Dana Spiegel

Q: Magic Mouse keeps disconnecting from bluetooth

My magic mouse (with all updates properly installed and with USB Overdrive properly uninstalled) has a problem connecting and disconnecting from the computer. When I use the mouse for a few minutes, it will all of a sudden be non-responsive, and within a couple of seconds the "Connection Lost" message appears on the screen. If I wait another minute, and click the mouse button a few times, the mouse will reconnect. This happens periodically as I am using the computer.

In the console logs, I get these messages:

10/31/09 6:06:20 PM kernel [0eb48f00][AppleMultitouchDevice::willTerminate] entered
10/31/09 6:06:20 PM kernel [0eb48f00][AppleMultitouchDevice::stop] entered
10/31/09 6:06:24 PM kernel [0ffa3600][BNBMouseDevice::init][30] init is complete
10/31/09 6:06:24 PM kernel [0ffa3600][BNBMouseDevice::handleStart][30] Done
10/31/09 6:06:24 PM kernel [08701100][AppleMultitouchHIDEventDriver::start] entered
10/31/09 6:06:24 PM kernel [09f11680][AppleMultitouchDevice::start] entered

The first message is when the mouse disconnects, and the rest are when it reconnects.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Unibody MacBook Pro (CTO 2.8Ghz, 4GB RAM), Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Oct 31, 2009 3:14 PM

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Q: Magic Mouse keeps disconnecting from bluetooth

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  • by Mactoyz,

    Mactoyz Mactoyz Dec 9, 2011 12:32 PM in response to ScapMac
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Dec 9, 2011 12:32 PM in response to ScapMac

    Since I have more than one iMac and Magic Mouse, I can tell you that for me the problem has begun getting more frequent. I now have daily instances where the "disconnected" graphic shows up only to reconnect after a few clicks. Since I am on my work Mac all day long, I have noticed that this happens several times per day. Got so bad a week ago, that I decided to replace the mouse with a new one. That has not eliminated the problem and hence my search for a BlueTooth Apple mouse problem.

     

    I use my iMac at home only about an hour a day, but getting the disconnect every day.

     

    I wish this had a fix.

  • by Nick Radonic,

    Nick Radonic Nick Radonic Dec 23, 2011 3:52 PM in response to Dana Spiegel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 23, 2011 3:52 PM in response to Dana Spiegel

    This is caused by multiple physical issues with the AA batteries and the MM battery compartment design. Biggest issue is at the tip end where the mouse battery case plastic is too thick and the contact holes are too small - so that 1) the plastic wrap around the battery hits the plastic and pushes the battery away from the metal contact. On several types of battery the plastic wrap is doubled over and provides more interference -- I scratch this material away - but it's not perfect. The tip is trying to extend to the contact, while the nonconducting plastic sheild is trying to provide lateral support for the front end of the battery. This is a big problem if something interferes mechanically.

     

    2) Worse because many batteries have short tips with sloping sides, they have to be perfectly in the center of the hole to make contact. The sides of tips are sloped and they hit the side of the contact holes in the plastic sheilds (which are too small) - causing the battery to push away from contact when the battery is deflected sideways -- as in a jarring incident (where you hit the mouse on the table).

     

    I put shim paper under the door to push the batteries to the center but the door bent, and the shims were not totally effective. In addition every time I changed the batteries I had to do it again -- the door should not be providing mechanical support for a component needing critical alignment (the battery).

     

    Different batteries have different tip lengths, meaning that some are more prone to interference than others. I've tried several (Kirkland, Duracell, Eveready) but can't remember which were best. Note that Kirkland AAA batteries have a much longer tip than their AA batteries - so the battery manufacturers have slop in their standards as well.

     

    The contacts in the mouse are also difficult to clean, since they are recessed.

     

    If the contacts were metal cups instead of plastic sheild, then the tips would never be bumped out of the cup, and would not loose contact. My recommendation is that Apple create metal cups at the tip end to 'hold' the top of the batteries more securely, and maybe drop the plastic sheild or at least enlarge the hole or just put a contact bump/dimple facing each tip. Also, as an electrical engineer, I recommend whopping big capacitors to ride out voltage dropouts - or at least a safe low voltage halt state that would recover.

     

    Still, it's my favorite mouse by a long shot.

  • by Mactoyz,

    Mactoyz Mactoyz Dec 23, 2011 6:54 PM in response to Nick Radonic
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Dec 23, 2011 6:54 PM in response to Nick Radonic

    While your angle might be the case with your Magic Mouse, I can tell you that it does not appear to be that type of problem with my mouse. I am using Rayovac Alkaline batteries and they are very uniform and well made. The positive contacts are long enough to contact the mouse where it should and does not touch the plastic that you describe. with the cover off, there is clearly space between the battery case and the plastic so I am getting full contact between battery and mouse.

