Can't connect Apple keyboard on first startup.

RKilbane20 · Aug 16, 2011, 03:11 PM

My keyboard won't sync to my new Mac mini. It was paired to my iPad but I unpaired it and it still won't connect. Any mouse button I can hit to bring up utilities or something. Don't haveva USB keyboard to finish setup.

Mr.C · Aug 16, 2011, 03:52 PM

I'm afraid not. You will need to get a USB keyboard. This issue has already been covered in the following thread ...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1210004

and here ...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1206120

JDLang · Aug 16, 2011, 04:38 PM

Unfortunately, you are going to have to find a USB keyboard. I am lucky enough to work in a building with about 350 tech people, and all of them running either Unix/Linux/Mac systems. Oddly enough, it still took me about 3 hours to find somebody not using a wireless keyboard...

It felt very Microsoft-ish dealing with this issue, however.

MattyO · Aug 17, 2011, 01:00 AM

I have the same problem wiht a Dell BT mouse. I went and bought a magic mouse and will do the set up and then return the mouse tomorrow once set up is complete. Seems like a lot of people are having this problem.

Mr.C · Aug 17, 2011, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattyO

I have the same problem wiht a Dell BT mouse. I went and bought a magic mouse and will do the set up and then return the mouse tomorrow once set up is complete. Seems like a lot of people are having this problem.

The Apple Magic Mouse probably won't work either as it uses Bluetooth. You will probably need to get an Apple Mighty Mouse or any other USB mouse. I used the Apple Mighty Mouse which I still had lying around.

specialk0449 · Aug 17, 2011, 05:00 PM

I experienced the same problem that other people have had with pairing the BT magic mouse and the magic trackpad with my Mac mini during the initial setup. I had to use a USB mouse and keyboard. I bought the magic mouse and trackpad new at the same time that I purchased the Mac mini. It was not a case of having paired the devices with another Mac computer.

If you download and read the PDF instruction manual it recommends using a USB mouse and keyboard during the setup process. My BT accessories paired very quickly once the setup was complete.

MattyO · Aug 17, 2011, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.C

The Apple Magic Mouse probably won't work either as it uses Bluetooth. You will probably need to get an Apple Mighty Mouse or any other USB mouse. I used the Apple Mighty Mouse which I still had lying around.

yeah, sorry that is exactly what I meant, the USB mouse. Went and bought one last night and was able to complete the start up no problems. Will keep the mouse as a back up if needed.

macbook123 · Aug 17, 2011, 11:46 PM

Once again one has to congratulate Apple management on a monumental achievement of quality control. They probably have a team of hundreds of people responsible for designing the Mac Mini and its interaction with OS X, of which there are probably at least a dozen responsible one way or another for quality control. Each of them probably gets paid in excess of six figures. And none of them tries to turn that damn computer on just to see if the end-user would be able to actually use it without buying a friggin' USB keyboard? What are they paying these people millions of dollars for? To pick their noses? This is ridiculous.

Kenc1103 · Aug 17, 2011, 11:56 PM

I had the exact same problem that my new Mac mini server wouldn't detect my wireless keyboard, ended up buying a USB keyboard just to complete the setup.

OTACORB · Aug 17, 2011, 11:58 PM

We setup a new mini server today too and also had to end up using a USB keyboard to do the internet recovery and setup after installing a new SSD.

I am not sure what is up with this, but clearly it has something to do with the new Bluetooth 4.0 that Apple went with on these bad boys.

krburrell · Aug 18, 2011, 12:04 AM

These is a big basic oversight but hopefully they come up an update so this does not happen in the future.

vert18 · Aug 18, 2011, 12:29 AM

I have a spare usb (12 bucks or less/used) just for "just in case" problems

just for your know.. the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse works just fine during a Linux install or win7 install

just got to mouse click the screen once.. and it will figure itself out.

