Level 1

46 points

Mac Mini m1 bluetooth problems

Hi, I just got the new Mac mini M1 and from day one I have had big problems with the bluetooth connection. The computer is within an arms reach and has problems staying connected to my Magic Keyboard. It turns on and off. Several times. I even tried placing the keyboard on top of the Mini with out any difference. Some times I have to connect a wired keyboard just to log in. Sometimes the Magic Mouse also has problems. When using both with my old MacBook Pro 2010 they work perfectly.

There is nothing connected to the Mac mini other the the power and there is no ruter nearby that could interfere. The keyboard has fresh batteries also.

It looks like others also have this problem. Is there any one that has a fix. This is really frustrating.

Best regards

Mac mini, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 27, 2020 7:12 AM

Top-ranking reply

mdicillo

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Mar 10, 2021 7:42 PM

I just bought a Mac Mini M1 at the beginning of March '21 to use as the main machine in a music studio. I had experienced Bluetooth issues from day one. Needless to say, there are a LOT of connections, wires, hubs, and various other cables running all over the studio. I mention this because there are a lot of potential sources for interference that would be almost impossible to track down.

I turned off WiFi -problems persisted

I turned off the 2.4Ghz band on my router - problems persisted

I turned off FileVault - problems persisted

I turned off Handoff - problems persisted

I reset the Bluetooth Module - problems persisted

I factory reset all connected devices - problems persisted

I unplugged the M1, waited 10 seconds, plugged it back in, waited 5 seconds, turned it back on - problems persisted

I disconnected both USB-A cables - problems persisted

I disconnected the ethernet - problems persisted

At this point, I was really considering just using a wired mouse and dealing with it, or sending it back. Working in Logic with erratic mouse movements is nothing short of maddening.

I was upgrading from a 6,1 Mac Pro which originally had Bluetooth issues prior to various software and OS updates. I had used an Aircable Host XR4 (Bluetooth dongle) with that Mac Pro that solved all of my issues, so I decided to try that with the M1.

Unfortunately, it wasn't recognized when I plugged it in. I tried various ports, hubs, and directly plugging it into the M1. Nothing. The light stayed red and the Bluetooth address was still reporting the built-in module.

On a whim, I thought maybe turning off Bluetooth, plugging in the Aircable dongle, and then turning Bluetooth back on would kick it in to using the Aircable over the built-in module. Outside of some buggy weirdness after turning Bluetooth back on, the Aircable actually worked! FINALLY!

So, you'll need a separate bluetooth dongle and a wired mouse available so you can turn the Bluetooth back on, but the process that worked for me is:

Make sure the Bluetooth dongle is disconnected.
Make sure "Show Bluetooth in menu bar" is turned on in System Preferences>Bluetooth
Check the module's current address (Shift+Option, click the Bluetooth icon). Make a note of this address.
Plug in a wired mouse.
Turn off Bluetooth.
Plug in the Bluetooth dongle.
Use the wired mouse to turn Bluetooth back on. (Mine seemed to turn back on when I plugged in the module. Your results may vary.)
At this point, I experienced some erratic behavior, so I decided to restart.
Restart
Check the Bluetooth menu (Shift+Option, click on Bluetooth icon in top bar) for the Bluetooth address. It should be different from the one noted above.

If all went well, the Bluetooth menu should display the new address, which means you're using the new dongle as the Bluetooth controller. As long as the dongle has been connected, it has persisted through multiple reboots.

This completely solved all of my Bluetooth issues, and I can now reliably use the M1 as my every day machine. It's unfortunate that this requires a third party solution to work, but it's possible that future updates may fix whatever interference is plaguing the M1 Bluetooth controller. I have to think it's a hardware issue since the new controller has no issues, but it's possible the built-in module can be tuned with firmware/software tweaks.

But until then, I hope this works for some people who are unable to get a third party bluetooth dongle to work.

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291 replies

Jan 25, 2021 6:44 AM in response to Sunden5

I had the same annoying issue.

For what it's worth, I am fortunate enough the have an ethernet connection for my M1 Mini at my desk, when I turned off WiFi the bluetooth issues disappeared.

