Magic Keyboard and mouse issues

Question

Level 1

4 points

Magic Keyboard and mouse issues

Hi I have just got a refurbished Apple iMac 2021 M1 (Four ports) 24". The unit itself is great but cannot for love nor money work out the “magic” mouse and keyboard. I turned the unit on and it gave me the select Country or region screen, it is on New Zealand but when I press return on the keyboard it did nothing. If I tab to continue and press return it does nothing. I made the mistake of accidentally pressing escape, which worked and getting into voice assist and now cannot get out. The mouse has no indication of if it is charging or not so not sure if it is working or not. You can’t use it when it is plugged in to charge as the cable connects on the bottom!!! All I want to do is boot this thing up, set it up and migrate my other Mac but none of it seems possible with these supposedly “magic” keyboard and mouse. Aside from that the voice assist won’t shut up. Any suggestions of what I might be doing wrong? And how do I get out of voice assist if the “magic” mouse and keyboard are not working?

Posted on Nov 17, 2025 7:53 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,410 points

Nov 17, 2025 9:22 PM in response to Lea_65

Question #1, is where did you purchase the Refurbished iMac from. If you bought it directly from Apple's on-line store you are okay. If you bought it from an extremely trusted reseller such as Macsales.com you are okay too.

HOWEVER, if you purchased the Refurbished machine from:

Amazon
E-Bay
Craigslist
Marketplace
local PC shop
friend, neighbor etc.

you did not purchase a refurbished machine, you bought a used machine. First thing that you need to verify is that the computer was set up for resale correctly, using Apple's What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac guide. If you cannot verify this please return the computer ASAP as it likely will never run correctly as it is still assigned to the original owner and will never operate correctly.

To setup the keyboard and mouse please follow the guide below:

The following will require any USB keyboard and mouse. If you don’t have them, borrow or buy them, they are inexpensive!

1. Connect the USB keyboard and mouse to the computer.

2. Open System Preferences – Bluetooth

3. Un-pair the wireless keyboard and mouse.

4. Turn off Bluetooth

5. Restart the computer in Safe Mode per the directions in Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

6. Restart the computer normally.

7. Open System Preferences – Bluetooth

8. Turn on Bluetooth

9. Re-Pair the wireless keyboard and mouse.

10. Unplug the USB keyboard and mouse and begin testing the wireless devices again.

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Answer 2

-g

Level 4

3,365 points

Nov 18, 2025 6:22 AM in response to Lea_65

connect keyboard with the charge cable (and leave connected during your setup, testing. Unplug after it gets going) -- if that doesn't work try another keyboard

try a wired mouse until you can get the mac going, quick-connect the magic mouse the same way (with the charger cable) but you won't be able to use the mouse until it quits charging

also, you can charge mouse/keyboard on external (low powered 5w-12w) USB chargers for a couple hours to be sure they have enough charge -- i've gotten old stock new mouse/keyboards with zero charge -- they were DOA but worked great after charging...

make sure you have them turned at their switches on when charging

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