(2011 macmini) (2010 mini server) (macbook pro sold to a college hopeful)

fireman13 · Aug 18, 2011, 06:07 AM

Has anyone bought a new mini that came with 10.7.1 and still having the same setup issues.
Just wondering if the update may have fixed this for new users.

jollyreaper · Feb 7, 2013, 07:14 PM

Well it's 2013 and I had to replace my dead mini. It had set up great with wireless. These many years later, I need to drive out and get a USB to complete the setup because nobody tests things. It just works! Yeah, they make money and make chumps out of us. What a scam! It just works.

famous600 · Feb 7, 2013, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollyreaper

Well it's 2013 and I had to replace my dead mini. It had set up great with wireless. These many years later, I need to drive out and get a USB to complete the setup because nobody tests things. It just works! Yeah, they make money and make chumps out of us. What a scam! It just works.

Try booting into recovery, turning the keyboard off then back on, it should pair, then restart.

jollyreaper · Feb 7, 2013, 08:53 PM

It paired fine after I plugged in a USB and got to the desktop and then added a second keyboard.

How would I boot into recovery if the system didn't detect a keyboard in the first place? Recovery requires a keyboard shortcut, right?

sahnert · Feb 7, 2013, 09:03 PM

Here are Apple's instructions for resolving this issue. Looks like it can be done without a USB mouse.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4456

paulrbeers · Feb 7, 2013, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollyreaper

Well it's 2013 and I had to replace my dead mini. It had set up great with wireless. These many years later, I need to drive out and get a USB to complete the setup because nobody tests things. It just works! Yeah, they make money and make chumps out of us. What a scam! It just works.

Strange I've used my BT keyboard and track pad on multiple macs all during initial setup with little to no issues. 1st I make sure they are unpaired with the pervious machine and then when the setup keyboard screen comes up I just have to hit the power button on the keyboard a couple times until it pairs. Most of the time it does it with the first power off/on but sometimes I have to do it a couple times. Always works....

famous600 · Feb 7, 2013, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollyreaper

It paired fine after I plugged in a USB and got to the desktop and then added a second keyboard.

How would I boot into recovery if the system didn't detect a keyboard in the first place? Recovery requires a keyboard shortcut, right?

The system should detect it. I've had this happen to many people where their Bluetooth keyboard doesn't pair. Hold down cmd r and that gets them into recovery.

jollyreaper · Feb 8, 2013, 06:25 AM

That works even when the keyboard is not yet detected and paired?

The reason why they were still paired with the old machine is it died and I couldn't unpair them, it being dead and all.

Timonsta · Feb 8, 2013, 06:32 AM

I had a similar problem with Mac Mini initial setup with Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. Mouse paired ok but needed to use a USB kb to finish setup.

rbrian · Feb 8, 2013, 03:57 PM

I bought a USB keyboard and mouse set off Amazon for the princely sum of £4. It's a small price to pay for hassle free setup, and it even seems to be adequate quality.

Aug 16, 2011, 03:11 PM	#1
RKilbane20 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jun 2009	Can't connect Apple keyboard on first startup. My keyboard won't sync to my new Mac mini. It was paired to my iPad but I unpaired it and it still won't connect. Any mouse button I can hit to bring up utilities or something. Don't haveva USB keyboard to finish setup.
	0

Aug 16, 2011, 03:52 PM	#2
Mr.C macrumors 68000 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: London, UK.	I'm afraid not. You will need to get a USB keyboard. This issue has already been covered in the following thread ... http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1210004 and here ... http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1206120 __________________ 2011 Mac Mini i7 2.7GHz 8GB RAM 750GB HD\|MacBook Air 13" 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo 2GB RAM 80GB HD\|iPad Third Generation 64GB Wi-Fi+4G White\|iPhone 5 64GB Black
	0

Aug 17, 2011, 11:58 PM	#10
OTACORB macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Central, Louisiana	We setup a new mini server today too and also had to end up using a USB keyboard to do the internet recovery and setup after installing a new SSD. I am not sure what is up with this, but clearly it has something to do with the new Bluetooth 4.0 that Apple went with on these bad boys. __________________ MacBook Pro (2009) 2.26Ghz, 240GB SSD, 4GB RAM Mac Mini (2012) 2.3 quad-core i7 240GB 6gb/s SSD, 16GB RAM iPhone 5 White 32GB; iPad Mini 32GB White Wifi/Verizon
	0

