Mac mini 2018 Bluetooth issues?

[woodbine]

Read through a lot of these BT issues posts. Just bought a new MM, mouse sluggish and KB disconnects occasionally. Been on chat three times with Apple, they gave me all the standard reset stuff. Of course nothing worked! Don't get these guys, for instance, one of the reps had a magic mouse and didn't know you could scroll with it!
Having read that disconnecting USB hub makes a huge change, tried it and YES it bloody damn well works. Have to say Apple reps are next to useless (although one did suggest disconnecting any wireless devices, not realising that USB gives off RF?)
What is a customer supposed to do? What is the point of USB if not to use it with a hub?
Anyways, going to moan at a genius on Wednesday....

 

[Honumaui]

I need two new computers was planning on iMac and MM to replace to older mac pros this thread has real reservations on the MM because of the blue tooth

so thanks to everyone who has replied !

 

[BuddyRich]

Some of my own experience with the 2018 Mac mini and bluetooth.

Initially I set my mini up with a USB Apple Keyboard and wired Logitech G502 mouse both plugged into the 2 USB-A ports. No issues and I setup my Apple Watch Series 4 to unlock and it was working 100%.

Then I got a new BT mouse, the Logitech T720 (used BT and not the USB receiver with it). It worked fine. My Jabra 65Ts paired without issue and audio was fine, as did another set of Sennheiser bluetooth headphones.

However I then plugged in my SD card reader, a Lexar Professional SR2 card reader, using the USB-A slot next to TB3 ports (that my G502 had been plugged into) The apple keyboard was plugged into the outer USB-A port. Everything continued to work (BT Mouse, headphones, etc.) except the Watch unlock.

This was right around the time of the last Mojave update so I didn't put 2 and 2 together and tried removing and repairing, signing in and out of iCloud, etc. held arm with watch 1inch away from Mac Mini when it was unlocking figuring it was something with the update as it had been working prior. Id get the spinning wheel and text saying that it was trying to unlock but no luck.

Today I removed the Card Reader from the USB-A port leaving just the Apple Keyboard plugged in and in 10 tests Apple unlock is back to being 100% (10/10). Plugged the card reader back in and it was 0/10.

There is something to the interference issue with that port for sure, yet in my case BT continued to work for most things, just not the watch.

 

[gigatoaster]

Hello there

Yes, it seems related to “unshielded” USB devices that most probably creates these interferences.

After 3 weeks, I am back from an overseas trip so I started to use the mini again. For a week, I had no issues, except the TrackPad had no battery left. It wouldn’t charge. I tried again the next day, it charged and got empty in one day. I charged it again and now it seems back to normal after a couple of days.

Today, I reached out again to Apple Support. Unfortunately the Senior Advisor I’m usually talking to, forgot again about the appointment so I talked to one of his colleague. She took 30 min to look at the case and asked me to send some pictures of my devices and ports.

I’m surprised and starting to loose patience: I know from a fact that Apple is aware of the issue as multiple reports have came up to them to describe it. I thought a MacOS update would have fix the issue but I couldn’t find any info on the change log.

I’m starting to believe it is hardware related & not software.

Tonight, I put the mini on the left of the TV, as it was before I had the issue.

Issue seemed to have appeared when I moved it to the right, so let’s see in a week time how it goes.

I’ll talk again next week to Apple Support and I’ll do everything I can to get what’s going on regarding the reports client sent and whether they managed to reproduce the bug & if a fix is coming.

It’s been 4 or 5 months, now so I really hope they have made progress on this.

It would be nice if MacRumors would do an article to publicize this issue.

 

[pinkoos]

It would be nice if MacRumors would do an article to publicize this issue.

I second this

 

[woodbine]

Read through a lot of these BT issues posts. Just bought a new MM, mouse sluggish and KB disconnects occasionally. Been on chat three times with Apple, they gave me all the standard reset stuff. Of course nothing worked! Don't get these guys, for instance, one of the reps had a magic mouse and didn't know you could scroll with it!
Having read that disconnecting USB hub makes a huge change, tried it and YES it bloody damn well works. Have to say Apple reps are next to useless (although one did suggest disconnecting any wireless devices, not realising that USB gives off RF?)
What is a customer supposed to do? What is the point of USB if not to use it with a hub?
Anyways, going to moan at a genius on Wednesday....

I have found certain USB 3 devices and hubs interfere badly with the Magic Mouse and occasionally the KB (causing lost connections).

In addition to this post....

BTW, I am using the far left USB A socket on the mini. As yet no TB/USB 3 devices.

I started unplugging USB 3 devices, nothing attached, mouse behaves normal!

First off my TM drive is USB 3, connected direct to mini, it interferes with mouse, it runs off the USB A socket on mini.

Belkin USB 3 hub, this interferes with or without devices attached. It runs off the same USB A socket.

Then I tried my super el cheapo, Chinese knockoff USB 3 hub, using the USB A socket.......ZERO interference, even with the TM drive and other drives attached.

Quite a bizarre outcome. The Belkin cable looks much beefier than the cheapo hub cable. I have read that cables need to be high grade and well shielded.

So what gives? I'd like to get the Caldigit TS3, but wary of spending a lot of $$ on something that might interfere.

Anyone has a mini and the Calgit?

Clearly this is not especially an Apple hardware issue.

Hoping this has helped others.

 

[harriska2]

Hello there

Yes, it seems related to “unshielded” USB devices that most probably creates these interferences.

After 3 weeks, I am back from an overseas trip so I started to use the mini again. For a week, I had no issues, except the TrackPad had no battery left. It wouldn’t charge. I tried again the next day, it charged and got empty in one day. I charged it again and now it seems back to normal after a couple of days.

Today, I reached out again to Apple Support. Unfortunately the Senior Advisor I’m usually talking to, forgot again about the appointment so I talked to one of his colleague. She took 30 min to look at the case and asked me to send some pictures of my devices and ports.

I’m surprised and starting to loose patience: I know from a fact that Apple is aware of the issue as multiple reports have came up to them to describe it. I thought a MacOS update would have fix the issue but I couldn’t find any info on the change log.

I’m starting to believe it is hardware related & not software.

Tonight, I put the mini on the left of the TV, as it was before I had the issue.

Issue seemed to have appeared when I moved it to the right, so let’s see in a week time how it goes.

I’ll talk again next week to Apple Support and I’ll do everything I can to get what’s going on regarding the reports client sent and whether they managed to reproduce the bug & if a fix is coming.

It’s been 4 or 5 months, now so I really hope they have made progress on this.

It would be nice if MacRumors would do an article to publicize this issue.

I have a Magic Trackpad 2 that is always plugged in and stays topped off. My mini is also under the left corner of the monitor. I have no issues.

 

[gigatoaster]

FYI, I sent an email to see if they can publicize the issue.
Arnold Kim
Editorial Director
Email • Twitter

 

[gigatoaster]

Hello there

I haven’t heard from MacRumors. Meanwhile Apple is still investigating my case.

I switched the mini from the right of the TV to the left, as I initially had it. And I think it’s when I started to have issues. Now they seem gone, so weird.

[doublepost=1556100174][/doublepost]So they called me and they believe the interferences May be related to the Philips Hue Bridge that is under the mini, as it is 2,4 GHz. So I’ll try without it. But surprisingly the Mac mini works flawlessly when it’s closer to the Hue than further. Or are they just trying to blame the other device?

 

[MXBY]

After reading in this thread that a solution might be to not use the outermost USB-A outlet, I went out and purchased a new USB-A 3.0 hub and plugged in my USB-A peripherals (including other USB-A 3.0 hubs) to the second-outermost USB-A outlet.

Refraining from plugging in the outermost USB-A connector seems to help at least a little against the Bluetooth breaking link problem – but doesn't get rid of the problem. Furthermore, I have not sensed that it helps in any meaningful way against the extremely poor Bluetooth range of the Mac Mini, which I suspect is a different issue altogether.

