Poor Bluetooth reception and jerky mouse

I just purchased the Magic Mouse for use with my Dual 2Ghz G5(PPC) running OS 10.5.8. Also have the wireless Keyboard which works flawlessly. The mouse is another story. Same issues as everyone else. I have the internal BT adapter and the external antenna. I see there is a Extender available for the BT antenna. Anyone have luck with it? It extends the length about 30". Thanks!

External Antenna does the trick - 10 days now and from my "bodge" fix above still without problems.

Magic Mouse is now all I expected from all the rave reviews.

Bare in mind, I now have a wire sticking out the back of a £1500 computor, to make it work.

APPLE - one of you must surely be looking at this thread???

THE MAC PRO NEEDS AN EXTERNAL ANTENNA FOR BT to work with magic mouse at all and also for other BT peripherals to work correctly.

WHY ARE YOU IGNORING THE PROBLEM????

I have 1920's technology FIXING 2010 issue!!

I do not understand why things have to be so difficult. The Logitech Magic Mouse from Logitech, with in the same package the Bluetooth dongle that can be plugged into a USB port of the computer tower itself or on the (wired) keyboard (as I have done), works like a charm on my Mac Pro of which the details are: Processor 2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon, running Snow Leopard version 10.6.8 No antennas or anything else needed. This same dongle does however not work for the Trackpad, that now works with the IOGEAR GBU421, plugged into a USB port on the computer tower itself, although the computer does not really 'recognize it' and after several hours of sleep it doesn't 'wake up', until I go to Apple System Preferences and click "set up trackpad". Although the computer does not 'see' the trackpad it still works fine. I may still install a Bluetooth card in the computer.

@Eisinga

Sounds like your workaround solution is a little more complex than mine!!

With my bodged external antenna (wire out the back if you will) everything is working perfectly, keyboard, trackpad and magic mouse, no issues with tracking sleep or anything else.

I think my point is (along with many others) is that Apple should address this issue as it is fixable!

further why should you, I or anyone have to work around at all, with 3rd party accessories or bodged antennas?

This is a top of the range computer, with price to match.

I have yet to see an Apple tech appear on this thread - WHY?

Maybe when sales start to drop and they are no longer #1 company, they will wake up, and FIX it!!

Its the industry standard Pro Apps that are keeping (macpro) sales going, although I can't imagine how a computer lying on its side in a fancy FCP edit room goes down - although I can imagine some of the jokes😁

(its in this thread somewhere).

The problem only showed itself when I upgraded from BT mighty mouse to magic mouse.

Somebody else mentioned the Faraday cage design of both MacPro and Magic mouse being not too clever - well that's exactly the problem - putting an antenna inside something "designed" to stop signals passing thru.

Why on earth did Apple not include the G5 external antenna on the mac pro? The "problem" was obviously known then - the case is near enough identical!

After recently getting a used MacPro (1,1) and moving up from a 24" iMac I was incredibly frustrated by the fact that I could not use the Magic Mouse I have come to love!

I think Apple really dropped the ball in their design by not having the BT antenna outside the case or at least more accessible to the bluetooth keyboards or mice. I mean who put that gargantuan unit on their desk??

But I digress... after reading all the solutions and suggestion, I opted not to open the case and mess around with the antenna. Instead I went online and found a relatively inexpensive USB Bluetooth adapter.

Just got back from the store, plugged it in to the back of my 27" ACD and voila! Magic Mouse is back in business!!

Here is the unit I just bought that works like a charm:

http://tinyurl.com/6usbo6y

You might be able to find it on Amazon or somewhere else locally cheaper. I just wanted it right away (I'm like that) and the local Staples had it in stock (last one BTW).

Anyway I hope this helps someone else out who's been as frustrated as I have been.

Using your website address for access to info re the bluetooth adapter that you purchased, in Canada, I was not successful. Redirected to the Canadian Staples website they prove not to have the adapter you mentioned but they do have the Iogear GBU421 bluetooth to usb adapter and that is the one I use for the trackpad. For the magic mouse, that I do not use anymore since I prefer the trackpad as faster and more sensitive and less hard on my hand, I use the logitech bluetooth-usb dongle, which works fine.

See the discussions re trackpad.

Eisinga

I just purchased from Apple a reconditioned Mac Pro Mid 2010 8-Core. When it was first set up, the CPU was directly next to the mouse, and it worked very well. Now, the mouse is about eight feet from the box, and two or three feet above it, with the front of the computer pointing toward the mouse. And I'm experiencing the jerkiness and other issues reported here. I really don't want to rewire anything under the hood - upgrading the memory and installing a second hard drive is as much of a challenge as I can handle.

One of the more recent responses, Lee Kabilyo, suggests the Targus USB Bluetooth Adapter. I assume this is to get the Bluetooth antenna outside the unit, since it's evidently a signal issue? In my case, it would allow me to plug a USB dongle into the front of the computer, where it would be line-of-sight to the mouse, more or less.

Can anyone clarify whether this would be helpful or advisable in my case? Or otherwise point me toward another solution which doesn't require messing with the innards of my unit while still on warranty?

Just FYI - try removing the battery cover off the (I assume) Magic Mouse, the mouse works fine without it, batteries don't fall out etc.

- it improved the situation for me - not enough, but It may help enough depending on your set up.

