Anyone else having Bluetooth keyboard problems with new mini?

My new Mini was having bluetooth problems. The keyboard and mouse would drop off with no "connection lost" notice. This was happening once a day or so under heavy CPU loads. I made an appointment with a genius and left the Mini with the genius so they could try to repeat the failure. When I picked the mini up 3 days later, it hadn't failed. On the second day at home, the bluetooth failed again. At that point, I had owned the Mini exactly 14 days so I returned it to the genius. The genius exchanged the Mini for a new one without a quibble.

The new Mini has been up and operating for about a week now, without a failure, doing the same tasks the original was doing. The new unit has the same software installed and operating that the initial one did. It is in the same location as the original unit. Given the circumstances, I'm guessing that this is some kind of hardware problem. The first was a 4th week unit and the second is an 8th week unit.

I went to the Genius Bar on Saturday and they have no lodged an official bug report with Apple. It looks like the Mini cannot pair with more than one HCI device. So if you pair with the mouse first the keyboard won't work and vice-versa. They don't think the Mini hardware is broken but that we will just have to wait for Apple to fix the firmware.

Apparently as long as you logged the issue with Apple Care before the 14 days they'll take it back with no questions. I've been chasing this issue for longer than the 14 days and they ARE going to take the machine back!! I will check tonight it a firmware update is available and it works otherwise the machine goes back.

Just to add my story:
I used my older Apple BT keyboard / mouse from Jan08 - Jun08 attached to a MacBook, running Tiger (10.4). I returned home in Jun08 and put the BT keyboard / mouse away and used USB equipment. I upgraded the MacBook to Leopard in July08, but never tried the BT. Bought the '09Mini the day they came out and ran it via USB. Today, I tried the BT keyboard / mouse and ONLY the mouse would pair with EITHER the Mini or MacBook.

So, it seems to me the problem(?) is within Leopard?

Hi, I write you from Italy.
I bought my brand new Mac Mini (2.0Ghz, extended with 4GB of RAM) just yesterday, and I'm experiencing the mentioned bluetooth issue: while I'm using my wireless keyboard and mighty mouse (I used them also on my Powerbook for 1 year w/o any problem!) they stop working, while the bluetooth icon is still "active", and (I connect an USB mouse to see it) they seem to be still connected via bluetooth. Then, if I open (with USB mouse) "Bluetooth Preferences", wireless keyboard and mouse start to work again immediately.

Can anyone tell me if this is an hardware issue or maybe just smth bound to firmware/software? It seems smth firmware/software related, since they work again perfectly after loading "Bluetooth Preferences"... then after some time (not related to Mac Mini temperature/loading, it happens also in idle mode, with 41 degrees insiede the Mini) it happens again...

Thanks for sharing your experiences, and hope somebody can suggest me smth

Greetings from Italy,
Antonio Troina

Apple have told me that if they are informed of the problem within 14 days they'll give you your money back regardless. So, like you I was invited to the Genius Bar. I went. It focuses Apple on the fact there really is an issue. By doing this there is now an official problem report in their system. I don't mind dragging this out, if it means that we all get a good outcome in the end. Despite my alias I am actually a huge fan of Apple. I hear good things about Windows 7, but we all know it's re-dressed Vista really 🙂

I don't think this really is the issue, unless there is something really odd inside the new Mini. During my recent visit to the Genius Bar the BT devices and the Mini were literally only a couple of inches apart. I find that I am limited in what I can say because the admins keep taking my postings down! There is a real issue here but as a result of people visiting the Genius Bar hopefully there will be more official bug reports raised.

My posting advising people to take their machines back was taken down, perhaps because of my nic name 🙂 Please don't go back to Windoze! I have to use it at work, don't punish yourself!

Just wanted to confirm that since I did the SMC reset two weeks ago in accordance with http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543?viewlocale=en_US I had no problems at all. Rock-solid connection. Doesn't work in BootCamp but no problem once I'm back in OSX.

Message was edited by: Ben Van Houtte

I'm not really clear how the SMC reset is different from any other power down reset? Have I missed something? Basically all you do is remove the power for 15 seconds and then power up. But I've powered down, put the machine into a box and taken to the nearest Apple store and it still didn't work. What am I missing?

I have the same problem.

Typically when I have multiple applications running my Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mighty Mouse stop responding, I don't get the connection lost logo, everything keeps running in the background but the computer doesn't get my input. I have to hit the power button to put it to sleep, wake it up with the keyboard. After I wake it up everything works fine for about an hour then it does it again.

I bought my first mac on Friday the 10th of April, 120G Mac Mini, with the Apple Wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. I noticed this problem on Sunday, and found this topic in the forums. Today, while I was reading the forum, the problem happened again.

1. Resetting the Mini is NOT a solution, it's a short term fix. It's like having to to stop to open your car hood while driving every 10km.
2. For the average user, this will result in hours and hours of pointless phone calls to apple support, just to reset the system.
This is obviously a serious problem, and I'm confident that Apple will admit this is a major problem and issue a fix or statement.

My replacement Mini arrived yesterday. Issues continue.

The mouse connected quickly during initial setup. Great I thought. My first mini didn't do that. Then the keyboard tried to connect. The setup screen said the keyboard was connected but didn't ask for a pass key to complete pairing. Sure enough, the keyboard wasn't connected.

I had to use my brother's USB keyboard to complete the setup. I then used bluetooth setup to successfully connect and didn't have any issues the rest of the day.

Today, the KB/Mouse has dropped 3 times. A quick sleep/wake will fix it but it is annoying. If my brother didn't have a USB keyboard, I wouldn't have been able to set up the mini.

Don't count on a replacement mini to solve this problem.

I just want to chime in and say that I too am having the Mighty Mouse Wireless disconnect issue with my early 2009 Mac Mini 2.26. I do not experience any mouse issues when I switch to the Mighty Mouse wired version. Clearly something buggy in the RF connection.

I'm having the same problem. While using a diNovo mini keyboard or Apple Mighty Mouse and keyboard I'll get dropouts out of nowhere. Also when I reboot the diNovo never reconnects. The Apple mouse and keyboard will only connect after going through the Blue tooth setup utility that launches. Using the diNovo to wake up the Mini is hit-and-miss. Sometimes the Mini will wake up and respond normally, sometimes the Mini will wake up and then immediately go back to sleep only to re wake after pressing a key on the diNovo again but then no response from the Mac Mini. The only way to get the diNovo connected again is to attach a wired keyboard and mouse, press the connect button on the diNovo and go to Blue tooth prefs and select reconnect to the diNovo. When th diNovo loses connection I also try to connect with the Apple Mighty Mouse and keyboard but they both are never recognized. I then have to plug in a wired keyboard and mouse and manually reconnect in the Blue tooth prefs panel.

Frustrating!

I have reason to be optimistic. On Monday, I had the combo wireless/bluetooth card replaced per Apple's instructions. They wanted me to do a mail in with my machine, but I declined.

Anyway, it is now the fourth day since the replacement, and neither my mouse nor keyboard has dropped out. It normally would happen at least once a day, and frequently twice. Only once did the problem occur three times in one day. Note that I use the mini for about an hour in the morning and then again in the evening, but the amount of time in the evening varies considerably.

So far the result has been promising. I'm going to hope a solution has been found.