m1 Mac mini bluetooth peripheral connectivity issues

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Level 1

24 points

m1 Mac mini bluetooth peripheral connectivity issues

Hello all,

I'm using an m1 Mac mini with Magic Mouse & Keyboard. Trying to control with TV (Samsung 65") as head but it so often doesn't work I resort to screen sharing from my MacBook Air (no issue that way).

When I'm looking at it over the TV, the mouse gets super laggy at times, and both keyboard & mouse give extra erroneous inputs at random times. I've tried restarting, hundreds of times, disabling/re-enabling bluetooth, hundreds of times, forgetting/re-pairing, hundreds of times. You get the idea...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! This has been an issue since Monterey at least. Now running Sonoma 14.1

Mac mini, macOS 14.1

Posted on Nov 7, 2023 7:48 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

96,762 points

Nov 7, 2023 1:10 PM in response to rothnd

That pretty far away for the keyboard and mouse, plus they are above the plane and line of sight with the Mac mini's bottom cover. If you can, try standing the Mac mini on its side or in a side mount with the bottom facing slightly towards the keyboard and mouse to see if that helps the connection with them.

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

96,762 points

Nov 7, 2023 8:32 AM in response to rothnd

Carefully read thru the article that i posted.

A poorly shielded display cable, drive cable or external drive near or in-between your Mac mini and the wireless keyboard and mouse can cause connection problems.

A secondary issue for the Mac mini, is that its wireless antenna is located on the bottom cover which can make the reception even worse.

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

96,762 points

Nov 7, 2023 8:15 AM in response to rothnd

I can't quite picture all of your setup.

Is the 65" TV connected to the Mac mini using an HDMI cable or an Apple TV box?

Also note that both WI-Fi and Bluetooth, can suffer Interference from a verity of different sources.

see > Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference - Apple Support

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Answer 4

den.thed

Level 10

96,762 points

Nov 7, 2023 11:05 AM in response to rothnd

I see we have now shifted from the wireless prehreflis to Wi-Fi.

Going back to the keyboard and mouse issue, does temporally removing the external drives and/or using a better shield HDMI cable help?

If those things help, then they should also help with the Wi-Fi reception as well. Just keep in mind that the 5GHz band width is very narrow and has a shorter range than 2.4GHz.

Again it is very difficult to help, because we can not see your setup from here.

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Answer 5

hcsitas

Level 6

13,970 points

Nov 10, 2023 10:54 AM in response to rothnd

The BT interference may be because of the massive TV combined with the distance of your kb/mouse. I wouldn’t buy a stand just yet - you can prop the mini vertically to see if it fixes. I would be very surprised if it does.

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Answer 6

den.thed

Level 10

96,762 points

Nov 7, 2023 1:30 PM in response to rothnd

You're welcome. Let us know if that helps.

FWIW you are now the first to complain about the Mac mini's range compared to other Mac's.

There are after-market side stands available if you need one.

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Answer 7

rothnd Author

Level 1

24 points

Nov 7, 2023 9:41 AM in response to rothnd

I've read the article. I've been playing in router settings. Tried a few different channels for the 5GHz band, auto channel set for 2.4GHz. No discernible effect...

Here's the channels my router offers for the 5GHz band.

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Answer 8

rothnd Author

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Nov 7, 2023 11:09 AM in response to den.thed

I didn’t intend to “shift” anything. Reading that article, it was saying that the WiFi channel could interfere with the Bluetooth reception (keyboard and mouse)…

No, those don’t help. I don’t keep the drives powered on all the time anyway. Just when I need them.

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Answer 9

rothnd Author

Level 1

24 points

Nov 7, 2023 11:32 AM in response to den.thed

I hear ya.

I’ll try to illustrate. TV on the wall. Mac mini in a cabinet about 2’ below. The mini is on a shelf with the 2 USB-As sitting right behind (short cables, always on). There’s one USB-C drive close to all that but is rarely on. The other USB-C did below all that in another shelf. This is all about 3-4’ right of the router. I sit roughly 15’ away from the mini with the keyboard and mouse.

I think that’s the best I got lol. Thanks!

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Answer 10

rothnd Author

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Nov 7, 2023 1:19 PM in response to den.thed

Ah. Right on. Yea I was kinda thinking as I wrote that number.. The keyboard and mouse are pretty level with the shelf the mini sits on (just a good distance across the room). But I’ll think on your suggestion too, couldn’t hurt! Thanks!

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Answer 11

rothnd Author

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Nov 7, 2023 8:18 AM in response to den.thed

Yes, the TV is connected directly via HDMI. I don’t see any possible interference occurring in my setup. I just don’t get it.

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Answer 12

rothnd Author

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24 points

Nov 7, 2023 8:35 AM in response to den.thed

Well I have some drives (2 USB-A, 2 USB-C) that are close by (behind) the mini by necessity (stupid short cables). Otherwise nothing is between the mini and Bluetooth devices.

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Answer 13

den.thed

Level 10

96,762 points

Nov 7, 2023 11:23 AM in response to rothnd

Ah' OK got it.

Sorry, but I'm at a loss without having more detailed info about the distance and placement of each devices in relationship to the Mac mini.

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m1 Mac mini bluetooth peripheral connectivity issues

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