MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 > OpenCore Legacy Patcher > Bluetooth Trackpad Won't Pair

[5comma1]

Greetings!

• Mid 2010 Mac Pro 5,1
• OpenCore Legacy Patcher 0.6.1
• Monterey 12.6.3
• flashed RX 580 Pulse


My trackpad stopped working in OpenCore (OCLP) Monterey— it still works fine in Mojave.
When the trackpad stopped working I deleted it from the Bluetooth Preferences pane and it was quickly discovered again, but after several seconds it is rejected (screenshot).

The batteries are good and I've restarted the Mac. I've tried turning the trackpad off and then on during the discovery process— hoping it would be seen and accepted. Nope.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!

 

[haralds]

Working fine on my system.
Have you tried pairing over Lightning/USB?

 

[5comma1]

No— I have the first generation trackpad without connection ports...

Thanks, haralds.

 

[bookemdano]

I would change batteries anyway, even if you are sure they are good (unless you've tried that already). That will also let the trackpad fully power off, which might make a difference.

You should do an NVRAM reset on the Mac as well--if no change doing it once, then hold down the key combo through 5 full restarts and see if that helps.

I assume that your BT mouse, kb and airpods all work fine in both versions of macOS?

 

[5comma1]

Thanks a lot, bookemdano.

I'll try some fresh batteries. Everything Bluetooth works except the Airpods, and I think thats because I'm running the stock Bluetooth module, which may be incompatible and is reportedly weak, at best. I can live without the Airpods working.

Regarding the PRAM reset... are you suggesting I do 5 actual restarts... or hold down the keys until I hear the startup chime 5 times?

 

[bookemdano]

Thanks a lot, bookemdano.

I'll try some fresh batteries. Everything Bluetooth works except the Airpods, and I think thats because I'm running the stock Bluetooth module, which may be incompatible and is reportedly weak, at best. I can live without the Airpods working.

Regarding the PRAM reset... are you suggesting I do 5 actual restarts... or hold down the keys until I hear the startup chime 5 times?

The latter. That does a deeper NRAM reset.

You could also try pairing the trackpad with another computer (Mac or PC) and then try to pair it again to the Mac Pro.

Just some things to try--hopefully one of them will work.

 

[5comma1]

Thanks again, bookemdano.

New batteries > no go.
Multiple PRAM chimes > nope.

Tried to pair the trackpad with my 2013 MacBook Pro... same result. The same Mac Address appears in the Bluetooth preferences window, just as it did on the 5,1— but when clicked on, pairing is rejected after a few seconds.

Seems to point to the trackpad pooping-out?

 

[bookemdano]

Seems maybe that's the case. Did you try pairing while holding down the power button on the trackpad? Details.

 

[5comma1]

Seems maybe that's the case. Did you try pairing while holding down the power button on the trackpad? Details.. Thank you.

"Did you try pairing while holding down the power button on the trackpad?" Yes, thank you.

The thing that's odd is that when the trackpad shows-up in Bluetooth preferences it's listed as a 12 character Mac address, rather than something like, Scott's Trackpad?

My intuition is telling me it might be something to do with needing to re-do the OpenCore Legacy Patcher post-install patches. I'm going to head in that direction.

 

[bookemdano]

Is your 2013 MBP also running via OCLP? If not, then I don't think OCLP could be the culprit since you said it wouldn't pair to that computer either.

 

[5comma1]

Is your 2013 MBP also running via OCLP? If not, then I don't think OCLP could be the culprit since you said it wouldn't pair to that computer either.

Good question... nope... the 2013 MBP is still running Mojave. Good catch. Thanks!

 

[bookemdano]

For what it's worth, you can get Gen1 Magic Trackpads fairly cheap (used but in good shape) on ebay. I replaced one not too long ago that had batteries corrode inside--which more or less permanently glues them and the battery cover in place. Stupid me for not using NiMH batteries!

Or, take this occasion to upgrade to the Magic Trackpad 2, which is a worthwhile upgrade since you can click anywhere on its surface and it is rechargeable. It can be used wired, which is a nice feature.

 

[5comma1]

For what it's worth, you can get Gen1 Magic Trackpads fairly cheap (used but in good shape) on ebay. I replaced one not too long ago that had batteries corrode inside--which more or less permanently glues them and the battery cover in place. Stupid me for not using NiMH batteries!

Or, take this occasion to upgrade to the Magic Trackpad 2, which is a worthwhile upgrade since you can click anywhere on its surface and it is rechargeable. It can be used wired, which is a nice feature.

Yeah... I was considering a trackpad purchase, too, until I remembered that the Magic Mouse and Trackpad both work fine in Mojave... so they're good. I think I caused the issue one day while troubleshooting in OpenCore (OCLP) Monterey, while Bluetooth connectivity worked fine in that OS. I purposely wiped my Mojave backup SSD to try and reformat it... and that's when the Bluetooth connection problems began. If I can connect with someone keen with OCLP I'll have them guide me through reinstalling the Bluetooth patches for the 5,1.

Thanks again, bookemdano.

 

[bookemdano]

Yeah... I was considering a trackpad purchase, too, until I remembered that the Magic Mouse and Trackpad both work fine in Mojave... so they're good. I think I caused the issue one day while troubleshooting in OpenCore (OCLP) Monterey, while Bluetooth connectivity worked fine in that OS. I purposely wiped my Mojave backup SSD to try and reformat it... and that's when the Bluetooth connection problems began. If I can connect with someone keen with OCLP I'll have them guide me through reinstalling the Bluetooth patches for the 5,1.

Thanks again, bookemdano.

The fact that the trackpad is still functioning as normal in Mojave is interesting. I wonder if it's not going into pairing mode at all. Can't believe I didn't ask this earlier, but what is the LED on the trackpad doing when you hold the trackpad's power button down? It should either come on and then go off (meaning you just powered the trackpad off) or it will blink, meaning it has entered pairing mode. If the light doesn't come on at all then perhaps the problem lies with the trackpad's power button.

You may want to test pairing it with your MBP again. In that case, you should turn your Mac Pro off completely (or unplug its power cord to be sure). The issue sometimes with trying to pair those to a different computer is that they end up reconnecting to the one they were originally paired to if it is in the vicinity and thus the pairing process fails. Supposedly you can prevent that by holding down the trackpad's power button during the whole pairing process, but seems to be it would be easier to just power off the Mac Pro while you try. EDIT: If that works and you can pair it to your MBP, then you can try pairing it back to your Monterey install (again, make sure you turn off the MBP first).

 

[5comma1]

YOU, my good man... cracked the code!!!

Per your suggestion I shut down the Mac Pro and turned-off the trackpad.
Shut down the MBP and restarted, just for good measure.
Started the MBP and the trackpad.

The MBP didn't immediately see the trackpad but with 10 minutes of fiddling it finally connected.

Then I shut down the MBP and trackpad.

Then I started the Mac Pro and the track pad and the DARN THING CONNECTED. Using it right now!

I was aware Bluetooth pairing can sometimes "stick" to a device they were previously paired with, but it never occurred to me that might be the case here?

bookemdano, thanks so much for hanging-in there with me. I really appreciate you, man!! 👍👍👍

 

[bookemdano]

Sweet! Glad you got it working.