Mac mini 2018 Bluetooth issues?

[getrealbro]

FWIW File Vault was NOT the issue in my case. I have NEVER used File Vault, yet my Apple Bluetooth keyboard would behave strangely and/or disconnect several times a day. Installing the IOGear BT dongle and placing it in an area with direct line of sight (to the keyboard when it was in my lap) has ELIMINATED the keyboard strange behavior and disconnects for several days. BTW I'm running Bluetooth Explorer 24/7 which reports any disconnects.

This is a complex problem. So different people will find different solutions depending on their hardware and usage patterns. I would be astonished if there is ONE solution that works for everyone.

GetRealBro

 

[nicho]

This is a complex problem. So different people will find different solutions depending on their hardware and usage patterns. I would be astonished if there is ONE solution that works for everyone.

First fix i found was disconnecting my hub from the USB-A port. Reenabled unlock with apple watch and made my mouse and kb work flawlessly.

To use filevault, I ended up using one of the unifying receivers that came with my mouse and keyboard (both logitech), as non-apple bluetooth keyboards won't connect to the filevault login screen (not unique to mac mini AFAIK - would also be an issue on imac pros or mac pros, except they come bundled with said keyboards). I just plugged in a new external SSD to the free USB-A port and I was getting read and write speeds of 35MB/s on the blackmagic speed test! On my 2017 MBA i'm getting more than 10x that. There's definitely some interference going on around the USB-A ports, although I'm not sure if my unifying receiver is compounding that or not. Will be ordering a USB-C hub to hang off my final free TB port and call it a day I think - the final USB-A port on my mac mini is pretty much dead to me now

 

[D.T.]

OK.

I'd had no BT issues - new '18 Mini, purchased about 3 weeks ago.

I'm using a Das KB (USB), but I am (or was ... read on !) using an Apple MM (AA battery version). I have one main USB connection from the Mini to the hub on one of my Dell displays, and I had been using the other port for my Modi 3 DAC.

Suddenly, I started having issues ...

I'm not sure if it came with the 10.14.6 update (honestly, I don't recall when I did that vs. when this started), I want to say it was working fine for at least a week after the x.6 update.

I've moved the machine around a touch, swapped out different external fans (so just sort of considering changes in potential interference), etc., but even changing things up, it seemed to persist - walking constant loss of connection, it actually seemed like it was getting __worse__ day after day.

So I had been thinking about a space gray MM (to compliment all the other equipment), obviously, this issue back burnered that idea, but I remembered something I already owned that would maybe solve the issue and give me my black mouse

I had an old[er] Logitech Anywhere MX stashed away, that had already been used on a Mac at some point (so I knew it was compatible). It's a nice design, decent ergonomics, and it uses one of the Logitech Unifying adapters vs. BT. I downloaded the Control Center app (actually kept my MM connected to use), installed it, added the device, turned off the MM and I was up and running on the new mouse.

A few tweaks to the settings, and it was just about perfect. I already had Sensible Side Buttons up and running from the previous OS migration, re-enabled it, and now I've got nice forward/back navigation buttons.

I haven't had a single disconnect, the mouse works nicely (to be honest, I wasn't even using any kind of mouse gestures), it works perfectly under Parallels as well.

Plus, it's black

So I recently stumbled on my Magic Mouse again, and for really no reason, well, maybe a missed a few gestures - anyway - I paired my MM again, switched off the MX, removed the dongle - I thought, OK, maybe I'll move the USB hub and see if it works, well, hahaha, the mouse was skipping and erratic, I was barely able to get the drive ejected

I unplug the hub, set it aside - it was running my Modi 3 DAC, an external 1TB spinner and provided a couple of device connections for charging, etc.

Well, the mouse instantly started working just fine. I used if for about an hour, then wanted my DAC up and running again, so I connected the USB hub (it's a little Anker 4 port), to a USB port on my display - my Mini is connected via USB to one of my Dells, and my Das KB connected to the display. Drive comes up, DAC comes up (previously I was using the external power, just went port powered this time on the hub). Everything working, and zero issues with the mouse!

So clearly, there's some USB-A interference, from the hub, and/or close USB devices, the connection from the Mini to the display is a good 14-18" long, so I guess that's enough distance to remove the interference[?]

