Mac mini 2018 Bluetooth issues?

[roman.stapunov]

Hrm.. this USB A thing explains a lot.. I use a 16 port hub (dozen+ devices.. audio production). Would a USB-C adapter for the hub work to move it off the A port?

Yes, it works for me. I use type-c hub with 50cm protected cable for connecting usb-a devices. I don’t use Usb-a ports on mini and it helped to avoid bluetooth/WiFi issues

 

[D.T.]

OK, well, hahaha, I didn't __really__ expect that to keep working (see my previous post), it was more of just a "Isn't that weird" observation.

So yeah, it did not.

It's funny, I have a million cables around here but didn't have exactly what I needed - the right mix of USB-C/A/extensions/etc. - so I just sort of rigged up something in the short term (and I didn't want to move the Mini, undo all my nearly strapped cables, etc., so this is extra MacGyver'd).

I recently picked up slick little USB-C hub, I use it on my iPad Pro, so it can charge and supply a USB out to drive my external DAC/Amp (works great!), and as a really neat additional use, when connected to our Nintendo Switch, the HDMI out on it works, so it's a super portal "dock" of sorts.

Starting config (with still some occasional BT jankiness ...):

* USB-A Unused
* USB-A to Dell monitor hub, Anker hub out, multiple USB devices (KB, external HDD)
* TB / USB-C Unused
* TB / USB-C / DP Adapter to display 1
* TB / USB-C / DP Adapter to display 2
* TB / USB-C to external TB drive (NVMe Sabrent/TekQ)


New config as of this morning:

* USB-A Unused
* USB-A Unused
* TB / USB-C to external TB drive, moved to use the closer port for the hubs ...
* TB / USB-C / DP Adapter to display 1
* TB / USB-C / DP Adapter to display 2
* TB, so this now has that hub I had on the iPad connected, umm, it didn't reach very far, and my KB cable is all ziptied, so I plugged that Anker hub (that already my USB-A devices connected), into one of the USB-A ports on the USB-C hub, hahahaha, yeah, I could remove that, move the Mini or rearrange / undo the cables, but I figured WTH, I'll see how this works.

Anyway, everything is up and running as expected, mouse working perfect, it'll get more use during the weekday. We. Shall. See.


One thing that did happen that was really weird. I dismounted all the external drives, to swap that TB drive over, but at some point, removing and reconnecting cables, my Mini actually did a hard reset, WTF. Must've been something in the driver stack, and all the cable/device shuffling flipped it out. Prior to this my last uptime was ~70 days, so it's been good otherwise I checked the 'Previous shutdown cause' in the logs, got a -20 code, for which I could not find any reference (I'm honestly not concerned given what I was doing).

Bonus for the restart: Months ago, I had done the firmware trick to switch back on the startup sound, but haven't heard it since it's been running non-stop all that time, but yep, there it was.

 

[vinceremedy]

Hi all,

This thread has been extremely helpful, so I i thought i would share and add my status having just bought my new 2018 mac mini (April 2020) - New core i5 Model with 500GB hard drive and 8gb RAM, and also experiencing BT and Wifi problems even with anew Mac Mini from 2020!

I initially noticed some issues with my Magic Mouse 2, as it briefly would lose connection and then would re-connect again. I use an old Apple wired keyboard so luckily no issues there but this issue with the mouse was becoming annoying.

Initially had a USB 3.0 with external power Hard Drive plugged into 1 USB A port, another USB 3.0 HUB plugged in to the other port with a USB 3.0 extension cable in the middle as wanted this on the other side of my desk. Mac Mini was positioned on alluminium monitor stand with mouse 30-60cm away.

The magic mouse would disconnect and reconnect multiple times in the day. So I then read through this forum thread and took the advise to connect the USB 3.0 hard drive to the Hub, instead of the Mac Mini. The problem persisted, so I then re-positioned the Mac Mini from the metal monitor stand on to a wooden shelf on my desk which is set to to one side approx 30cm-60cm under where generally i use my mouse.

The problem started to be less frequent and I noticed that the Bluetooth signal in the menu (alt and click) looked stronger as a result. However it still would disconnect a couple of times a day.

