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From: JF Mezei on 7 Aug 2010 01:22
Took my MacPro really appart tonight.

The blue tooth antenna is a short plate which is inserted in a slot
along the right "wall" of the PCI card cavity on the back of the
computer. This wall is actually plastic. (it has slot numbers printed on
it).

In my case, due to location of machine and thickness of desk wood,
reception was dismal with both the magic mouse and my older sony
ericsson phone.

So, I set out on a quest to bring the antenna to the front of the MacPro
where it would have far less obsructions to reach my mouse.

It wasn't easy. The wire has only so much length.

You need to understand the CPU area: You have the main cabinet. You have
the motherboard. Then you have a CPU cabinet over the motherboard, then
you have the CPU "daughter card".

This leaves very little room for the bluetooth antenna. I found a spot
towards the front, in the CPU cabinet portion near the forward fan.

Result: absolutely dismal. Mouse needs to be at the computer's lower
portion to connect.

The wire between the bluetooth module and antenna is coax, 2 conductors.
Not easy to lengthen.

The 3 wi-fi wires that lead to wi-fi antennas (they are located just aft
of the front leg, on a portion of the bottom of the cabinet which is
plastic.) Those wires are near the front of the motherboard and can't
reach the bluetooth module.

Apple is apparently unaware of any bluetooth problems with the macpro.

I guess one solution would be to drill a hole on the bottom of cabinet
and put the antenna against the bottom. (near where the wi-fi antennas
are located).

I'll have to investigate further.

Any suggestions are welcome.
From: Jolly Roger on 7 Aug 2010 11:23
In article <4c5ced80$0$10429$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>,
JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote:

> Took my MacPro really appart tonight.
>
> The blue tooth antenna is a short plate which is inserted in a slot
> along the right "wall" of the PCI card cavity on the back of the
> computer. This wall is actually plastic. (it has slot numbers printed on
> it).
>
> In my case, due to location of machine and thickness of desk wood,
> reception was dismal with both the magic mouse and my older sony
> ericsson phone.
>
> So, I set out on a quest to bring the antenna to the front of the MacPro
> where it would have far less obsructions to reach my mouse.
>
> It wasn't easy. The wire has only so much length.
>
> You need to understand the CPU area: You have the main cabinet. You have
> the motherboard. Then you have a CPU cabinet over the motherboard, then
> you have the CPU "daughter card".
>
> This leaves very little room for the bluetooth antenna. I found a spot
> towards the front, in the CPU cabinet portion near the forward fan.
>
> Result: absolutely dismal. Mouse needs to be at the computer's lower
> portion to connect.
>
> The wire between the bluetooth module and antenna is coax, 2 conductors.
> Not easy to lengthen.
>
> The 3 wi-fi wires that lead to wi-fi antennas (they are located just aft
> of the front leg, on a portion of the bottom of the cabinet which is
> plastic.) Those wires are near the front of the motherboard and can't
> reach the bluetooth module.
>
> Apple is apparently unaware of any bluetooth problems with the macpro.
>
> I guess one solution would be to drill a hole on the bottom of cabinet
> and put the antenna against the bottom. (near where the wi-fi antennas
> are located).
>
> I'll have to investigate further.
>
> Any suggestions are welcome.

I think you have a defective unit, and you should bring it into Apple to
have a look at it. I have a Mac Pro (Early 2008), and Bluetooth is
accessible up to like 20-30 feet away, through walls.

--
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Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

JR
From: JF Mezei on 7 Aug 2010 14:49
Jolly Roger wrote:

> I think you have a defective unit, and you should bring it into Apple to
> have a look at it. I have a Mac Pro (Early 2008), and Bluetooth is
> accessible up to like 20-30 feet away, through walls.

The 2008 MacPros are quite different with the antenna located in a
different place, and the Bluetooth module located close enough to the
wiring to all antennas. Not so for the 2009 model.

It will work fine if the mouse is behind the computer. Problem is that
the mouse is on a thick desk with the back of the computer having to
traverse many layers of metal, then thick desk before reaching the mouse.
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