Bluetooth Range Problem

[Dark Dragoon]

Ok so I've got my new Mac Pro (2.66GHz, 2GB RAM, Bluetooth, Airport, 250GB HDD, 1 Superdrive), but it's bluetooth doesn't seem to be working properly.

The Mac Pro is currently sitting on the floor, in almost exactly the same place as where my Mac Mini (G4 1.42Ghz, 512MB RAM, Bluetooth, Airport, 80GB HDD) used to sit. The Wi-Fi is fine. But the Bluetooth range is really bad.

On the Mini I could easily connect via bluetooth to my phone, mouse, keyboard, graphics tablet and PDA from anywhere in the room (around 4m).

With the Mac Pro the Mighty Mouse (new) strugles if it's more than half a meter away, my graphics tablet works up to about a meter away further than that and it becomes sluggish. The PDA and Phone have connection difficulties over about two meters away.

I've had a look inside the Mac pro, I assume that the small raised circuit board with one wire connected is the bluetooth module. I've tried pressing the wires connection in and wiggled it, but this hasn't helped. The wire goes under the Airport chip (assuming it's the one with two wires attatched) and then behind the motherboard.

Is the bluetooth mean't to be this bad on the Mac Pro?
Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can fix this, or should I contact Apple?

 

[YoYoMa]

I have been wondering if this is normal as well. I use my bluetooth keyboard about three to four feet away from my Mac Pro and sometimes I'll have letters stick. When typing "I'll have letters stick" it'll come up "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII''''''''llllllllllll hhaaavveee letttterssss sstttiickkk." I'll also be told that the Keyboard "has been lost" sometimes and I'll have to start pressing a bunch of keys to get everything back online again.

I thought bluetooth range was over 30ft? Is anyone actually using the Apple bluetooth Keyboard/mouse at a range of six or 10 feet (or even four feet for that matter)with no problems?

 

[Dark Dragoon]

Well on my Mac Mini I could use Apple's bluetooth keyboard at around 12ft from the machine without any problems. I hadn't tried using it any further away as I wouldn't have been able to see the screen.

Though my PDA and phone worked fine up to about 20ft with my Mini.

Maximum I can get at the moment with my Mac Pro is around 4ft with the keyboard and around 2ft with my Mighty Mouse.

The cables that are connected to the wireless cards are as follows:
Cable 1 - Bottom Airport connector (furthest away from the hard drives)
Cable 2 - Not connected
Cable 3 - Top Airport connector
Unlabelled Cable - Bluetooth module

Can someone with working bluetooth and wi-fi tell me if their cables are plugged into the same sockets.

 

[gallinger]

I am having the same problem as all of you. My mouse and keyboard are aprox 5 feet away from the mac pro and keyboard seems to work fine. But some times ill get the stuck keys too. my mightymouse is the worst though. its really slow and drags. I HATE IT. if anyone has a solution to this problem please let me know. oh and also I find if i make it so the mouse and keyboard are facing the mac pro it works better. I just want to to work like it should.

 

[YoYoMa]

Called the Apple number. They say they have no idea what the problem is and don't have a record of it. They insisted I go to the Apple store and get it fixed there. The only problem is I don't have a bluetooth mouse to demonstrate it on, and my keyboard might actually be pretty difficult to demsontrate the problem on.

Also, is there anyone else out there having trouble using their bluetooth mouse (or experiencing sticky letters with via bluetooth keyboard)with a Mac Pro from about seven feet away. Could anyone else try this and let us know how far you can go and still have it work perfectly? It would be really helpful. Thanks.

 

[gallinger]

Mine are like this but i dont have an apple store near me to bring it to. I dunno what to do.

 

[freezerburrn]

My keyboard works really well, but it's the mighty mouse that is acting up. I don't understand what the problem could be, because it was fine up until today (Sept. 10)

 

[YoYoMa]

Can you guys tell me how far you can move from your Mac's until you begin to notice problems? It would help me a lot, thanks.

Also, if anyone out there is not having problems, an estimate of how far you can go would be very helpful as well.

 

[jameskohn]

Two Mac Pros, both with bluetooth range issue

I received my 1st mac Pro on 9/1/06, and immeditately notoced the bluetooth issue. Unless the wireless mighty mouse is virtually right on top of the Mac Pro, performance degrades drastically. Tech support came on site, replaced the bluetooth card. Problem persisted, no improvement. Apple suggested changing the antenna, but the tech told me that would require serious surgery on a brand new machine. I called Apple,they pronounced the machine "D.O.A.", and sent me out a new one. The new one arrived today and has the exact same problem. †he machine is great otherwise. One of the reasons I bought it was so I could use a 30" Cinema Display, which is terriffic too. Now I'm thinking a 24" iMac may be the answer as I don't really require "pro" features. I was really excited about this machine(s), so I'n very disappointed. Horribly long hold times at AppleCare add insult to injury.

 

[YoYoMa]

Those hold times truly are terrible. So they never were able to tell you the cause? I'm worried about taking my machine over there tmmw, the techs don't seem too knowledgable to me.

 

[Dark Dragoon]

I've been speaking to AppleCare today, they don't seem to be aware of the bluetooth problem.

They are supposedly going to phone me back tomorrow to arrange to have the machine collected. Though it sounds like they are just going to replace the bluetooth module.

