Bluetooth Not Available — Fixed
If you have a Macbook, and at some point, you get “Bluetooth not available” from your laptop, and “No information found” in your System Information app for Bluetooth, it might help if you try to reset the Macbook SMC, as described in Resetting MacBook and MacBook Pro System Management Controller (SMC). I had this problem for the past couple days, and doing this fixed it for me.
(This article is largely published so that others searching for “Bluetooth Not Available” may be able to find it before taking their Mac into the shop.)
June 20th, 2007 at 2:37 am
man i tried everything possible. nothing helped. resetting the pmu. erasing bluetooth preferences. restarting. everything. so i am going to have to assume it isnt a software issue. its hardware im afraid. lame lame lame.
June 21st, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Macbook, OSX 10.4.10
Hey everyone,
I also tried everything I could find on the web but nothing helped to get bluetooth back again. Also ressetting the Macbook SMC didn’t help.
And when there is no bluetooth, sleep mode doesn’t work as well.
So I also thought this must be an hardware error. BUT ITS NOT!
I booted an OS X 10.4.8 from an external hard drive and bluetooth and sleep mode did work perfectly. When I go back to 10.4.10 bluetooth disappears.
SO PLEASE FIX THE BLUETOOTH PROBLEM APPLE. OTHERWISE LOTS OF PEOPLE WILL TAKE THEIR MACBOOKS INTO THE SHOPS AND WILL GET THEIR LOGICBOARDS REPLACED FOR NO REASON.
June 28th, 2007 at 7:34 am
I found this article with a web search, as you seem to have intended. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! This morning my PowerBook didn’t think it had bluetooth. I had updated to 10.4.10 yesterday afternoon, but it was working fine that evening, so I’m not positive I can blame it on that. I tried booting from my 10.4.9 clone on my external drive, but that was no better. Reseting my PMU appears to have fixed this issue.
July 8th, 2007 at 5:55 am
Macbook user. Have had sleep problems since 10.4.10, SMC reset fixed for a day. Now have noticed no Bluetooth (it may not have been there before). Will try SMC reset again…
July 13th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Well, running 10.4.9 here and exactly the same problem. Haven’t tried the fix yet but will do so before going to 10.4.10. Just wanted to add the data point of the problem occuring in 10.4.9.
Another aspect, I have had bluetooth turned off for many months since getting this Macbook and only noticed the problem when trying to turn it on after getting a bluetooth phone recently. Wanting to sync the two.
Kinda coincidental that we are all having the issue just around the same time, eh?
-bassman
July 13th, 2007 at 8:27 am
And no luck in 10.4.9 resetting the SMC…..
July 13th, 2007 at 8:52 am
I have just got this today after installing updates from apple. I cant help but think that this must be the source of the problem. First my battery now this! Sort it out apple!!!
July 13th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
My problems with sleep may be linked to bluetooth as well. This has been turned off until recently when I have been testing Salling Clicker application
July 17th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Hello all,
I’m inclined to agree with Arne’s assessment. I’m using a 13″ 2 GHz Macbook with the Core Duo (not 2) processor. I had been running 10.4.9 and recently updated to 10.4.10. The first symptom was the computer’s failure to sleep properly. Resetting the SMC seemed to remedy that. Next, my iPod, when connected via the USB cable, would mount and prompt iTunes to launch only intermittently. I’ve reset the iPod twice and the problem persists. On another forum, someone mentioned that the USB ports and the Bluetooth are somehow interconnected. I won’t pretend to understand how. Lastly, my Bluetooth preference pane has disappeared and I had successfully used Bluetooth to exchange files between the MacBook and my cell phone in the past. I may do an Archive and Install from the original disc to test this theory. No solutions, but I hope a little more information is a help to someone out there.
July 18th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Me again. This just gets more strange. I literally just turned on my Macbook, without the AC cord plugged in, and thought I’d check the preferences panes for the Bluetooth module. It’s there and working! I hadn’t begun the re-install from the original OS disc. In fact, I hadn’t done anything but shut the machine down after posting on this forum last night. I was about to call my local reseller and ask them about this issue. I’m still going to just to see what they say.
July 26th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Hey guys,
it’s me again. First I thought this is a problem with the 10.4.10 update, but now I think its not!
