cMP 2009 WIFI and Bluetooth upgrade

[Eneco]

Hey folks,

I'm having a real hard time to work with the internal bluetooth card. Its range is so limited, that my Magic Mouse lags, stutters and is not usable at all. The Mac stands right beneath my desk and is maybe 1,5m away from the Magic Mouse.

I already did some experimantation with USB bluetooth dongles. Even though they resolved the lag problem, they don't work during boot up to select a different start up disk or enter the recovery mode.

So I was thinking about replacing the WIFI and bluetooth card with the upgrade kit from OSX WIFI:
https://www.osxwifi.com/product/mac...94360cd-802-11-a-b-g-n-ac-with-bluetooth-4-0/

But I'm not sure if this will increase the bluetooth range and signal strength, as the card is still at the same position within the mac, which shields the signal due to its design.

Has anyone some experience with the OSX WIFI upgrade kit?

 

[kohlson]

There are threads on MR about this. For my 2009 cMP, place under the desk but less than 4 feet from the Magic Mouse, it was useless. It could barely go a few seconds before losing connection. I tried a MM2, and it was rock solid.

 

[Eneco]

Oh, so this is more an issue with the Magic Mouse than the Bluetooth card itself? Interesting!

But does the Magic Mouse 2 even work well with the old Mac Pro 2009, as it says Bluetooth 4.0 is required?

 

[kohlson]

I am someone who really likes MM, though I understand that they're not for everyone. I was disappointed it never worked with my 2009 cMP. But a friend had to replace his MM, and he brought over a MM2. I tried it for 30 minutes and it was worked perfectly. I bought one and it works perfectly. I don't care enough about Continuity and WiFi on this system to replace the BT card.

 

[Eneco]

That's great to hear. I also couldn't care less about Continuity and Handoff, I would have done the upgrade just to get the Magic Mouse working, cause I really love that mouse. So I guess I will just get the version 2 and everything should be fine again.

 

[haralds]

Hey folks,

I'm having a real hard time to work with the internal bluetooth card. Its range is so limited, that my Magic Mouse lags, stutters and is not usable at all. The Mac stands right beneath my desk and is maybe 1,5m away from the Magic Mouse.

I already did some experimantation with USB bluetooth dongles. Even though they resolved the lag problem, they don't work during boot up to select a different start up disk or enter the recovery mode.

So I was thinking about replacing the WIFI and bluetooth card with the upgrade kit from OSX WIFI:
https://www.osxwifi.com/product/mac...94360cd-802-11-a-b-g-n-ac-with-bluetooth-4-0/

But I'm not sure if this will increase the bluetooth range and signal strength, as the card is still at the same position within the mac, which shields the signal due to its design.

Has anyone some experience with the OSX WIFI upgrade kit?

It's been a problem with the cMP all along. You might want to check around, some people have had luck swapping antenna leads to improve the issue. A new card using the same antennas will not improve it.
I added an antenna fixed to the inside of the front grill. Helped marginally. It's good enough that it works with my keyboard and mouse, but Continuity is often still spotty.

 

[Eneco]

Do you use a Magic Mouse with your Mac Pro?

 

[MIKX]

I have a Kingston 4,1 external USB Bluetooth dongle attached to a heavily shielded ( long ) USB cable which puts the dongle over 1 metre away from my USB 3.0 PCIe card ( no interference any more ).
Everything works perfectly . . good connectivity up to 10 metres from the cMP.
You could even insert one of these dongles in one of your front USB ports - it will work. Your Magic Mouse will work.
My El Cheapo Bluetooth keyboard ( ¥1,400 -U.S.$ 12.50 ) in Japan ) works flawlessly.