Apple Wireless Keyboard: Connection Lost; Options?

[mactastic]

Here's the setup:
Mac Mini, mid 2010
Apple Wireless Keyboard
Apple Magic Trackpad

The mini is in the entertainment center, about 7-8 feet from the couch, however it is exposed. There are no physical barriers between the keyboard location and the mini.

Every once in a while the keyboard connection drops out. If I wait a few seconds, and push the power button on the keyboard, it eventually regains it's connection. It doesn't happen too often, maybe once every day or so. But it always seems to happen at a bad time. I guess there's not really a good time for your keyboard to crap out, but I digress.

Meanwhile, the trackpad never loses it's connection. Which leads me to think it's something with the keyboard.

Do I return this keyboard? Will a new one fix this problem? The trackpad works flawlessly, it would be nice if the keyboard did the same. Otherwise I can't see using one of these for working. It'd be fine in the entertainment center, but not on a desk.

Thanks.

 

[jungleland26]

I've been getting the same thing on both my touchpad and keyboard....running a westmere mac pro... Mine are 1 foot from the cpu..... It's random, and not very frequent, but annoying nonetheless... I paid for perfection

 

[applemagic123]

very annoying!!!

When I watch a movie or listen to iTunes or do something that doesn't require a keyboard, I turn off the wireless keyboard and 5 seconds later I get that annoying "connection lost" on the bottom of my screen. It is SOOOO annoying!!

I also turn off the keyboard before I put my iMac to sleep, but if I put it to sleep directly after I turn off the keyboard, my iMac wakes up 5 seconds later and shows the stupid 'connection lost' pop up. Like dude, seriously, I don't care if there is a lost connection, APPLE!! I have to turn off the keyboard, waste 5 seconds of my life waiting for the pop up, and THEN put my iMac to sleep.

You can tell if the connection is lost without the pop up because the bluetooth logo on the menu bar will not have the 3 small dots on top of it. Sometimes, a random connection loss can be due to the battery running out. Again, you can find out how much battery power your wireless devices have by opening system preferences and then opening up the 'keyboard and mouse' settings, click on 'bluetooth' on the top, and your remaining battery power is right there, big and large for you to see. Man those programmers at apple are some of the dumbest people I can think of. Can they seriously program something else that is annoying? Sheesh.

If anyone knows of a terminal hack that can end this I would be very thankful.

 

[John T]

When I watch a movie or listen to iTunes or do something that doesn't require a keyboard, I turn off the wireless keyboard and 5 seconds later I get that annoying "connection lost" on the bottom of my screen. It is SOOOO annoying!!

If it's SOOOO annoying, why turn the keyboard off in the first place? If you leave it alone it'll go to sleep automatically.

 

[applemagic123]

If it's SOOOO annoying, why turn the keyboard off in the first place? If you leave it alone it'll go to sleep automatically.

You really don't need to respond if you're not answering the question. This isn't a discussion thread. My keyboard doesn't go to sleep after x amount of time. If one has iStat pro, it shows the battery percentage. Just to experiment, I left my keyboard on, put the iMac to sleep, went to work, and when I came back, the keyboard had lost a whole 1 percent of battery power. That's quite a lot for just a 5 hour work shift.

Now...if someone can please be PRODUCTIVE and give me some sort of terminal hack/command that can fix this then I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[GGJstudios]

You really don't need to respond if you're not answering the question. This isn't a discussion thread.

All threads are discussion threads. If you don't like the answers you get, don't ask the questions. This is a forum. People are free to respond to any thread they choose. If you don't like a particular post, ignore it.

My keyboard doesn't go to sleep after x amount of time.

If you have the Apple Wireless Keyboard, it does indeed "sleep" (actually, power off) when you leave it alone for several minutes. It will not consume battery power while powered off.
From: http://www.apple.com/keyboard/

And its intelligent power management system conserves battery life. So when you’re not using it, the keyboard automatically powers down. The instant you start typing, your keyboard turns on.

If one has iStat pro, it shows the battery percentage. Just to experiment, I left my keyboard on, put the iMac to sleep, went to work, and when I came back, the keyboard had lost a whole 1 percent of battery power. That's quite a lot for just a 5 hour work shift.

The 1% loss you refer to most likely indicates it was on the borderline between percentages and when you turned it back on by pressing a key, it crossed to the next percentage. It does not consume battery power when it's powered off. I never manually turn mine off, except when traveling, and it never consumes battery power when it's not being used.

Now...if someone can please be PRODUCTIVE and give me some sort of terminal hack/command that can fix this then I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

There is no "hack", because there's nothing to fix. Your Mac and your keyboard are functioning as designed. If you don't like the way they work, buy a Windows PC.

 

[applemagic123]

Well, I hope we can all agree (including the fan boiz) that not EVERY operating system is perfect! It IS annoying for a popup to tell me that there is a lost connection when there are 2 or 3 other ways to tell if a connection is lost. Please do not try to dismiss the fact that my wireless keyboard does NOT sleep after a few minutes. I have the older wireless keyboard. My iMac is NOT the new one, it is an early 2009 model, the one that shipped with a wired keyboard. I'm sorry to break it to you, hunny, but EVERYTHING that can go into sleep mode or standby mode uses a TINY TRICKLE amount of power. Nothing significant, but it still uses power. Try putting your macbook to sleep, take out the charging cord, and within a week (give or take), you will have 0 battery power.

