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Bluetooth mouse won't reconnect

Hello,

I had some problems with Wifi in macOS Sierra, hence I reinstalled the macOS thru Internet Recovery (Option-Command-R) on Macbook Retina, But before that I erased user data on my harddisk. Then during recovery I went thru Mac OS X El Capitan to macOS Sierra step by step.

And after that on the freshly installed OS I got a problem with the ArcTouch Bluetooth Mouse that was previously working fine all the way in El Capitan and Sierra. The mouse can be successfully connected to macOS but it never reconnects after reboot or sleep. The only way to make it back again is to remove and pair then.

I've tried SMC and PRAM reset. Nothing helps.

I reinstalled once again the macOS thru Command-R. It didn't help.

I removed all paired devices and reset Bluetooth module. (thru Shift-Option-BT_icon_click -> Debug). Didn't help.

Checked twice my mouse under Windows 10. It gets connected and reconnects every single time after reboot or mouse turning off/on. So, this is not the mouse's problem.

What are my options then? Any solutions or just wait for 10.12.1?

P.S.

By the way. I'm not quite sure if all that mess with recovery solved my wifi problems. But that's another story about my wifi becomes laggy or apps lose connection while wifi is up and running or apps stay unconnected after waking the mac. All I could do with wifi was to reconnect or off it and on then. I need to check it, whether it has been solved or not.

MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Oct 22, 2016 4:35 AM

Best reply

deejerydoo

Level 1

24 points

Posted on Sep 27, 2017 8:24 PM

This is a classic example of two of the world’s leading lights, in technology, behaving badly/ineptly or some could say in collusion, by default, not necessarily with any malicious aforethought (one for the lawyers), perhaps…

The scenario runs like this:

Apple releases an update to its OS which changes the way it handles Bluetooth pairing. They will often do this regardless of any adverse effects these changes may cause to third party Bluetooth devices. Let’s face it, they often release updates that break their own Bluetooth devices, never mind third party ones.

This causes Bluetooth pairing issues with multiple vendor’s Bluetooth devices.

At this point the vendor of the Bluetooth device has two options:

Officially end support for MacOS for the device and update their product support information on their Web site, to reflect this.
Work with Apple to resolve the issue, whilst updating their product support information, detailing the known issue, until the issue is fixed and they are able to maintain proper support for the device on MacOS.

What has happened here is that Microsoft and Apple have not worked together, for whatever reason, to fix this bug. Add to this, Microsoft have not done the right thing and updated their product support information, for this device, on their Web site, to reflect either a known bug, that is being worked on, or official end for support of the OS, for this device.

In essence this is an example of both vendors not valuing the hundreds of people (check the thread counts for this issue on both the Apple and Microsoft support forums, as well as third party forums) who have, are and will continue to experience these problems, now and with future generations of Bluetooth devices. Ultimately, Bluetooth devices are seen as almost disposable peripherals. If the OS vendors break them, with OS updates, that change the way Bluetooth devices are handled, then they pretty well expect you to move on and buy another device that will work. This ongoing situation benefits both Apple and Microsoft, as well as other Bluetooth peripheral vendors, as it guarantees a reasonably significant percentage increase in sales of Bluetooth devices. In the end, the ultimate losers are, as usual, us suckers, at the bottom of the technology food chain.

The irony is that Bluetooth devices are often sold as the premium end of the peripheral market, with inflated prices to suit. Thereby making them less of a disposable device than cabled or RF wireless devices, which will undoubtedly work for you for longer, with fewer of these vendor driven, "built in obsolescence features”, AKA crappy Bluetooth support.

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82 replies

S.Fuyuri

Level 1

4 points

Jun 18, 2017 7:18 PM in response to rlfosterjr

Hi, rlfosterjr

Your approach actually work.

But there is some side note needed:

1. For me, after the installation complete & before restart, I pair the ArcTouch mouse.

2. After restarting, the mouse appear to be NOT PAIRED. I have to pair it again.

3. After the re-pairing, the mouse can actually reconnected after a lid close & a open. But the icon remains generic bluetooth device.

stainlessstill, probably you can try this procedure again to see if this fix for you.

Good luck...

And.. OMG when will this be ever fixed?

shazron

Level 1

4 points

Sep 4, 2017 8:18 PM in response to stainlessstill

I found out in my case it occurs if I don't have my BT mouse (Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse, or Logitech MX Master) as the first BT device connected.

If I make sure that it is the first BT device connected, everything is fine. I discovered this issue when I had my Bose Bluetooth headphones connected (QC35), then I tried to connect my BT mouse. The BT mouse never could keep a connection.

If I connect the BT mouse first, then connect my BT headphones, everything is fine.

May 18, 2017 12:21 PM in response to 3.D.

It could be either 10.11.5 or 10.11.6.

Read Re: Microsoft Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse. There are others for whom it works.

Oct 22, 2016 11:56 AM in response to stainlessstill

For the mouse ... might be corrupted Bluetooth preferences.

