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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

rafnayri

Level 1

0 points

Mar 30, 2010 5:33 PM in response to Mosaica

It seems that I have just fixed my similar problem. Mine is one of many MacPro's shipped with the wrong wiring of bluetooth antenna. Followed the wiring suggestion on this URL:

http://guides.macrumors.com/AddingBluetooth_and_Wireless_to_a_MacPro

MagicMouse seems to be working well with no jitters or delay. Let's see if it holds. Hope it works for many of you out there. Good luck.

castelletta Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 31, 2010 1:13 AM in response to rafnayri

Mosaica,

please note that this is a Mac Pro 2009 thread and you are reporting an old fix that was suggested many times for pre-2009 Mac Pro.

They are different machines and this patch is simply NOT applicable to the latest Mac Pros.

Mosaica

Level 1

5 points

Apr 3, 2010 7:39 AM in response to castelletta

Hi Castelletta, you meant rafnavri, not Mosaica. I do have, as you know the early 2009 Mac Pro with the New problem not the old bad wiring problem....

I have made contact with my Apple contact and will be back with some update info here soon.

HieroMac

Level 1

0 points

Apr 4, 2010 4:35 PM in response to GuyWittig

I am experiencing the same problem with my 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core.

Am interested in the antenna replacement solutions offered by GuyWittig and sixgunaz. Will see if I can find and order the correct antennas.

Perhaps the ideal solution would be to order an antenna of sufficient length that it can extend out the rear of my tower, around behind my monitor, and can be affixed by tape or glue to the front of my Magic Mouse--thereby eliminating any chance of signal-strength issues. This might give me the trouble-free wireless mouse experience I've been hoping for since purchasing the hardware.

Seriously though, I love Apple and would very much appreciate an acknowledgement of and solution to this problem.

Apr 12, 2010 2:00 AM in response to HieroMac

So the 2009 Mac Pro Quad Xeon i bought yesterday is doing the same thing.. $5000 with the monitor and I have Jerky Magic Mouse from 3' away.. Mac Pro is right under the desk.. Unreal..

I pulled out the CPU tray and sure enough the Bluetooth Card is right there with the Antenna Connector.. The antenna runs up into the case somewhere where I cant see it ? Is there an easy way to remove the whole wire and pull it out ? If we ran the wire outside the case, I am 100% sure it would fix this problem..

If we can just find the antenna sold separately , we could just buy another antenna and connect it and run the wire out the back and I am so sure it would fix this..

This so much looks like an antenna issue.. I dont think for a second that its in the OS or can be fixed with the OS..

It seems like straight RF issues and an external antenna would fix this.

So now where can we buy the antenna to try it ?

If anyone knows how to get the antenna out of the 2009 Mac Pro easily please let me know

Thanks
Craig
craig@shumer.com

castelletta Author

Level 1

11 points

Apr 12, 2010 3:26 AM in response to Theatermax

Theatermax I absolutely agree with you.
Like I was stating while opening this long thread this seems at 99,9% an hardware issue.

Still no response from Apple. A real shame, considering that Mac Pro is at the top of the product line.

Apr 12, 2010 10:34 AM in response to castelletta

I had a 27" Imac Quad core I7 with tons of bad pixels and every one they opened to replace it with had more dead pixels so I opted to go Pro and Cinema Display and now I am possibly regretting the whole experience.

I have so much money wrapped up in Apple products and I do love them. The fact that they can't resolve a simple Bluetooth issue which apparently is wide spread and has been for quite some time is disturbing.

Do I return the Pro and try another ? I expect that every one does the exact same thing and it is all environment. Some homes have less issues probably but the antenna is most likely the culprit.

I cant see where it goes but its buried in an aluminum case.. What did they think ?

They should just put a external antenna connector for better range on the back cage and you could use it or not if you need the range.. Probably a $5.00 fix..

Hopefully someone will chime in and explain where the BT antenna runs on the 2009 Mac pro and how to remove it and rerun out side the box and maybe that wil work ?

If we could just simply get our hands on these antennas we could leave the internal one alone and unlug the connector on the board and just run another one..