And as far as terminal is concerned, there are command lines for things nobody has ever thought about. You can do anything with terminal if you are familiar with unix code. I'm not, but just sayin'.

And no thank you! I will not use windows. If anything, I would install linux on my mac, or if I ever bought a PC, I would run linux, not windows, on it. I hope you all realize that all a mac is is a shiny, expensive version of linux ubuntu. I mean, the mac programmers program the macs on a LINUX MACHINE!

I'm sorry but it's mac people like you that really make me want to use linux instead of mac. You can have your mac os all to yourself.

 

[GGJstudios]

Well, I hope we can all agree ... that not EVERY operating system is perfect!

No one claimed any OS is perfect. And I'm not a fanboy or boy of any kind.

It IS annoying for a popup to tell me that there is a lost connection when there are 2 or 3 other ways to tell if a connection is lost.

Just because it's annoying to you doesn't mean it's annoying to everyone else, or that it is in any way a flaw in the OS. If you don't like the popup, that's your right. But Mac OS X is operating as designed in this case. If you get this worked up over a simple popup that appears for a few seconds, perhaps there are other issues at work here.

I have the older wireless keyboard. My iMac is NOT the new one, it is an early 2009 model, the one that shipped with a wired keyboard.

I have the older model, as well. It's the same for both. There is no difference in the power management system between the two models.

EVERYTHING that can go into sleep mode or standby mode uses a TINY TRICKLE amount of power.

As I already pointed out, the keyboard has no sleep or standby mode. It powers off. That means no power, not just reduced power.

Try putting your macbook to sleep, take out the charging cord, and within a week (give or take), you will have 0 battery power.

That's because a MacBook or MBP does have a sleep mode, unlike the wireless keyboard. In sleep mode, power is consumed to power RAM and keep the processor in a low power state. A keyboard has neither RAM nor a processor, so there is nothing to power. Therefore, it has no sleep mode or standby mode. It's either on or off.

I'm sorry but it's mac people like you that really make me want to use linux instead of mac. You can have your mac os all to yourself.

I don't let other people influence my choice of operating system, but if you do, that's your right. If you don't like the way Mac OS X works, there are other alternatives, such as Windows or Linux, that you can choose.

In the overall scheme of things, a popup that appears for a second or two just isn't that life-changing for me. If it is for you, you have my condolences.

 

[applemagic123]

Ok, you can go ahead and have the last word if you please.

You stated: "Just because it's annoying to you doesn't mean it's annoying to everyone else, or that it is in any way a flaw in the OS. If you don't like the popup, that's your right. But Mac OS X is operating as designed in this case. If you get this worked up over a simple popup that appears for a few seconds, perhaps there are other issues at work here."

And just because it's not annoying to other people, doesn't mean that other people don't think it's annoying. I'm not really into this whole circular logic that you're using. Me and other people are annoyed by this function. No it is not a life or death thing and no it doesn't get on my nerves, but it is a little annoying to me.

 

[John T]

No it is not a life or death thing and no it doesn't get on my nerves, but it is a little annoying to me.

Aha! You're mellowing! Your original argument was it was SOOOO Annoying.

Progress!

 

[applemagic123]

Okay dude, I don't really care what you guys say, MY keyboard does not power down and it does not save battery power. I went to sleep, left the keyboard on, put the mac to sleep. I woke up, and a FULL percentage was gone AGAIN. It went from 93% to 92%.

Sorry but you guys are flat out wrong and so is apple.

 

[GGJstudios]

Okay dude, I don't really care what you guys say, MY keyboard does not power down and it does not save battery power. I went to sleep, left the keyboard on, put the mac to sleep. I woke up, and a FULL percentage was gone AGAIN. It went from 93% to 92%.

Sorry but you guys are flat out wrong and so is apple.

Yes, of course you're right and Apple is wrong. It's possible that your keyboard is defective, because all properly functioning Apple Wireless Keyboards power off when not in use.

 

[applemagic123]

Um, apple IS wrong. Why do you think so many macs overheat? Because apple doesn't know anything about active cooling. All they care about is having a quiet fan, go ahead and let the processor and graphics card overheat. By the time the fans kick in, it's already too hot. Why do you think someone who knows better came up with SMCfancontrol and iStat pro? So you can monitor your temperatures and rev up the fans when needed.

 

[GGJstudios]

Like millions of other Mac users, I've never used SMCfancontrol and I've never had an overheating problem. The problems encountered by a small minority of users is not indicative of a widespread problem. You simply can't credibly assume that any individual issue that you've had is proof that Apple doesn't know what they're doing. No computer manufacturer is faultless, but you're off-target in identifying any widespread problem that is proof of Apple dropping the ball.