I reinstalled the system (1.4.6) and didn’t do any updates for several day. Bluetooth disappeared again. Then I installed XP on a bootcamp partition. In windows it’s even worse. The bluetooth device appears in the device manager and then disappears again and again. The system doesn’t stop saying “New hardware device found! Failed to install new device.” The apple drivers are installed properly. Sometimes it works and the next day there is this nasty error again.
Rich said “USB ports and the Bluetooth are somehow interconnected”, and I guess that’s right. Booting up OSX or Windows from USB, doesn’t give me the error.
I will bring my Macbook to the apple service now.
August 14th, 2007 at 2:07 am
Well, the Bluebooth problem isn’t just on MacBooks. I’m running an old 12″ PowerBook G4 and have been having the disappearing Bluetooth problem too … At first, restarting fixed the problem, but now that doesn’t work. Problem started not long after installing 10.4.10. I had this problem once very briefly when I first got this machine back in 2003; back then, resetting the PMU (same as SMC) fixed the problem. But not this time. Have tried resetting PRAM, PMU, deleting Bluetooth prefs, all no luck. VERY FRUSTRATING for someone who syncs a Treo every day via Bluetooth.
I was beginning to think maybe the hardware had finally failed on me … until I found this page.
Please Apple! Fix 10.4.10 and Bluetooth!!!
August 15th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
I have been having same problems. Tried all that was suggested, but didn’t work. Finally, took into my local Apple store/genius bar. Told them everything I tried. They tried creating another user and seeing if it worked on that user. It didn’t. So they said it was hardware and took it in for repair. Took about 10 minutes
Lucky for me they had a bluetooth module in and did the repair a couple hours later.
PS. Only have a week left in the first year AppleCare. and I am a Procare member, but i think that only helped with the initial genius bar reservation.
So far, bluetooth works fine. If it goes again, I will post back here
August 15th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
I’m a 17″ PowerBook and I lost my Bluetooth capabilities after doing the 10.4.10 update, as well. I’ll try some of the suggested remedies and update this posting.
August 15th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
I just learned from Apple that “it is important to shut down the computer (in my case). A restart is not sufficient, because the computer must be powered off, which doesn’t happen during a restart.”
Very interesting. I shut down and when I started up again… presto-chango, there was my Bluetooth!
August 21st, 2007 at 4:01 am
I got the same problem with “Bluetooth Unavailable” and is running 10.4.10. Shutting down my MacBook *without* external power worked. It did not fix the problem when I turned it off with the external power attached.
August 21st, 2007 at 6:47 am
I am following the posts here as well as on other forums. I tried every idea and “voodoo craft” people were kind to suggest. Nothing helps. It comes and goes and I am unable to find any rules.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:03 am
I have a similar problem with two Powerbook G4 12″.
Re-booting always brings bluetooth back.
Interestingly, it only happens when using a bluetooth 2.0 adaptor.
If I use the built-in bluetooth 1.0, there is no problem.
I use bluetooth to tether my powerbook to a Motorola Razr V3xx.
Rich
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I am back. A few posts up i said that i took my macbook in and they replaced the bluetooth module. well, it worked for a few days. Then it starting happening again.
Just took it in again and they are now going to replace the logic board.
Will post back if I still have troubles.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
I’m having the same problem and restarting my mac mini didn’t solve the problem for good. Now i reinstalled Tiger and it’s working. The apple store did nothing and acted as if i was the first one to report it. What is going on with Applecare???? You do have plenty of computer. I had months of savingto buy my mac mini and now my PC works better than my mac, I don’r believe it. They kept my computer 4 days and tested it using another bluetooth card instead of mine. What’s the point? I’m rellay fed up with applecare. Are they scared of bad publicity? I think I’ll get in touch with reporters telling them about the stupid attitude of the genius I met. And now my internal speaker doesn’t work anymore since yesterday. So much for apple’s quality and service. In saying bluetooth was normal and functioning they’re saying i just imagined the whole thing. I live far from the apple store by bus (2 hours). It seems they just don’t care. Thanks to you guys I know i’m not alone as they seems to tell me.
i guess I will have to leave this for years.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
i’ll tell you in a few days about bluetooth and my internal speaker. I suppose if i go back to the store they’ll keep it for a week and say it’s working perfectly…the easy way to get rid of someone. I’ve never seen such a bad attitude than at the Laval Apple store. They think at first that the customer is wrong. And the the repair useless according to one of the genius/.
