Apple's new keyboards not working for some

When I saw the new Apple keyboards I knew one had to be mine. I'm a huge fan of my MacBook's keyboard, and the new Apple keyboard is a MacBook keyboard you can attach to any number of Macs, what could go wrong?

Once I got my new keyboard in the mail I set it up on my iMac. I downloaded the Keyboard Software Update, restarted the iMac, and plugged in the keyboard. All the special keys worked as they should, with the exception of the Exposé key and the Dashboard key (F3 and F4). Press as much as I would, these keys did nothing. I thought that it might be the iMac, so I repeated the steps on a MacBook Pro and a MacBook with the same results (I also tried using different accounts on those machines, to no avail). Luckily, this isn't a hardware issue since the buttons actually work (I assigned some shortcuts to the F3 and F4 keys to make sure they were actually working) so it would seem the devil is in the software.

TUAW reader shak forwarded a link to this Apple Support Discussion in which several other people are encountering the same problem. Do not be fooled by this discussion's 'Solved' status, as reading through the discussion makes it clear that this problem is being encountered by many folks.

TUAW readers, is anyone else out there seeing this behavior? As I wait for Apple to fix this issue I'll be reading the comments here hoping someone has a solution.

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Source: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5106070%E…

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When I saw the new Apple keyboards I knew one had to be mine. I'm a huge fan of my MacBook's keyboard, and the new Apple keyboard is a...

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dave joyce

new keyboard great, but tried various times downloading the new
keyboard software update and nothing, none of the F keys work. Have checked out the Keyboard and Mouse Keyboard Shortcuts in System Preferences and they stop at F12, the same settings as before,can anyone help?................

September 18 2007 at 8:16 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Darren

HELP!! Does anyone know how to REMOVE the Keyboard Software update? I couldn't stand the new keyboard, and wanted to move to the old one I had -- but now my keys are all mapped incorrectly.

Any ideas?
Darren

September 12 2007 at 1:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

twilight

I just got my first Mac late August 2007 (in Canada). And today I don't know why the next/previous buttons on the keyboard don't work or if a song is already playing just stops the song, I don't understand why. If anyone knows how to fix this or of an article that tells you how please let me know at twilight.temptress@gmail.com, thanks.

September 11 2007 at 1:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

toby

Interesting.. I have the first 24" iMac and this happened for me. Much annoyance.

August 30 2007 at 2:24 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

MyMac

and some usb don't work as well
see on http://www.mymac.cc/?p=158

August 26 2007 at 12:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ian Parkinson

I fixed the problem by installing the Keyboard Software Update 1.1 using Pacifist rather than the Apple Installer.

August 26 2007 at 4:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Andrew Harrison

I tried the fix from 38 and 57, that points to http://joemullins.com/archive/2007/08/21/fix-for-apple-aluminum-keyboard-dashboard-and-expose-keys-not-working.php
and it's fixed my F3 and F4 exposes dashboard funtionality.

August 22 2007 at 3:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

wsnoble

Hi

I still am wondering why they didn't leave at least the arrow and del keys on the WiFi one. I can see maybe 86'ing the num pad, but the others keys?

More importantly if the iPhone is supposed to set the new trend for Apple (like new iMac design - colors) why white cables, and why only white MacBook type keys? They need to make one with the black keys from the BlackBook, IMO.

It would go better with the new iMac and also with many other 3rd party LCDs that many of us already own.

Sorry I don't have tonight's winning Powerball #'s so a Cinema Dsiplay is out of reach.

Come on Apple, new keyboard with black MacBook keys, please.

August 22 2007 at 1:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

artifex

yes, please give us an update on the USB hub issues later, Scott.

August 22 2007 at 12:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

stephen

I had two issues with the new keyboard, before giving up on it.

1. Will not work through a KVM switch--completely unresponsive.

2. Could not successfully setup when directly connect to my MacBook Pro. Setup software kept thinking I was typing on the built-in keyboard, when I was typing on the external.

August 22 2007 at 12:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply