Question

Wireless mouse and keyboard won't work propertly -- Mac Pro

Asked by: caryaf

I just bought my first Apple system - a sexy looking Mac Pro with 4GB memory and all sorts of wonderful goodies!

I was very excited to have it up and running, but upon completion of the install I found that the wirelss mouse and keyboard had problems.  Basically, the mouse pointer went where it wanted to go, and the keyboard periodically put in letters of its own choice.

I went out and bought a wired keyboard and mouse and they work perfectly.

I brought the wireless keyboard and mouse to an Apple store, where the technicians tried it on a different Mac Pro and it worked fine.

They suggested there was some problem with the operation of Bluetooth, i.e. bad chip, bad "antenna," etc.  They suggested I schedule an in home service call.

Apple Care has had me on the phone half the day.

Anyone with experience with a defunct Mac wireless keyboard and mouse?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-06-26 at 10:31:22ID22659068
Tags

work

,

wireless

,

keyboard

,

mouse

,

mac

Topics

Apple Desktop

,

Apple Software

,

Bluetooth

Participating Experts
3
Points
0
Comments
8

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard and Blackberry?
    Is there a way to get the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop for Bluetooth Keyboard to work on a Blackberry? Thanks.
  2. KVM with Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse?
    I have a DVI & VGA enabled monitor, where the DVI connects to my main computer and the VGA to my secondary computer. I have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo on the main computer, and I have a PS/2 keyboard & mouse on the secondary computer. I want to get a KVM...
  3. Bluetooth
    I see alot of people in this office with Bluetooth enabled. What really is Bluetooth and do you think it used very much in general? I see it on alot of laptop and I think it's just the default settings and want to disable it. What are your experiences with it?
  4. Bluetooth: Not Available
    Hello, I have recently (as of 2 weeks ago) replaced my big desktop computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro running Tiger (10.4.8) . I was loving it, Parallels and Boot Camp, truly allowing me to have the best of both worlds. Untill... I needed to have my IT departmen...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: pheidiusPosted on 2007-06-26 at 11:55:06ID: 19366731

The fact that the wireless keyboard and mouse work in the store means that the hardware is known good. It sounds as if you left your tower home so they could not test it with their own mouse keyboard combo.  I assume this mouse keyboard combo is BlueTooth. Home mobile phonesets are known to step on Bluetooth. Any chance you have a base
station sitting on the desk? Maybe try unplugging all the phones and test this idea. I would suggest taking your whole tower in to the apple store before doing a home visit as if it turns out not to be a hardware problem they might change you for the call.

 

by: caryafPosted on 2007-06-26 at 14:42:22ID: 19368100

Prior to my apple, I had a dell with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard.  No problem.  The nearest cordless is perhaps 100' away.  It's a 5.8GhZ.

 

by: pheidiusPosted on 2007-06-26 at 15:31:44ID: 19368401

Well, in that case, you should eliminate tower hardware issues either by the home visit or by taking tower to store.

 

by: nicksapPosted on 2007-06-28 at 06:03:25ID: 19380171

Have you tried deleting them from the Bluetooth Devices list and then readding them?

 

by: pheidiusPosted on 2007-06-28 at 19:09:34ID: 19386070

Yes this is a good attempt. I assumed the apple care phone support made you try that though.

 

by: caryafPosted on 2007-08-03 at 07:28:48ID: 19625260

I thought I would update all as to the resolution of this problem.

I had Applecare out to the house, TWICE.  Pretty much EVERYTHING was replaced and I still have the "buggy" problem!  Delay with the mouse cursor is random.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

So, I searched around the internet, and found on Apples OWN forums over 1,000 comments about this mouse.  There were DOZENS of complaints identical to mine!

So, it appears that there is an engineering problem!

Meanwhile, I'm back on my wired apple mouse.  Logitech has updated their drivers so that all Logitech mice and keyboards are Apple compatible, and they plan on releasing new keyboards with Mac layouts in the fall.

At that point I'll try a Logitech.

Oh, and by the way?  There seemed to be a consensus that at least for mice, a wireless USB connection, which I assume is RF, is much better than bluetooth.

Thanks to all who tried to help!

 

by: Computer101Posted on 2007-10-21 at 20:01:16ID: 20120512

PAQed with points refunded (500)

Computer101
EE Admin

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...