     

    Since I am having the same issue with two different Macs in two different locations using three different Apple Magic Mouse, I can't imagine this problem could be anything other than software related. At work, I don't normally have my iPhone or iPad near my computer, so I am having a hard time imagining that this is a Bluetooth interferance issue. At my home, where the iPad and iPhone are plugged in and charging near my iMac, I suppose it could be causing a problem. Since I am getting the same behavior in both locations, I am leaning to some type of software issue that has occured since upgrading to 10.7.2.

     

    Thanks for your suggestion. but I am still looking.

  • by Nick Radonic,

    Nick Radonic Nick Radonic Dec 23, 2011 8:21 PM in response to Mactoyz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 23, 2011 8:21 PM in response to Mactoyz

    My background is as an electrical engineer designing digital hardware. The behavior -- erratic operation and even a flickering power light -- is indicative of an intermittent electrical connection. The fact that putting in shims to trap the battery in place, and in my case removing the interfering packaging, lends credence to that theory. The test would be to put an oscilliscope probe on the internal power rails and to shake the mouse around. I suspect you would see tremendous voltage drops.

     

    In addition, if they put in insufficient capacitors on the main power rail, then the internal components would not be able to store sufficient energy to absorb short duration disconnects -- imagine the battery tip bouncing sideways upon impact with the desktop -- or longer term disconnection when my postulated mechanical interference separates the tip for a longer period of time. Even worse would be some sort of split power rail -- drawing power from one battery in a two battery series (sometimes used for some sort of analog reference voltages) which would totally upset some active device in the mouse circuitry if the reference or the power rail fluctuated. Further, I found that the erratic operation seemed worse as the battery voltage dipped, evidence that the lower internal stored energy, at the lower voltages, made the circuitry even more upset to shorter voltage supply drops, again suggesting a too small power capacitor.

     

    Also, there's almost no software here. I would imagine the mouse sends a packet of data on the BlueTooth channel with a device identifier (I am a mouse), and some sort of motion information, and some sort of touch message. At the computer end, it would just monitor and dissassemble the packets. Not a lot to go wrong. Originally I too thought it looked like software and was banging my mouse on the table to get it to register. But stuffing in a shim and cleaning the plastic away eliminated most of that.

     

    Nick

  • by weechong,

    weechong weechong Dec 26, 2011 5:38 PM in response to Dana Spiegel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 26, 2011 5:38 PM in response to Dana Spiegel

    I have an easier solution. I have replaced both my magic mouse with Logitech's bluetooth mouse and it is flawless. Not more connectivity issues and frustrations.

     

    Apple's product quality is getting from bad to worse. I've been an Apple fan for the longest time but I find myself switching to other products more frequently than before. Pretty soon, there will be nothing left to lock me down on Apple products.

  • by Nick Radonic,

    Nick Radonic Nick Radonic Dec 26, 2011 6:52 PM in response to weechong
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 26, 2011 6:52 PM in response to weechong

    I cannot follow you away from the touch surface of the Magic Mouse. Three button rollerwheel mice give me the shivers. Brrrrr.....

  • by PaulWhite,

    PaulWhite PaulWhite Dec 26, 2011 6:57 PM in response to Bigade
    Level 1 (26 points)
    Dec 26, 2011 6:57 PM in response to Bigade

    I have found that if i inadvertantly touch my apple keyboard with the mouse it will disconnect. I suppose this jolts it slightly which is waht you guys are saying if you tap it vertically.

     

    Since I realised what was causing the disconnects and I am a little more carefull, it hardly ever happens.

     

    -Paul-

  • by Elizabeth Ingraham,

    Elizabeth Ingraham Elizabeth Ingraham Jan 9, 2012 3:07 PM in response to Mactoyz
    Level 6 (12,310 points)
    Jan 9, 2012 3:07 PM in response to Mactoyz

    Well, count me in on the mysterious disconnects. After months of no issues, my Magic Mouse is disconnecting frequently. Sometimes every 30 seconds.

     

    This just started a few days ago. I even wondered if it had something to do with Delicious Library as it began after I was scanning items into that app.

     

    I've changed my batteries (Apple rechargeable) twice.

     

    I'm going to be more aware of physical "bumping" issues and see if that makes any difference.

     

    I'm left with my favorite, if desparate, explanation of "demonic possession."

  • by Mactoyz,

    Mactoyz Mactoyz Jan 9, 2012 4:51 PM in response to Elizabeth Ingraham
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jan 9, 2012 4:51 PM in response to Elizabeth Ingraham

    I remain cautiously surprised to find that adding a folded sheet of paper under the battery cover of the mouse seems to have "cured" the problem. I use the term cautious because I used my computer for about 5 hours today without a single "lost connection". That has not occured since the problem first began some months ago.

     

    I used a sheet of regular weight scratch pad paper and folded it in a tri-fold. (3 layers of paper) The folded paper was sized to fit just inside the opening so that when the cover is snapped back in place, no paper is visible from the outside.

