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Level 1

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Poor Bluetooth reception and jerky mouse

I want to share my findings upon the poor reception of the internal Bluetooth module on my 2009 Mac Pro. The mouse in particular seems to suffer the most from the low BT signal.

It has to be said that if you succeed to place your Mac Pro in a particular position you can obtain optimal mouse reception. It seems that the field covered by BT signal is very irregular (due to the aluminum case?) and I think also altered by other metal objects that can exist on your desk (or inside/under you desk and his structure).

This can explain why some users tell of fantastic BT reception with their Mac Pro and others (majority) complain about awful Magic Mouse tracking.

In my situation I've been forced to plug-in a D-LINK DBT-120 dongle. It performs very well and maintain always connection with mouse and keyboard upon restart......unfortunately the same peripherals can't awake my Mac Pro during the sleep mode. A little uncomfortable (because you have to press the power button) and I thing very strange since this dongle is considered the only BT dongle fully supported from Apple.

I tried other dongles but all seem to lose connection. Some after restart, others after sleep mode.

For sure it's a shame that the most powerful and most expensive machine that Apple is selling right now is so badly performing in the BT compartment and it's more unforgivable since Apple seems to push very much their wireless peripherals.

Ok Apple, it's not easy to grant a powerful BT antenna in the metal case of the Mac Pro? Well please provide or support an external module that fully support all Mac OS functions (key selection on startup, wake on sleep ... etc) and consistently. I don't think it's a science fiction task.

I'm waiting your experimentation in placing your Mac Pro differently.

Please share your experiences....thank you

MacPro 2009 - 8 core, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Nov 12, 2009 8:05 AM

357 replies

castelletta Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 4, 2009 9:09 AM in response to DaveClanMan

You are right about sensor position and for this reason I think that we have to follow Apple suggestion to throw away mouse pads and use the Magic Mouse directly on desktop surface.

I've done it and it's a pleasure.

Dec 4, 2009 9:35 AM in response to castelletta

No I don't. I think "For optimal Bluetooth mouse performance, place the mouse underneath the computer." would be better and more concise.

Seriously though, I might try this just to see if this is the actual problem. I currently see three different possibilities.

1. Software conflict that does not affect USB dongles.
2. Wireless connection problem due to less than optimal placement of the antenna.
3. Interference from processors.

I'm not sure this is possible, however the card is directly behind one of my processors and jumpy mouse syndrome does appear to be most pronounced during heavy computer activity.

I still have my hopes up for it being #1, but the USB dongle is a really good solution with a wired keyboard.

Dec 4, 2009 10:18 AM in response to castelletta

Bluetooth runs at about at 2.4-2.4835 GHz and changes channels automatically to avoid interference with other devices.

The Nehalem processors in current MacPros run starting at 2.26GHz, however can increase in speed on individual cores to make programs that are not multi processor aware run faster. I have to wonder if processor speed changes could be causing the problem, which leads to a couple questions.

1. Are you experiencing the problem and not able to solve it by changing your mouse pad*?
2. What speed and number of processors?

I have the 8 core 2.26GHz.

I wonder if there is a utility that would disable this feature on the processors for testing purposes. Another site I frequent had a long article on concerns about processor temperatures while running iTunes that turned out to be what is expected when a program bumps up the speed of a single core, however I'm interested now in possibly using this as a test to see if iTunes has an effect on mouse performance.

*Using a black mouse pad does definitely affect performance for me, however it's a separate issue and not nearly as annoying as the problem with the built-in bluetooth.

Message was edited by: Tom Alperin

castelletta Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 4, 2009 11:03 AM in response to Tom Alperin

Very very intriguing theory Tom!

My Mac Pro is identical to your: 8 core at 2.26GHz

It may be interesting to know if 8 core at 2.66GHz and 2.93GHz exhibit the same mouse lag.
Please, people complaining, can you post your config too?

