9

EDIT: Use blueutil to pair keyboard via the command line via solution below or:

Pair with a Bluetooth device over Terminal

I have trouble pairing again my white Apple Wireless Keyboard (2003) (S/N M9270LL/A or A1016) to my 15-inch 2016 MacBook Pro after update to Monterey 12.0.1. Here is my setup:

  1. Device turned on and in 'Discovery' mode, it appears in the 'Bluetooth' panel in 'System Preferences', in the list of unpaired devices.
  2. By clicking on 'Connect' button, nothing happens until 'Return' key is pressed.
  3. Then, the panel indicating the 6-digit 'Passkey' appears (the Passkey being different each time) and then immediately disappears.
  4. If no key is pressed though, the panel never appears and pairing simply fails; then the Connect button is clickable again within approximately 20 seconds.
  5. Device status in BT panel then indicates 'Passkey doesn't match' (as I was unable to enter the passkey anyway).

I have tried turning Bluetooth off and on, rebooting Mac and reseting SMC+PRAM countless times, as well as replacing the batteries. Since I own two of these I tried with both and the problem is exactly the same. The two worked seamlessly on that computer before the update. I haven't got another computer to test them on unfortunately. My headphones, mouse and DualShock 4 controller pair and connect fine to that same computer.

I was unable to reset the Bluetooth module or delete all devices since you can't have access to these options anymore by opening Bluetooth menu in Menu Bar while pressing alt+shift after update to Monterey.

WTF_is_a_sesame
  • 93

2 Answers2

8

After many hours of experimenting, I finally got my A1016 keyboard to connect to a brand-new Apple Silicon MBP running Monterey, and I found your post helpful, but the steps were not quite right.

I used blueutil, installed via brew, and the first command I ran was

blueutil --inquiry

while the keyboard was in discovery mode (the power light blinking)

I was able to get the MAC address and I also noticed a +0000 at the end of the info line from the 'inquiry' command. I am not sure what this represented, but I was wondering if this had something do to with a default passcode or that the passcode should be 4 digits? Maybe not, but I ended up using 0000 as my passcode successfully.

The steps that worked to connect for me (with keyboard in discovery mode):

blueutil --pair [mac address, lowercase on the letters, separated by dashes, no brackets] 0000

Then (after 5-10 seconds), I typed 0000 on the numbers above the alphabetical keyboard, and pressed 'Return' (also on the main keyboard). I tried 0000 and 'Enter' on the numeric keypad first and that did not work.

That got me paired, then I still had to go into the bluetooth settings in the GUI and select the keyboard and 'Connect'.

nohillside
  • 100,768
doublepluskat
  • 96
  • I did not intent to suggest that the --inquiry command needed to be run every time, I was just trying to explain all the steps to help anyone else who might be googling this keyboard model and trying to establish a connection.
    I do not think I ever saw the line about "Input Pin". If you are pressing return before you press the 0000 on the top of the keyboard that might be your error. I just saw a blinking cursor and after 5-10 seconds of nothing happening, typed 0000 + Return, then got the message that it had paired (with error). But I was then able to "Connect" in the GUI.     – doublepluskat Nov 06 '21 at 21:17
  • 1
    Eventually got it to work for me! The issue for me was there were too many BT devices on nearby. The workaround was to shut off all BT devices and run the above commands. Thanks! – Steven Levine Dec 26 '21 at 19:32
  • 1
    For me it was a bit different. 0000 didn't work for initially. Then I tried 000000 (six zeros) and it said peerPairingCompleted:withError:. Then I did 0000 and after about 10 seconds typed that on external KB and it worked. Maybe the magic is just to wait longer. Keep trying if you have this problem – captain Feb 11 '22 at 00:18
  • Which part of the command blueutil --inquiry result is the Mac address? It seems that this is referring to the device's address as the sequence of numbers and dashes (XX-XX...) after the address, e.g., address: XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX, not connected, not favourite, not paired, name: "{Device name}", recent access date: 2022-08-18 17:03:36 +0000. – AdamHurwitz Aug 18 '22 at 17:06
  • I've run the --pair command with the keyboard's Mac address and I am receiving an error: Status: 31 Failed to pair "{XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX" with error 0x1f (Unspecified Error) – AdamHurwitz Aug 18 '22 at 17:26
  • I've created a post covering macOS Monterey v12.5.1 and the Apple wireless keyboard A1314 (With batteries). – AdamHurwitz Aug 18 '22 at 18:17
1

Long Story Short. :-)

1.) open Terminal

an then Copy & Paste the next Steps in the Terminal

2.) /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

3.) brew install blueutil

4.) blueutil --pair [Mac adress] 0000

5.) Then (after 5-10 seconds), I typed 0000 on the numbers above the alphabetical keyboard, and pressed 'Return' (also on the main keyboard). I tried 0000 and 'Enter' on the numeric keypad first and that did not work. That got me paired, then I still had to go into the bluetooth settings in the GUI and select the keyboard and 'Connect'.

Ready! :-) Thanks a lot for your Help!!!

Mirko Langhardt
  • 21