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castelletta Author

Level 1

11 points

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

Dec 23, 2009 1:17 PM in response to castelletta

"The problem is at 99,9% a poor bluetooth signal due to the metallic enclosure of the Mac Pro."

I don't think that is the case (sorry for the accidental pun 😉 I have an early one (MacPro 2,1 8-core factory install BT) and switching the wires fixed that problem--the Magic Mouse works great now. So, while I realize mis-wiring is not the issue with the 2009 Mac Pros, it cannot be the metal case either since my Mac Pro has the very same metal case and works great. Apple must have redesigned the module or wiring or case or some other part is causing interference.

Hope you folks and Apple get it sorted out before too long. It's disappointing to see such a flaw in an otherwise great system.

Dec 23, 2009 1:22 PM in response to Anonymoustache

Thanks! Worked like a charm on my Mac Pro 2,1 only with one difference: the unused wire that I then connected to the upper connector on the airport module was labeled "2" not unlabeled and the neither BT wire I disconnected nor the one I disconnected from the air port module and put on the BT module were labeled. I checked both the BT and air port and they both work great now whereas only the airport worked before.

Mosaica

Level 1

5 points

Dec 28, 2009 8:04 AM in response to castelletta

Ok, here is where I am now.
1. Yes the MM does work much better with the battery cover off.
2. It works better yet with the Belkin mini dongle! It is much more accurate and faster than without. Battery cover can be left on.
3. Yes, I too have the same problem though with the Belkin BT that it has to be re paired and also I loose scrolling sometimes. Don't know why.
3. Taking the cover off the Mac Pro, (early 2009) does NOT help me.
4. In talking with Apple TS, the "engineers" are still looking into it and they still do not get that there is a problem. That is simply absurd.
5. I still am in contact with Apple for what it is worth.
6. I am going to try to extend the antenna out of the case or reposition it and see how that works.

castelletta Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 28, 2009 9:00 AM in response to Mosaica

I can't understand why apple engineers and support team like to deny a problem consistently affecting so many people with the 2009 MacPro Bluetooth.

Surely we are not here to have fun. Do Apple thinks so?

Cyrus.K

Level 1

0 points

Dec 28, 2009 1:00 PM in response to castelletta

Ok, this has probably been discussed more or less. Had difficulties with the magic mouse same ol' same ol' lag/herky jerky. Frustrating as ****, tried all the common sense things ie. tower placement, removing tower panel, changing mouse surfaces, removing mouse battery panel (helped a bit). FINALLY got it working smoothly with the "rewiring" guide. Now I can put the mouse battery cover back on, shift the tower back etc etc. Woohoo!!!! http://guides.macrumors.com/AddingBluetooth_and_Wireless_to_a_MacPro

Dec 28, 2009 1:52 PM in response to Vinc26

Agreed. It worked for my Mac Pro 2,1 but that is the first gen model not the 2009 model as I mentioned in my previous post. People keep forgetting that there are several generations of Mac Pro out there now and they are substantially different main boards

hkseo100

Level 1

0 points

Dec 28, 2009 9:27 PM in response to castelletta

I'm using Targus ACB10US (Silver model), and it works fine. (It wakes from sleep)
but it's weird.

If i don't have a USB Mouse plugged in, the Wake from Bluetooth is grayed, (but still wokrs), but if i do hav a mouse plugged in, I can check the box/uncheck. (and still works fine)

Dec 31, 2009 9:10 PM in response to castelletta

After suffering from awful wifi and bluetooth reception from my intel first generation Mac Mini (several months of parsing the forum didn't fix the problem), i too have poor magic mouse behavior with my 2009 Mac Pro.
I am sitting on the left side of the computer so i didn't try the "walk on the right side" trick.
Nonetheless i have tried the "remove the hatch of the magic mouse" trick and it definitely improved the reception.
I hope Apple will find a driver fix but i don't believe it will happen. My analysis is poor design on both MacPro and Magic Mouse. I think i will wait until my warranty is about to expire and ask for a change of the bluetooth module from the Mac Pro, unless a magic driver is released.

omillar

Level 1

0 points

Jan 8, 2010 3:01 PM in response to castelletta

I am experiencing the exact same problem as many of those in this thread. I just got off the phone with Apple and I'm very unhappy about how this is being handled. I wish they would think logically about solutions... from the customer's perspective and not the perspective of minimizing losses.

