world.

Hi Rick,

Yea, my dad had a hard time getting his keyboard to sync when he first go his iMac.

It sounds logical that. The problem is is maybe because I presume you are using the same keyboard between you ipad and your macbook pro. Each time you use it on one resync it to the other. Other than that Id simply remove the batteries for a day then re-run that wizard.

I fund with the buttom at the side you press it twice to get the light to say its on. Simply turn the mac on after.

Im sure all of this sounds very logical to you.

Other than that, your KB might be faulty or you need to upgrade your OSX.

thanks

Stevo

Hi Stevo,

I just solved the problem. I tried a combination that I had yet to try. Turned Bluetooth off, restarted the laptop, turned Bluetooth on, turned KB on, opened System Preferences/Keyboard/Set Up Bluetooth Keyboard, the code number appeared, entered it, hit Return and that was all there was to it.

So for some reason, Bluetooth on the laptop hiccuped and it was just a matter of finding the right reset procedure. I have found that often times the answer to a problem turns out to be something simple. The key is not to over think it in the first place.

Glad you got it fixed Rick! We have an iMac at work with a bluetooth keyboard and so far it has been fine but if it messes up I will remember your solution.

Lisa

Yea all Bluetooth keyboards do that even for windows