It was necessary to place the new USB-A hub about 0.4 meters away from the Mac Mini, since I unfortunately ordered a hub with metal enclosure which may have caused further interference (thereby even compounding the problem for a while). I also discovered that holding the USB-A plug just on the tip of the USB-A outlet on the Mac Mini would inevitably kill the Bluetooth link, but once plugged in it would work OK. Not sure why that is, maybe poor cable or metal in the plug?

Anecdotally, so far it has been a little better not using the outermost USB-A outlet, but Bluetooth is definitely still flimsy and demonstrates occasional broken links, and poor range.

Does anyone know a tried-and-true solution yet?

Unfortunately all of my USB hubs have hard-wired plugging cables, so I can't get special shielded cables unless I get a new hub. I currently have four (!) serial-linked USB-A 3.0 hubs because of this issue – was intending on staying on three.

Edit: I should perhaps add that my Mac Mini has significant coil whine noise when accessing the SSD. See: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-mac-mini-coil-whine.2153169/

 

[N9JIG]

When I removed one of my external hard drives from the outermost USB-A port and onto my hub (plastic case, mounted under the desk) and at the same time moved that hard drive (a large and heavy metal cased G-Raid) away from right next to the Mini and put it under the desk as well the issues got a whole lot better (less bad?).

What I did is bought one of those clamp-on monitor stands (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N1VMPJH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and mounted it UNDER the desk as a nest, I have both external hard drives, the hub, a switch and a couple other items there. This keeps the stuff away from the Mac Mini as well as removes clutter from the desktop.

This has worked well and so far I have had much better results with the mouse and keyboard. My Bluetooth range for my headset is far less that it was with my iMac but at least it works reliably at the desk.

 

[Pepe4life]

I know this won’t help those that already bought the mini, but for those who are considering it, vote with your wallet. Don’t reward apple for poor hardware design until they acknowledge and fix the issue.

 

[MXBY]

I know this won’t help those that already bought the mini, but for those who are considering it, vote with your wallet. Don’t reward apple for poor hardware design until they acknowledge and fix the issue.

I feel that's a valid statement in this thread, I think Apple have failed Mac customers in lots of ways and it will only change when shareholders start to make notice. I purchased the almost fully-specced 2018 Mac Mini (32 GB of RAM not 64) expecting a capable computer, and the Bluetooth implementation is basically a piece of junk.

 

[itguy61]

I feel that's a valid statement in this thread, I think Apple have failed Mac customers in lots of ways and it will only change when shareholders start to make notice. I purchased the almost fully-specced 2018 Mac Mini (32 GB of RAM not 64) expecting a capable computer, and the Bluetooth implementation is basically a piece of junk.

I did the same thing and returned it after a few days. I was not going to spend all this time trying to remedy this bad design. I also had issues with audio output via usb. It would cut out and this is also well documented that any machine with the T2 chip has this issue. Apple has not resolved it either.

 

[pinkoos]

I've been running this setup for the past week or so and it has been the most stable in terms of BT connectivity (trackpad, keyboard, Apple Watch unlock, etc.) since when I first got the mini. Thought I'd share with the forum. It's not pretty, but it's functional.

The mini is in an aluminum mount, mounted to the underside of a shelf. I originally had it turned and facing outwards, but found I came across A LOT of BT issues in this orientation. Turning it (the mount rotates) 90 degrees somehow helped with the issues and 180 degrees (the position it's in now, with the cords facing outwards) helped immensely though, like I said, it's not pretty.

From left to right:

Power
Ethernet
Samsung external SSD via USB-C adapter
Anker 4 port USB dock via USB-C
G-tech external SSD via USB-C
Empty USB-C
HDMI to LG monitor
USB3 extension cable, currently with an Apple keyboard and mouse plugged in, in case of BT failure
Logitech webcam via USB3

 

[gigatoaster]

After a week of use, my BT issues seemed to have disappeared, just by putting the mini on the left side of the TV rather than the right side, very weird!

