Any Solutions for Poor Bluetooth Performance in 10.8.2?

Hi all,

I've got an HP Probook 4530s with the ideal Atheros card, the exact model number escapes me. WiFi, trackpad, and keyboard works flawlessly, my only issue right now is with Bluetooth.

I have a Magic Mouse which I would like to use with my Probook, however it performs very poorly when connected via Bluetooth. The mouse connects fine and the pointer moves and clicking and multitouch work, however the movement is very, very choppy, and the mouse frequently cuts in and out of connections.

I understand this is a common problem and I've seen some solutions for 10.7 users, however I'm not positive which of these translate well into 10.8.2.

Sorry for making a new thread for such a small issue, however I really would like to get bluetooth working on my Probook.


Thanks a lot, especially to Rehabman for all the work he's done for the Probook users of the world.

joenot said:

Hi all,

I've got an HP Probook 4530s with the ideal Atheros card, the exact model number escapes me. WiFi, trackpad, and keyboard works flawlessly, my only issue right now is with Bluetooth.

I have a Magic Mouse which I would like to use with my Probook, however it performs very poorly when connected via Bluetooth. The mouse connects fine and the pointer moves and clicking and multitouch work, however the movement is very, very choppy, and the mouse frequently cuts in and out of connections.

I understand this is a common problem and I've seen some solutions for 10.7 users, however I'm not positive which of these translate well into 10.8.2.

Sorry for making a new thread for such a small issue, however I really would like to get bluetooth working on my Probook.


Thanks a lot, especially to Rehabman for all the work he's done for the Probook users of the world.

Click to expand...

From what I read, the best way that has been found is to disable the internal bluetooth chip (using tape), and purchase a 3rd party USB dongle w/ OS X drivers. You can see more info in this legacy thread: http://legacy.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=259&t=53556&start=60

(If you search for 'taping' you'll get right to a post which perhaps has some photos of what pins to tape). Read on in the thread for some suggestions on USB bluetooth models.

RehabMan said:

From what I read, the best way that has been found is to disable the internal bluetooth chip (using tape), and purchase a 3rd party USB dongle w/ OS X drivers. You can see more info in this legacy thread: http://legacy.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=259&t=53556&start=60

(If you search for 'taping' you'll get right to a post which perhaps has some photos of what pins to tape). Read on in the thread for some suggestions on USB bluetooth models.

Click to expand...

But what about this kext, isn't it suppose to do the same thing?

Our Bluetooth is just faulty under OS X, I have a backup dongle with me every time, cost me about a dollar and it works perfect, sure it sticks out of the laptop, but so does my Mouse receiver.

philip_petev said:

But what about this kext, isn't it suppose to do the same thing?

Click to expand...

That would work in most cases, but I wonder about the case that the firmware is already loaded by Windows or Linux and you warm-boot into OS X...

If it was me, I'd cut power to the HW with the tape (would save battery life too).

RehabMan said:

That would work in most cases, but I wonder about the case that the firmware is already loaded by Windows or Linux and you warm-boot into OS X...

If it was me, I'd cut power to the HW with the tape (would save battery life too).

Click to expand...

I've ordered a dongle, it'll be here next week sometime.

I'll do the taping, it shouldn't be too hard.

Update: Maybe the taping IS necessary in some cases, see posts below. IOath3knull.kext caused a lot of issues after sleep, weird boot messages, laggy Bluetooth menu item, worst of all was softbooting after booting to Windows.
--------------

The taping is not necessary. As philip said, the IOath3knull kext accomplishes the same thing as the tape, it battles down the built in bluetooth hardware at boot time so your external Bluetooth dongle that transmits data fluidly and properly can activate.

I just solved my Bluetooth by placing that kext, the IOath3kfrmwr.kext, and the IOBluetoothFamily.kext extracted from 10.8.2 Combo Update using Pacifist on the desktop, installing via kextbeast, then repairing permissions and reloading cache with kextwizard.

My computer did freeze and say to reboot after installing the kexts and before repairing, but was able to boot successfully (funny stuff going on there with the -v flag on first boot after), and now I am repairing permissions and reloading cache.

I will test if it works after sleep and report back if it does reload successfully.

You know it's a funny tradeoff because before, my Intel chip had perfect bluetooth but of course no Wi-Fi. Now it's the opposite way around. Still, I rather it this way, because I need Airport's certificate installation system to get secure internet at my University. An external WiFi dongle is not enough.

I have a hunch that this IOathNull.kext won't load if you first boot Windows or Linux, then restart (warm boot) into OS X. Windows and Linux will load the 3k firmware, and as a result, OS X will recognize the built-in BT (which will cause conflict with the USB dongle). IOathNull.kext will not load because the device IDs will not match the vendor/productid in the Info.plist. This is because the device IDs are effectively changed by a firmware load...

So, this IOathNull.kext has possibilities, but I think it fails in multi-boot scenarios. That's my guess anyway...

That must be my problem then. I am regularly dual booting with Win 8 now. So I have since tried the tape method and the situation has improved, however my Rocketfish bluetooth adapter still doesn't seem to reactivate after sleep, even though it still says my trackpad is connected in the bluetooth menu item (it obviously isn't).

However I think I'm in a weird state with all my Bluetooth kexts, as I just manually deleted the IOath3kNull.kext.

How can I get back to a blank slate Bluetooth-wise so I can see if the Tape+external adapter method does indeed work?

Wow, with successfully applying such a small piece of tape to only cover those pins, maybe i could be a surgeon! ;-)

Another update: It does reconnect if I physically unplug and replug the dongle, even though the blue light on the adapter is still blinking and not solid (for some reason). This is kind of an annoying compromise, I'll keep working on it.

Another update 2: Found out it has to be the IOBluetoothFamily.kext from 10.7.3 Combo update. Installing it along with the IOath3kfrmwr.kext using Kextbeast, repairing permissions and updating cache, then going to reboot and test Bluetooth wake after sleep.