Suddenly Apple Wired Keyboard not working

Question

Suddenly my wired Apple Keyboard isn't working anymore. My MacBook don't recognize the external keyboard, and the keyboard is only two weeks old.

Is the Keyboard physically broken, or is it a software issue?

What can I do to fix it?

Flipping the (USB-C) cable over worked for me. – simplikios Dec 26 '23 at 17:25 — simplikios, Dec 26 '23 at 17:25

score 87 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 02 '15 at 12:05

87

This is what solved it for me:

Eventually I found this thread on the Apple website, and followed the rather bizarre advice of adding a USB extension cable between the keyboard and the Mac (luckily the keyboard comes packaged with one). Bingo! Keyboard fine, mouse plugged into it also fine.

^{http://www.zigpress.com/2014/12/30/has-your-apple-mac-external-usb-keyboard-stopped-working/}

edited Apr 02 '15 at 12:05

grg

201,078

answered Apr 02 '15 at 11:59

stacey

871

Also this Apple thread that runs to 6 pages reaches the same conclusion: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5470234?start=75&tstart=0 – David Jun 03 '15 at 23:13
18

Had I not just experienced this myself, I wouldn't have believe this was a real fix. Utterly bizarre! – Drarok Aug 06 '15 at 13:17
3

This is what solved it for me. Apple products are becoming less and less reliable. – Pier Sep 21 '15 at 13:55
3

USB extension worked for me as well! – Sep 21 '15 at 15:36
3

@xyNNN This should be the accepted answer. – biniam Oct 21 '15 at 12:16
This solved it for me, too. However, if I now try to plug it directly it still wouldn't work. Is there a workaround, so I don't have to plug the keyboard with the extension every time? – stefita Dec 14 '15 at 12:37
This answer gave me the idea to remove my existing extension cable, and voila. Close enough. +1 – Bluu Feb 29 '16 at 00:06
@xyNNN this should be the accepted answer. I had exactly the same problem with a keyboard that would not be detected reliably through either the MacBook ports or my Thunderbolt display ports. Plugging something into the keyboard port solved the problem. – ukayer Nov 22 '16 at 17:59
It's 2018 and this is still a thing... thanks for the solution! – LeBird Jan 30 '18 at 13:54
As a bonus weird data point, I'm running into this issue with a wired Apple keyboard on a Thinkpad running Ubuntu, and using the USB extension cable provided with the keyboard fixed the issue there as well. – Michael Martin-Smucker Jun 19 '18 at 15:17
It's 2019 and this is still a thing... thanks for the solution! – Christiaan Westerbeek Mar 26 '19 at 16:06
This fixed my problem as well. Very strange. (I'm trying to connect an Apple USB keyboard to a 2018 touch-bar MBP through a Prego USB-C hub. If I connect the keyboard through Apple's overpriced USB-C adapter, it works. However, with the Prego USB-C hub it only works if I put a USB extension on the USB keyboard and then plug the extension into the hub. Very strange. – Duncan C Sep 18 '19 at 19:31
This is an old thread but the problem still persists. Resetting the SMC and/or NVRAM sometimes works for me but adding an USB hub seems to consistently work (as does using a wired pc keyboard) – Moob Dec 09 '21 at 11:36
Can confirm that this works in 2022. I had to reset the SMC and NVRAM/PRAM as well. Both (ext. cable and resets) were necessary and neither was sufficient stand-alone. Now I'm scared to unplug the keyboard and try it without the extension cable because I don't want to do the shutdown/RAM reset song and dance again. What a mess! – coder_learner Mar 01 '22 at 01:37
This works! I never knew what were this extension cables for :DDD – Guillermo Mar 14 '22 at 09:42
This is the only thing that did help me, after resetting SMC and NVRAM/PRAM a couple of times... So strange that Apple has not fixed that! – FlorianL Aug 19 '22 at 15:14
Unfortunately none of these steps worked for me. In my case, I have the receiver for my wireless mouse plugged into the keyboard's built-in usb port. The only thing that seems to work is to unplug both the mouse receiver from the keyboard and the keyboard from my laptop. I then have to let the keyboard rest for 15 minutes or so, then plug it back in and it works. My suspicion is that some kind of hardware fault has developed in the keyboard's built-in usb hub. – alexw Dec 23 '22 at 23:48
1

It's 2023 and this is still a thing. The USB extension worked for me... – Brian Agnew Sep 18 '23 at 16:53

score 19 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 20 '15 at 08:42

19

I think the problem is that the keyboard draws so little current that it won´t wake the port if you have the Apple keyboard with a usb hub.

Just stick a usb memorystick in the keyboard and re-insert the cable. If it works then just remove the memorystick or what ever you put in (doesn´t matter what).

edited Aug 20 '15 at 08:42

Deesbek

3,205

answered Aug 20 '15 at 07:54

Mr musikkråd

191

Of course, you should never connect a keyboard via a USB Hub in the first place, connect the Hub to the keyboard if you need to chain them. – Tetsujin Aug 20 '15 at 08:43
I can confirm that charging your cell phone via one of the USB ports on the keyboard will also resolve things. – James Mar 22 '16 at 17:43
@Tetsujin why should you not plug a keyboard into a hub? It seems counterintuitive to put the keyboard as a bottleneck when you have a powered hub. – devios1 Aug 12 '16 at 16:51
It's always been 'standard practise' to not put important or time-sensitive devices behind a hub. Frankly I've no idea why, technically, but I always keep my keyboard & my audio i/o on their own ports; everything else can share an 8-way hub. – Tetsujin Aug 12 '16 at 17:01
1

Inspired by the initial remark about "so little power", I found that plugging a wired mouse into the keyboard before connecting it to the computer caused the keyboard to be recognized (and I could then unplug the mouse). – jscs Oct 21 '17 at 16:20
1

My keyboard/mouse combo doesn't work. If I attach the keyboard through a USB extension cable, as described in stacey's answer, that works. Very odd. – Duncan C Sep 18 '19 at 19:33
Plugging Mouse+Keyboard into the hub only the mouse worked. Chaining the mouse though the Keyboard and suddenly both are working! – Nick Jul 24 '23 at 12:48

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '20 at 08:04

14

I resolved my issue by following the SMC Reset instructions here.

