System highly unstable and crashes while using Bluetooth (Plantronics)

Question

I got the new Macbook Pro with Leopard 10.5.6 and "some what" happy with the performance. OS looks to be buggy, in particular while using bluetooth devices or with high load and I have uploaded crash dumps couple of times to apple (support listening??) . I observed that when I use the Plantronics Pulsar 590A (http://www.plantronics.com/northamerica/enUS/products/cat1150057/cat5420035/prod29780013) watching video (iTunes, iMovie) the headset behaves strange i.e after all the hassle of going through the frequent connectivity issue (for which there's a question pending with no answer ), the sound drops or there's some crackling noise etc.
More annoying problem is that the system crashes very frequently. i.e. while using the BT headset, watch video or listen to music for couple of minutes, close the app or put the system to sleep, then after some time try watching or listening some thing else, the system becomes unbelievably slow and finally gives up with an error message - Kernel panic, system needs to be restarted. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the Restart button. If I don't use the bluetooth head set, the crashes are not so frequent but will crash for sure (I extensively use Virtualbox with one or two guest oses and most of the other crashes are from Virtoalbox)
Also I observed that the Microsoft NB 5000 mouse also behaves odd i.e. Connection keeps getting dropped.
Any ideas/suggestions ? I think this is the problem with Mac OS bluetooth driver as both these devices works without any problem on Windows XP/Vista on other hardware (not Mac x86).

Answer 1

Try reinstalling OS X:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.
Some third-party peripherals may not be compatible with OS X. This may be especially a problem with peripherals that use proprietary drivers such as mouse software. If you are using Microsoft's driver software with your mouse consider uninstalling the software and driver. If this helps with your mouse, then you might try using SteerMouse - VersionTracker or MacUpdate - instead of the Microsoft software.