So I thought I would i'd buy one of the USB C to USB A adapters to see if connecting the the USB A hub via a USB 3.0 extension cable to one of the USB C ports would help.

link https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07T9KD7FP/coliid=I11WOXKLD5LGKB&colid=17VF4WXFP7QDG&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

This then caused me instantly to lose all wifi signal (I use 5Ghz via Tenda Mesh) so made my Mac Mini useless.

So for anyone thinking that perhaps Apple have fixed the Mac Mini BT issues with their most recent model revision that had increased the hard drive capacities..... Well…..they haven’t !

I remember OWC producing a bluetooth shield kit for the 2012 Mac Mini, so it seems like Apple haven’t been able to overcome the issue. -

As we are all currently dealing with the COVID lockdown I will wait until the craziness resides and potentially take this back to John Lewis where i bought it online (2 year warranty) and perhaps switch to the iMac. As spending £1,100 on this, to only have issues on both Wifi and Bluetooth from day 1 is a worry and doesn’t sit right with me.

It might cost me more to have the iMac, but I expect better quality for this price. I hope the rumoured 23inch/29inch iMacs come out soon!

 

[newellj]

I remember OWC producing a bluetooth shield kit for the 2012 Mac Mini, so it seems like Apple haven’t been able to overcome the issue. -

I had serious troubles with my late 2012. I installed the OWC shield kit, and I didn't notice any difference at all. Putting ferrite chokes on the USB-A cables on the late 2012 helped with everything but the gen 1 Magic Mouse. I finally gave up on that and replaced it with a Magic Trackpad 2, which has worked flawlessly.

The late 2018 has similar, though less frequent, problems with the gen 1 Magic Mouse, even with absolutely nothing connected to the USB ports. I agree that Apple really doesn't seem to have made much progress with the BT issues.

 

[lazy_desi_]

we are returning my friends 2018 mac mini to apple.

it has serious bluetooth and wifi issues.

time to time bluetooth mouse and keyboard becomes stuck and requires restarting the whole system.

wifi disconnects for few seconds and reconnects back again.

 

[D.T.]

New config as of this morning:

* USB-A Unused
* USB-A Unused
* TB / USB-C to external TB drive, moved to use the closer port for the hubs ...
* TB / USB-C / DP Adapter to display 1
* TB / USB-C / DP Adapter to display 2

* TB, so this now has that hub I had on the iPad connected, umm, it didn't reach very far, and my KB cable is all ziptied, so I plugged that Anker hub (that already my USB-A devices connected), into one of the USB-A ports on the USB-C hub, hahahaha, yeah, I could remove that, move the Mini or rearrange / undo the cables, but I figured WTH, I'll see how this works.

Anyway, everything is up and running as expected, mouse working perfect, it'll get more use during the weekday. We. Shall. See.

Removed the USB-C hub from my chain-of-insanity Swapped it out for a simple USB-C_to_USB-A pigtail, working great, might go back to using the hub in a monitor. There's definitely something up with USB-A ports/devices, I'll check back in a week and do a status report, hopefully it continues to work perfectly.

 

[moshpittman]

I was having similar problems recently with my older wireless mac keyboard and it was really bad.
The only thing that had changed was a new router modem so after some investigation I logged into it's settings and turned the 2.4 band off and BINGO! my problem vanished... I turned 2.4 back on and changed the channel it was on and haven't had much trouble since.

 

[numbetical]

I’ve found turning off WiFi and not using the USB ports eliminates all Bluetooth issues, and this is a viable option for me.

 

[gages]

@numbet Works fine for me with the IOGear dongles (I have a few variants) GBU521 seems to work best in terms of range (for me).

 

[ageorgios]

Well, I want to share an alternative solution that works without standing Mac mini on its back or messing with cables or USB ports. This is also an update to my previous effort described to Aug 23, 2019 in this thread.

All you need is a $20 Bluetooth USB dongle. It has to be use chip that has built-in driver in macOS. I use StarTech USBBT1EDR4 dongle based on CSR8510 A10 chip that is supported out of the box. In general any USB dongle using CSR8510 should work for you. If you find other dongle working too, please share. NOTE: The device must be proper USB dongle, not UART via USB (see below why).

