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Every night around 9:30-10pm, iMac Magic Mouse starts lagging - Odd phenomenon

PhillyGuy72

PhillyGuy72

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 13, 2014
3,074
4,653
Philadelphia, PA USA
I can't quite explain this bizarre situation for the past 5, 6 nights in a row now (and happening as I type).

My older 2012 Mac - bluetooth mouse runs perfectly fine from the time I wake up around 7am until around 9:30, 10pm...and like clockwork when I notice the bluetooth Magic Mouse begin to severely stutter out of the blue. It gets to the point I just can't even use it.

This is an older version Magic Mouse that uses 2 AA Batteries, I've changed them, reset/"debug" the Bluetooth on my Mac and rebooted, used a different Magic Mouse, shut off other BT devices around me, did PRAM, NVRAM reset. Also ran virus scans which showed nothing.

I did plug in a much older wired Apple mouse - which I'm using right now - and this seems perfectly fine. Cursor is moving around just fine.

I am at an absolute total loss right now, I'm just baffled, beyond frustrated why this is happening the same time every night.
The BT Keyboard seems ok, it's just the bluetooth mouse.

Has anyone experienced this before?? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Do you have a backup or some kind of scan scheduled at that time that is putting a strain of your processor? I guess that could possibly make Bluetooth connectivity act strange. Have you tried a different Bluetooth mouse?
 
Or maybe a scheduled task using a USB3 device as that can cause interference? Or some other device nearby doing something similar? Or maybe just the poor mouse is tired by then and needs a sleep :)
 
NYR99 said:
Do you have a backup or some kind of scan scheduled at that time that is putting a strain of your processor? I guess that could possibly make Bluetooth connectivity act strange. Have you tried a different Bluetooth mouse?
Click to expand...

Did that. I checked Time Machine thinking this was set to "on" - and causing a strain, nope. Time Machine automatic backup is off (Last back up was on Monday...fearing my mouse studdering issues was an early sign of the HD dying, that happened last year.) . But TM is off, no scheduled backups for anything.

Tried one other Magic Mouse 1, same problem. Tried my newer Magic Mouse 2 (rechargable version) - again...same problem. My 2017 iMac right next to this iMac is unaffected...then again that has a higher bluetooth version inside - if this makes a difference? Just a thought at this point...I'm trying to think of everything right now. It's just odd!

Fishrrman said:
Open Activity Monitor and check CPU usage to see what's going on...
Click to expand...

Checked that also, I went through a bunch of processes that I didn't recognize, googled those file names/processes and they all seem to be legit. The memory hog of course was Google Chrome and a slew of "Google Chrome (Helpers)" - smh- I shut that down and it didnt make a difference.

So..10:30AM...I'm on my Magic Mouse, once again it's running normal.

- I even thought of that "Wardie" I DID try this mouse on another iMac downstairs, no lagging issues on that one.

So..being in this office with iPhone, iPad, The WiFi TV, Amazon Echo device all nearby - thinking bad interference - I turned BT off on phone, iPad, unplugged the Echo Show, unplugged my TV. Once again no change.

It's the precise time for the past 6+ nights that irks me, this 9:30-10PM time when the mouse goes buggy like a switch was flicked on. (again, my USB wired old Apple Mouse is fine) With nothing scheduled to backup. It's almost like there's some timed bug in the internal bluetooth. I just don't know.
 
---crossing my fingers. Friend mentioned to go to "SYSTEM PREF." > HIT "TARGET DISK" > SELECT THE DISK (Which is only one, my SSD), click RESTART.

Did that, reboot was much faster than previous times and the erratic mouse didn't "activate" at this goofy 9:30-10pm time last night. First time in over a week.


If that WAS in fact the solution, that really is an odd one. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
If that did NOT fix the issue and you're within Philly limits, it might be some type of radio scanner causing bluetooth interference. They're being used a lot more recently, especially at night.

Also might want to try a USB mouse for a night or two in a row to see if it's a system issue.
 
bsbeamer said:
If that did NOT fix the issue and you're within Philly limits, it might be some type of radio scanner causing bluetooth interference. They're being used a lot more recently, especially at night.

Also might want to try a USB mouse for a night or two in a row to see if it's a system issue.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by radio scanner ?
 
The first thing I would do in this situation is buy a new iMac. :D

I think it's likely interference of some kind, if your computer is performing perfectly normally and nothing out-of-the-ordinary shows in Activity Monitor. It could be a scanner, it could be something else in your own home interfering with your bluetooth connectivity between those times.
 
bsbeamer said:
If that did NOT fix the issue and you're within Philly limits, it might be some type of radio scanner causing bluetooth interference. They're being used a lot more recently, especially at night.

Also might want to try a USB mouse for a night or two in a row to see if it's a system issue.
Click to expand...

Nah, I spoke too soon. The issue started up again tonight about 1hr 1/2 ago. (9:20pm) This "startup disk" method didn't work when I tried it again.
Back on the USB mouse and thats fine.

Scanners? I'm near the Philly city limits, always crime around town...I just never had an issue. At this point anything makes sense I guess. Another device I turned off was my Apple Watch....literally 2, 3 inches from the Magic Mouse on a charger. Nope.

No question it's some goofy interference, whatever it is it's driving me nuts. I just don't understand.
 
---By the way, just to update this, maybe help anyone that has, or will have this issue.

It seemed that this older 2TB external hard drive was to blame! The drive was acting super sluggish, unstable months ago back in Winter 2020. Did a back up on it, then reformatted.

Anyway, the mouse issue was still goofy...getting painfully worse, but trying to access a file on this 2tb external drive...no go. It actually froze my entire Mac up.

I disconnected the drive from my rear iMac USB port (spinning wheel still churning for a good 30-40 seconds, then stopped)

I restarted the Mac...and already noticing a major change - the boot up time was so much faster!

And also, this stuttering nightly mouse issue went away. It never once entered my mind that this external drive was causing such problems, especially the mouse.

There was nothing on that drive, especially when I completed erased it that should have caused a choppy mouse(?) Beats me....just odd, but that appeared to be the solution for me.

*Reformatting that 2TB drive once again and connecting it to another Mac...forget it..I get an endless spinning wheel, that external is toast.
 
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