Resolved AirPods issues with 2010 cMP

Zeke D · Jan 7, 2019

Hey everyone. I picked up a pair of AirPods over the weekend, and so far I'm digging all that they do, but I'm running into an issue when they're connected to my 2010cMP.

I always have an apple bluetooth keyboard (gen 1 no numeric keypad) and Magic Mouse (gen 1). I occasionally have issues where the mouse seems to get sluggish, and even more rare, disconnects. It usually reconnects after a second or two.

When using the AirPods, i also seem to get occasional breakup of the audio. When this happens, it's like listening to a stream buffer.

Finally, with those three devices connected, if I turn on my Magic Trackpad (gen 1), the AirPods stop receiving audio. They still show as connected in the bluetooth drop-down, but I just don't get any audio. If I turn off the trackpad, the AirPods seem to work again.

Finally, there appears to be the electronic equivalence of panel tolerance on the right AirPod. Is this normal? I don't see it on the left unit. (I see the seam, but it's smooth.)

bookemdano · Jan 7, 2019

The bluetooth antenna (and therefore the signal quality) in the 2009/2010/2012 cMP is god awful--even with the stock BT 2.1 card. The antenna is embedded in the back near the PCI slot brackets, which for many/most of us is pushed up against a wall.

As a test you might try putting your cMP on your desk with the back panel facing towards you and see if your mouse and AirPod issue resolves or improves. If so, then you should look into doing an antenna mod or relocating the cMP such that the signal strength is stronger.

Edit: The airpods are indeed pretty great. One of the few first-gen Apple products have zero regrets buying.

Zeke D · Jan 7, 2019

I was able to resolve the issue. As many of you know, I'm a fan of using genuine apple parts for my hacks, etc. I found this wireless antenna in my stash o' crap:

(I think it was from a 2006 polycarbonate iMac.)

I used an awl to slightly expand one of the aluminum perforations. The header almost fit without doing this. I suppose that if I were to make this pretty, I'd desolder the lead from the antenna, feed it through an unmolested perforation, and resolder it.