Mac Mini 2010 - USB dropping...

[PinkyMacGodess]

I've got a strange problem, for me. I've got the Mac Mini Server Edition, and I swapped the hard drive(s) for a single SSD. It's working great, except, I use it for riding Zwift, which is a bike riding 'game' connected to a smart trainer.

It's that connection that is the problem.

Occasionally through a ride, the USB seems to drop. I have a USB extension cable with an ANT+ dongle plugged in to communicate with the trainer, and, like yesterday, it went along until 31 minutes into the ride, and it cut out for about two seconds. Then about 8 minutes later, it choked again. I have had it occasionally take longer to restart the connection, and I get no other messages than the power telemetry goes to zero. I tried putting the dongle closer to the trainer, which didn't help. For some reason Bluetooth isn't working for a connection to the trainer, but it does pick up the USB mouse sitting across the room. (Probably not supporting the new connection type)

I'm thinking it's probably time to put it out to pasture. The same dongle/extension works fine on my MacBook Pro, so I'm wondering if it could be a heat issue in the Mini.

The reason to have a dedicated system is because Zwift sucks the browser history when I start it, and I want to deny them that on a system I'm actively using. Dicks...

Thanks for any suggestions. Is this possibly a driver issue?

 

[wardie]

Can’t help with your USB issue but I did read their privacy policy. Yikes. There’s a lot of personal data they make public. “Your profile information, including your name, gender, age, height, and weight, is public” and “Zwift is based in the United States and we process and store information in the United States. Therefore, we and our service providers may transfer your information to, or store or access it in, jurisdictions that may not provide equivalent levels of data protection as your home jurisdiction. We will take steps to ensure that your personal data receives an adequate level of protection in the jurisdictions in which we process it.”

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

It's the trainer. They are blaming the Apple Bluetooth and ANT+ dongle I'm using. How typical.

Is Bluegiga really that much better of a BT dongle? Is there a 'best' ANT+ dongle? I don't know if anyone here would know, but I ask anyway, just in case.