Simple fix but I dont know where to get it ?

Mosaica

Level 1

5 points

Apr 14, 2010 2:26 PM in response to Theatermax

Yes, if we could only get that $ 5.00 antenna! It is attached to the back of the computer case at the expansion slots, not the case itself. If we did run it outside it would work. Void the warranty also, for what it is worth.

I have been out of town, but I will post the trouble and trouble shooting that Appple has made me do and you will be shocked.

I will also let you know what the Apple engineeers are saying about this.

Talk with you in a bit.

Apr 16, 2010 3:36 PM in response to castelletta

I experienced the same problem with my new Mac Pro. The shiny new MM was basically inoperable. I had an old BT dongle kicking around so I trashed Bluetooth prefs, plugged in the dongle and restarted the machine. Seems to be working now (knock on wood). I do think Apple needs to address this, but until then, this is my fix.

Apr 19, 2010 10:01 PM in response to AndrewKaleidoscope

Trashing the preferences allow me to fix the problem by using a bluetooth dongle too. Though I had to plug it into my keyboard USB port so that it was close enough to the MM. Otherwise I experience the same problem. So far so good!

Apr 20, 2010 10:08 AM in response to Nicholas Fitzhugh

Im Done.. I returned the Pro to apple and went back to a 27" Imac..

I can't be bothered with such nonsense.. Its a shame but as great as apple is and I do love them. They have little issues that they never seem to resolve.. I see complaints of this bluetooth mac pro thing for years online and still no fix.. A simple external antenna would have resolved this..

Oh well.

Onward and upward

skullcat

Level 1

0 points

Apr 20, 2010 10:15 AM in response to Theatermax

I am still confused by this issue. With my Mac Pro (2007), my magic mouse works perfectly about 25% of the time, and then returns to the herky jerky movements. Right now, the mouse is working just right; I have not restarted my mac since its terrible mouse performance yesterday, however I do turn OFF and ON my mouse after waking up after every sleep (my MagicPrefs settings don't seem to work quite right without this resetting).

My other Bluetooth mouse never has this problem (though I still prefer the magic mouses quiet finger-scrolling feature). I did get a 3rd party bluetooth dongle but I don't use it because I cannot use my wireless keyboard at the same time then.

Any, why does SHAKING my magic mouse temporarily fix it? For about 3 or 4 minutes, anyway, until it gets stuck (it's like trying to move your pointer on screen to a magnetically-opposing area!)

castelletta Author

Level 1

11 points

May 10, 2010 3:33 PM in response to castelletta

I want an elegant solution from Apple, this thread has been opened to gain Apple attention because this is an Apple fault and a forgotten one.

Some users can manage to follow instructions on the blog posted but MANY users want a simple, clean, pick&place solution from Apple.

I don't like to buy antennas, to perforate slot covers etc ...

... am I alone?

Message was edited by: castelletta

Mosaica

Level 1

5 points

May 17, 2010 5:39 AM in response to castelletta

Hi again, no you are not along. The fax per the blog is a very good fix. I am sorry that I have not been responding here more often, but I have been in contact with Apple nearly every day and they are being SOBS.
I have written a letter to steve jobs with no resonse.
I have informed Apple that I am going to get a solution to this problem, from them.
I have spent so much time and money and effort over this that I will not give up.
I am currently in contact with the Vice President of Apple Care, Worldwide. We will see what the Executive Offices have for an answer.
My God this is taking so much time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW, I would have settled for the above antenna fix, if Apple was not jerking me around so much.
I am sorry That I have not posted more details and names about my difficulties, but I do not wish to do this until I have resolution.
The Apple Arrogance is Ugly!

castelletta Author

Level 1

11 points

May 18, 2010 1:17 AM in response to Mosaica

I understand your frustration very well.

At this point I think that Apple will make a move only if this problem will be publicly and widely reported on ...say Wired, or NewYorkTimes. Last fixes followed this path (do you remember audio-related problems? or 2009 27 inch iMac problems?).

When Apple will feel their MacPro line in danger we will have our problem fixed. Granted.

Poor Bluetooth reception and jerky mouse