Magic Mouse suddenly not "discoverable" to iMac--what to do?

[SpiceGrrl]

Hi All,

Strange problem. Suddenly my iMac won't recognize my Magic Mouse. I left the iMac on overnight but turned the mouse off to save battery. This morning, turned the mouse back on and it never successfully reconnected with the iMac. Usually it takes a minute or two (not sure why) but this time it never connected. I tried restarting the computer. Same thing. First it says it is looking for a mouse. It takes forever to find it, then when it does, it tries to connect but fails, telling me to make sure my mouse is "discoverable."

Um, how can I make my mouse discoverable other than just turning it on? I clicked, I rolled, I held it right up next to the computer, everything! Why might this be happening? Are there other mice out there that work better with the iMac than the (not so) Magic Mouse?

Appreciating advice,

Spicegrrl

 

[miles01110]

Are there other mice out there that work better with the iMac than the (not so) Magic Mouse?

Pretty much any mouse not made by Apple. I like Logitechs.

 

[mohsy90]

Alright try the following. First go to your preferences and make sure you turn bluetooth off and then back on. Try taking the batteries out of the magic mouse and then put them back in and makes sure your getting a green blinking light thats next to the battery cover. If none of these works, then i would head to apple and see if they can replace it, especially if its still under warranty, they will test it with another mac and if it works, it might be an iMac issue. If it doesnt they will just replace the mouse, if its under warranty.

Just keep toggling bluetooth on and off and your magic mouse on and off, and it should connect. Its happened to be a couple times, and it got to the point where i just couldnt take the slow connectivity of the bluetooth and i just switched to a logitech mouse.

 

[ohla313]

um..if he turns bluetooth off in preferences, how can he turn it back on lol. (assuming he's using the default wireless keyboard too)

 

[SpiceGrrl]

Indeed, that was part of the problem: with the mouse not working, I was unable to do anything at all with the computer because I am a "mouser" and only know the most rudimentary keystroke commands. And yes I am using a wireless keyboard. So my life kind of ground to a halt.

What ended up happening was, I changed the batteries (shouldn't have had to, they were only 2 weeks old), turned the mouse on and rebooted the iMac again. Somehow the iMac knew to "pair" the computer and mouse again without my telling it to do so. So the problem was solved. But I am no closer to understanding...

* How to make a mouse "discoverable" when the batteries are good and the mouse is turned on. What are they expecting me to do, other that those two things?

* How to initiate this "pairing" process myself when the mouse is not functioning?

Appreciating the responses so far. Even though my problem is solved today, I KNOW it is going to happen again, so please keep the answers coming.

Many thanks,

SpiceGrrl

 

[realtoast]

Make mouse discoverable

Came across Spicegrrl's post this morning when I was experiencing the exact same problem and symtoms. However, restart + changing batteries did not work for me.

Thankfully, I still had the former wired USB mouse available. Having connected my wired mouse I went to > Settings > Blue Tooth.

I had two instances of wireless mouse present. I deleted both, unchecked "On", then re-checked "On". The computer began again searching for wireless devices. In about a minute it found my Magic Mouse. I accepted the invitation and I'm back in business.

I hope this helps somebody.

 

[Bear]

...
What ended up happening was, I changed the batteries (shouldn't have had to, they were only 2 weeks old), turned the mouse on and rebooted the iMac again. Somehow the iMac knew to "pair" the computer and mouse again without my telling it to do so. So the problem was solved. But I am no closer to understanding...
...

Check the mouse battery percentage every day. I think you probably did run the batteries down as that is what I see for battery life when I use that mouse a lot.

 

[Twimfy]

Do a search and delete every copy of NetworkPreferences.plist and com.apple.bluetooth.plist

Reboot and you might find it'll resync. It works for me and I have to do it pretty much everytime I use my mouse in Windows 8 and then reboot into OS X. I still haven't worked out why this happens.