I'm going to stick with the MM for a few days, scrolling around in XCode is a bit better, I'll report back if things goes pear shaped again ...

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I just upgraded to a 2018 Mac mini and everything has been great...except for bluetooth. I first noticed with my Magic Trackpad - it will only consistently work when plugged in via a lightning cable. If I unplug the cable it connects fine, but it will randomly stop tracking and start back up in half a second or so, making it unusable. The same trackpad works fine with my MBP.

It appears I finally solved "my" BT problems. I repurchased a Magic Trackpad (removable batteries) to go along with my Magic Keyboard (removable batteries). I began to notice a trend for several months that my Gen 1 Magic Keyboard "never" had disconnect issues. It was always my Magic Trackpad 2 and just like you, in order to get it to connect I had to plug in the lightning cable.

I also noticed that my Magic Keyboard took a little longer to connect on a fresh boot and my backup USB mouse would disconnect about 10 minutes after I booted the Mini. After about 5-10 seconds it would reconnect and no problems after that.

So I decided to buy a Magic Trackpad again and that so far has seemed to do the trick. No more Trackpad disconnects and the Magic Keyboard is ready to type as soon as I get to the sign in screen. Anyway this may not be a universal fix and it just so happened to apply to me but it cost me $35. I found an Ebay seller who had a pristine Magic Trackpad for sale. What's weird is that my Magic Trackpad 2 is flawless on my 2012 Mini, go figure.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Yes, finally my BT issues are gone wrt my 2018 mini. I can now even hold down the command+r key on startup and get to the recovery menu. You don't realize how useful the startup chime is when you're waiting to hear it so you can press those keys. Thankfully someone posted how to get it back.

So in the end I had to revert back to an Apple Magic keyboard along with the Magic Trackpad both using the removable batteries. This never should have been an issue to start with seeing Apple designs both the hardware and software.

 

[Stephen.R]

As a tip for anyone using the current lightning-charged wireless keyboards trying to do startup keypresses (or suffering interference issues in general):

If you plug a lightning cable into the keyboard and into the Mac, it communicates over the cable, not over bluetooth.

 

[roman.stapunov]

Few days ago I have bought an all in one USB/Cardreader type-c (thunderbolt 3) hub and connected USB-A devices via the hub and now I don’t have any issues with bluetooth/wi if connections. Previously sometimes my mini freezes whe I used web camera via usb-A.

Seems USB-A ports are useless in mini.

 

[Stephen.R]

Seems USB-A ports are useless in mini.

They're not useless, but their use must be considered, certainly.

I have actually had almost perfect results using wired Ethernet instead of Wifi (not even turning it off - disconnecting it, but leaving it on, so Continuity works). But I also use the two type-A ports quite specifically: one goes to the UPS with a USB2.0 cable, and the other goes to the hub in my Dell displays with a ridiculously thick (read: shielded) USB3.0 cable that came with the displays.

 

[watakoola]

My two type-A ports are used for -
CyberPower UPS
tp-Link 7 Port Hub

They work fine.

 

[MrDoh]

Updated to 10.15.4 the other day, and my bluetooth mouse is again acting laggy occasionally. It was working fine with 10.15.3, and now it is noticeably laggy on web pages and when reading and responding to email. Very frustrating. I did finally plug in the bluetooth USB dongle that I bought back when I first got the mac mini and was having problems with my bluetooth mouse. That first problem turned out to be remedied by replacing my USB hub with a powered one. This time around that obviously isn't helping, since the powered USB hub is still in place.

Plugging the above-mentioned bluetooth dongle into my USB keyboard port, about 3 - 6 inches away from the mouse, gets rid of most of the lag, but there's still some. The only thing that I can think of at this point is that they somehow messed up interrupt processing, and interrupts from bluetooth are being turned off for too long sometimes. With the bluetooth dongle close to the mouse, though, that does improve things, so I'm kind of left wondering what happened.

Am I the only person experiencing this, or are others seeing this as well?

 

[MikeGS3]

Updated to 10.15.4 the other day, and my bluetooth mouse is again acting laggy occasionally. It was working fine with 10.15.3, and now it is noticeably laggy on web pages and when reading and responding to email. Very frustrating. I did finally plug in the bluetooth USB dongle that I bought back when I first got the mac mini and was having problems with my bluetooth mouse. That first problem turned out to be remedied by replacing my USB hub with a powered one. This time around that obviously isn't helping, since the powered USB hub is still in place.