You are right what is needed is an external antenna - doesn't seem to matter how that's achieved - however some BT dongles are more compatible than others, I think earlier in this VERY lengthy thread it mentions the better ones to use.

The main issue is waking from sleep - leaving an old wired mouse plugged in would cure that... not the greatest panacea for such "up market" kit - but this issue does require some creative thinking (as Apple won't help)

It's amazing such a MAJOR issue has been left unaddressed by Apple, their staff are all over these forums!

EXTERNAL ANTENNA APPLE PLEASE!!

Now here's another idea - IF you are under Apple Care and you are "unable" to bring your MacPro to an Apple Store, I believe they should come to you to fix it!! .... worth a try? 👿

Dear CA Mac Convert,

First off, welcome to the fold!

I plugged the bluetooth dongle that I mentioned into one of the USB plugs on the back of my Apple Cinema Display. It winds up being only a foot or so from my mouse, and still a few feet from the Mac Pro but it seems to be doing the trick just fine. I have not had any issues since I installed it. And yes, Apple should definitely have taken this issue into account and offer an external antenna solution. But we all know how that goes...

Good luck and I hope it works for you as well.

Lee

Thanks for the responses, and for the Apple welcome, Lee. I owned the first issue of the IBM PC with two 5 1/2" floppy drives, and have been on DOS/Windows since, unhappily. After squeezing 10 years of use out of my Adobe Creative Suite, and tiring of routine crashes, I finally - happily - own a Mac Pro, after a year of happy iPad2 ownership.

I ordered an Iogear USB 2.1 Bluetooth Micro Adapter (GBU421) for $14.25 from Amazon, which I plan to plug into my wired Apple keyboard, and hopefully that will solve the magic mouse issue. With a full year left on warranty, I don't want to mess with the bluetooth wiring, so I hope the dongle does the trick. There seemed to be some issue as to whether the dongle had to use a USB port on the back of the computer, but a couple of posters said they had success plugging it into the Apple wired keyboard USB plug, and that certainly would place it much, much closer to the mouse.

A further question: I've ordered a Magic Trackpad, which of course is also wireless. Can I assume it has the same issues with sluggish behavior when it's outside of close, close proximity to the back of the computer?

Thanks again for all the helpful info here, and throughout these threads.

Yup same with the Trackpad.

Your plan seems good - and with a wired keyboard, no issues waking from sleep, which may be better that way, Magic Mouse very sensitive - drop keys on desk Mac wakes up. or maybe it's the noise...😁

Graham

other half works for Big Blue and uses a Mac...

ps what is dos? - Siri doesn't seem to know...😝

Unfortunately, I had no success with the Bluetooth dongle. Wasn't drawing enough power from the keyboard USB outlet. Tried the USB outlet on the front, where at least it powered up (after I plugged in a corded mouse, since plugging in the Bluetooth dongle incapacitated the Magic Mouse). I then adjusted system preferences as instructed by Iogear. But the mouse is still behaving badly - if anything, worse than before. So, for now: I've plugged my old Logitech two-button wired mouse from Windows-land into the USB port on the Apple keyboard. Works fine. Just no ability to use any of the Lion OS X gestures!

I have en route a Magic Trackpad, which I sure hope I'll have better luck with. Otherwise, I've spent an awful lot on a computer which seems incapable of interfacing with basic wireless peripherals. I suppose I'll then send a note to Apple support, though it sounds unlikely to net anything useful. And then perhaps reconsider the external antenna fix proposed herein. I suppose as long as I'm not voiding my warranty, it should be OK . . . .

No Trackpad is BT only 😟

You probably have two BT receivers competing, you may need to disable the internal BT.

If I were you - I would call Apple care and tell them "it's not working" and you are physically unable to take your MacPro in - have them come out and fix it.

C'Mon APPLE you won someone over - pleeze fix this problem!😠

UPDATE:

I wanted to share this process i had today with Lexy Pacific Corporation regarding a RMA for the Cirago BTA-6210 (Class1). The tech "David" was wonderful with his intention of solving the problem. He thinks the "chipset" in the 6210 (Toshiba) is the problem with the second try of the BTA-6210 that they sent me from my RMA. One week is all it lasted till it went dead... again! He felt it might be able to fix the problem if i used the Motorola chipset in the BTA-6310... he thinks it(6210) might have some conflict with OSX so i should try the 6310 model... he asked the RMA department if they could replace the 6210 with the 6310... they said they can only RMA the original order... i sent e-mail to ALL Lexy Pacific Corp. executives i could find to share my story and now await a reply from anyone who cares. Let's see if anyone at Lexy Pacific Corp. cares... I will update again in a week or less...

PS: i know about Class 1 vs Class 2 but i needed the Class 1 for other reasons. If the Class 1 is the issue, then i will get a cheaper Class 2. but we will see...

sub note: i noticed today that most of us whining are Level 1... hahaha!

Just wanted to put in my .02.

I was having the same issues with both the Bluetooth Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad as described by the OP on my Early 2008 Mac Pro Quad Core 2.8GHZ Model 3,1 running OS Lion 10.7.4 with factory installed Bluetooth and Airport modules, and "re-wiring" the bluetooth and airport radios fixed my issue. These instructions worked for me.

Good Luck.