#33 Blue Tooth Keyboard/Mouse fix
Hi there, I have an Apple wireless keyboard and Mighty Mouse.
On your site it says that these don't work "reliably".
Here's how to get them to work reliably.
There are 2 solutions to the problem.
#1 Don't reboot, instead shut the computer down completely, then once it's powered down, press the power button to bring the computer back up. If you do this the mouse and keyboard should work just fine even at the rEFIt menu.
#2 If you choose instead to reboot, make sure to turn the power off to your keyboard and mouse by flipping them over and sliding the power switch. When the rEFIt menu comes up, flip them back over and power them back on.
Here is why I believe it is that these solutions work.
The bluetooth transmitter in the Mac sends a "Hey I'm going to sleep" message when the system goes down for a reboot. This puts the mouse and keyboard into a wierd undefined state. My keyboard for instance ceases to transmit anything.
In a full reboot scenario, the EFI or whatever broadcasts a message via the bluetooth transmitter something akin to, "Hey you guys time to wake up!", it is not however doing this when just a simple restart is done.
My guess would be the wake-up message is being issued by the system at POST time, and I believe the restart option is skipping POST.
Anyways I hope you find this helpful, and hopefully this information can replace the "Hey bootcamp says it don't work, so we're not even going to try" message I get on your website when researching the issue.
email me at smorrey@gmail.com if you need more information on this.
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I also use a bluetooth keyboard and mouth with refit and have found that they work on every boot if you press a few buttons after the startup chime whilst waiting for the refit menu (don't press enter though or you'll go straight into the first option).
I have the same problem with mini mac and bluetooth aluminium keyboard. Is three some solution instead of power off computer!!! Some tomes I want to reboot mini mac and boot another OS!!!
I would assume there is something the rEFIt guys could do to toggle the bluetooth receiver on the mac's during it's boot to "wake them up"
Would be great for environments when access to computer is limited.