Bluetooth connectivity issues

I connect my Mac Mini to Samsung Smart TV via HDMI cable. (Besides this, there is no other port being plugged in). My Magic Keyboard 2 and Magic Trackpad are connection to the Mac Mini via bluetooth. Both of them will disconnect pretty often (once a few minutes, or a few seconds). However, If I switch my TV to Dell monitor, the disconnection seldom appear. Anyone know why it has such big difference? My WiFi is in 2.4 GHz channel though.

Unfortunately the router I bought only support 2.4GHz. But if WiFI is the problem, I can try using Ethernet to see how it works.

Btw, It suddenly works well (connected to TV), only disconnected once during the entire afternoon.

Just learn a new trick today, would like to share it here, in case someone like me never aware of it....

If you charge the keyboard/trackpad on Mac Mini (connect it with the lighting to USB cable), the keyboard/trackpad will turn into a wired keyboard/trackpad. This may be a temporary resolution.

I just put my Magic Trackpad 2 on a lightning cable wired to my 2018 Mini. The trackpad has been freezing and disconnecting multiple times a day for several days. I'll report if using it as a wired trackpad has any effect.

Since I connected my Trackpad 2 to my Mini I've had on problem with it. I'm not sure that the problem is with the Mini. The Bluetooth extended keyboard and various headphones have no connectivity issues with the Mini; it is just the trackpad for me.

If it was a USB issue, would turning off wi-fi make the problem go away? I have USB C, 3, and 2 devices connected directly and through hubs. By turning off wi-fi only, why do my bluetooth devices work?

I am not saying that there may not be USB issues; however, I do not think it is the issue that I am having.

You asked for help - I answered.

If you do not like the answer I have given, or have not bothered to read the link I posted, then solve the problem yourself. I am not here to force anyone to do anything. I wish you the best of luck, but I will not assist you any more.

I feel your frustrations more than I articulate. I do not know what is going on with Apple lately. The silence and apparent denial on their end is not helping matters either. It only serves to spark more and more outrage. There are a number of issues that have escaped Apple QC that have blown my mind. T2 chips issues that are still lingering that began back with the iMP, throttling issues, keyboards issues, thermal issues, screen issues, OS bugs, etc etc etc... You get the point. I dearly miss Steve Jobs.

Precisely. Which is why I say Buster works for Apple. That is Apple’s default go to. You’re using it wrong even though you’ve used other Apple stuff precisely like this before and it worked perfectly. We at Apple do not make mistakes. When we at almighty Apple screw up you must adapt and change your normal operating procedures. Buy another dongle!

No, you simply do not understand the forces at play here.

Equipment Authorization Procedures

... is a good place to start if one desires to begin gaining knowledge into some of the forces at play here. After reading that, one should start to understand why Apple can't "just fix it", and the rules governing Apple's behavior are most definitely fluid.

Truth be told, it's a minor engineering miracle that Apple has done this well.

It is a lot better, but I still get a mouse failure about every third day now. It appears to happen when the fan spins up and the CPU is busy. It's even more interesting that after the fan calms down after the process that caused the heating stops, the mouse does not recover. Software handling a power problem, I imagine they pulled out the earlier handler just in time for the Mac Mini to need it again.

Thanks for taking the time to reply but I am puzzled by your response as the link doesn’t answer the questions posed. Having read conflicting suggestions about the cause on different forums (bluetooth module, power supply to usb, fan, rf interference etc). It seems from the experiences of other posters that most if not all of these hardware design issues are causing the problems but the significant improvements I have noticed since update have been caused by software changes. Has the update improved your experience of the issue? Any idea how software changes could have helped to mitigate these hardware issues? It’s ok if you don’t understand the problem well enough to explain it, I’m sure somebody will eventually.

I do believe that during a reboot, or forgetting your Bluetooth device and reconnecting, an initialization routine is run. For a while I bet they reinitialized every so often, for reliability. I think they removed this section of code at one point to make Bluetooth gaming response faster, since their hardware had all the kinks worked out. Then, the Mini. Whoops!

Going farther out on a limb, Apple appears to be having classic IT-itis. IT is an interesting beast. First thing they do is to compartmentalize, and implement a ticket system so they can review their workers. Sounds great, right? Actually, this is terrible. At that point, IT is more interested in IT than the company. Why was Steve Jobs so great? He would not allow an IT group to fester at his company, you made a mistake, you were fired. No hiding in a bureaucracy. So, how does this fit our Bluetooth problem? Easy. The error crosses between two IT groups, hardware and software. In the classic IT help ticket system (which they always use), it is impossible to create a ticket where two different support compartment groups work together on a problem. Yup, that's all it is, and it's everywhere at Apple now.

Hey you think Apple is bad? Comcast gets "worst company on the planet" awards every year for exactly the same reason. :-)

Please, no apology is necessary as there was no offense. We are all learning something new every day about this ongoing issue, and I had thought it may provide context as to how we got here. If that was not clear, then I am the one who should apologize for not making the intent crystal clear.