This is not great, but it will help until Apple finds a permanent fix.

pebceb

Level 1

17 points

Jan 31, 2021 4:32 AM in response to KyRuMo

I had the watch and ios beta but they both have now had a regular update so that is what I was/am on. They didn't help.

Now the funny thing is I was getting fed up so was going to try an app called "Near Lock". Installed it on all three devices and was doing the setup on my Mac Mini and one of the steps it did was clearing bluetooth caches. Got it all installed and was trying to get it to work but then decided to check my regular apple watch unlock and it was working again. Maybe the way that app cleared the caches fixed it? I left that app on my mac but took it out of the login items so it doesn't start on startup.

Restarted and apple watch unlock is still working.

Mouse and keyboard still working fine with zero disconnects.

Mar 2, 2021 4:22 AM in response to tenmodelt

Just recently had a problem with my magic mouse not connecting upon waking from sleep mode. On the latest firmware Big Sur 11.2.2 on a M1 Mac Mini. Apple bluetooth keyboard connected though. Got a spare mouse and tried to turn bluetooth off and then back on but the toggle to turn it off wouldn't respond. Restarted the Mac and when it rebooted bluetooth was off. Turned bluetooth back on and everything connected as normal.

This is the only time I've experienced a problem with bluetooth since turning off Wi Fi. Seems to coincide with having updated the firmware recently.

hcsitas

Level 6

13,964 points

Dec 8, 2020 11:42 AM in response to Sunden5

Try without any USB hubs connected. If the problem remains, disconnect all USB devices, especially drives.

Dec 22, 2020 6:21 PM in response to stevecolwill

stevecolwill wrote:

Ok I just updated to 11.1 Big Sure on my M1 Mac Book Pro 13" and it seems to fix all of my blueTooth problems Straight away!!

Give it 5 minutes :)

Dec 28, 2020 2:14 PM in response to MyApple8MyPC

BTW, once you install 11.2 make sure you immediately do the following;

Reset the Bluetooth module.
Delete all of the old Bluetooth plist files.

Otherwise you might still have issues with Bluetooth...

KyRuMo

Level 1

4 points

Dec 29, 2020 11:43 AM in response to kmerenda

My Apple care specialist advised me to go ahead and update to 11.2

Jan 29, 2021 6:07 AM in response to KyRuMo

Official Big Sur 11.2 released this morning. Everyone should update their MacOS, and iOS (11.4), and see if the BT bug has been fixed.

Elfeone

Level 1

4 points

Feb 5, 2021 12:18 AM in response to p_Sourish436

Mac OS 11.2 seems to have solved the issue for me. No other deconnection since the upgrade

ichoderso

Level 1

113 points

Dec 9, 2020 7:42 AM in response to d3duff

i have the chance to configure my wifi access point (airport). I disabled the 2,4 GHz band (the frequency band, share by Wifi and bluetooth). I saw mouse movement leaks while using handoff feature between iPad and mac. first impression: leaks are gone. lets see...

Dec 13, 2020 5:28 AM in response to ichoderso

Eventually I turned off 2.4Ghz wifi network in my router, leaving only 5Ghz, and Mouse finally acting normally!

Also I figured out that there are Xiaomi-Philips Eyecare Lamp on my desk and a ceiling Xiaomi lamp also above me. Which are using 2.4Ghz only. I couldn't reconnect them to Xiaomi mobile app, so I'll just wait until Apple fixes this 2.4Ghz bug in Big Sur, and then bring 2.4Ghz back in my router.

While trying to connect these two Xiaomi devices to my 5Ghz network Magic Mouse 2 also lagged and disconnected several times. Which left no doubt that the problem is in 2.4Ghz wifi channels distribution or another interference problem on this frequency.

Thank you @Jay4537! https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252100677?answerId=254114320022#254114320022

Dec 13, 2020 7:29 AM in response to pebceb

Several times today contacted Apple Support. They know about this issue and seems like it's software issue, soon there will be Mac OS update, but couldn't say when.

