M4 mac mini doesnt recognize apple keyboards

Question

Level 1

16 points

M4 mac mini doesnt recognize apple keyboards

I just received my M4 mac mini today and in the process of setting up. Was dissappointed and surprised that the M4 mac mini would not recognize nor work with several Apple keyboards I owned. These are USB keyboards that I plugged into the front ports of the Mac mini using a USB A to USB C adapter. When the mac started up, the usual pop up that the keyboard wasnt recognized came up, had to press the key to the right of the left shift key. Came back that it wasnt recognized, so I skipped that, identified the keyboard as ISO standard. Then other windows popped up later that I had to type my apple ID and password. It would only allow me to type one letter of my password, and then would not recognize any input. Tried it with another apple keyboard, same thing. Finally I tried with a non-Apple keyboard (matias wired mechanical) and it worked. So why is the M4 mac mini not compatible with apple wired keyboards????

Even my M1 Studio Max works with my Apple keyboards!

Mac mini (M4)

Posted on Dec 17, 2024 5:21 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 20, 2024 2:16 PM in response to whodiini2

I saw the same issue with my spouse's m4. I thought her keyboard was bad, even though it had been working fine with her M1 Mini. I didn't see the issue on my m4 as I use a 3rd-party keyboard with a KVM with multiple Macs.

A USB-C to USB-A hub didn't work.

Then, I tried using one of my USB-A to USB-C adaptors in the FRONT port. That works. I'm not sure what's going on, but I verified that it has something to do with the rear ports, as plugging in the keyboard to my m4's rear ports didn't work either. Nor did several other Apple keyboards, and they are the most recent wired ones.

Bizarre.

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Answer 2

Dec 21, 2024 8:47 PM in response to whodiini2

Same issue, I used my wired Apple keyboard for two days, then after a reboot it quit working. It still works in my M1 Mini, but not this new M4. Luckily I had a wireless Magic Keyboard in an unopened box. That's what I am using right now.

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Answer 3

Dec 22, 2024 11:05 AM in response to _Theo

Yesterday, I had to unplug the wired keyboard from the front of my spouse's m4 to re-route some cables. Initially, it didn't work when plugged back into the front again, switching front ports finally got it working again. This is pretty bad on Apple's part; in all the years I've had Macs with USB (going back to the original iMac) I've never had an issue with an Apple keyboard not working like this.

It's not like it's an old "crumb catcher" either; this is the most recent wired keyboard. What's worse is if I take my LogicKey accessible keyboard and plug it in, it works just fine on any port.

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Answer 4

whodiini2 Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 20, 2024 2:31 PM in response to Peter Wargo

I searched and evidently it occurs also with M1 and M2 mac minis. I had a M1 mac mini and dont recall having this issue. What some people remarked was that if you go thru a hub, it will recognize the keyboard then. I will be trying this. I first tried using the front ports and encountered the problem. I then tried the rear ports and had the same issue. Someone else said that when they looked at system info, under USB there was no keyboard recognized. Will try going thru a hub.

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Answer 5

Dec 20, 2024 4:19 PM in response to whodiini2

FWIW, I tried a USB-C hub off the rear ports with no luck. This may also explain the issue I had with an m4 mini that went back to Apple with a failed HDMI port: during the troubleshooting, they had me plug in just a keyboard/mouse, and I grabbed a spare Apple keyboard off the shelf so it'd be sure to work. However, it never recognized the Option key for the diagnostics, and I never thought to suspect the keyboard.

(To be clear, that had nothing to do with the HDMI issue; that was just a bad port.)

It's really weird that 3rd-party keyboards work fine, but not Apple's own. Usually it's the other way around, which is why I keep a spare Apple keyboard (or two) for when I need to debug an issue.

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Answer 6

whodiini2 Author

Level 1

16 points

Dec 20, 2024 4:49 PM in response to Peter Wargo

Yup. It was clearly a deliberate decision by Apple to not provide support for Apple wired keyboards. I also keep spare apple keyboards when I need to debug an issue but this time, it was the issue. Kinda dissappointed. I think not needing an apple keyboard to get into options on si macs had something to do with that decision.

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Answer 7

_Theo

Level 1

15 points

Dec 18, 2024 2:22 AM in response to whodiini2

I have the same issue. The wired Apple keyboard worked on initial setup of the M4 but after restarting it doesn't work at all

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Answer 8

macmkaz

Level 1

20 points

Jan 11, 2025 2:43 AM in response to Peter Wargo

This was my exact problem with a Mac M4 mini and my old wired A1243 keyboard. Didn't work on the back USB-C port but DID work on the front port with the USB A to C adapter. Thanks for this tip!

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