 

[lowkey]

My MacMini i7 had dropouts connecting to my battery powered Magic Mouse even with brand new batteries. It would disconnect and reconnect every couple of minutes.
I switched to one of the newer mice with built in battery and it’s been 100% ok.
Hmm

 

[JP Coulombe]

Hi all, I have bought Mac mini i5/8/256 base model few days ago and got a bluetooth issue when connected my bluetooth headphones MDR-ZX770BT (after that I started to face the issue even without headphones connected, seems I used other port for my T3 SSD before). Everything gets disconnected frequently. So was experimenting and I found out that issue occurs when I plug-in my Samsung T3 to outermost USB-3 port. When I plug it to USB 3 near HDMI or any type-c than everything works fine. Tested it using all devices connected and run VM with Windows on the SSD.
My setup is 2 Asus MX27AQ displays (HDMI (2.0) and type-c->display port), Samsung T3 via USB 3.0 (currently put into type-c), Magic Trackpad 2 and magic keyboard 2 both space grey.

So, my advice is to avoid usage of the outermost USB port or use it for something that doesn't require power and won't have high load.

[doublepost=1556380989][/doublepost]You are correct. After unplugging the outermost USB connection, I was able to put my drives back to where they were (close to the mini) and have not had an issue with loss of bluetooth since. I now run a USB-C to USB 3.1 hub and connect other devices to it. Too bad Apple missed this one. Thank you for sharing your finding.

 

[vaugha]

I was on the fence a while ago but I've decided to wait due to this issue. It must be ironed out. I will wait until they fix it. My old mac is running flawlessly w/o a single issue. It must suck for people who spent money and having buyer's remorse.

 

[Duncan68]

I was on the fence a while ago but I've decided to wait due to this issue. It must be ironed out. I will wait until they fix it. My old mac is running flawlessly w/o a single issue. It must suck for people who spent money and having buyer's remorse.

For me personally, I have a Magic Keyboard and Trackpad 2. The Bluetooth goes out on them for 3 minutes once every three days or so. It's annoying, but not a showstopper like it seems to be for some people. You can argue that it's ridiculous that it happens on gear this expensive, but perhaps no amount of money can circumvent the laws of physics.

 

[lowkey]

Well the Mac Mini i7 is much more powerful than the late 2014 i7 iMac it replaced. I can actually keep working on my musing without having to bounce down tracks and ruin the creative process. I’m glad I didn’t wait any longer.

I was on the fence a while ago but I've decided to wait due to this issue. It must be ironed out. I will wait until they fix it. My old mac is running flawlessly w/o a single issue. It must suck for people who spent money and having buyer's remorse.

 

[Ajcobb]

This is the one that I’m using:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FCK307I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I tried this, and it was poorer than the built in. It was interesting that after I reloaded my time machine backup, that it worked much better for a short time.

 

[gdbleb]

My MacMini i7 had dropouts connecting to my battery powered Magic Mouse even with brand new batteries. It would disconnect and reconnect every couple of minutes.
I switched to one of the newer mice with built in battery and it’s been 100% ok.
Hmm

Yup, MM i7 3.2 here. Total frustration with older bluetooth Apple keyboard & Magic Mouse. I threw more money at the problem and got the new keyboard and the new mouse. New keyboard is rock-solid (for me) now. Mouse was too (for months) until today which is why I'm re-visiting this long "trail-of-tears" thread. Have all kinds of wires hanging out the back of this mini. DP, HDMI, USB speakers. Funny thing is I have an old AA battery trackpad that never disconnects and I use to "rescue/reconnect" the problematic mouse.

 

[richpjr]

You can argue that it's ridiculous that it happens on gear this expensive, but perhaps no amount of money can circumvent the laws of physics.

You can circumvent the laws of physics with a different design. There are plenty of compact computers that do not experience this issue, so I'd argue that poor design choices and shoddy QA let this slip through the cracks.

 

[Ploki]

my "freeze" issues seem to have disappeared since the iOS upgrade.