August 28th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
So far so good. (and they upgraded my logic board :). I had a core duo 1.83 - they gave me a 2.0 core duo
September 20th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Hi! first the LAVAL Apple Store refused to change the bluetooth as I was advises by AppleCare. They kept the computer for 4 days in August for nothing as they said wverythings looked fine. And when they tested the computer they even didn’t use my bluetooth module and use another one instead (I don’t know why) and told me there was nothing wrong.
Back home Bluetooth wasn’t working. For weeks I unpluged everything and then it was working again. FINALLY after weeks of that stupid thing BLUETOOTH wasn’t working at all and I could not make it work even unpluging everything like before. PLUS I could not use Sleep Mode don’t ask why.
Back at Apple Store I aqsked to speak with the manager, sylvio, and finally they changed the Bluetooth Module and the Antenna…just to please me as they said. But finally for the first time since August everything is working fine for days. Thanks to Applecare and shame on my Apple Store in Laval (Montreal).
September 28th, 2007 at 12:44 am
I suddenly got the “bluetooth unavailable” and macbook not wanting to sleep combo (screen goes black and then the superdrive makes its eject sound and turns MB back on). Tried PRAM, SMC, and removal of blued.plist, and some other preferences, rebooting off backup drive, and backup drive of a MB Pro (so its not OS X corrupting) all to no avail. Then I decided to swap out my third-party ram for the stock ram and bluetooth was back right away on reboot, just like the sleep function.
I should mention that the number of “application … quit unexpectedly” was increasing lately, particularly on wake-up from sleep.
September 29th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Hi guys,
Glad (you know what I mean) to know I’m not the only one having real problems with this. Bluetooth not been working for a couple of months now, it does ACCEPT things from mobile phones, but says ‘Bluetooth: Not Available’.
Have tried everything, PRAM, SMC, removal of bluetooth preferences etc, not show in system profiler. Have even created a new user account where bluetooth is not even showing anywhere.
Not sure what to do as my warranty ran out last month - would Apple Care even listen to me?
Also been having a problem with the drive making an eject sound when the lid is closed over…seems to have corresponded with the bluetooth problem, was all since last update…hrmm!
October 8th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Hi,
I’ve had the same problem right from since I bought my Macbook - Core Duo 2GHz. The problem has persisted right through all software upgrades of 10.4.x, I have also had my logic board replaced and the problem STILL persists! I’m sick of it now.
Its a software issue and Apple knows about it!
Calvin.
October 8th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Before I reset anything on the laptop, can someone kindly let me know if this will harm any data on my harddrive?
I’m missing the bluetooth and keen to try it but it’s not worth losing all my work for!
Pretty sure this is a dumb question, but best safe than sorry.
Thanks in advance
October 13th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
I have had the missing Bluetooth problem for several weeks. Restarting the computer (several times) did nothing. I was convinced it must be hardware. But reading the post of MRM Productions (2nd of August 15th), I Shut Down properly then Started Up and the problem was solved. I was alerted to this blog by a member of the Oxford Mac User Group. Very satisfactory.
October 14th, 2007 at 9:19 am
For me shutting down and then starting again does not work. It keeps coming and going: more going than coming, unfortunately.
October 21st, 2007 at 1:03 am
I think I found the problem!!! Heating. For the last few days I put something under the rear part of my MacBook, so that there will be space between the bottom of the laptop and the table, and the bluetooth is stable.
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:02 am
No, unfortunately its not the heat
its gone again after a few days of disillusion.
I will be happy to hear if anyone finds a solution.
October 28th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I am also getting the “Bluetooth: Not Available” and it sometimes turns on/off for several sequences. As a result, my bluetooth mouse no longer works.
I have had my 17″ Intel-based MacBook pro for 4-5 months and it has been flawless. I just installed the new Leopard OS yesterday and now I have the Bluetooth problem! I tried reinstalling Leopard with a clean hard drive erase first and problem still persists.
This has to be a software glitch or something triggered by my new OS update, unless it is a strange coincidence. I upgraded my daughters Intel-based iMacs and they seem to be working fine.
If I have some time, I may try putting on the orginal OS.
Cheers,
Bob
October 28th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Bob, I upgraded to Leopard too and noticed a squiggly line through the bluetooth icon in the menu bar.
I have no bluetooth icon in system preferences and under bluetooth in profiler, it says “no information found.”
I turned on my apple wireless keyboard (the white one with the number pad, not the new smaller one). THE BLUETOOTH KEYBOARD WORKS FINE but is not visually ackowledged anywhere in the OS. Very strange indeed.