Once you got the dongle, it is easy to plug it in. But the tricky part is to TURN OFF existing broken built-in Bluetooth permanently so it remains off after reboot. After few attempts using private APIs, numerous reboots and studying assembly of Apple's Bluetooth drivers I finally found undocumented NVRAM setting. Here it is:

sudo nvram SkipIOBluetoothHostControllerUARTTransport=%01​

It prevents UART transport based driver from probing the devices, which effectively disables built-in Mac mini Bluetooth that uses UART interface, but leaving USB transport enabled - which makes our USB dongle only one dongle in the system, thus default active one.

If this works for you too, please let me know. Now finally I can enjoy stutter free, butter smooth mouse action for extra $20. I hope you can too.

SIDE NOTES:

The nvram setting above is crucial, anything else will fail to work, e.g.

1. Switching active Bluetooth host device via Bluetooth Explorer utility makes it active only until next reboot
2. sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always well known documented nvram setting - recommended in few places to make USB dongle default (active) Bluetooth host device, works only when you are plugging the dongle in while system is already running. When system is booted with USB dongle already plugged in then (at least here on 10.14.6) built-in dongle remains active. Additionally built-in dongle also often becomes active (again) after computer wake.

This is working for me with a CSR8510 that cost 5 euros.
After a restart though I need to power off the keyboard and turn it on again (Apple original keyboard)
The experience is not completely stutter free with the new dongle though, I have the Mac Mini in a drawer I am considering that the only solution is to have it on the desk...

 

[radioheadokcomputer]

Yes, sudo nvram SkipIOBluetoothHostControllerUARTTransport=%01 disables built-in Mac mini BT on boot, making USB BT dongle preferred (active) BT device everytime macOS starts. All other (e.g. Bluetooth Explorer) solutions are effective only until next reboot, when faulty built-in BT takes over again.

Also you don't need to reset NVRAM to revert this setting. As long you can type on your keyboard, you can revert it via sudo nvram -d SkipIOBluetoothHostControllerUARTTransport
without affecting rest of your NVRAM settings.

Keen insight on that bit of code @nanoant! In my configuration, using a late 2008 MBP with an Asus BT Dongle, I've achieved success using all Continuity features (Handoff, Airdrop, Hotspot, etc) in the latest Mojave build, this line of code does not disable the default internal BT controller, so I'm guessing it's Mac mini specific.

Do you happen to know what the code would be for my 5.1 MBP?

Thanks!

Best,

 

[D.T.]

Removed the USB-C hub from my chain-of-insanity Swapped it out for a simple USB-C_to_USB-A pigtail, working great, might go back to using the hub in a monitor. There's definitely something up with USB-A ports/devices, I'll check back in a week and do a status report, hopefully it continues to work perfectly.

Greatly improved, but not 100% resolved. Maybe a couple of times a day at most (some days zero times), my cursor/mouse flips out for 4-5 seconds, then sorts itself out. I'm using (per my posts above), a USB-C_to_USB-A pigtail, thick shielded cable to one display's USB hub (and a second hub plugged into that for my USB 3.x devices, ~16" away from the Mini). Very minor, but I'm still interested in a complete fix.

It sounds like the 2nd gen Magic Mouse (with the USB charging port) reduced this issue as well[?] And lastly, I have that IOGear USB dongle in my cart, $15 would be a trivial cost for a 100% resolution.

 

[Mac... nificent]

Any way to roll back the OS?

Yes, it's called a back-up hard drive

 

[Mac... nificent]

I'll be ordering TB3 portable + desktop drives (Envoy Pro EX and Thunderbay 6) to replace the assortment of USB3.* devices currently in varying degrees of usability.

That's what I was thinking about doing. Did you ever get this set-up, and if so, how does it all work?

BTW, found this on Apples website;

Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference - Apple Support

Wireless interference can cause Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices to disconnect or perform poorly, but you can take steps to reduce or overcome it.

support.apple.com

 

[D.T.]

Greatly improved, but not 100% resolved. Maybe a couple of times a day at most (some days zero times), my cursor/mouse flips out for 4-5 seconds, then sorts itself out. I'm using (per my posts above), a USB-C_to_USB-A pigtail, thick shielded cable to one display's USB hub (and a second hub plugged into that for my USB 3.x devices, ~16" away from the Mini). Very minor, but I'm still interested in a complete fix.

It sounds like the 2nd gen Magic Mouse (with the USB charging port) reduced this issue as well[?] And lastly, I have that IOGear USB dongle in my cart, $15 would be a trivial cost for a 100% resolution.

