(Help Needed) Keyboard Working on PC but not Mac, Solutions?

[lamenthe]

Hey all,

I'm normally pretty tech savvy here, but this is a first for me. I recently got my hands on a TGR 910 (my endgame! woot) BUT when I plugged it into my Mac it wouldn't detect / work.

After a few days of testing different cables, inputs, etc. and everything failing, I naturally thought it was a dead PCB. Finally, I tried it out on a friend's PC and it worked...

Now, I don't want to switch up thousands of dollars of computer equipment and go PC just for a keyboard. Does anyone have any idea of how to fix this issue? Has anyone had a similar experience?

The PCB in question is the TGR-Unicorn PCB v1.2.

[LightningXI]

Hey all,

I'm normally pretty tech savvy here, but this is a first for me. I recently got my hands on a TGR 910 (my endgame! woot) BUT when I plugged it into my Mac it wouldn't detect / work.

After a few days of testing different cables, inputs, etc. and everything failing, I naturally thought it was a dead PCB. Finally, I tried it out on a friend's PC and it worked...

Now, I don't want to switch up thousands of dollars of computer equipment and go PC just for a keyboard. Does anyone have any idea of how to fix this issue? Has anyone had a similar experience?

The PCB in question is the TGR-Unicorn PCB v1.2.

Congrats on your acquisition! TGR-910s are very cool boards.

TGR PCBs are Bootmapper Client (BMC) programmable, and Bootmapper has a reputation for being a hit-or-miss with USB cables and ports. Perhaps it's something in a particular computer / operating system that confuses the drivers for the PCB to be detected, but it's frankly a crapshoot that can only be tested with some patience.

The best bet to solve the issue would really be to try to troubleshoot the problem and narrow down to whether it's:

(1) a driver problem
(2) a cable problem
(3) a USB port problem (try not using a hub and instead plug directly to the PC's ports)

[lamenthe]

Thanks for such a well thought out answer LightningXI! It must be on the miss side for MacOS based computers.

(1) This I'm not so sure where I can fix this. Would this be a BMC driver? I'll go ahead and use some google-fu
(2) Definitely not a cable problem as I've tested 6+ different cables
(3) I wish this was the case! I tried it using both hub and directly to the port with multiple Mac (Apple) computers, laptops etc. It has only worked when plugged directly into a PC.

[LightningXI]

Thanks for such a well thought out answer LightningXI! It must be on the miss side for MacOS based computers.

(1) This I'm not so sure where I can fix this. Would this be a BMC driver? I'll go ahead and use some google-fu
(2) Definitely not a cable problem as I've tested 6+ different cables
(3) I wish this was the case! I tried it using both hub and directly to the port with multiple Mac (Apple) computers, laptops etc. It has only worked when plugged directly into a PC.

As for the Mac Bootmapper Client - this is the download link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wselndg19ofby85/BootMapperClient.mac.zip?dl=0 (comes from the winkeyless blog: https://blog.winkeyless.kr/183)

A general guide on programming BMC PCBs here: https://drop.com/talk/1392/programming-kbd-keyboards-via-bootmapper-client-tmk-guide-getting-added-soon-here

It's quite odd how this whole Bootmapper thing goes, but it's honestly like a lottery. Very strange. For me, I haven't had much issues on both Mac and PC (I use a Macbook for work and PC at home).

Maybe let us know if the keyboard shows up at all as a device, even if it's not recognized as an input device / keyboard. It sure sounds like it's not a PCB problem, but perhaps simply a Bootmapper x Mac USB driver compatibility issue.

[lamenthe]

Dude, you're a god send.

I'm pretty new to this whole custom PCB world. And a mix of adding BMC to my computer and trying out different cables did the trick. Seems to be working!!!!!

I can't thank you enough for your help.