I’m going to try all of the above suggestions starting with a total shut down.
I’ll post my results. I really am grateful for this page because this thread is exactly my problem. THANKS>
October 28th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
I didn’t reset the PRAM or SMC (is this the same thing???), but this worked:
DISCONNECTED THE AC ADAPTER, SHUT DOWN, POWERED UP AND NOW I’M GOOD TO GO.
Thanks again for all the help, judging by some of these posts, I may be back here looking for more help. I hope the 1st Leopard update addresses this bug. Thanks and good luck.
November 6th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Just to let you know, since a couple of days my iBook 12″ 1.2GHz G4 has had the same “Bluetooth: Not Available” trouble, running 10.4.10. I’ve tried all of the above (power on/off, remove battery for 5 min., zap the PRAM, etc.), it sometimes works and sometimes it doesn’t.
What does System.log in Console tell you? Mine says:
“Nov 6 11:39:18 Thijs-iBook kernel[0]: USBF: 1204.559 AppleUSBOHCI[0x2374800]::CreateGeneralTransfer - trying to queue to a stalled pipe
Nov 6 11:39:18 Thijs-iBook kernel[0]: USBF: 1204.559 AppleUSBOHCI[0x2374800]::DoIOTransfer - error 0xe000404f queueing request
Nov 6 11:39:18 Thijs-iBook kernel[0]: IOBluetoothHCIController::terminateWL .. done”
So sometimes it’s preceded by an USB error, but sometimes (the first time for example) I only see the last line. An as someone above mentioned, I too get the Bluetooth availability cycling on/off, but eventually it always stops being “available”.
It’s funny how such simple functionality is so utterly needed when it’s gone. Just turns your (expensive) notebook into something way less appealing.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:53 am
Wohoo, thanks a lot for this hint! This simple solution did the trick!
November 19th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Hi, I had the exact same problem, Macbook Pro 17″
I did what the comment directly above this one said (disconnect AC, shut down, wait a bit, turn it back on) and the problem was fixed. Try that first.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
I have had my macbook for over a year and a half now. Unfortunately I have had this problem for over a year. I have brought my mac into the apple store a number of times and they are usually able to bring bluetooth back with a full restart, however this is not a solution. This problem should not be occurring in the first place. Why should I have to restart my computer every time I want to put it to sleep? Isn’t the point of simply being able to close your laptop and let it sleep “convenience”? I am restarting my computer all the time, and if I don’t, then the bluetooth is not available and putting my computer into sleep mode is impossible!!! Seriously, apple needs to get with it and fix this problem.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Hi, same issue here.
Got the logic board replaced, problem back again.
Tried PRAM, SMC, battery out, but always comes back sooner or later. Have read about a dozen different forums to no joy.
It also started shortly after upgrading to 10.4.9
Sick of it.
JC
January 8th, 2008 at 10:57 am
By the way mine is a macbook intel core duo 2GHz
January 9th, 2008 at 11:26 am
‘SO PLEASE FIX THE BLUETOOTH PROBLEM APPLE. OTHERWISE LOTS OF PEOPLE WILL TAKE THEIR MACBOOKS INTO THE SHOPS AND WILL GET THEIR LOGICBOARDS REPLACED FOR NO REASON.’
I think their intention is to have so many of us pay more by taking it in to ‘apple technicians’ to have them service our computers. I therefor conclude this is not a ‘manufacturing glitch’ but a purposeful act of sabotage to make us pay more than we already have! It could be worse though, it could be spyware microsoft nightmare, but still. In the very near future I am going to convert entirely to linux and a computer that needs neither Dell/microsoft nor apple.
January 18th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Well I just started getting this after installing Office on Leopard. I rebooted and voila, no bluetooth anymore. Tried all the suggestions and ended up with a very simple fix. Repair Permissions. Yes running this has cleared up this issue. I haven’t seen the issue since.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Nightmare also…. I bought my computer in september 2005, a 13inch Macbook, and I got the problem (sleep and bluetooth) for now ONE YEAR and HALF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… The computer went to 5 differents Mac dealer accros US and Canada!!!
They change many part. Battery asset, Mainboard, what.. ever…
I reinstall OSX 100 of time,
upgrade to leopard,
downgrade to tiger,
run the computer virgin without anything plug into,
keep the BT desactivate,
Guys…. NOTHING WORK!!! In january, I had to leave my computer to INSO in Montreal for fix that thing. In a week, they didn’t found anything, I had to pay 75$CND to get back my machine….