Plugging the above-mentioned bluetooth dongle into my USB keyboard port, about 3 - 6 inches away from the mouse, gets rid of most of the lag, but there's still some. The only thing that I can think of at this point is that they somehow messed up interrupt processing, and interrupts from bluetooth are being turned off for too long sometimes. With the bluetooth dongle close to the mouse, though, that does improve things, so I'm kind of left wondering what happened.

Am I the only person experiencing this, or are others seeing this as well?

The same problem for me on both 10.5.3 and now 4 using the Apple Magic Mouse 2.. gets laggy quite frequently. What I can say though is, I tried to get the mouse a clearer line of sight to the MM and that seems to have provided a slight improvement, but I think it was better before 10.5.3.

I've tried so many other mice, mostly the recommended Logitech ones and I just can't get on with them for speed and accuracy compared to the Magic Mouse 2. I find the MM2 is just much slicker in operation, it's just a poor ergonomic design. I just wish someone would make a bigger version!

 

[MagnumOP]

I experienced extensive Bluetooth issues from the moment I bought my 2018 Mac Mini. Apple was so unhelpful regarding the issue. I read so many threads and posts on how to fix it. No matter what I tried, nothing worked.

Until today!

Today I sat down at my Mac Mini and there were no Bluetooth issues! Well...not to freak everyone out...but there were no Bluetooth issues, because there was no Bluetooth. The logic board failed and the computer is a brick.

So sad.

Luckily I am still under warranty.

I dropped it off for repair today. Fingers crossed that everything is ok when I get it back.

 

[simonb76]

Sounds like Apple quietly updated the Bluetooth module from Murata to Broadcom around December 2019. Some newer Mac Minis might have the Broadcom module and might not have any issues.

Mac mini 2020 Bluetooth module

I was planning to buy the Mac mini 2020 but found out that it (at least the 2018 model) has serious Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection issues. There are tons of discussions about these issues. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-2018-bluetooth-issues.2157086 However, someone on this...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[watakoola]

Yep. I have Broadcom - manufactured in January 2020

 

[simonb76]

So Apple did change it then. Interesting. Have you experienced any Bluetooth issues ?

EDIT…ok maybe not. Looks like Broadcom was used from the start.

 

[samstre]

I have a mac mini 2018 (manufactured in January 2020) - also with the Broadcom chip.
Unfortunately I am experiancing the same bluetooth-issues.

I am using the trackpad + the apple keyboard with number-block.
Both of them seem to suffer from bluetooth issues (disconnecting / reconnecting).

Anybody knows where to find any logs about Bluetooth events, so I can track how often this is happening?


EDIT:
I have disconnected one of my devices from the USB-Type-A port and attached it to an USB-Hub connected via USB-C. Now both USB-Type-A ports (standard USB) are empty.
For now, my issues have disappeared... I used to have lags every 2-3 minutes. So far - all good.

EDIT 2nd:
After testing it for a good week, I didn't notice any more hickups with the bluetooth connection (neither with the keyboard, nor with the trackpad).

 

[MevetS]

If I connected to a 5.0 GHz wifi network I find that my Bluetooth issues go away.

 

[gigatoaster]

Hello there

Can anyone with a Mac mini connected via ethernet reproduce the following?

System Preferences > Sharing > Internet sharing > wifi

Try with all USB devices unplugged then plugged again: massive interferences and Magic TrackPad & Keyboard unusable!

 

[MrDoh]

Well, found a work-around for bluetooth mouse problems. The Logitech wireless mouse (unifying receiver) that I used to use on Windows 10, but didn't work right when I tried it on mac mini last year, now works really well on macOS 10.15.4. Went to Logitech web site and found that they actually have newer software for this mouse for Catalina, and that works perfectly on my mac, so much better than the bluetooth mouse. Even when I put a bluetooth dongle in the vicinity of the bluetooth mouse, the wireless Logitech M510 mouse works much better than that. The Logitech M510 is a cheap generic mouse, but fits my hand well, and is now working great with the newer Logitech software.

Nice to have that long-term problem taken care of.