 

[applemagic123]

Well, when I say 'overheat' I don't neccessarily mean to the point of powering down, but if you ask anyone who is savvy on hardware, they will tell you that nothing should ever get above 145-150 degrees ferenheit. Even that is pushing it a little. Apple's fans kick in at about 165 degrees, which is already too high. Yes, intel specs their chips at handling about 217 degrees ferenheit before it shuts down, but 165 is too high. Your hardware will last longer if it stays below that.

It's usually only the notebooks that have heat issues (except for the white iMacs). Just do a google search for "melted powerbook." A lot of people with macbooks complain as well. I mean, in all honesty, Apple's notebooks are super skinny, so there's not a lot of room for it to breath. A windows computer's fans will rev up depending on how many threads are being used, so the fans rev up appropriately, apple only revs up the fans once it reaches too high of a temperature.

 

[GGJstudios]

Well, when I say 'overheat' I don't neccessarily mean to the point of powering down, but if you ask anyone who is savvy on hardware, they will tell you that nothing should ever get above 145-150 degrees ferenheit. Even that is pushing it a little. Apple's fans kick in at about 165 degrees, which is already too high.

Correction: the fans on the MBP stay on all the time. They never go below around 2000 rpm. They spin faster when needed, and not just when temperature spikes at high temps, but when high temps are sustained for a period of time. Macs are designed to operate properly at higher temps. Just because you're of the opinion that they're too high doesn't mean they are.

It's usually only the notebooks that have heat issues (except for the white iMacs). Just do a google search for "melted powerbook." A lot of people with macbooks complain as well.

If you take all the complaints in all the forums and blogs on the web, you still have a minute fraction of Mac users out there. Apple sells over a million Macs per month, more than double this forum's entire membership. People don't usually post just to say they've had zero problems, so basing your assumptions on complaints that you've read or heard about is not accurate, since it's not a representative sampling of users.

You've digressed a lot from your initial complaint that there was a popup letting you know that connection to the wireless keyboard was lost. That is not a flaw or design problem. You've been all over the map in your complaints. I get it. You don't like Apple. So buy something else.

 

[applemagic123]

Ok, the fans on EVERY computer have a default RPM. When I say 'rev up' I mean the fans going FASTER than the default speed. The default speed is not enough anyway. I always put it a couple hundred above the default.

So what if it effects a small amount of mac users. You think apple is god or something. All you people are the same. If apple does something wrong, lord forbid they admit their fault. I hate apple AS A CORPORATION. I like MACS, they're not perfect, no os is.

Also, hardware is hardware. The same exact hardware used in macs is the same exact hardware used in windows/linux machines. The only difference is that apple throws a sticker with an apple logo on them to make sure no out of warranty repairs have been made or self repairs.

I digressed? You were the one who high-jacked the thread, I was just responding.

As far as "operating at a proper temperature" they are only rated for EPEAT and energy star. The temperature is low enough to pass those two things but still high enough to cause damage. Ask anyone savvy on computers (which would NOT include mac people) what temperature your cpu should stay below at. I can give plenty of sources about this topic.

Here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080802070522AARNO4W
Here is a quote from someone on a forum: "Actually, I'm a believer of the idea that excessive thermal wear and tear is a leading cause of premature CPU death, loss of performance, increased power consumption, and loss of overclockability.

I see no reason to 'let it be' and when I first got my P4, it was running nearly 60*C at full throttle. With a little water cooling, it now never breaks 45*C when overclocked.

Yes, your computer knows what to do should temperatures become critical, I just don't think you should let it get to 'critical' in the first place."

Here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/247597-30-what-temperature
and here: http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/blog/post/common-causes-of-motherboard-failure.aspx

Now learn about it.

 

[GGJstudios]

So what if it effects a small amount of mac users. You think apple is god or something.

No, I don't. It's just that the things you're complaining about are not examples of Apple failures, because they're not failures at all.

• The pop-up indicating that connection to the wireless keyboard is lost. Not a failure. Working as designed, even if you don't like the design.
• Your complaint that your keyboard doesn't sleep. Apple Wireless Keyboards don't have a sleep mode. They power off when not in use. Working as designed, unless you have a faulty keyboard.
• Your complaint that your keyboard uses power when sleeping. Again, keyboards don't have a sleep mode. They completely power off, using no power. Not a failure. Working as designed, unless you have a faulty keyboard.
• Your complaint that "so many Macs overheat". Since the vast majority don't, not a failure. Working as designed, well within specifications, unless you're one of the very few who have a defective or altered Mac.

I digressed? You were the one who high-jacked the thread, I was just responding.

To be accurate, you're the one who hijacked the OP's thread by going off on tangents that had nothing to do with the original issue. The OP posted this thread to discuss the fact that his keyboard was losing connection. You went on a rant about the pop-up notification, then digressed to keyboard sleeping, heat issues and hating Apple Corporation as a whole. None of that had anything to do with the OP's topic. That is hijacking a thread.

It appears you want to argue for the sake of arguing, simply so you can talk trash about Apple. I have no interest in a discussion on that basis, because I couldn't care less whether you like Apple or not. I posted to correct misstatements you made. If you want to chase rabbits, you can do that on your own.