I called apple many time but they never wanted to change the machine even after more than 5 visits to the apple dealer for that problem.
I SERIOUSLY WANT TO SUE THEM with a collective regroupment.
I found this: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6549970
Interesting. I will try the reset propose by AnlliJN from Finland and maybe the physical operation about cutting the USB cable but it’s a REAL shame from apple to leave that problem on for so many years…
Sorry guys, get your shit togheter, I go back to my shittty Vista with a SONY!
February 24th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I just tried the reset proposed by AnlliJN…. didn’t work… I guest cutting the USB wire will work, but break my 300$ apple care warranty! Damn I miss my Commodore 64!
February 26th, 2008 at 4:32 am
12″ PowerBook 1.5mhz, 1.25 GB: Tried all of the above, then one more thing::
Shut down. Unplugged. Took out battery. Disconnected Airport antenna, Removed Airport Card, and then reseated it, reinstalled antenna, put battery back in, plugged in power adapter, restarted. Bluetooth is back.
Might be just the power being truly off, truly back on; or maybe the hardware disconnect, reinstall. Whatever it was, bluetooth is working.
February 26th, 2008 at 4:35 am
12″ PowerBook 1.5mhz, 1.25 GB: Tried all of the above, then one more thing::
Shut down. Unplugged. Took out battery. Disconnected Airport antenna, Removed Airport Card, and then reseated it, reinstalled antenna, put battery back in, plugged in power adapter, restarted. Bluetooth is back.
Might be just the power being truly off, truly back on; or maybe the hardware disconnect, reinstall. Whatever it was, bluetooth is working. Icon is back on desktop, and controls are back in System Preferences…
April 6th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
I fixed it by Repairing Permissions in the Disk Utility.
April 11th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I’ve got my first brand new Macbook this week and have loaded XP in Bootcamp and the issues are here for me also so I suspect hardware. I get an error in my Event viewer saying
“BTUSBhub The local Bluetooth radio has failed and will be unloaded”
It disapears from my device manager and after this the machine hangs on shutdown requiring me to hold down the power button to get it to shutdown. When it reboots up an aytmatic Windows disk scan starts and picks up lots of errors on my Windows partition. These problems generally start after the machine has been in standby so I feel the on board bluetooth adaptor doesn’t reliably wake up from standby.If I boot into OSX rather than back into Windows the Bluetooth is unavaliable there either. I’ve re-installed my Bootcamp drivers just 5 minutes ago so I’m going to hope this will resolve the problem. If it doesn’t I’m going to return it and get a PC instead.
June 11th, 2008 at 4:18 am
You are the man. Thank you.
June 11th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Hi,
Here is the fix for this:
http://bluhaloit.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/solve-intermittent-bluetooth-problems-on-the-mac-mini/
July 20th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Here is another possible solution that solved it for me: http://www.windley.com/archives/2007/10/fixing_macbook_pro_sleep_problems.shtml
August 24th, 2008 at 6:52 am
I have been having the bluetooth problem and also on and off problems getting online using airport. they said they couldn’t reproduce my airport problems in store….i’m wondering if the bluetooth thing is connected.
September 1st, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Hi everyone
I found a simple and easy fix for the “bluetooth not available” open the energy saver menu, and put the “sleep options to never”, it has worked for myself and 3 others. It takes an hour to kick in, however the bluetooth still cuts out temporarily for short periods of time.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
SMC reset worked for me, fortunately. it was the first thing I tried… the bluetooth crapped out after I had my mbpro for about a month, was using a2dp a lot (which works great btw except for the occasional bsod).
September 25th, 2008 at 5:04 am
My Macbook won’t work too. Tried to installed back the new Bluetooth module. pls help….
October 25th, 2008 at 1:32 am
I also have the bluetooth not available problem all ready
form some time. The point is that bluetooth comes back
randomly, so that is way there are some many “fix solutions”
I THINK THERE IS REALY ONLY ONE AND THAT IS
THAT APPLE SPEAKS UP AND GET US OUT OF THE
COULD BY FIXING THIS UGLY THING, BECAUSE
THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE!!!
By the way my DVD driver is also not working
spitting out disks right away (Macbook 1.83 2 Core 2 DUO)
APPLE WATH IS GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!!!