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Question

bluetooth mouse problem

Nov 19, 2011 5:37AM PST

Have had for some 12 hours now a mouse problem. We have two Macs, one a 2006 iMac on leopard, other mBP 2011 on Snow. Started with iMac bluetooth mouse failing to be found on startup. Then I found the MBP was connected to the imac mouse. Bluetooth On in topbar is greyed out but I separated the mouse connection in preferences & selected the right (flat) mouse. Restarted iMac but still no joy. Then found it's mouse had reconnected to MBP. I found BTfilesharing was open (strangely) and ended it. And ended wrong mouse connection. For several hours MBP mouse worked fine, then in a hour absence lost all connection to the flat mouse on return. Attempts to re-establish the connection repeatedly fail on MBP, even though Bluetooth finds the right mouse. It then continues to turn but eventually tells me the connection has failed. Repeatedly. During the period when right mouse worked I put in the latest Mac updates inc. new java.
The iMac is on and up but virtually unusable with no oval Mighty Mouse connection. Batteries are all 100%. Ideas?

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
why should Mighty Mouse work with wrong computer only?
Nov 21, 2011 1:00AM PST

Just to clarify further the situation. MBP works correctly with the correct mouse.
iMac mouse still cannot be picked up by iMac, but the fact that it is OK is proven by its having connected to the MBP and worked fine with it.
I found an old iMAC MIGHTY mouse in the house, put batteries in it, and found that new mouse immediately connected to the iMac without any delay or request. Yet it had never been used on the present HD or OS. That enabled me to work the iMac controls again. But a search on Bluetooth for the other mouse that stood right next to it was unsuccessful.
Why after 2 months should a Mighty Mouse connect to the wrong computer and function perfectly there, but thereafter refuse to function any longer with the original machine? Can anyone here tell me what explains that?

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Let's just get
Nov 21, 2011 10:08PM PST

Let's just get your terminology correct here.

The mighty mouse is the older corded mouse with the little obnoxious ball that passes for a scroll wheel. The magic mouse is the newer one that requires batteries (lots and lots of batteries) and is like a trackpad in mouse form. Then there's also the magic trackpad, which is like an external MBP trackpad.

Now, that all said, a lot of times what happens is something goes wrong with the initial pairing of a BT device, and people don't delete the BT profile for the device. So you've got a screwed up profile that will never work, people run around tearing their hair out trying to figure out why, sometimes even having their system in for unnecessary repairs. So go to system preferences, then the bluetooth options, and delete the profile for the mouse first. Then make sure that the MBP is off, and try pairing the mouse with the iMac again. If the MBP is on, and within range, it will try and pair with the mouse and that will screw up things with the iMac. In fact, you should take the MBP to the other end of the house, then repeat the process of deleting the BT profile for the mouse.

Finally, there's no such thing as an iMac specific mouse. I'm assuming you used that to try and distinguish between the two, but just in case someone else out there comes along and doesn't pick up on that: Any Apple mouse will work on any Mac. Assuming it meets certain base requirements, like the Magic Mouse requires a Mac with bluetooth.

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Answer
MBP has reconnected without my asking
Nov 19, 2011 6:03AM PST

I decided to take the risk of turning Bluetooth completely off in the top menu and noticed that Bluetooth On was no longer grayed, so switched it back on. A minute later flat MBP mouse was working again without my asking. I had done several restarts before of the MBP with no effect. Of course the iMac is still having trouble, but as I don't have a trackpad mouse with it I can't test out that machine by trying the same technique.
With considerable difficulty however I'd managed this morning to get the iMac going despite having no mouse to select anything.

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Thanks Jimmy
Nov 25, 2011 6:19PM PST

Just to say I saw your reply last night but couldn't reply as no letters would enter the message body. Just wanted to say that the MAGIC MOUSE Is the MBP one, the other two are the old smooth Zen pebble design Mighty Mouse with the dodgy pinball on top but they are wireless not corded versions of it. I will try and carry out the procedure you recommended once both machines can take a break from their habitual tasks. Thanks for your help.
Also there seems to be a software problem now. I have tried 6 times to post this reply of thanks. No response from the Submit Reply button. So I'm now trying to reply to my own 'answer' as an experiment.

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On the forum thing
Nov 25, 2011 9:40PM PST

On the forum thing, IMO it's just a byproduct of Cnet having to include all these stupid scripts and what not which the forum software depends on to operate. Not because it adds any actual functionality or improvement to the site, but because everyone else is doing it. I kid you know, that is what the responses I've gotten have boiled down to when I complained about some of the changes made. They don't actually add anything to the experience, in fact in a lot of cases they detract from it (especially if you're on older hardware which won't be able to chew through the scripts as efficiently), but because everyone else in the industry is doing something stupid, Cnet has to be a good little Lemming and follow them off the cliff.

All too often these days, you get a bunch of me too sycophants who have to have the latest whiz-bang features, never once stopping to consider whether or not it improves or detracts from the site/product as a whole. This is why a lot of corporate websites, Microsoft.com comes to mind, are nearly impossible to navigate. Well, that, and Microsoft apparently lets every product team design its own site within a site, so there's no consistent style. The Windows site will look completely different from the Mac Office site, etc.

But I digress... Point is, there's a better than 50/50 chance that the problem is more to do with CNet's forum software than your system.

As for your mouse issue... Just go out and buy some cheap corded USB mouse if you don't have one. You should always have a simple USB keyboard and mouse around for diagnostic purposes. It doesn't need to be a Mac specific keyboard, just the cheapest, most basic thing you can find will do. Throw them into a closet somewhere out of the way, since you'll only be getting them out when you have a problem like this. I kind of like those roll up keyboards just because they take up even less space. You won't be using them for any significant amount of time, so don't worry about the fact that they suck otherwise.