Basically unplug everything, power down the mac, hold the power button for 5 seconds. Once the system has rebooted then reattached all peripherals. Then my keyboard started working again.

Kieran

edited Jun 15 '20 at 08:04

Community

1

answered Jan 19 '15 at 11:15

Kieran Cummins

156

I will try it and inform you if it helped. – xyNNN Jan 20 '15 at 08:29
This worked for me http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295, thanks! – xyNNN Jan 28 '15 at 07:29
This worked for me after upgrading to macOS High Sierra. – Matt Hudson Jan 16 '18 at 02:29
1

After SMC reset, it didn't work, I reset NVRAM with instructions here https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT204063 and finally worked. – Sumesh Mar 06 '20 at 07:36
Just upgraded to macOS Catalina 10.15.4 and my USB keyboard with extension cable stopped working. @Sumesh's solution fixed it. – YeeHaw1234 Apr 09 '20 at 18:33
I am sorry but this is not a solution. Restarting should be the last resort – Rahul Kadukar Dec 16 '20 at 15:10

matt burns · Answer 4 · 2015-10-13T10:27:09.017

2

I just had this on a box-fresh macbook pro. Sigh. This was the only thing that worked for me:

To reset the SMC:

Shut down the computer. Plug in the MagSafe or USB-C power adapter to a power source and to your computer.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.

Source: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

Update

Actually, using the USB extension lead is all that works now. Reproducibly weird.

edited Oct 13 '15 at 10:27

answered Apr 21 '15 at 15:46

matt burns

3,812
3
21
24

1

Using the USB extension fixed it immediately for me. – Uri Jun 17 '16 at 13:55
May be a similar reason as to why keyboards work when a peripheral is plugged in to them, as suggested a few times on this page. The keyboard may start to draw more power with the extension lead present, which then makes it recognised. – Jayden Lawson Jul 02 '20 at 01:26
I was super hesitant to try this, but eventually did and.. it worked! I don't understand it, but at least it is working now. So strange. For completeness, I used a 3 meter Amazon Basics USB2.0 extension cable, plugged into an Anker USB3.1 hub, into my MacBook 2018 with 4 Thunderbolt ports. – Jim Dec 07 '21 at 14:59

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 15 '15 at 09:04

1

Just tried adding a usb memory stick fix, and it worked. I can't believe I am having to do this, why can't apple recognise that it is a problem.

answered Sep 15 '15 at 09:04

jez

21

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 21 '15 at 16:02

I had a similar problem. Brand new iMac that refused to detect my wired keyboard.

After a lot of experimenting, I resolved the problem by removing my bluetooth keyboard from the bluetooth devices list completely and then plugging in the wired keyboard.

Open System Preferences and select “Bluetooth”
A list of the devices detected (both paired and unpaired) will appear.
Hover your mouse to the right of any connected bluetooth keyboard and press the x that appears, to remove it from the list completely.
Finally, connect your wired keyboard and hopefully voila. For me, everything returned to normal.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 27 '15 at 18:02

0

Since February 2015, I've had this happen to me twice. Mac refusing to recognize wired keyboard (new mac keyboard received at Xmas). Holding down power button 5 sec after rebooting works for me, but this should be happening at all! Disabled Bluetooth, removed all connections as well

answered Mar 27 '15 at 18:02

user119817

19

1

This does not really answer the question. If you have sufficient reputation, you may upvote the question. Alternatively, "star" it as a favourite and you will be notified of any new answers. If you have a different question, you can ask it by clicking Ask Question with a link to this question if it helps provide context. – grg Mar 27 '15 at 18:49

score 0 · Answer 8 · edited Sep 21 '15 at 16:02

0

On my iMac the wired keyboard quit working—I checked the USB ports, which all worked. I tried the keyboard on my MacBook, which worked. Then I read this blog. The restart didn't work but as a last resort I tried the USB extension and to my surprise, the keyboard works again.

edited Sep 21 '15 at 16:02

Alex

1,432

answered Sep 14 '15 at 01:35

Robert

1

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 15 '15 at 12:07

I have a usb hub attached to the kyboard, and the keyboard plugged directly into my imac. I tried adding a usb extension cable between the keyboard and imac, but the usb hub light kept blinking and the keyboard wouldn't work. I removed the extension cable. Now the usb hub light didn't even blink. I unplugged and replugged the keyboard a few times, and on one of the atempts it started working again. No idea exactly what's going on. wiggling the usb connections doesn't work, so it doesn't seem to be a loose connection -- the connector actually has to be unplugged for a few seconds and then plugged back in for it to work.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 30 '22 at 19:59

0

I had the same issue on my 2015 Air. I had a mouse dongle in the keyboard and plugged it straight into the computer and it didn't work. I plugged a USB hub into the computer and plugged the keyboard into that and it started working for some reason.

answered Jan 30 '22 at 19:59

jimmysofat6864

13

Suddenly Apple Wired Keyboard not working

10 Answers10

Update

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