Wired Apple Keyboard (A1243) Fails When Connected to iMac

[dysamoria]

I have an Apple Aluminum Keyboard (A1243) with the following weirdness:

1. Will NOT work when connected to my iMac 12,2 directly. It used to.
2. Will work when connected through a powered USB hub.
3. Will work when connected to my iMac directly ONLY IF it's already hosting a USB mouse or flash card reader on one of its USB ports as I plug in the keyboard.

This is new behavior as of today. All I did was reboot the iMac. Nothing has changed. I cannot figure out what the issue is. I've reset NVRAM (via another keyboard; boot keys wont work with this keyboard when directly connected), powered off/unplugged (supposedly resets SMC), etc. and this behavior continues.

I have another of these keyboards with the same model number (but slightly different version code as seen in System Information), and it works normally (though it will fail to host an optical mouse on a PC if booted while connected, so???).

Anyone have any ideas? Ever seen this before??

EDIT: It works as expected when using the keyboard USB-A extension cable. I don't know why this is suddenly required. Anyone know WHY???

(the extensions look like this: )

 

[t2jd1967]

I have been struggling with this issue with my 2021 MBP 14" Max. I ended up hooking the keyboard to the USB hub of the monitor and using a USB-B to USB-C cable to connect the monitor's hub back to the Mac. I think it works pretty well, of course only when the monitor is powered on. I am sure there is something weird going on and I have had it working occasionally with an M1 Mac Mini that I have since sold.