Mosaica

Level 1

5 points

Jan 9, 2010 7:08 AM in response to omillar

Yes, Apple should believe us and resove the issue rather than spending our time and their's troubleshooting non existant issues.

I still have an Apple Care plan and am going to stick to my guns on this. I am pressing them hard.
I recently went to the Apple Store to verify my MM works on a Mac Pro there and of course it did. It is a different version. At the same time, the Genuis suggested I reinstall the OS. Well, I can get that kind of advice from HP.

Meanwhile, I did run the BT mouse signal strength meter software. In general the result are as expected. The signal strength that the MM recieves with the battery cover off is better than with the cover on. Similar to having the MM far away from the Mac Pro versus on a desktop next to the Mac Pro. In addition, the signal strength of the MM after plugging in a BT USB dongle is MUCH BETTER YET. EVEN IF THE MOUSE IS FURTHER AWAY THAN BEFORE.

Lastly, my understanding of aa very good solution to our problem is to get the exact antenna from apple (costs a few dollars) plug it into tht BT connection on the Mac Pro and tape it to the outside.

Mosaica

Level 1

5 points

Jan 10, 2010 8:55 AM in response to Community User

sixgunaz wrote:
Save yourself a lot of headache, spend $8 on a BT antenna on Ebay, install it and run it outside the case, either under the tower, or along the monitor cable as we did and enjoy perfect operation. The mod took a few minutes, it changed nothing and does not void the warranty. There are all kinds of people selling micro coax BT antennas, we got ours from a guy in Canada, it arrived in 4 days. Problem solved.

I agree and read your posts. Matashardware does not have these for sale. I have looked for over an hour and have not found a similar item. I did check your purchase and like what I see in ebay's ended auctions area.

Mosaica

Level 1

5 points

Jan 11, 2010 8:58 AM in response to castelletta

Put in your OS install disk and there is an option to install Developer tools. Install that. You will end up with a folder called Developer, Utilities, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Diagnostics Utility and Bluetooth Exlorer.

Run the Bluetooth Explorer and on the main menu click Devices, Connection Quality monitor." This will create both a nice graph and a log on the signal quality to and from the MM. If you try the MM from far away as a test you will see it drop off, it logs each second. If you move the MM close you will see less drop offs. If you take the MM cover off you will see even less drop offs, if you add a external USB BT dongle you will see no drop offs. Let us know how you make out.

MoofMan

Level 1

13 points

Jan 13, 2010 7:29 PM in response to Anonymoustache

ok I have an older Mac Pro (early 2006) and there is only a wifi and blue tooth module, no small antenna connected module. All I did was switch the upper WIFI antenna (mine was labeled #1) and the lower Blue Tooth module (wire labeled BT) with the computer powered off. I left #3 and the unconnected #2 alone. I rebooted and immediately the jerky magic mouse was fixed and very responsive. ALSO my WIFI speeds got a lot faster too after several years of being frustrated with less than satisfying WIFI and then this poor magic mouse I'm relieved to finally be getting the better Mac experience I expect LOL?

castelletta Author

Level 1

11 points

Jan 19, 2010 10:34 AM in response to Mosaica

Thank you Mosaica.

I installed developer tools and tested BT signal.
Results of my tests: much power and a better mouse link form the external BT dongle.

The empiric suggestions were true and now are just confirmed.......definitely poor Mac Pro Bluetooth signal!

Solutions from Apple?

Jan 19, 2010 6:53 PM in response to castelletta

I have an older Mac Pro 2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon running Snow Leopard 10.6.2. I recently bought an Apple Magic Mouse and am having a lot of trouble with the mouse tracking, delayed moves and slow response times. I need to know how to fix this problem without opening up the computer itself and rewiring or downloading a dongle If you could email me or respond to this thread I would really appreciate it. Should I just return the Magic Mouse and go back to using my wireless USB keyboard and mouse? Thanks for your help.

Poor Bluetooth reception and jerky mouse