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Mac Pro 4.1 Bluetooth range

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:29 am
by stevenew
Hi,

Earlier in the year I bought a used Mac Pro 4.1 2x2.26 8 core, this weekend I moved to the music room, previously it was sitting on a desk about a foot away from my Magic Mouse but now it will sit about 5 foot away from the mouse. In this new position the mouse has become jittery (the wireless keyboard is fine).

Reading on Apple discussions this seems to be a known issue, with the two solutions being, keep the Mac Pro close to the mouse ( I did test this by moving the tower back next to the mouse and the mouse went back to normal as did the Bluetooth strength) or fitting an external bluetooth antenna like this http://nobblynoel.wordpress.com/2010/04 ... tooth-fix/.

I have decided to order the parts to do this as I really need to have the tower positioned where I want it.

Just curious if anyone on Motunation had this problem and has done the external antenna?

Thanks

Steve

Re: Mac Pro 4.1 Bluetooth range

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 8:46 am
by HCMarkus
I disconnected the internal Bluetooth and installed a $12 Bluetooth dongle on my (wired) keyboard. Many monitors also have USB ports that will do the job.

Here's how to disconnect the internal Bluetooth:
http://oliverwolfson.com/apple-mac-pro- ... sue-solved

No more issues.

Re: Mac Pro 4.1 Bluetooth range

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 2:40 pm
by stevenew
Hi,

I had read about using the bluetooth dongle but I now have no USB sockets near my mouse as I am using a wireless keyboard (which works fine unlike the mouse).

Part of my new setup was to rid my workspace of the USB & firewire hubs I have been using with the iMac, now everything is plugged in to the Mac Pro and the keyboard & mouse wireless. I guess nothing is simple, my antenna arrives tomorrow so hopefully that will work. I can't believe Apple let these Mac Pros ship with compromised bluetooth!

Thanks

Steve

Re: Mac Pro 4.1 Bluetooth range

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:18 am
by stevenew
Hi,

I installed the antenna today and it seems to work perfectly, Magic Mouse back to normal, a bit overkill I know but it works!

Image

Re: Mac Pro 4.1 Bluetooth range

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 1:29 pm
by mikehalloran
stevenew wrote:Hi,

I installed the antenna today and it seems to work perfectly, Magic Mouse back to normal, a bit overkill I know but it works!
I wouldn't call it overkill if it works. Congrats.