OK ...

Just installed this:

Used the (7.3) hardware tools / BT explorer just to do a temp change from the internal BT to this, will eventually do the NVRAM if this is a good, perm fix.

Side note: I still want a MM 2 in black/space gray

 

[Mac... nificent]

Just installed this:

According to their website they say "Apple does not fully support the 4.0 Bluetooth Chip set used by the GBU521."

There are no drivers. How are you using this?

 

[D.T.]

According to their website they say "Apple does not fully support the 4.0 Bluetooth Chip set used by the GBU521."

There are no drivers. How are you using this?

It has a compatible Broadcom chip, I believe that documentation is about some BT 4.0 features, but it's fully backwards compatible:

FWIW, I have not had a single mouse issue since installing this ...

 

[D.T.]

Update: still working perfectly, from 2pm yesterday till right now, zero issues, and I went through my normal lock/sleep process last night, and this morning, it woke up exactly as expected.



Side note: I'll __swear__ my magic mouse is working better vs. even when it was "working" before, i.e., it almost seems like it might be tracking smoother[?] Maybe there were very tiny interruptions and didn't completely disrupt use, but maybe just caused a sub-second stutter.

 

[getrealbro]

I’ve been using the IOGear BlueTooth 4.0 USB adapter (GBU 521) with an Apple BT Keyboard since January. It got rid of my BT issues

I posted my progress in this thread starting on page 10

Mac mini 2018 Bluetooth issues?

Thanks to alexmaa and gages… * the IOGear Bluetooth 4.0 USB Micro Transmitter is working, * I have installed Bluetooth Explorer and * I am in the process of learning way more about Bluetooth than I ever wanted to know :) I wish I could report a stunning success. But I’m still getting...

forums.macrumors.com

GetRealBro

 

[D.T.]

I’ve been using the IOGear BlueTooth 4.0 USB adapter (GBU 521) with an Apple BT Keyboard since January. It got rid of my BT issues

I posted my progress in this thread starting on page 10

Mac mini 2018 Bluetooth issues?

Thanks to alexmaa and gages… * the IOGear Bluetooth 4.0 USB Micro Transmitter is working, * I have installed Bluetooth Explorer and * I am in the process of learning way more about Bluetooth than I ever wanted to know :) I wish I could report a stunning success. But I’m still getting...

forums.macrumors.com

GetRealBro

Yes my Bro, you were my source for the specific adapter!

 

[Squuiid]

Stopped using the far left USB-A port and Apple Watch unlock worked for the first time ever, and now works perfectly every time.
I cannot believe Apple released this product with this issue. This is not minor and seems to affect every user.
Incredible.

 

[MevetS]

Stopped using the far left USB-A port ... snip ... This is not minor and seems to affect every user.
Incredible.

It does not affect me. All ports are used and Bluetooth works fine.

Note the I did have issues but haven’t for over a month now but they did not seem to be because of which port was used. I don’t know when they stopped or what changed. But every port on my Mini is used, And has been since I got it, as well as two hubs and the USB ports on my two monitors. And WiFi is on.

I do not doubt the issues are real, as I have experienced them myself.

Frustrating indeed when you don’t know why it is nor how to fix it. And it varies by machine.

 

[casperghst42]

Side note: I still want a MM 2 in black/space gray

Side note answer: I got one, and it‘s hideous, one can see everything on it, finger prints, etc. show up - the white is much better in that regards.

 

[D.T.]

Side note answer: I got one, and it‘s hideous, one can see everything on it, finger prints, etc. show up - the white is much better in that regards.

Want to sell it? I hear you though, thanks, I'll really think about it (and my current white, gen 1 is working perfect!)

 

[Squuiid]

It does not affect me. All ports are used and Bluetooth works fine.

Note the I did have issues but haven’t for over a month now but they did not see to be because of which port was used. I don’t know when they stopped or what changed. But every port on my Mini is used, And has been since I got it, as well as two hubs and the USB ports on my two monitors. And WiFi is on.

I do not doubt the issues are real, as I have experienced them myself.

Frustrating indeed when you don’t know why it is nor how to fix it. And it varies by machine.

Actually everything worked fine for me apart from Apple Watch unlock. Does that work for you?
As soon as I unplugged the USB-A port cable it worked instantly.