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BLUETOOTH has BROKEN AGAIN. Please Help!

H

hacksaw-C87

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 12, 2009
241
0
Birmingham England
All,

I turned on my computer this morning, wiggled my MM. No response. Pressed the Volume up on my wireless keyboard. No response. Glanced up at the toolbar of my Macbook (unibody 2.4ghz 4gb ram). And the bluetooth icon disappeared.

Can somebody please help me?

This has happened once before but I ran a hardware test (which 'Passed') and Bluetooth was back.

However, I tried this same approach and it didn't fix it. Does anyone have any advice. I'm writing a thesis at the moment so I can't afford to lose the mac for a week with Applecare.
 
Hi,

I have this problem sometimes and I turn off the bluetooth and re-pair the kb and mm

The icon in the bar can be added back in through system prefs

I am not sure if this is going to help?

D:apple:
 
Thanks for the reply, but when i go into system preferences I get told that I don't have any bluetooth hardware on my system.


... Look ...

Anyone got a solution?
 

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I am going to have a look and see what I can find on the net for you but my immediate response would be that i this has happened before it could be due to a loose connection? For the short-term you could get a cheap dongle so you can still work. I know it not ideal but if you have to use BT then it might be your only option

D:apple:
 
Before you go and do that the first thing to do it is to reset the SMC and PRAM (both found on apple's site) also repair permissions and then run the hardware test again

you may also want to check and see if you have any 3rd party software running that could interfere, i.e. shut everything down and see if that helps. Check your start up items in system prefs to see if you have anything running your'e not aware of

see if this helps, solves many prblems

I'm still looking :)

D
 
I've repaired permissions (standard :) ) and I'm about to reset PRAM and the other one (didn't even know about that!). This might help, if I could understand it, just tried to access my bluetooth preferences. Got this message.

The item cannot be opened. It may be disabled or not installed. 2 param error

What do you think drummer?
 
Saw this on the apple support forums

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1887789&tstart=90

An update - spoke with Apple Support today. They had me start up in safe boot (hold shift key will starting up, until seeing apple and spinning gear). Then Bluetooth showed up again in System Preferences. Restarted, and bluetooth was working again, back in System Preferences. Starting in safe boot, then restarting seemed to solve the problem.

Sounds reasonable to me to try out might overcome your not installed problem..let me know I'll be on the forums for a while, I am still looking :)

D
 
Just did PRAM and SMC reset, no effect, problem still as before. Will try safe mode and restart.

You're a legend for going through all this for someone you don't even know, It's appreciated.
 
Not at all, people have done it for me and its always been really helpful AND you're in the UK, we're a small group on here :)

Before you do that make sure you don;t have anything connected via usb, printer usb drives etc I was reading that the BT module shares the USB connection so it could have been overloaded and shutdown. Not sure if that fits (were u plugging something in etc?) or even if its true but its worth the precaution

D
 
OK, here's where I'm at now.
Safe booted (God, that takes a long time!)

Bluetooth now available in preferences (definite positive, does this mean that there's no connection problem?)

Connected Mighty Mouse. However, the device will not pair.

Still will not pair with the keyboard. It says that the passkeys are clashing. Is there a specific passkey I have to enter, I can't find one anywhere.

I'm going to do a normal restart and see what happens.
 
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/ontherun/macbook-pro-loses-bluetooth-a-fix-21503

this sounds like the USB thing might have something in it actually :)

so you dont have to read the article the important bit its

I shut down the MacBook and when it was time to start it up I held the Power Button down until I heard a loud beep from the system. This signaled that a hard restart was coming up and sure enough the Bluetooth was running again when the system booted up. Apparently from what I could tell the holding of the power button forces the power management system to reset which is the likely culprit

D
 
I presume the passkey conflict is because the KB and MM still think they are paired but the BT module has been reset. I don't know how to reset the passkeys but why not just take out the batteries for 15 mins and repair them?

D
 
OK, partial success. I think.

So, I did the restart after Safe mode. Bluetooth back in the system tray! Mighty Mouse connected and paired. It's enough to be getting on with, and wouldn't have been able to do this without your help and time.

However, the keyboard still won't pair! Any thoughts?
 
So just so I am getting this right ... you go to pair new device, then MB prompts with passkey, you enter this on the KB (and press enter/return) and the MB says that the passkeys do not match?
 
I go to Bluetooth, I go to add new device. I enter passcode on KBI (Keyboard integrated) because it won't let me on KBW (Keyboard wireless). Then passcode failure. :(
 
Hold it, I've got to a new screen now. Repaired permissions (again) tool out batteries for a prolonged period and pressed power button when batteries were out. Now being prompted to enter a new passcode which it is telling me (05051798). Entering it on KBW, nothing happening. Flashing green light on keyboard.
 
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