Kensington Pilotmouse Bluetooth Drops Connection Overnight.

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grantyb

Registered
I just bought a Mac Mini, and was recommended that the Kensington BT PilotMouse would be a good mouse for this system. The OS version is 10.4.2. I also have an Apple bluetooth keyboard.

The keyboard and mouse paired with the Mac upon first boot, and the keyboard continues to work well.

The mouse, however, disconnects from the Mac after a while if it's not being used. I assume it's saving battery power. I've switched off all power saving options on the computer to ensure that they are not causing the problem.

Each day when I start using the computer again, I have to use the keyboard to navigate to the Keyboard & Mouse System Preferences and set up the mouse as a new device. This is challenging to do as a new Mac user, because you can't seem to easily navigate without a mouse. I've turned on the option to use the numeric pad on the keyboard as a simulated mouse just so that I can go through this ritual each day.

I'd like to use my numeric pad as it was intended, and I'd like the mouse to remain connected, or at least to seamlessly re-connect itself after a long sleep. Is this possible?

I downloaded and installed Kensington MouseWorks for Mac OS X v2.6, as recommended by the Mac re-sellers who supplied the mouse. This hasn't fixed the problem.

Is there anything more I could do to fix this situation?

Thanks for your help.
 
I am having the same issue with my new iMac 20" (Intel) and a Kensington PilotMouse Bluetooth Mini. OS X is able to detect the mouse and pair with it, and then it works flawlessly while I am using it. If I leave the mouse inactive for any extended period of time, or the mac goes to sleep, I am unable to re-pair the mouse and have to force a reboot to find it again.

I have an Apple BT Keyboard which seems to work absolutely fine - doesn't seem to ever lose it's connection. This is an extremely frustrating issue and I am considering switching back to my wired Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse. Has anyone solved this one yet?
 
That's a feature, not a bug. Yes, the mouse is saving battery
power by going to sleep after an idle period.

No need to re-pair. Modest need to RYFM.

To get the mouse active again, get it in range and click it a
couple times.
 
You don't need Mouseworks. My Kensington worked fine out
of the box. Mouseworks add some functionality.

On a re-start or a start-up or after a period of disuse, just
double-click the mouse, and it will reactivate.
 
Playing around more has given me some additional insight into this issue. The issue is NOT with the Kensington mouse, the issue seems to be more on OS X. If I turn off the "go to sleep" setting in the energy saver settings (therefore the mac never "sleeps"), the issue is 100% resolved.

Yes, the mouse will go to sleep after a period of inactivity, but all you need to do is hold down the left mouse button for several seconds and it comes back to life, and works fine. The issue is that when the mac goes into "sleep" mode, the bluetooth receiver seems to get shut down and does NOT come back on after waking the mac back up. When the mac wakes back up, you have a functioning mouse, but it can no longer communicate with the mac because it seems that the mac's bluetooth is not operational.

For now, I have simply turned off the sleep function on my mac. I have a screen saver kick in after 15 minutes, then have the monitor shut off after 30 minutes. Coming back to the mac after, say, an overnight rest, all I need to do is hold the mouse button down for a few seconds and everything comes back on pretty much instantly.

This doesn't change the fact that there seems to be a bug with the bluetooth on the mac related to sleep mode, but it's a workable solution for me until this is patched.
 
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