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Aug 16, 2011, 04:38 PM	#3
JDLang macrumors newbie Join Date: Aug 2011	Unfortunately, you are going to have to find a USB keyboard. I am lucky enough to work in a building with about 350 tech people, and all of them running either Unix/Linux/Mac systems. Oddly enough, it still took me about 3 hours to find somebody not using a wireless keyboard... It felt very Microsoft-ish dealing with this issue, however.
	0

Aug 17, 2011, 01:00 AM	#4
MattyO macrumors regular Join Date: May 2011	I have the same problem wiht a Dell BT mouse. I went and bought a magic mouse and will do the set up and then return the mouse tomorrow once set up is complete. Seems like a lot of people are having this problem.
	0

Aug 17, 2011, 05:00 PM	#6
specialk0449 macrumors member Join Date: Feb 2011	I experienced the same problem that other people have had with pairing the BT magic mouse and the magic trackpad with my Mac mini during the initial setup. I had to use a USB mouse and keyboard. I bought the magic mouse and trackpad new at the same time that I purchased the Mac mini. It was not a case of having paired the devices with another Mac computer. If you download and read the PDF instruction manual it recommends using a USB mouse and keyboard during the setup process. My BT accessories paired very quickly once the setup was complete.
	0

Aug 17, 2011, 11:46 PM	#8
macbook123 macrumors 68000 Join Date: Feb 2006	Once again one has to congratulate Apple management on a monumental achievement of quality control. They probably have a team of hundreds of people responsible for designing the Mac Mini and its interaction with OS X, of which there are probably at least a dozen responsible one way or another for quality control. Each of them probably gets paid in excess of six figures. And none of them tries to turn that damn computer on just to see if the end-user would be able to actually use it without buying a friggin' USB keyboard? What are they paying these people millions of dollars for? To pick their noses? This is ridiculous.
	2

Aug 17, 2011, 11:56 PM	#9
Kenc1103 macrumors newbie Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Fremont, CA	I had the exact same problem that my new Mac mini server wouldn't detect my wireless keyboard, ended up buying a USB keyboard just to complete the setup.
	0

Aug 18, 2011, 12:04 AM	#11
krburrell macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2007	These is a big basic oversight but hopefully they come up an update so this does not happen in the future.
	0

Aug 18, 2011, 12:29 AM	#12
vert18 macrumors member Join Date: Oct 2010	I have a spare usb (12 bucks or less/used) just for "just in case" problems just for your know.. the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse works just fine during a Linux install or win7 install just got to mouse click the screen once.. and it will figure itself out. (2011 macmini) (2010 mini server) (macbook pro sold to a college hopeful)
	0

Aug 18, 2011, 06:07 AM	#13
fireman13 macrumors regular Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Florida Panhandle	Has anyone bought a new mini that came with 10.7.1 and still having the same setup issues. Just wondering if the update may have fixed this for new users.
	0

Feb 7, 2013, 07:14 PM	#14
jollyreaper macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2011	Well it's 2013 and I had to replace my dead mini. It had set up great with wireless. These many years later, I need to drive out and get a USB to complete the setup because nobody tests things. It just works! Yeah, they make money and make chumps out of us. What a scam! It just works.
	0

Feb 7, 2013, 08:53 PM	#16
jollyreaper macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2011	It paired fine after I plugged in a USB and got to the desktop and then added a second keyboard. How would I boot into recovery if the system didn't detect a keyboard in the first place? Recovery requires a keyboard shortcut, right?
	0

Feb 7, 2013, 09:03 PM	#17
sahnert macrumors 6502 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Seattle	Here are Apple's instructions for resolving this issue. Looks like it can be done without a USB mouse. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4456
	0

Feb 8, 2013, 06:25 AM	#20
jollyreaper macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2011	That works even when the keyboard is not yet detected and paired? The reason why they were still paired with the old machine is it died and I couldn't unpair them, it being dead and all.
	0

Feb 8, 2013, 06:32 AM	#21
Timonsta macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2013	I had a similar problem with Mac Mini initial setup with Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. Mouse paired ok but needed to use a USB kb to finish setup.
	0

Feb 8, 2013, 03:57 PM	#22
rbrian macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Aberdeen, Scotland	I bought a USB keyboard and mouse set off Amazon for the princely sum of £4. It's a small price to pay for hassle free setup, and it even seems to be adequate quality.
	0