Pairing a Magic Trackpad…

…is not easy. I had issues pairing it with my 15″ Macbook Pro. I searched on the web and found one article that said a reboot would resolve this, and it did for that first pairing.

I found I later wanted to pair that same trackpad with an 11″ Macbook Air – I went ot the 15″, turned off the connection for the trackpad, deleted it. I went to the Air, and – nothing. The behavior was that the trackpad would light up, blink perhaps 5 or six times in pairing mode and then shut off.

I tried turning off the trackpad and then holding the power on until the blinking started – the trackpad would show up in the bluetooth menu, I would attempt to connect, and the green blinking light on the trackpad would drop silent. Pairing would fail.

I tried to reconnect to the 15″ – nope. Now it wouldn’t connect there at all.
It struck me that somewhere in the communication the 15″ laptop was telling the trackpad not to connect – and it was listening and shutting off. That’s what this looks like. I tried shutting off the bluetooth for the 15″ – which should cut any such communication – no solution, still unable to pair.

In desperation I pressed and held the power on button throughout the pairing – when the blinking started, the track pad indicating it was in pairing mode, I continued to press it. The pairing to the original 15″ Macbook Pro was successful. I disconnected through the bluetooth menu from the 15″ and tried the same with the Air.

I pressed and held until the connection was established. Again this worked.

It’s not in the instructs that I can find, but it does seem to force the trackpad into pairing where other methods fail.

–doug