Hopefully they will also fix some interface bugs of Big Sur. I don't remember any previous major Mac OS update with so many interface bugs

kmerenda

Level 1

74 points

Dec 18, 2020 6:10 PM in response to Sunden5

I'm experiencing similar problems, so I thought I'd share my troubleshooting and experience with AppleCare. (TL;DR - None of the troubleshooting worked, engineering doesn't seem to know the cause yet, and AppleCare is sending me a new M1 Mac mini from China).

From day 2 of using the M1 Mac mini, I had problems with my Magic Mouse 2 connection. Everything would be fine for hours, then the mouse would stop responding and I'd see the Mouse Disconnected HUD message, then Mouse Connected, then Mouse Disconnected message again and it would stay disconnected until I turned the power switch on the mouse off and on.

This was the same mouse I used with 2 different MacBook Pro's and had no issues.

On my desk, the Mac mini sits about 10 inches from my Magic Keyboard (which had no problems over bluetooth with the mini), and about 18 inches from the Magic Mouse 2. This was closer than the MacBook Pro sat to either accessory.

The mouse disconnect/connect/disconnect happened on average once a day, and didn't seem to be triggered by any particular activity. I eventually erased my mini's SSD and reinstalled the OS (setup as new, not from backup) but that didn't help. I dealt with the inconvenience, until one day things went really wrong. After about 2 weeks of use, I had an incident where my keyboard and mouse disconnected and stayed that way. I tried plugging in the USB receiver dongle for a Logitech keyboard/mouse combo into the USB-C hub I had on the mini, and even that didn't work. It seemed like bluetooth and my USB ports all went dead. After a power cycle, the bluetooth devices still didn't work. I was able to get the Magic keyboard going by connecting it via USB-lightening cable directly to the USB-A port on the mini. After that, turning the Magic Mouse 2 off/on brought it back online.

Once everything was working normally again, I went into the bluetooth menu and factory reset all apple devices, then reset the bluetooth module. This was no help, because the next day the Mouse did its disconnect/reconnect/disconnect thing again.

I finally called AppleCare. The first advisor told me its a known bug in their "emerging issues" database with over 800 reports in the past 12 days. He said engineering has acknowledged it and will fix it with a future software update, but no ETA was available. I was OK with that response - just happy they seemed to know about it and have a plan to fix it. The advisor suggested that "60% of people with the issue have resolved it by disabling FileVault." I tried that, but it didn't help.

The next day, an Apple Care senior advisor called me, wanting to collect diagnostic data. He got info about my Mac and accessories, my environment (other bluetooth devices in range), and asked me to run SysDiagnose and a Bluetooth log capture when the issue happened again. This called concerned me, as it seemed to indicate that they don't have the root cause yet. The advisor wouldn't confirm or deny that. After I sent him the requested logs and diagnostics, he got back in touch with me to schedule a replacement unit for my Mac. He said engineering wanted to capture my Mac so they could look at it. Again, this (to me) means they don't know the cause or even if its hardware or software or both. I told the advisor I was happy to do the replacement, but concerned that the new unit would have the same problem since there are so many folks with this issue. He acknowledged that concern, but suggested that the new unit shipping directly from china would have an updated firmware that may resolve the issue. He was kinda vague in that explanation, but was genuinely trying to help and not just tell me what I wanted to hear.

Anyway, as of today my M1 mini is on its way to Apple, and I'm waiting on a new unit from China that isn't scheduled to ship until January 5th :(. I'll be back on my intel MacBook Pro until then. When the new unit comes in, I'll give an update on the bluetooth issue.

Dec 20, 2020 10:35 AM in response to KyRuMo

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-your-keyboard-layout-windows-10

Hello Try this link to see if that will fix your bluetooth issues it solved mine I had the issues on Catalina and Big Sur tried to log in you would succeed after 2/3 attempts the keyboard would not work. just look at the info if it wright keyboard and mouse for your area

oharary

Level 1

4 points

Dec 21, 2020 10:12 AM in response to Jay4537

This seemed to work well so far. After "Factory reset all connected Apple devices," the M1 Mac mini was slow to recognize the magic keyboard and mouse. I plugged them in to unit (USB-A/lightning) and they were immediately paired wirelessly and seem to be working well now. Thanks for the tip!

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Mac Mini m1 bluetooth problems