[hodaddy]

i just wanted to start this thread in hopes of saving others the hassle of fighting with this mouse.

after reading numerous posts in various boards--including a link on apple's own site with instructions on how to use the MS Bluetooth mouse--i decided to purchase one.

after getting it home and spending literally hours trying to coax it into pairing, time scouring the various boards, etc., i came to the conclusion that either my hardware was bad, or the hardware had been changed. (i had tried to pair the mouse on 4 different machines, 2 with built in apple bluetooth--and one brand new 15" powerbook right out of the box)

i took the mouse back from whence i bought it, and asked the salesperson if i could crack open a few of the bluetooth mice and try to pair with the demo powerbooks (built-in bluetooth came in quite handy)

i opened another MS bluetooth mouse right off the retail shelf; tried to pair it; and got the same results i had with the one i had purchased--that is, bluetooth setup assistant found the mouse's ID, got its name, and started the pairing process, but never successfully paired. the little spinning gear icon just runs indefinately (at least 2 hours by my own account)

next i popped open a logitech mx900. performed the same bluetooth setup assistant and it paired successfully within 5 seconds.

i also tried an apple BT mouse, tho i knew i didnt want a one-button mouse. as expected it paired fine.

these were the only three bluetooth mice this store had.

but, my logical conclusion is that MS has changed something in their currently shipping revision that makes it incompatible with OSX 10.3.5, which is too bad. because i really prefer the shape of the MS mouse to the logitech. but, that's a personal preference.

the only thing i failed to notice while i had either of these MS BT mice in my hands is the revision number. sorry. my mistake.

if anyone else happens across a MS BT mouse that wont pair, note the rev (on the bottom of the mouse) and post here.

if anyone has a MS BT mouse that DOES pair, please be so kind as to post its rev here. maybe we can get a handle on which is the first rev that no longer pairs.

[IanChar]

If i could find the rev number i would post it

Its one of the ones with a scroll wheel thats clicky (when i scroll it amkes a click noise) and doesn't' have the stupid left to right scroll feature

[8minute]

What is the rev number you're talking about? I have had my MS Intellimouse for Bluetooth for a 3 months now and have had no probs with it.

It paired straight out of the box and I have the two thumb buttons mapped to Expose.

[Fozz_uk]

MS did recently update their Bluetooth mouse. The old ones have no side-to-side scrolly wheel, whereas the new have that feature. I have the old one and it always worked fine with a 12" PB running 10.3.5...until today...

Check out this post too - http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=230286

[drainyoo]

I did a lot of searching cause I want this mouse as well and I found that MS has 2 versions of this mouse. The first version with the scroll well that DO NOT move left and right, is the one that works.

The new version, the one with the scroll wheel that moves left and right, Does not work. Seems like MS has updated something that doesnt work with OSX. We might have to wait for Apple to update the OS for this to work.

What a PITA. What cant MS just make a freaking driver?

[angelmb]

Originally posted by drainyoo:
I did a lot of searching cause I want this mouse as well and I found that MS has 2 versions of this mouse.

What a PITA. What cant MS just make a freaking driver?

Yes, the new one sports a 'better' anatomic design.

About your question, maybe because we Mac users are just thieves.

[prostar]

So, after suffering the same fate as many of you on this forum, I have also come to the same conclusion that MS has changed something between version 1.0 and version 2.0 of this mouse.

Although it is true that this mouse cannot be paired through the bluetooth setup assistant (or at least not after the 6 hours..literally... that I tried to do so) it IS possible to get your mac to recognize this mouse.

First off, I work in a mac store and tried to pair this mouse with 6 of our display computers. Each one had the same result.. the setup assistant just hung on the "pairing device with the computer" screen.

Finally I got it to work, but only by complete luck and out of bitter frustration. Here's what I did:

1. Turn on the bluetooth icon in the menu bar.
2. Now click it and select "Browse Device"
3. Hit the "search" button and wait a second while it finds your mouse.
4. When it finds the mouse, click the "Browse" button.
5. After a second, it will inform you that you cannot browse this particular device - HOWEVER - if you now move the mouse, you'll see that the point is moving onscreen!

The good news: this awesome mouse actually works with your mac now! Left, right, and scroll buttons all function correctly. It really is much better than anything else out there in terms of BT mouse, it would be nice though if we didnt have to jump through so many hoops just to get it to work.

The bad news: the two "thumb buttons" are not programmable and in general, my system doesnt recognize the fact that a mouse is present (other than I can see the pointer moving when I move the mouse).

Overall I'd say this is a great "bandaid" solution until MS or Apple fix the pairing issue. For people who really want to get this mouse working with their mac, you now have a way. If you could care less which mouse you use as long as its BT, you'll probably want something a little easier to get up and running.

My opinion though, I'm glad its working becasue its a GREAT mouse.

[drainyoo]

Pretty cool that you got it to work but what is the use of the mouse if the extra buttons dont work?

[prostar]

well, basically Im a designer so I need something fullsize and comfortable with two (or more) buttons and a scroll. As for the two "thumb buttons", I was really looking forward to being able to program them for expose or forward and back in safari.... however, since we've run into this issue with the pairing inability it doesnt look like thats a possibility at this point.

Why is this mouse still worth it then? Becasue its the only bluetooth mouse I could find that met all of my requirements. The MacAlly and macmice BT mouse just wasnt large enough in my hand, the logitech BT mouse came with a huge rechargng base station that just want practical for my laptop setup and I need something with two buttons and a scroll (that rules out the apple BT mouse). Sure its not perfect and its really more of a pain than it should be to get working, but man... show me a comparable BT mouse with 5 buttons and I'll be grateful.