 

[ideaman924]

This is really stupid. messing around with plist files made by apple can potentially make your mac unstable and make it go absolutely awry unless you reinstall mac os x.

also to question: how to make your magic mouse discoverable?
Okay, let's make this simple. Your magic mouse is discoverable the moment you turn it on. Your mouse does not 'attempt' to connect with any macs at all. but then, your computer tries to connect to your mouse if it detects it. (but to detect it, it needs to be paired with the mouse, so a usb mouse might come in handy or a trackpad) once the computer is successfully connected with the magic mouse, your magic mouse automatically makes itself undiscoverable.

so, if you have any spare macs lying around and you have actually paired them with your magic mouse, at least once, then go around and check if one of them's connected. if so, then unpair the mouse, and then turn it off and on. it will make itself discovered if no macs attempt to connect to them.

hope i helped. (also, apple, how about magic mouse becoming two buttons? i hate the two fingers on the mouse for right click thing.)

 

[EREX]

Hi All,

Strange problem. Suddenly my iMac won't recognize my Magic Mouse. I left the iMac on overnight but turned the mouse off to save battery. This morning, turned the mouse back on and it never successfully reconnected with the iMac. Usually it takes a minute or two (not sure why) but this time it never connected. I tried restarting the computer. Same thing. First it says it is looking for a mouse. It takes forever to find it, then when it does, it tries to connect but fails, telling me to make sure my mouse is "discoverable."

Um, how can I make my mouse discoverable other than just turning it on? I clicked, I rolled, I held it right up next to the computer, everything! Why might this be happening? Are there other mice out there that work better with the iMac than the (not so) Magic Mouse?

Appreciating advice,

Spicegrrl

[doublepost=1456882565][/doublepost]Mine does the same thing. It's just because it's a gaming mouse and has attitude. Just turn the mouse off wait a few seconds and turn it back on. It should respond by connecting.

 

[Terrieg2]

Alright try the following. First go to your preferences and make sure you turn bluetooth off and then back on. Try taking the batteries out of the magic mouse and then put them back in and makes sure your getting a green blinking light thats next to the battery cover. If none of these works, then i would head to apple and see if they can replace it, especially if its still under warranty, they will test it with another mac and if it works, it might be an iMac issue. If it doesnt they will just replace the mouse, if its under warranty.

Just keep toggling bluetooth on and off and your magic mouse on and off, and it should connect. Its happened to be a couple times, and it got to the point where i just couldnt take the slow connectivity of the bluetooth and i just switched to a logitech mouse.

[doublepost=1476634890][/doublepost]How can I turn blue tooth off/on in preferences if I don't have a Mouse to open preferences with??

 

[Computer illiterate]

[doublepost=1456882565][/doublepost]Mine does the same thing. It's just because it's a gaming mouse and has attitude. Just turn the mouse off wait a few seconds and turn it back on. It should respond by connecting.

Brilliant ,that worked ,thank you

 

[genyuss1981]

Make mouse discoverable

Came across Spicegrrl's post this morning when I was experiencing the exact same problem and symtoms. However, restart + changing batteries did not work for me.

Thankfully, I still had the former wired USB mouse available. Having connected my wired mouse I went to > Settings > Blue Tooth.

I had two instances of wireless mouse present. I deleted both, unchecked "On", then re-checked "On". The computer began again searching for wireless devices. In about a minute it found my Magic Mouse. I accepted the invitation and I'm back in business.

I hope this helps somebody.

This did it for me. ..

 

[Raydan]

Pretty much any mouse not made by Apple. I like Logitechs.

[automerge]1586972631[/automerge]
I had the same problem after charging the mouse battery. I turned the tiny sliding switch off and on several times, each time bluetooth assistant saying the couldn't find a connexion but the next time (about 6) the connexion came on immediately. Also, another option is to switch the computer off and keep the switch depressed for at least 10 seconds...that didn't work for me though. raydan