The wait time was fairly short for me and I was escalated quite quickly.

I'm also wondering if I made the right decision in getting a Mac Pro, I was very much in-between getting an iMac and the Mac Pro. Though once this is sorted I think I'll realize I made the right choice.

btw does your Wi-Fi work correctly, I've just realized that I'm getting a very low signal with the Airport Express only around 3 meters away. Possibly the aerials are connected wrong.

 

[YoYoMa]

I'll be going to the store tmmw. I'd really like to know how far a working Mac Pro bluetooth keyboard and mouse can work so I can compare when I get there. Can someone please chime in with some intel, thanks.

 

[jameskohn]

Mac Pro bluetooth issues

10 meters (about 30') is the "generally accepted" range for bluetooth devices. It's hard to say with a keyboard and Mouse, because you need to be able to see the display to know if the device is working at 100%. I can tell you that on my other Macs (PowerBook G4, iMacG4, and iMac G5) 10 feet is absolutely no problem. Beyond that it's hard to say, but my wireless Apple mouse works flawlessly as far away as I can still see the display on my PowerBook. Furthermore, it doesn't seem to matter if something (like my body) is between the mouse and the computer.

I am assured by a terrific Apple phone sales rep that they are aware of the problem and are working on a fix (firmware update?) furiously. I've decided to keep the MacPro based on his representation that it's reasonable to expect a fix within a week or two. I must also say that Apple customer service was, hold times not withstanding, very cooperative in organizing return shipping for the 2nd MacPro that had the same problem. It makes me feel so much better about spending this much $$ on a (defective) computer when Apple is this cooperative. At their best they are a joy to do business with. On the other hand, waiting on hold gets pretty tired after 20 min, 1/2 hour, AN HOUR!!...

 

[YoYoMa]

Whoa, great news!

 

[YoYoMa]

Well, I just got off the phone with Apple for the third time and they suggested that I push the SMP reset button. I can' t tell if it worked or not yet being my problem is so intermittent, and my room isn't large enough to test the distance. You guys might want to try it though, just in case. I haven't experienced any glitches in the past fifteen minutes or so. I'll be sure to let you know if I do however.

The button is in the little RAM box at the bottom right of the computer. You want to unplug everything from the computer and leave everything unplugged for about ten minutes. Then push the button that says SMP reset, it's near the top of the RAM cage. Once you do that, connect everything up and you're ready to go. Let me know if it works, I'll do the same.

 

[gallinger]

I was testing the range out with my razr cell phone and I would take pics off the phone to my computer. I had the phone up to 25 feet away and it work fine. But still my mouse and keyboard suck. Maybe its the mouse and keyboard?

 

[YoYoMa]

I don't know what the odds are that you would get both a bad keyboard AND mouse.
The button didn't work for me btw, you can still try it if you like. I really don't want this to be a hardware issue. I'll not be going to the Apple store tmmw, I'll give it another couple days. I got the specialists phone number that I spoke with and I'll see where things go from there.

 

[seh2000]

Bluetooth Range...

Hi!
I have range issue as well, but I use mainly the Bluetooth with my mobile phones (SEK750i & SE800i) when I move either of the handsets more than 1.5 meter away from the MBP the conenction is lost...
S

 

[Dark Dragoon]

Apples decided to replace my machine.
I just hope that the new one won't have the same problem.

 

[YoYoMa]

Well, I got the Bluetooth mouse to see how much I liked it and confirm that it wasn't the keyboard and the signal is awful! Unless I'm one or two feet away the signal is unbearable. Now I'm worried I'll need a replacement and it looks like there is no way to avoid going to the Apple store.

 

[jameskohn]

Dark Dragoon - 2nd Mac Pro

I've already had a second new Mac Pro, and it did the exact same thing. y the way, is anybody else experiencing line noise, i.e. buzzing through the speakers, with the Mac Pro?

 

[YoYoMa]

Jamescohn, can you tell me what the Tech told you on the phone about the problem? I'm on the phone right now and I'm really not sure what to do.

 

[hal0n]

the only problem i've had with my mac pro and bluetooth keyboard and mighty mouse is that sometimes cat fur will get under the mouse, and the tracking goes down to nill. I use the mouse at 2 meters...

 

[digitaltrader]

I am having bluetooth range issues as well and already replaced the battery in the mouse and got a little better response for a few hours. The mouse skips as if the signal is very poor and the keyboard constantly has to be re-added to function. Are we supposed to be turning these units off when away from the computer? We should all notify apple as they need to know that this is a widespread issue.

 

[jameskohn]

Product specialist

I called AppleCare yesterday and was escalated to a "product specialist" right away. Hold time was better, but still not good, about 20 min to get through to Apple Care, another 10 min to get the product specialist. When I did get him, he was not aware of the bluetooth range issue. He quickly went to the bulletin boards and confirmed that there is an ongoing issue unresolved out there. After he went through the case history he emailed me a program that collects all sorts of data from my machine, which I was then able to email back to him. He promised he would be back to me by the end of the day Friday, if not sooner. I'm trying to wait until I hear back from him until I just give up and send this machine back, but I'm losing patience. I must say that Justin, the product specialist, was very cooperative. He even offered to send a wired keyboard and mouse for me to use until the issue gets resolved. When they're good, they're good!