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Bluetooth nightmare (try not to laugh)

D

doctorcloudbase

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 18, 2011
10
0
Hi,

Accidently clicked the 'bluetooth off' icon on the top right of the screen on my 27 inch iMac, and of course lost use of the mouse and keyboard.

Then made the mistake of doing a forced reset of the machine by pressing and holding the power button, and now I have a login screen, and neither the mouse nor the keyboard can connect to the iMac, because bluetooth is turned off. So I cant log on, I am 'stuck'.

What now? I am not aware of a physical button anywhere on the iMac to turn bluetooth back on, and I have tried in vain fiddling with the on off buttons on both peripherals.

I do have a USB graphics tablet, which allows me to move the pointer round the login screen, but I do not know of a way of bringing up a software keyboard or whatever to 'type' my login....

WTF do I do?! Would a Windows PC USB kwyboard be recognised and useable?

Im completely stuck. I hope there is a simple answer, but I cannot think of it!

Thanks,

D
 
Pps

I have a Windows USB mouse that is working, but again I have no idea whether there is a way of bringing up a software keyboard without the keyboard, if you see what I mean!

Help...

D
 
How about you push the little "ON" buttons on the keyboard and mouse themselves, like you did when you bought it.
 
Hi Newt

I can push those buttons all I like, buy if the Bluetooth on the iMac isn't switched on (which it isn't) then the mouse and keyboard can't connect with it to do anything - you see my dilemma?
 
doctorcloudbase said:
I can push those buttons all I like, buy if the Bluetooth on the iMac isn't switched on (which it isn't) then the mouse and keyboard can't connect with it to do anything - you see my dilemma?
Click to expand...

Yes, my sister did the same thing once to. Any usb keyboard ("mac", "pc", dongle wireless", ect) should work long enough for you to type in the password. You may be even able to borrow one shortly from someone. But I would always recommend a backup wired keyboard (any brand) in case something like this happens.
 
Apple Still Have not Fixed this in 2014

Yes I feel like an idiot for turning off my bluetooth and restarting my 2014 27" iMac. :eek: But in 2014 how can apple allow us to turn off the bluetooth if our mouse and keyboard connect with it? Where do you find a wired keyboard or mouse in 2014? :rolleyes: Thanks :apple:
 
FeatureFilmDIT said:
Yes I feel like an idiot for turning off my bluetooth and restarting my 2014 27" iMac. :eek: But in 2014 how can apple allow us to turn off the bluetooth if our mouse and keyboard connect with it? Where do you find a wired keyboard or mouse in 2014? :rolleyes: Thanks :apple:
Click to expand...

In all fairness I have to agree with you, no one should be expected to keep a wired mouse and keyboard in the house - not everyone cares about such things (despite me being someone who has just that just for such an eventuality), so I reckon bluetooth should probably being a physical button on the machine would probably be a good idea.
 
northernmunky said:
In all fairness I have to agree with you, no one should be expected to keep a wired mouse and keyboard in the house - not everyone cares about such things (despite me being someone who has just that just for such an eventuality), so I reckon bluetooth should probably being a physical button on the machine would probably be a good idea.
Click to expand...

Or at lease a pop up "Warning you are about to make yourself look like an idiot are you sure you wanna do this??" :D
 
Unplug EVERYTHING. ALL usb devices and even the wall outlet. With absolutely nothing connected (USB drives, USB wires, etc) plug the Mac back into the wall and turn it on.

It SHOULD enter a setup mode looking for an input source and turn blue tooth back on.

A friend of mine did the same thing and at that time it seemed to work.
 
cynics said:
Unplug EVERYTHING. ALL usb devices and even the wall outlet. With absolutely nothing connected (USB drives, USB wires, etc) plug the Mac back into the wall and turn it on.

It SHOULD enter a setup mode looking for an input source and turn blue tooth back on.

A friend of mine did the same thing and at that time it seemed to work.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately I'm running :apple: Server on my machine and this process doesn't work on :apple: Server :rolleyes:

So I went a bought a USB mouse..... Would not work with my iMac. :(
Then I connected to my iMac via my Finder on my MacBookPro and was able to share screen :)
This was possible because I had set it up a while back to connect via my :apple:ID

So Solution found :D God luck to the rest of you guys out there ;)
 
Last edited:
doctorcloudbase said:
Hi,

Accidently clicked the 'bluetooth off' icon on the top right of the screen on my 27 inch iMac, and of course lost use of the mouse and keyboard.

Then made the mistake of doing a forced reset of the machine by pressing and holding the power button, and now I have a login screen, and neither the mouse nor the keyboard can connect to the iMac, because bluetooth is turned off. So I cant log on, I am 'stuck'.

What now? I am not aware of a physical button anywhere on the iMac to turn bluetooth back on, and I have tried in vain fiddling with the on off buttons on both peripherals.

I do have a USB graphics tablet, which allows me to move the pointer round the login screen, but I do not know of a way of bringing up a software keyboard or whatever to 'type' my login....

WTF do I do?! Would a Windows PC USB kwyboard be recognised and useable?

Im completely stuck. I hope there is a simple answer, but I cannot think of it!

Thanks,

D
Click to expand...
A bit late but I too ran into this issue. Accidentally turned off bluetooth, so my wireless mouse became useless. Luckily google is amazing. If your keyboard is usb you just have to click "command + space bar" and the "spotlight" aka search tool will appear. Type in "bluetooth file exchange" and click enter when it appears. Once that opens it will ask if you want to turn bluetooth on, click enter and it voilaaaaa!!!
 
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