Apple Wireless Keyboard going nuts

[swindmill]

I just got an Apple Bluetooth keyboard. It was working fine for a few minutes, but now it has started acting up. When I type something there will be a delay, and then it will enter a character up to 20 or more times before entering the next character I typed, that one too, as many as 20 or so times. I tried deleting the pairing, removing batteries, and repairing, but no luck. Has anyone had, or heard of, a similar problem?

edit: maybe should be in hardware tech forum

 

[pdpfilms]

that tends to happen to mine when it gets out of range...maybe there's interference in your office? Do you have any other bluetooth devices around?

 

[swindmill]

I'm also using a Macally BT mouse and I have a BT phone connected using Bluephone Elite. I have turned off the BT on the phone, and even tried turning off the mouse, but it still isn't working correctly. The PB is only 8"-12" away. I was also thinkning interference, but I can't figure it out. Like I said though, it worked fine when I first tried it.

 

[mkrishnan]

You said you tried removing the batteries...did you also try *replacing* them? Sometimes bluetooth hardware goes batty on low batteries.

 

[swindmill]

I just took it out of the box, and the batteries are showing up as having full power.

I turned off the key repeat in keyboard preferences, so now all I'm dealing with is the delay. If I type sentence at normal typing speed, it may take 30 seconds to a minute for it to actually transmit and show up on the screen.

I've now tried removing batteries, repairing, turning off all other BT devices, and restarting the computer. Any other ideas? Or could this just be a bad keyboard somehow?

 

[swindmill]

i did some searching and found out that it's because my wireless router is too close. I turned it off, and sure enough, the kb works fine now. Does anyone know how far the router will have to be from my desk to avoid this interference? It's about 4 feet away right now.

BTW: this interference has no effect on the conntection with my mouse or phone.

 

[RedTomato]

Does anyone know how far the router will have to be from my desk to avoid this interference? It's about 4 feet away right now.

Urr how are we supposed to know? Different wireless base stations deal with interference in different ways. Try moving it gradually further away and see what's the magic point. Then move it a bit further away and leave it there.

I briefly had an Apple BT keyboard. Returned it cos it was too big for me, but never had a problem with reception. My linksys wireless ADSL router was about 5 feet away at the time.

HTH

RedTomato

 

[swindmill]

WOW . . . I changed the default channel that my router operates on, and this keyboard is working as accurately as any USB keyboard does.

 

[Rod Rod]

WOW . . . I changed the default channel that my router operates on, and this keyboard is working as accurately as any USB keyboard does.

Yup... you got the interference because Bluetooth operates at 2.4GHz, just like 802.11b/g. I'm glad to see you resolved the problem.

Your experience illustrates another good reason to set your wireless access point on one channel (as opposed to "automatic.")