3ccdmbp

Level 1

5 points

Dec 4, 2009 10:40 PM in response to castelletta

2009 quad MacPro. Same jerkiness problem with Magic Mouse, no problem with Mighty Mouse. Wireless keyboard also routinely shows as disconnected, then immediately reconnects.

Dec 5, 2009 1:26 PM in response to castelletta

I've the same problem... Jerky, useless mouse, and the Mac Pro is only 1m away. The same mouse works quite well with my Mac mini, located in another room, even at a distance of 3m.

Luba Cox

Level 1

0 points

Dec 5, 2009 8:17 PM in response to castelletta

Where do you have your BT dongle? If I go your route I would want to put it in one of the keyboard USB slots. Hopefully, enough power comes out of the keyboard USB for the BT dongle to work. 🙂

You say your keyboard can't wake your Mac Pro, do you also have a BT keyboard too? I would use a wired keyboard so hopefully using a BT dongle won't affect the keyboard to such extent it won't wake the computer.

I got the Logitech Performance MX. Overall it's good, but a bit too big for me I think as I am feeling some wrist pain after using for a couple of hours. Also, I think it doesn't poll often enough so sometimes there's a lag/unresponsiveness. The lag is certainly not as often as with the Magic Mouse. The Logitech Performance MX has the same features as the Magic Mouse plus then some. I can scroll left & right, a dedicated button for exposé, etc. so it's good if it fits your hands.

Luba Cox

Level 1

0 points

Dec 5, 2009 8:53 PM in response to Luba Cox

Oh and I tried the Razer Mamba. They say it's for the Mac too, but their driver doesn't allow you to program the extra keys.

Dec 5, 2009 8:57 PM in response to Luba Cox

My keyboard is wireless. I want my mouse and keyboard to both be wireless. Less desk clutter. Right now they both work but the mouse is just sluggish. I bought this dongle thinking it would act the same. It actually disables the Mac Bluetooth and unchecks "allow this device to wake computer from sleep".

Dec 7, 2009 2:22 AM in response to castelletta

"I'm experiencing the same problem."
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4

castelletta Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 7, 2009 9:57 AM in response to Luba Cox

Luba, if you use a wired keyboard and a D-LINK dongle I'm sure you'll enjoy the Magic Mouse.

And yes! I'm using the bluetooth keyboard, for this reason I have problems waking the mac from sleep mode.

My dongle is plugged, via a USB extension cable, in the back USB port of the Mac Pro. The dongle itself is located just 20cm from my mouse in front.

Dec 7, 2009 11:51 AM in response to castelletta

I'm having the same problem with my 2009 Quad Core Mac Pro.

Luba Cox

Level 1

0 points

Dec 7, 2009 5:05 PM in response to castelletta

castelletta, thanks for the info! i read D LINK is a good company, so I'll get the dongle from there. I think it's better than getting one for a no-name dongle. Agree?

I like the Unifying receiver from Logitech because it's so small I can plug it in one of the USB ports on the keyboard. So if the dongle is that small, it would be beautifully ideal situation!!

Dec 8, 2009 4:51 AM in response to Luba Cox

Will the dongle wake the computer from sleep? I just bought a iogear one and it won't let my wireless keyboard or mouse wake the computer. I have to hit the power button under the desk every time. Anyone know of a dongle that does not disable the Mac's ability to wake from sleep?

Dec 8, 2009 10:43 AM in response to castelletta

Just to add another voice here: I have the same problem with my 2.26 gig 8-core Mac Pro. I have positioned my computer in a somewhat awkward place on my desk, but I sometimes have to operate my mouse within 8-10 inches of the machine to avoid jerky responses. Too bad - I love the Mac Pro and I really like the Magic Mouse with its finger swipe scrolling. This is my 3rd mouse - I had to trade in 2 wireless Might Mice because they got stuck all the time - that little scroll ball constantly (and I mean constantly) had to be cleaned to function at all. The Mighty Mouse is great, but unbelievably low range with the Mac Pro.

Apple's new slogan: The New Mac Pro - Powerful and Awkward.

Poor Bluetooth reception and jerky mouse