     

    The apparrent fix helps hold the batteries from moving and that stops the mouse from coming disconnected. Hopefully this continues to work and if so, I will be selling sheets of iScratchpad paper.

  • by xenoquatz,

    xenoquatz xenoquatz Jan 21, 2012 8:33 PM in response to Dana Spiegel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2012 8:33 PM in response to Dana Spiegel

    Just as what Nick Radonic said, I think there is a problem with the physical design of the battery holder. The positive plate does not hold on to the batteries properly, and in time, the batteries start to droop down. This explains why some people disconnects after lifting it up and dropping it down; the gravity pulls down the batteries and with the abrupt stop the batteries fall down a little.

     

    So, what i simply did was to get a piece of memo paper, fold it in half then in half again and put it between the batteries and the cover. This way, the batteries will be forced in place by the pressure of the cover. So far after that no problems found . Give it a try and see how. (IDK, maybe I'm wrong, just see how this method works)

  • by Mactoyz,

    Mactoyz Mactoyz Jan 22, 2012 9:13 AM in response to xenoquatz
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jan 22, 2012 9:13 AM in response to xenoquatz

    I am very confident that I have eliminated the battery issue. I bought a new Magic Mouse and right out of the box the issue continues. Swapping between locations, the problem follows. Since my last response, I also bought a couple of small USB Bluetooth units and have tried them in several locations close to the mouse. Even plugged into a wired Apple keyboard, they have not made the problem go away.

     

    To summarize, I think I have eliminated the mouse by replacing it with a new one. I have eliminated the internal Mac Bluetooth by using the external Bluetooth units. By locating them right next to the mouse, I believe I have also eliminated interferance from other devices. That brings me back to where I started in my belief that this has to do with the upgrade to Snow Leopard. Something is killing the connection for a microsecond. Since it shows disconnected on the screen usually followed by a reconnection notification the software is operating.

     

    My next step is to contact Apple, but based on the number of postings on this subject I doubt they have a solution yet.

  • by dwaynski,

    dwaynski dwaynski Jan 29, 2012 3:23 AM in response to Dana Spiegel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2012 3:23 AM in response to Dana Spiegel

    I have experienced this intermittent disconnection issue for some time with both my keyboard and MM. I seem to have fixed the MM issue by packing a wad of paper in the battery compartment to stop the small bumps on the mouse pad forcing disconnection.

     

    I haven't resolved the keyboard problem.

  • by Stefan42,

    Stefan42 Stefan42 Feb 2, 2012 5:22 AM in response to dwaynski
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 5:22 AM in response to dwaynski

    Hi,

     

    I had many problems with the Magic Mouse, disconnecting again and again. I thought it was a battery problem and tried many different thing as discussed in the various forums including SMC reset.

    However, the real cause was a bluetooth problem. I had a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard connected to my mid 2010 MBP. The keyboard was totally stable while the Magic Mouse was disconnecting every other hour.

     

    I have now replaced the Bluetooth keyboard with another nice logitech keyboard, but working not via bluetooth. It works via a micro USB dongle. And guess what: The Magic Mouse is totally stable and has not disconnected since a week. No matter what batteries, even with rechargeable batteries.

     

    The problems is very likely caused by a lousy bluetooth implementation in the magic mouse, because I have never heard that any other bluetooth device is kicked out by a Logitech bluetooth keyboard. Also most other Apple bluetooth devices like the touchpad work coexist well with Logitech keyboards.

     

    Bottom Line: This should encourage users who like to stick to the magic mouse, to search for interference from other bluetooth devices, rather than the details of the bluetooth stack in their Mac Books.

     

    Stefan

  • by valfromottawa,

    valfromottawa valfromottawa Feb 2, 2012 6:53 AM in response to Dana Spiegel
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 6:53 AM in response to Dana Spiegel

    Interesting. I tried many things too. But changing to brand new copper top batteries seems to have solved the problem for me. I also made sure that there is good contact with the electrodes. Bestbuy even ordered a new one for me but am reluctant to get it as the old one works so well for over 6 weeks. Go figure.!

  • by Nick Radonic,

    Nick Radonic Nick Radonic Feb 2, 2012 7:58 AM in response to Stefan42
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 7:58 AM in response to Stefan42

    There could be a software component -- a less than robust driver, as you describe it -- incapable of tolerating disruptions.

     

    For my part, I look more at the battery issues. I had an Apple wireless keyboard. Now I am using the Apple wired keyboard. I still get disconnects, and I don't have other Blue tooth equipment to conflict. In addition I look at the bottom of the mouse when I'm having difficulties, and the indicator light is flashing erratically until I push the batteries in more securely. This tells me that power is intermittent. When I move of bump the mouse, the battery position shifts, so I am led to suspect the hardware.

     

    The proof is to wire some test lines to the mouse's internals and check for a stable power supply and if possible, some sign of reset condition. From a software perspective a Bluetooth snooper of some type would be good. But this becomes a science project that Apple should have done.

     

    Nick

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