Home Forums Peripherals & Multimedia Peripherals Magic Mouse hiccuping

Over the past day or so my Apple Magic Mouse has taken to losing and regaining its Bluetooth connection to my iMac (2.5GHz Intel Core i5) with increasing (and annoying) frequency. This occurs with freshly charged batteries running at 100% or rundown batteries at 10%. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for same, and there doesn't seem to be any way to troubleshoot the issue.

Although ... when I "Browse Device", even though it lists the Magic Mouse (which is on and "discoverable"), it states that it found "0 devices" and that "The device does not have the necessary services." — whatever that means. If I go to the Bluetooth Setup Assistant, it cannot find the Magic Mouse (and interminably searches for such), even though I'm actively using it.

Any ideas (about any of this)?

One way to troubleshoot, although possibly not readily feasible, would be to use another Magic Mouse and see if the problem occurs. If not, the original Mouse is at fault; if it does, then there is an issue with the Bluetooth hardware/software in the iMac.

Along the lines of the latter, is there a hardware check you can run?

Another MM isn't feasible. Unless my iMac came with a hardware test built in, that isn't in the cards either.

On the other hand, since I ran all the bits and pieces previously mentioned, the MM has stayed connected — in spite of Browse Device's still listing the MM and asserting that it can't be found. Totally weird.
(Echoes of the crap-out involving Time Machine.)

Look around for another Bluetooth device near your workstation. I eventually had to install a shield for the bluetooth receiver in my Mac mini to prevent similar problems with a Magic Trackpad. It doesn't seem to effect the bluetooth range, but no disconnection or unexpected cursor movement since the installation.

If there is another Bluetooth device in the vicinity, it isn't in my house or within 10 meters (in someone else's house).

Bluetooth operates in the rather crowded 2.4GHz band. That is also the band most often used for WiFi and cordless telephones. Additionally microwave ovens and possibly other household devices can also radiate signals in the 2.4 GHz band. The band tends to have a long range, so the interference could be coming from a neighbor's house — I detect 2.4GHz band WiFi from neighbors up to 200 feet away.

That might explain it. I can bring up several WiFi signals from houses on either side of me (and beyond). Not sure how I might determine what band they're operating on and also not sure why the problem would suddenly start and continue over a day or two and then (apparently) no longer.

My original Air Force training was in RF (Radio Frequency) electronics and all I can tell you is once you get into the MHz bands much less the GHz bands, RF signals can and will do freaky things. Signal propagation can change from day to day even minute to minute due to seemingly unrelated environmental factors. A classic example is improving the Bluetooth performance of my Mac mini by shielding the Bluetooth receiver and antenna to increase its effective range. Common sense would say you want it receiving as much signal as possible not reduce the signal.

Don't forget a neighbors microwave oven or cordless phone system can contribute to the problem and can be almost impossible to isolate because the problem is so erratic.

The only Bluetooth receiver would be inside my iMac and I can't imagine ensconcing that in some sort of shielding hood which would also prevent my Magic Mouse from working.
Suffice it to say that the problem hasn't been recurring.

For future reference, you do have a built-in hardware test. Type "Hardware Test" in the Finder's Help menu for instructions. The bottom line is you restart and hold down the "D" key or "option-D".

Nope. Apparently my iMac shipped with a version of Lion which requires ethernet or WiFi internet access in order to invoke the Hardware Test — Finder's Help cannot find the Hardware Test (ie, no results) and I don't have that kind of internet access. Ergo, a non-starter.
As long as the issue doesn't get worse, I'm letting sleeping dogs lie.