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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

Jan 19, 2010 7:13 PM in response to Anonymoustache

Hello,

Did you have to switch the internal wires yourself or did you take it to an Apple store and have them do it for you. I am curious how complicated it is to do this myself or just have a professional do it for me. Thanks.

Jan 23, 2010 11:52 AM in response to castelletta

Exact same problems here on a Mac Pro purchased Nov 2009. This is my Final Cut Pro editing station, the magic mouse is awesome for this purpose. The mouse is less than 1 foot away on the desk top and the BT reception is horrible and drops frequently.

Apple give us a hardware solution. I remember older towers had an antenna attachment.

Jan 28, 2010 10:30 AM in response to webcat@mac.com

Take a look at this, after suffering for a while of the same symptoms I decided to dedicate a couple of hours to search for this and here it is:

http://cordisblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/howto-einbauanleitung-mb871da-airport.htm l

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=666644&page=2

Personally mine were wrong: 3 on top 1 on bottom and 2 dangling (Switched 3 and 1 around and voila)

Both my MBP's were blazing always but my Pro was too slow even browsing each other via network.

Speedtest.net before the change reported like 5MB down and not even close to 1MB up (I have the comcast 16MB plan)

Now it boosts up to 22MB down and 3MB up

Hope this helps someone.

Jan 29, 2010 7:28 PM in response to Tomas Chinchilla

My MP doesn't have an airport card, just bluetooth. There's only one wire (labeled BT) and it's attached to the bluetooth card.

I have a USB bluetooth adapter - actually two of them - but the system doesn't work with them, contrary to other reports in this thread.

Any ideas for how to get bluetooth to work more reliably?

Mosaica

Level 1

5 points

Jan 31, 2010 3:32 PM in response to derivativemusic

A couple of notes, first my USB BT adapter works, but you do have to re pair it upon waking..not a good fix.

Second, I have been working with the Apple tech people, engineers and the customer relations people to resolve this problem. They have given me a horrible time to say the least! I still am not done but somebody there knows that they have a problem, to be sure.

skullcat

Level 1

0 points

Feb 4, 2010 6:13 PM in response to castelletta

I am going crazy with my "magic" mouse as well. About 10% of the time it will work perfectly, but the other 90% of the time it is jerky, imprecise, not clicking when I am clicking, and losing connections. This is with an older model Mac Pro.

I've moved machines, moved my seating arrangement, turned Airport on and off, etc etc but nothing really seems to help. Either it just does NOT work with my Mac Pro as-is, or could I actually be getting interference from other sources?

Unfortunately I am so addicted to the smooth and silent 'scrolling' features of this mouse that I continue to use it, even though I am probably going to get carpal tunnel syndrome trying to mouse with it. I am considering opening up and 'rewiring' but I really wish I didn't have to muck about trying to make an expensive made-by-apple-for-your-mac product actually WORK like it was intended.

Feb 5, 2010 4:56 AM in response to skullcat

I finally gave up and returned mine. I notice too that my hand was starting to cramp. It's not really designed for the palm of your hand. Your arch in your hand needs to be raised not flat. I used it for nearly three months. Be warned...it will start to hurt. It's a shame since it looks so cool.

Feb 7, 2010 3:12 PM in response to castelletta

I bought a Mac Pro 8 core machine about 6 months ago, and still have not been able to use it.

It's planned for use in a sound production studio, and needs to live in a machine room, with wireless BT mouse/keyboard (using the older clear plastic Apple one) due to noise levels.

However, it won't work with either at 3m through a (light) wall. No steel, bricks or stucco, just a layer of drywall and some insulation.

The kicker is that the old G4 mini it was supposed to replace, works perfectly at the same (or even twice) the distance, wall and all. Not a single problem.

Placed 2.5m behind me in an open doorway, the Mac Pro barely works - the mouse is jerky and the keyboard as well, and both give "Connection Lost" error messages continuously.

So far the service center has said there is no problem (although even right under a desk it will eventually lose the connection, it just takes 30-40 minutes to do so and they didn't bother letting it run), then replaced the BT card, and now the problem is in Apple's hands, so they wait for more info about what to do.

When I ran the hardware diagnostic test, I did get an error, but haven't found the meaning of the resulting code anywhere on the net:

Diagnostic Check error number: 4SNS/1/40000000: TMA1-128.000

I would assume that a company of Apple's size actually tests new products prior to release, to ensure that they meet specs, as well as to measure EMI, acoustic noise and other performance aspects. It's not clear to me how the flagship model was released without passing spec on BT connectivity. Surely it was tested?

My machine is back in the shop after another round with Apple, this time I do hope that they manage to fix it. I'm getting closer and closer to requesting a refund.

Mosaica

Level 1

5 points

Feb 8, 2010 1:16 PM in response to Thor Legvold

UPDATE:

I understand. You know, it is "only" a mouse. So some might say. It is in reality a main interface device to your Mac! So it is a big deal.

I just got off the phone with Apple again. Some news.

They are admiting to a glitch that they say will be resovled with a Firmware update in the near future! So, yes, they now have said that they have a problem and just as important a fix. They did not say how long this fix would take, but should come out as an Update. I must say they have certainly been bas*ards to deal with. I may post a summary of my troubles....grrrrrr.

skullcat

Level 1

0 points

Feb 8, 2010 1:25 PM in response to Mosaica

Well I am trying the "MagicPrefs" (instead of the MouseZoom) and I have to say it is working better already. Not quite all there yet, but definitely better. I am looking forward to seeing how the update will improve things.

(I am also trying out the 'tap' instead of clicks, which is a nice addition....and which is how I had envisioned being able to use the mouse in the first place....).

castelletta Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 10, 2010 1:41 AM in response to Mosaica

"It is in reality a main interface device to your Mac! So it is a big deal."

I quote you because it's precisely so.

I'm happy for the idea of the Firmware upgrade but I don't think that it will solve a poor BT transmission. But if it'll do, i'll be super happy.

Feb 14, 2010 2:06 AM in response to castelletta

Hi all,

Mac pro with magic mouse, same problems as many have posted. Jerky movement etc. I have gone back to the mouse that came with the pro and no issues. However want to use the magic mouse!

Will this help

http://www.johnlewis.com/230606357/Product.aspx

Thanks
Josh

Feb 15, 2010 9:08 AM in response to Josh Bear

Have the same probs here with my Mac Pro early 2009 and the new magic mouse.
Put the D'Link DBT-120 to my wired keyboard and the mouse works like a wired one.
But when I boot up my Mac it takes a very, very long time until my MM is connected again. Is there any fix for that? I just plugged in the stick, did not install any driver or software. Should I've done that or do something to the built-in Bluetooth stuff.

Feb 15, 2010 6:01 PM in response to Community User

Does this external fix work if you do NOT have wifi card. My bluetooth board is model BCM92046MD and only has one micro coax plug and wire that appears to be going to the case. Also, I could not find where to buy this antenna. I can not find "matashardware" on ebay. Thanks

Holger_S

Level 1

0 points

Feb 18, 2010 12:53 PM in response to castelletta

Hello dear all,

I am sorry, I am not a native speaker - on my MP Quadcore 2,66 '09er I have same problem with Apple's Magic Mouse.

This mouse does not works fine with my MacPro - it seems if there is a distance of more than 60 cm, this mouse is really bad, the connection looses many times, the degree of accuracy in use (to hit and to click without error) is total worse. If there is a distance less than 60 cm, than this Magic Mouse works fine.

I have no words for this - after the audio bug in MP 09 this is the next big thing...

Best regards

Holger_S

Poor Bluetooth reception and jerky mouse