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Mac Pro 1,1 Bluetooth Problem

B

benborman

macrumors member
Original poster
May 28, 2008
81
0
After 2.5 years of problem free operation (aside from the occasional tracking lag), I am having trouble with my bluetooth connection in my Mac Pro 1,1.

This just started happening today when my bluetooth Mighty Mouse randomly stopped working - my first reaction was to change the batteries (which were not old to begin with). Nothing happened. I successfully paired the Mighty Mouse to another mac, ruling out that as the problem.

I tried a restart, and that fixed the problem - for about 5 minutes, when I lost the connection again.

After searching online, I tried the normal routine fixes -

- Verify and repair permissions
- Reset SMC
- Reset PRAM
- Remove Mighty Mouse connection and re-connect

Nothing worked. I can restart the mac and regain connectivity sometimes, which goes away after 5 mins or so.

Otherwise the, Bluetooth status indicator in the menu bar shows that it is connected, but when i click on it (using my Wacom tablet) it lags before opening. Also, the bluetooth Preference Pane lags.

Also, on some of my restart attempts, the bluetooth menu bar icon will show the icon with the squiggly line through it and say "Bluetooth: Not Available".

That is about as detailed as I can describe my problem - it is fairly unpredictable.

Any help from the community would be greatly appreciated!
 
If it's not that then I would guess, because of the sudden onset of the problem, that your bluetooth module has died.
 
Everything appears to be connected properly. I even disconnected and reconnected the antenna wire. Upon starting up again, i get the "Bluetooth not available" message on the menu bar icon.

I suppose I should contact Apple about replacing the module? Or would you recommend a DIY attempt - I am fairly comfortable with hardware replacements - I have disassembled and reassembled powerbooks, ipods, etc. and made successful repairs...
 
If you have Applecare, by all means have Apple do it. But, if you don't, please don't pay someone to do it. Very easy. The tricky part will be locating that part for purchase.
 
You say that your bluetooth has always lagged a bit. It shouldn't have done at all. When I first received my Mac Pro I found that I couldn't pair it with my mobile phone unless it was literally sat on the casing!

The problem is that some Mac Pro antenna sets seem to have been mis-labeled. There are 4 wires labeled "1", "2", "3" & "BT". I found that I needed to connect "1" to my Bluetooth module and "2" & "3" to my airport extreme card. After I did this my mobile would connect from anywhere in the room and my wireless connectivity remained perfect.

There was a thread about this on Apple's support forum at the time.

Here it is.

The bit you're interested in is at the top of page 3, I believe.

After typing all this out, I found the Macrumors guide explaining the same thing here.

Let us know how you get on, please.
 
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Reactions: chrisinoakland
bozz2006 said:
If you have Applecare, by all means have Apple do it. But, if you don't, please don't pay someone to do it. Very easy. The tricky part will be locating that part for purchase.
Click to expand...

No, wouldn't pay anyone else to do it - I'm the one my friends go to with broken tech - like I said, I have done PowerBooks, iPods, etc.

You're right, though, looks like finding the part would be the challenge. I'll check into AppleCare......
 
cal6n said:
You say that your bluetooth has always lagged a bit.
Click to expand...

It only lagged occasionally, never often, and never long - enough to be mildly annoying at the moment, but never enough to be an issue. Probably just some interference.

I have been using the same mighty mouse setup for 2.5 + years, and have connected mobile phones, transferred files to other macs, etc. without any problem. I'm not going to mess with the wiring, since all has been well until now. I will check with Applecare and pray I don't have to send my machine out...
 
I wonder if they'd send you a new one in agreement for you sending them the broken piece (assuming it's broken).
 
Well, I left the machine turned off for several hours yesterday, and when I got home powered up. The bluetooth connected right away, as expected, then quit after about 2 minutes. I restarted, everything connected like usual. So I put the computer to sleep, woke it with the mouse (via bluetooth) and put it back to sleep overnight.

In the morning, I woke it by clicking the mouse, as usual, and everything seemed fine. I left the computer on for awhile, and checked the mouse periodically, and everything seemed fine..for now. I will report back after extended use if anything changes (or not). Perhaps it was just a fluke...?

If the problem persists, I will contact Applecare, and if that is too much of a hassle, I will order the bluetooth module (part# MA687ZM/A) and swap it out myself.
 
Turns out it was just a bad hair day for my Mac. Everything seems to be working fine now...
 
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