Open a Finder window. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder

Type or copy paste the following:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

Click Go then move the com.apple.Bluetooth.plist file to the Trash.

Then try pairing your mouse.

For Wi-Fi > How to troubleshoot Wi-Fi connectivity - Apple Support

Oct 22, 2016 12:19 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

I didn't mention this but I tried that workaround.

I tried to delete files /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist and ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.Bluetooth.*.plist.

...to no avail.

Oct 24, 2016 6:09 PM in response to stainlessstill

Update has arrived. macOS 10.12.1 doesn't help.

Once again have reinstalled macOS Sierra (Option-R), wiped user data before.

P.S. It's impossible to reinstall macOS Sierra 10.12.1 without wiping the data. It said something that it was impossible 'coz newer version of macOS had been installed. It meant that it couldn't reinstall 10.12 from recovery over 10.12.1 on the user partition. Great.

Oct 24, 2016 6:41 PM in response to stainlessstill

Ok. Another clue.

macOS doesn't take Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse as a mouse.

You may delete all bluetooth devices and go to Mouse settings. The applet will wait for a mouse to become discoverable before you may setup it. You see the mouse in pairing mode in Bluetooth applet, but never in Mouse, coz somehow macOS stopped taking Arc Touch BT Mouse as a mouse.

I took another mouse and it was perfectly connected, disconnected and reconnected.

Nov 3, 2016 1:10 PM in response to stainlessstill

Finally.

As long as I hadn't original Bluetooth.plist from El Capitan with properly paired mouse (that reconnects in Sierra as well if paired in ElCap) I decided that that must had been a reason - broken .plist. I decided to reinstall El Cap, pair the mouse, then go to Sierra and take the Bluetooth.plist with which my Microsoft ArcTouch Bluetooth Mouse reconnects without a prob.

And finally I did it: reinstalled ElCapitan, paired the mouse, upgraded to Sierra, backed up all Bluetooth.plist files.

And if you remember I wanted to make a clean Sierra install to eliminate the possibility of wifi instability because of some legacy problems from El Capitan. So, having those .plists backed up, I cleanly reinstalled Sierra. And hoped that if I can pair my Microsoft Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse in a cleanly installed Sierra I could compare backed up Bluetooth.plist files with newly generated ones by fresh Sierra and repair Bluetooth settings.

With XCode (and 'defaults' command line utility) I compared Bluetooth files and edited fresh Bluetooth.plists accordingly. All newly assigned device bluetooth addresses were preserved respectively, I only copied or edited missing strings to match new Bluetooth settings with backed up ones. I even tried to replace Bluetooth settings with the settings from El Capitan (edited only Bluetooth address). No way. It was of no help.

As a result my Microsoft Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse could be paired and could work unless I shutdown or sleep my mac. The next time the mouse couldn't reconnect and could only be paired to get it to work. I examined logs with Bluetooth logging turned on. There were some problems noted in the log-file. But it was too much of a time waste without any chance for a fix.

Finally, either I was doing the wrong way or there are real problems with bluetooth daemon in Sierra where communication between a device and an OS leads to errors that can't be fixed by modifying or resetting Bluetooth settings.

Sorry being so lamely specific. 🙂

P.S. The mouse I'm talking about is Microsoft Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse (https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/mice/arc-touch-bluetooth-mo use/7mp-00011#specsColumns-os) which according to the specs should be compatible with Mac OS X 10.10 (and, presumably, up).

Waiting for Sierra 10.12.2. 🙂

Nov 11, 2016 9:24 AM in response to stainlessstill

So how does this work. I have never gotten an answer through this method.

Nov 11, 2016 9:34 AM in response to larryroffers

Still have no proper answer either.

I described everything here and then submitted a feedback there http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Attached the link to the thread in the feedback, denoted it as a bug report.

That's all I could do.

Nov 11, 2016 9:35 AM in response to stainlessstill

Just noticing my phone won't connect either.

Nov 11, 2016 9:44 AM in response to stainlessstill

Have another question.

Do we have something like 'Update services' for a bluetooth device in bluetooth settings like in Mac OS X Lion?

For example, see here item #9 Wireless keyboard won't connect

There is a solution of the same problem is described.

But there is neither 'Update services' nor gear button in Bluetooth settings in macOS Sierra.

Is there another way to update bluetooth device services in Sierra?

P.S. I've seen in the logs (when was pairing my Arc Touch Bluetooth mouse) some lines about 'Services recovery incomplete, update services' or something alike.

Nov 11, 2016 9:49 AM in response to larryroffers

Leaving the link to your question here to connect our threads.

My bluetooth mouse will not stay connected to my mac. Help.

Nov 28, 2016 5:15 AM in response to stainlessstill

Same exact issue here with the same exact mouse!!!!!!!

Dec 5, 2016 1:35 PM in response to stainlessstill

I have precisely the same problem. I was even wow'ed by how well the mouse worked in terms of reconnection in El Cap. I will continue to follow this thread.

Bluetooth mouse won't reconnect