Magic Mouse Not Recognized Not Recognized as Such

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Level 1

36 points

Magic Mouse Not Recognized Not Recognized as Such

I just got a Magic Mouse for my Mac Pro (2.8GHz 8-processor, late-2008), running 10.5.8. It connects through Bluetooth fine, but it doesn't seem to be recognized as a Magic Mouse. The "magic" features don't seem to be working. It only seems to do left- and right-clicks.

I also see that it doesn't seem to show up in the System Preferences Keyboard&Mouse panel, Bluetooth tab. No name or battery level is shown.

Yes, I did do a Software Update before and after pairing. Actually, come to think of it, that's not exactly true: Before pairing, I launched Software Update and found that it only had a Security Update pending (very unlikely to have anything to do with the mouse), so I did the pairing and then did the security update. After rebooting from that, I launched Software Update, and it said that I am up-to-date.

The book and the Magic-Mouse box say that 10.5.8 is a sufficiently high OSX version.

Any ideas on this? Thanks, everybody!

Mac Pro 2.8GHz 8 processor, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jun 18, 2010 7:46 PM

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Answer 1

mr88cet Author

Level 1

36 points

Jun 18, 2010 8:01 PM in response to mr88cet

Oh, I was also going to mention that I couldn't find the "wireless mouse software update" they mentioned in the Magic Mouse booklet. However, I think I just now did find it. I bet that'll fix the problem.

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Answer 2

mr88cet Author

Level 1

36 points

Jun 18, 2010 8:15 PM in response to mr88cet

Hmmm... Actually no, that didn't seem to help, at least not installing it after pairing the mouse (since I couldn't find it before).

I tried disconnecting the mouse and re-discovering it. That doesn't appear to have changed any aspect of the situation.

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Answer 3

mr88cet Author

Level 1

36 points

Jun 18, 2010 8:29 PM in response to mr88cet

It does now show up in the Bluetooth menu with a name, "Apple Wireless Mouse." After installing that wireless mouse software update, keyboard and mouse system-preference panels are separate, and I don't see a battery level in the mouse panel.

I found http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2662, but it doesn't seem to help.

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Answer 4

mr88cet Author

Level 1

36 points

Jun 18, 2010 8:50 PM in response to mr88cet

I tried turning off Bluetooth on my iPhone and putting it into airplane mode. No effect, it seems. I haven't tried shutting down my wireless "Ethernet" yet.

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Answer 5

mr88cet Author

Level 1

36 points

Jun 18, 2010 9:20 PM in response to mr88cet

I don't know if this means anything or not (maybe it's a Leopard vs. Snow Leopard thing?), but I noticed that, in the Bluetooth System Preferences panel, the mouse shows up just like in http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3048 except that it has a red highlight rather than a blue highlight.

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Answer 6

mr88cet Author

Level 1

36 points

Jun 18, 2010 9:25 PM in response to mr88cet

Oh, I've also tried removing it and re-adding in the Bluetooth panel. Same result each time: It works just looks like a boring ol' ho-hum mouse (left and right buttons only), and no battery level shown.

I'm not seeing anything flakey about its behavior, by the way. There's nothing intermittent going on, it's just that the "Magic Mouse" doesn't have any "magical" properties.

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Answer 7

mr88cet Author

Level 1

36 points

Jun 18, 2010 10:13 PM in response to mr88cet

I tried hooking it up to my MacBook Pro (which doesn't need it, since it already has an even more "magic" trackpad). That MacBook Pro is running the latest Snow Leopard (10.6.4, I think). I'm seeing exactly the same thing on that machine too: It hooks up fine, and behaves like a completely normal mouse, but has no multi-touch "magic" properties.

Hmmm... I must be doing something wrong.

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Answer 8

mr88cet Author

Level 1

36 points

Jun 19, 2010 7:00 PM in response to mr88cet

I went by the Genius Bar at the local Apple Store, and they couldn't figure it out either. I decided to just return the Magic Mouse.

Oh well...

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Answer 9

mr88cet Author

Level 1

36 points

Jul 31, 2010 5:58 PM in response to mr88cet

I almost certainly found the reason for this problem when I experienced a somewhat similar problem after purchasing the Magic Trackpad today: I had USB Overdrive installed, and it was almost certainly intercepting it and thereby preventing MacOS from servicing it. I couldn't figure out any way around this but to deinstall USB Overdrive.

In hindsight I'm glad that I inadvertently waited for the Magic Trackpad; I like it better!

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Answer 10

romko23

Level 2

408 points

Aug 1, 2010 12:04 PM in response to mr88cet

Glad you got it resolved! I can't believe no one replied to your cry for help.. had I have known, I would have offered assistance..

I guess some questions go unanswered here which is poor service if you ask me..

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Answer 11

crosvs

Level 1

4 points

Aug 1, 2010 9:45 PM in response to romko23

but i don't have any usboverdrive thing installed 😟 what am i supposed to do? i've tried everything.......

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Answer 12

crosvs

Level 1

4 points

Aug 1, 2010 10:53 PM in response to crosvs

ok my mistake, i DID have USBOverdrive on my computer.

So here's the exact way to solve the problem:

(1) just re-download and re-install USBOverdrive (www.usboverdrive.com)

(2) restart when prompted

(3) go to the usboverdrive system preferences panel and UNINSTALL IT

(4) restart whether or not prompted

(this SHOULD fix the problem at this point, if not, see further below)

(5) open the bluetooth preferences (or access from the menu) and add a new bluetooth device

(6) pair your trackpad

(7) it is probably working now; but go to the trackpad preferences pane to be sure that you're seeing the new magic trackpad preferences rather than the old macbook pro preferencdes

IF THIS DID NOT WORK:

(8) you need to find ALL references for any file containing "usboverdrive" in the name. possible places to look include:

Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences

Macintosh HD/System/Library/Extensions

Macintosh HD/Users/YOURNAME/Library/Preferences

(9) DELETE ANY AND ALL FILES CONTANING "USBOVERDRIVE"

(10) restart your computer. Everything should be working now 🙂

Good luck!

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Answer 13

Aug 3, 2010 10:49 AM in response to crosvs

Hi Crosvs,

I never ever had USBoverdrive installed in my life (until today i did not even know what this is) yet i still have this issue. Anyway i have followed your procedure 2 times and my trackpad is still not working 😟

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Answer 14

crosvs

Level 1

4 points

Aug 4, 2010 9:26 AM in response to thewolfro

Hi wolfro-

I was in exactly your boat (see my previous posts) - i never knew what usboverdrive was, don't remember ever installing such a thing, and couldn't find it... at first.

but i looked harder, and really encourage you to do the same: miraculously i found it at after a second round of searching.

i did NOT use spotlight (for some reason it didn't find it at first) but manually scrolled through the folders i already listed above.

seriously, go ahead and try again. i'm quite confident you will find it.

best of luck,

--marc

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