How to pair PS3 remote and mid 2011 iMac running Lion OS X

Hi there,

This is my first post and I have searched hours trying to figure this out. Basically I want to pair my PS3 remote with my iMac via bluetooth so that I can play games using the remote. I have successfully connected the PS3 remote to the iMac and can view it under connected bluetooth devices but my problem comes with pairing the device. When you initially connect the PS3 remote to the iMac, you need to insert a password once-off to pair the device, so I entered "0000" which is the default pairing password for most bluetooth devices. After doing that I go back into bluetooth preferences and I can still see the PS3 remote as connected and it says" Paired - No".

Could someone please help me out here as I have spent hours trying to get this to work. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Even if you could pair the device (do you mean controller or remote?) there's no software driver to support it. So it wouldn't work as a controller/remote anyway.

I use an xbox controller with OnLive but that has the controller profile/driver built in. Outside of OnLive it does nothing.

It defiantely does work. I read that Lion as the drivers built so there is no need to install additional drivers. The iMac connects to the remote but just doesnt Pair with it. I tried playing PES 2012 and the analouge sticks worked so I could move the player around but none of the buttons were working. Im sure the problem comes with the password you need to enter to pair the two devices together. On the iMac I enter "0000" but in order to complete the pairing I need to insert the code on the remote which is impossible.

I stand corrected. Looks like there is support there.

Couple of things to try:
- make sure your PS3 (if you have one) is powered off.
- reset the PS3 controller (there's paper clip sized hole by the label underneath - hold for 5+ seconds)
- Often PS3 controllers will only sync with a PS3 the first time over USB, so try connecting with a USB cable while pairing, then disconnect the cable once paired.

Yeah I also only found out after searching online. I tried all that, even went as far as taking the power cable out of the PS3. What I did was connect the USB to the iMac and then to the PS3 remote, the lights started flashing on the remote and after say 5 seconds I pulled the USB cable out and the lights went off. Then I pressed the playstation button (in the center of the remote) and the lights started to flash and thats when the box on the iMac opens asking to enter a password to pair with the remote - at this time the iMac has already connected to the remote and can see it in the bluetooth preferences. So I know the problem has to do with entering the pairing password into the remote but that is impossible. Any other suggestions or has anyone got this working on the iMac running Lion?

I'd keep the cable connected during pairing, shouldn't ask for a password then.

Also worth deleting it from previous devices first before connecting by cable.

Just tried it on my iMac and it's working fine, no password prompt

Sorry should have done that in the beginning. I have the 2011 iMac 21.5" core i5 2.5ghz quad-core, 4gig RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics and 500gig HDD.

I have the same issue as weelzSA. It connects for 15 seconds and then disconnects. I tried connecting with the cable, but that does no work. If I unplug the cable, it instantly prompts for a pass code. So basically, wont connect either way.

Is there a pass code we could be using besides 0000?

Did you ever get ti working weelzSA?

I know this is an old forum, but for those out there who want to know, I got the PS3 controller to pair by using the number on the barcode in the back of the controller.

It was just a blind guess. But it worked!