Magic Keyboard / Trackpad looses connection

There is not documented NVRAM reset for the M1 Mac's.

From what I'm gleaning on line, the M1 carries out a function similar to the SMC and NVRAM reset at startup.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi issues can be related to high speed USB 3 and Thunderbolt 3 drives, device and cables.

see > https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201542

This is not a new issue with the 2020 M1 Mac Mini. The 2012, 2014, 2018 Mac Mini's all suffer from this problem when using USB 3.0 and higher speed drive and cable connections.

If you follow the excellent advise from dwb and the support article, you should easily be able to narrow down the device or cable causing the problem. Sometimes all it requires is a little rearranging of cables and devices to clear up the problem. Other times it requires replacing a cable with a better cable or device to clear up the problem.

@ hcitas some of us have more than 4 external devices and require the use of a hub. Plus anyone with more than 4 external devices, should actually use a hub instead of fumbling around the back of the Mac Mini plugging and unplugging devices.

MacBook Air 2020 M1 here and Big Sur 11.1.

Using Plantronics Bluetooth headset (Best BT maker in the world IMO) and random disconnecting all the time.

Same Plantronics at MacBook Air 2020 Intel no issue at all.

Jan.2021

While hcsitas has probably identified the issue his advice might be overkill. The problem you are experiencing is probably caused by a noisy USB device - this is very common with the Mac mini because the BT antenna is so close to the USB ports and likely to be close to USB devices. The USB ’noise’ could be coming from your HUB, one (or more) of your USB external drive(s), or your USB cables.

To identify the problem try unplugging all your USB devices (excluding mouse and/or keyboard) and also unplug the USB hub’s power brick. You should now experience no BT interference. Now one by one plug in a USB device and use the computer for a few moments. If that device is the issue you’ll probably notice is quite quickly. Keep testing the devices - I found I had two causing the problem.

Possible solutions: since my mouse is on the right side of my computer I moved the offending USB devices to the far left of my computer. That almost entirely fixed my problems. While going through all the testing I noticed that some of my USB cables felt flimsier than others. I concluded those weren’t shielded so I went to the local office supply store and found a set of shielded USB cables. That totally solved it.

That said, at work my wife had a similar problem and it turned out to be her hub. Nothing I tried worked so in the end I replaced the cheap hub with a better one.

A webcam, external drive for data/media, a drive for backups, a cable for syncing iPad/iPhone, a CD burner, and a printer makes five. That’s not an atypical setup and a power user might easily add more external drives, a label printer etc. and let’s not forget too that being behind the computer those built in ports are inconvenient. The hub makes it easy to plug in a portable drive or thumb drive.

It does for you, but for me not even close. I could help you simplify, but you have to ask nicely...best stick with your overkill configuration. If you’re happy, I am too. BTW, power users aren’t those with crowded hubs and drives, they are in fact, powerless. Enjoy...

Well, the M1 only supports one display on USB-C...as to the rest, well, let’s just say that with the correct choice of monitor(s), a hub isn’t necessary. Real power users can easily get there, the rest, oh well, hub away...

kolwo wrote:

thanks for your kind words.

You're welcome.

Really annoying what apple releases recently.

Beginning from the very buggy iOS 13 + iPhone 11, I had the MacBook Pro 16" 2019 Model where fans are starting to run like a jet just when you plug in 2 external 4k monitors, then the iPhone 12 again has lots of laggy behaviours in certain sceaniors, now the mini (okay maybe it's just only mine buggy one) first the time machine backup I installed was enormously buggy, then with a hdmi -> hdmi & usb-c -> hdmi after wakeup the second display wasn't accessible (the mouse didn't want to get out of one display) and in the end this bluetooth bug. Hope that the mini problems are all connected to the same hardware problem, but I am really sad with the last items I bought from apple ( and I had beside the 7s or so any iPhone since the 2g, and buy a new Macbook every 1-2 years and of course more or less any accessory they released :( ... )

Yea' I've always had good experiences with old Mac's, including the Intel iMac's and Mac Mini's. Maybe it's old age or something? But these days, I get a bad feeling when I think about adopting new hardware and software.

Ok guys...problem solved. Bluetooth issues on M1 Mini are totally gone. Works a treat now for 3 days running. Do the update to Big Sur 11.2 right now! And despite hcsitas comments, I have left my 9 port powered USB hub plugged in, as well as a 4TB external drive and webcam, with no interference issues whatsoever! This computer is exceptional.

If you have a USB hub, get rid of it.

Well that is dumb. There are way less ports so a USB hub is kinda important. I will try it tho. I trust this can be fixed with an update.

There are 4 USB ports, more than sufficient for the average Joe. For everything else, there’s WiFi. Updates won’t fix USB Hub interference, so chuck it and be happy!