 

[pinkoos]

Though I haven’t listened to this episode yet, the latest episode of the Pragmatic podcast talks about Macs and Bluetooth interference issues

Pragmatic: Docks And Interference (1h17m)

After a brief chat about John's App-in-progress Timeless Day, Ronnie Lutes joins to dissect the problems and pitfalls of poorly shielded or cheap USB 3 devices and how they can create BlueTooth drops out, Trackpad bullet chattering, Mouse stuttering and more and how one might diagnose and fix...

castro.fm

 

[pinkoos]

Here’s the corresponding article

Docks And Interference

techdistortion.com

 

[pinkoos]

I'm almost done with the episode - one thing to try and troubleshoot and/or experiment with is if your interference problems go away if you have nearby LED lightbulbs turned off. LED lightbulbs can cause interference and it's possible (according to the podcaster) that when those bulbs are on, you would get interference but if you turn them off, the interference may go away.

This doesn't negate the fact that there shouldn't be this issue in the first place and there wasn't this issue for many of us with any of the previous Macs we've owned, but it's worth investigating.

I can vouch for the interference caused by LED bulbs b/c several years ago I installed new, cheap LED bulbs in my landscape lighting fixtures and found out that whenever those bulbs turned on (automatically with a dusk to dawn setup), our garage door opener (ie, the remote you keep in your car) would no longer work. If the bulbs were off, the opener would work...as soon as they turned on, they wouldn't.

So, it's definitely an issue, I'm just not sure if there's a relationship with our 2018 mini BT issues or not.

 

[D.T.]

OK.

So first I had this situation (my post from this thread):

Mac mini 2018 Bluetooth issues?

OK. I'd had no BT issues - new '18 Mini, purchased about 3 weeks ago. I'm using a Das KB (USB), but I am (or was ... read on !) using an Apple MM (AA battery version). I have one main USB connection from the Mini to the hub on one of my Dell displays, and I had been using the other port for...

forums.macrumors.com

Then this happened:

Mac mini 2018 Bluetooth issues?

So I recently stumbled on my Magic Mouse again, and for really no reason, well, maybe a missed a few gestures - anyway - I paired my MM again, switched off the MX, removed the dongle - I thought, OK, maybe I'll move the USB hub and see if it works, well, hahaha, the mouse was skipping and...

forums.macrumors.com

TL;DR version:

New Mini back at the end of Sep 2019, 2-3 weeks no BT issues (just the mouse, using a Das wired KB), then suddenly issues (mid-Oct 2019), switched over to a Logitech MX, unified receiver, no issues. Decided to use my Magic Mouse again around Feb 2020, worked without any issues.

Now that we're caught up

Started having intermittent issues again, just 3-5 seconds of sketchy input (doesn't disconnect), goes back to normal, happens enough to be a bit of a PITA. I thought I might try my MS Mouse for a change up (MX is still an option), I really kind of prefer the MM for certain uses (moving around Storyboards and Sketch), but I didn't mind the change. Part of considering the MS option was finding the receiver just the other day, so I shoved then in the open USB-A/USB3 port, the other is connected to a hub, I have 2 TB3 ports used for displays (TB3/DP adapters), and a 3rd used for an external TB SSD drive.

Couldn't find the mouse, had a few things to do, left the dongle in, figured I'd find it later.

Well ...

The magic Mouse has been functioning perfectly.

I'm not suggesting it's using that dongle "directly", but whatever happened (frequency shuffle?) with the BT stack when I plugged that in caused my MM to work without issue. Will update again later during the upcoming week ...

 

[lazy_desi_]

Hi guys,

i have helped my friend to setup his 2018 i5 mac mini which he has brought from apple refurb store.

We have noticed that twice today that wifi has disconnected by itself for 4-5 secs and reconnect itself. during that time safari webpage came up with no internet connection page.

is this common issue with this model? even though its refurbished this issue still exists?

we havent connected any usb drives to the mini.

thanks

 

[drmeatball]

Hrm.. this USB A thing explains a lot.. I use a 16 port hub (dozen+ devices.. audio production). Would a USB-C adapter for the hub work to move it off the A port?
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Any experience with a cable like this? USB c to usb B super speed.

Cable Matters Type-C USB 3.1 Type B Cable (USB-C/USB C USB B 3.0 / Type-C USB 3.1 to USB B) in Black 6.6 Feet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W81GXV9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_u3dOEbW46K72D