Bluetooth and my Mac Pro 5,1

As some of you know, I have been having trouble with USB interference with the internal Apple Bluetooth Module. My only Bluetooth device is a Microsoft Laser Mouse 8000, that I dearly luv. I was almost ready to replace it with a wired mouse, but after 3 months months of screwing around - I finally have Bluetooth working again with absolutely no interference.

My troubles began on 2/13/14 when I installed the Inateck KT4004 4-Port USB 3.0 PCI-E Express Card For MAC Pro. This card interfered with the Apple internal Bluetooth module. I tried adding the Microsoft dongle I got with the mouse. The Mac never saw it. I tried rerouting the wires from the internal module. I tried shielding the module and antenna wires. Nothing worked. I was frustrated as heck. And, at times the problem was worse than at other times. When I plugged a USB device directly into the Inateck Card, All bluetooth connection was lost and my mouse was dead. I bought a powered 7 port hub. I could plug a USB 3.0 device into that, and the Bluetooth connection was not lost, but the mouse action was as crappy as ever. It's very hard to work with an erratic mouse and that's what I have been doing for the last 3 months. BUT - NO MORE!!!!

I'm happy to say - PROBLEM SOLVED

I searched Amazon for all the Bluetooth dongles they sell. I only found two that said they were Macintosh compatible:

http://www.amazon.com/Rocketek-Low-...9690306&sr=8-2&keywords=bluetooth+adapter+mac

and

http://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-BTD-30...9690334&sr=8-1&keywords=bluetooth+adapter+mac

I also downloaded Apple's Hardware IO tools. The tool set contains a utility called Bluetooth Explorer. This utility let's you choose the Bluetooth module to want to use.

I ordered the Rocketek adapter first. The Bluetooth utility saw the device and I could activate it, but it absolutely refused to pair with the Microsoft mouse. I spent two hours trying to get them to pair. No Luck.

I next ordered the Kinivo device, selected it with the Bluetooth utility, then tried to pair the mouse and BINGO - SUCCESS. I didn't even have to restart. The Knivo BT-300 utilizes a Broadcom Chip, which I guess is the reason it worked so well. with my Mac. Kinivo also sells a BT-400 (Bluetooth 4.0) dongle, but it's not advertised as working with the Mac.

Anyway, I'm pleased as punch that I finally have working USB 3.0 and working Bluetooth. Both working together with no interference! It's been a long a frustrating 3 months.

Lou

^^^^Thanks, Bugging really isn't the word. It's been driving me up the wall.

It was great to get up this morning, turn on the Mac, and have peacefully coexisting USB 3.0 and Bluetooth. I'm in complete control of my mouse again

Lou

hfg said:

Where can you get the Apple's Hardware IO tools?

Click to expand...

jchaley said:

Flowrider - your post was very informative.

Two questions:
1. How do I get the Apple Hardware IO tools with the Bluetooth Explorer?

2. The Kinivo dongle - do I simply plug it into one of the USB3 ports on the card, or into one of the built-in USB2 ports on the Mac?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

1. To get Apple's Hardware IO Tools you need to go to the Apple Developer's Center Here:

https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/mac/index.action

And Register using your App Store Login information. registration is free and is easy. Once in, go to View all Developer Downloads. Then go to page 2, and look for Hardware IO Tools for Xcode - October 2013 . Download that. It contains Bluetooth Explorer.

2. I have the dongle plugged into one of the three builtin USB 2.0 ports on the back of the machine. The dongle contains an activity light that I didn't always want to be looking at.

Lou

^^^^No I don't. It is supposed to run on ML or later. I have a startup disk with 10.8.5 on it, I'll try and run it later to see if I can duplicate the problem. It works fine for me in 10.9.2 and 10.9.3.

Lou

jchaley said:

Lou, I downloaded the hardware IO tools with the Bluetooth Explorer app, but Explorer won't open on my Mac Pro 5,1 running OSX 10.8.5. I get the error "Bluetooth Explorer cannot be opened because of a problem." Any ideas?

Click to expand...

Sorry, so late getting back here. I booted to 10.8.5 last night, and Bluetooth Explorer wouldn't open either

Lou

Just a quick note. I received a new Fantom USB 3.0 HDD yesterday, it replaced my old USB 2.0 LaCie HDD that was in the process of failing. I erased and destroyed the old drive. Once the Fantom was installed, no BT with the dongle. The OS wouldn't pair with my mouse. So I tried moving the dongle and cables around. Got everything to work again, with the dongle on the front of the Mac in the lower USB slot. And, the curser is stable. So, it's now in a slot that was unstable before This is crazy business.

Lou

^^^^I don't have an icon in the dock. But if you open BT Explorer their will be be menu items, go to tools and scroll down to HCI Controller Selector. I'm on a trip, so I'm using my MBA, but per your request, I have attached a jpeg of the window that opens allowing you to choose the BT Controller.

Lou

^^^^It's a Standalone Application. When you open it, there are choices in the Menu Bar. Do like I said above.

Lou

^^^^Good - Glad you figured it out?

Lou

^^^^Yep, thats what it says, but it's not true. The change is retained until you change it again.

Lou

Your Welcome. So Glad you got it working!!!!! It really can be a PITA. But, thankfully there is a solution, however it takes a good bit perseverance.

Lou