cMP Magic Mouse 2 interference

[astonius86]

I'm having a heck of a time diagnosing an infuriating issue with my Magic Mouse 2. Seemingly randomly I'll experience significant tracking lag or unresponsive clicks. I know that the cMPs are notorious for bluetooth interference issues when used with or around USB 3.0 devices, however I have no USB 3.0 devices nearby and completely removed my USB 3.0 PCI card. Furthermore, other bluetooth devices work perfectly: my Magic Keyboard, a bluetooth speaker, Handoff with my MBP and iPhone Xs, etc, all work without issue. I did upgrade the wifi/bluetooth modules to AC/4.2 when I first got the machine, and I don't recall having these issues early on. It seems to have popped up over the past couple of months without any noteworthy changes to my environment.

I have tried unpairing and repairing the mouse and moving closer to the cMP, no luck there. I downloaded the Bluetooth Explorer tool and ran the Connection Quality Window for a bit. Here's what I got:

Check out the Link Quality. The green line sitting solidly at 100% is my Magic Keyboard, sitting 5 inches from my Magic Mouse, the yellow line. It's a night and day difference.

Are Magic Mice known for this? Could it be a hardware issue? Unfortunately I don't have another bluetooth mouse to try.

 

[jack070767]

I solved with external BT antenna.

 

[kohlson]

I recently solved with perhaps the "kludgiest" fix ever. Took no money and about 20 minutes. MM2 was unusable on my 4/5,1, but now seems rock solid.
- You will need: about 6 feet of a single wire from an ethernet cable. I have lots of old Cat3 lying around, so easy. And gaff or duct tape. While either of the blue ones is not required in this situation (!) I chose one of them.
- Shut down, open up case, and remove cpu tray.
- As you face the opening, BT module is on lower right. The AirPort module is on the left. Take the wire and make a lass-like loop around the antenna wire.
- Now carefully position the wire so it won't interfere with anything: cpu tray and fans. I tucked it under the frame and brought it up into the PCIe bay, and then out one of the cheese grater holes. Tape down as appropriate.
- For the remaining wire, I wound it around my finger to form a coil, then positioned it under the MP.

I had little expectation this would work - lame - but the cost was nothing. And I didn't want to use a BT antenna as this seems to want a PCIe slot (mounting the antenna on a backplate). Works great, even when copying from one USB3 drive to another. If you have a 2010/12 MP, the BT and AE are one module, on the left. Use the MP Technician Guide to identify which is the BT antenna, and perhaps try the same "fix."

 

[Pressure]

I tried with alu-foil and what-not to isolate any interference with the internal bluetooth adapter.

I ended up "solving" it by buying an external Bluetooth USB adapter and disable the internal one.

 

[h9826790]

I enhance the BT stability by using external antenna.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ittently-disconnecting.2025450/#post-24146998

My antenna position now usually let the Magic Mouse rRSSI stay around -70dB, but RSSI stay at zero, and Link Quality can stay at max.

What bugger me a bit is the Retransmission. I have absolutely no idea what it is, but it will increase to 100% and stay there after short period I use the Magic Mouse.

 

[astonius86]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'm definitely open to adding a better antenna, however I'd prefer to keep it internal. Where is the factory bluetooth antenna mounted, and where would be the optimal position internally to mount my own?

 

[128KMac]

You are not alone - had great never fail connectivity with my 2015 13" MBP and original magic mouse from even earlier in the decade. Then got my 2019 13" MBP and magic mouse 2, and nothing but headaches. Works well for days, and then will repeatedly drop multiple times in the course of an hour. For no good reason. No new BT devices anywhere nearby. Just random BS. Apple support had me do some kind of fancy reboot but that faded after a few days.... This one of those things that Apple has to know about (given the discussion on this thread) but have done nothing about. And I don't like that the problem might be in my MBP and its antennea