Mouse and Keyboard disconnect and bluetooth squiggly line

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Level 1

17 points

Mouse and Keyboard disconnect and bluetooth squiggly line

I have a mid 2011 iMac 27". It runs perfectly with 16 gb of ram, 500 gb SSD. I have the latest OS installed (high sierra). for the last couple of months now, my Magic Mouse (1st generation) and wireless Apple keyboard will disconnect and then reconnect very randomly at different times of the day, for different periods of time and its not specific to a particular thing I am doing.

Most of the time it reconnects both devices without issue. However every so often it will not reconnect and then the Bluetooth icon on the top right will show a squiggly line through it and I obviously cannot click it or do anything due to both the keyboard and mouse being disconnected. when this happens, I have to hold down the power button on the iMac and reboot it. I have to do this about once per day sometimes twice.

I have checked batteries in both devices and changed them out even if the devices says 50% remaining. I have tried clearing the Bluetooth files in the OS and doing a reboot with no success. Yesterday, I even did a complete OS reinstall and started completely fresh. Guess what, the mouse and keyboard started disconnecting again......

Any suggestions?? bad Bluetooth card? bad mouse and keyboard?

HELP!!!!!

Thank YOU!

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Dec 18, 2017 11:54 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,346 points

Dec 18, 2017 12:40 PM in response to Rogo43

If your Apple wireless mouse, keyboard, or trackpad isn't working as expected - Apple Support

It is always wise to have a wired keyboard and mouse available to troubleshoot. I'd recommend unpairing both your keyboard and mouse, turn off Bluetooth and reset the PRAM. Then (with a wired keyboard and mouse) turn on Bluetooth and re-pair both the keyboard and mouse.

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Answer 2

Rogo43 Author

Level 1

17 points

Dec 27, 2017 8:38 PM in response to Spinnerama

SO before I talked to customer support about this issue via Apple.com, I went ahead and completely did a fresh install of the latest OS. I figured that would fix the problem and also give my iMac a fresh clean running new start.

Well the problem continued and I was furious and contacted Support.

They provided me with directions, the first being to do a system hardware self check that yielded no error codes or issues. So then they suggested I do the following in this order. I can tell you I completed the first two and I haven’t had a mouse or keyboard problem in over 2 weeks. I never even had tonboot to safe mode. So atleast try the SMC reset and the NVRam reset and you should be ok.

Hope that helps.

First try the SMC reset. This is done by: 1.Shut down your Mac. 2.Unplug the power cord. 3.Wait 15 seconds. 4.Plug the power cord back in. 5.Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.

Second try the NVRAM reset. This is done by: shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately hold down these four keys together: Option/Alt, Command, P, and R. Keep holding the keys for about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart. (If you have a Mac that plays a startup sound

when you turn it on, you can release the keys after the second startup sound.)

start up into safe mode to see if it still does it.

1.Start or restart your Mac. 2.Immediately after you hear the startup sound, press and hold the Shift key. 3.Release the Shift key when you see the Apple logo appear on the screen. After the Apple logo appears, it might take longer than usual to reach the login screen or your desktop

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Answer 3

Dec 27, 2017 7:44 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I am having the same problem. My trackpad and keyboard disconnect about every 30 seconds for the past two days. It is rendering my iMac unusable. Why should I have to buy a wired keyboard and mouse? I already spent $2000+ for my iMac and peripherals. I see online that lots of people are now having this issue. Is there a fix for those of us who are not geeks or have the money to blow on buying extra wired equipment?

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Answer 4

Dec 28, 2017 6:19 PM in response to Rogo43

Hi Rogo43, thanks so much for taking the time to send me such a detailed reply. Unfortunately, I tried all the fixes you noted including safe mode and none worked. Also tried deleting apps from my log-in per instructions I found on Apple's site. Nada. The BT goes on and off roughly every 3 minutes. Have Genius Bar appointment for Saturday but don't have much faith in that. And I don't have AppleCare so will have to pay for any help. The only thing new in the past three days since this all started was that I bought and plugged in a new Apple USB SuperDrive to replace one that was stolen. It's not BT so that shouldn't matter; and when I unplugged nothing changed. Also using a new WD Passport for Mac external backup drive, but that's been on for about 3 weeks with no problem. I'm out of ideas. BTW, the BT went out three times in the amount of time it took to type this email. :>((

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Answer 5

Rogo43 Author

Level 1

17 points

Dec 28, 2017 6:26 PM in response to Spinnerama

I'm sorry to hear that. I would try maybe doing a complete fresh install and see if that doesnt fix it.

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