Bluetooth Networking is hanging MacBook

I am also noticing the same issue as Phil, is this a bug?

It took me some time to realise that I do not actually have to get the bluetooth modem (Sony Ericsson K800i) to dial *99# for me. Anybody noticing issues of the modem dialling then disconnecting should try removing this, and also try the scripts from taniwha.org.uk.

I have experienced OS X hanging a few times now, even before I managed to connect to my 3G network (Vodafone UK). The most recent 'hang' seemed to be after I got booted from my 3G conn. and tried to redial. I could not even open 'Force Quit' to see if I could kill the process.

The end result was having to physically shutdown the macbook from a 10 second press of the power button.

I believe that I may have had verbose logging switched on (from when I could not connect at all), but from only touching OS X for the first time 3 weeks ago, I do not know where these are, or if they will be of any use.

Can any body point me in the direction of where I can officially log this as an OS error, as obviously it is not just affecting me.

Thanx in advance,

Robsta

Same problem for me.

I have the exact same problem 😟

If any one from Apple is hearing our cries. This is quite a vital fix.

When (not if) the bluetooth RAS entry is dialled unsuccessfully and causes the OS to crash, it is near on impossible to save any work that is currently being done.

I have lost 3 or 4 documents now and actually have to save ANY document before connecting to the interweb with the fear of losing an hour or so of productivity.

Having the same problem as well. I changed my AT&T data plan to make use of this connectivity .... an indication that Apple is aware of this and is working on a fix would be great.

Right guys, I have just been to my local Apple store to ask a Genius about an unrelated issue, and he mentioned to me that they were aware of the issue and its cause was 'generally' when the BT device goes out of range.

The actual issue is that the OS gets stuck in a loop here and doesn't know whether it is connected or disconnected. Now as a Handheld Developer, I know the perils behind getting dialers to work correctly and know that multithreading (put simply, allowing us to carry on working whilst the OS does something else) can be a complete ***** to get right.

Am sure Apple will respond with a nice fix for us all soon, but in the mean time. SAVE SAVE SAVE that work before connecting, and try and keep your phone in range, this seems to work well MOST of the time for me, it still crashed occassionally though!

Rosta

Knowing "they" are aware is great. Hopefully we will see a quick resolution. Thanks for the update and the "save" reminder.

(my BT distance has never been more then 1 foot, so I am not buyer of that theory)

Agreed. You guys are giving Apple way too much credit here. Bluetooth is a radio link and inherently prone to disconnection or interference. Apple has not designed their PPP software to be able to handle this error. For shame. I've had the same problem too and it is much worse in Leopard. At least in Tiger, you could repeatedly click "disconnect" in the menubar and the process would eventually terminate.

I do agree that the problem should not be found, even if we do nip down the shops with our phone in pocket only to find the laptop hung when we return.

It just seems like the hangup procedure of the RAS functionality either sticks in a loop, or does not change state correctly.

I've pushed the thread through to Apple's feedback page, but no response yet. Other forums have been pointing towards this being an issue so I expect they are in the knowledge of it.

Perhaps if more of us hit their feedback, we may get a quicker fix?

It would be nice if someone could at least inform us of what the actual cause is of this bug!

Whenever this happens, I can unfreeze the Mac UI by powering down my phone. But then the pppd process won't disconnect cleanly. Over in another thread I just posted a possible workaround for that problem. So, Phil, and all y'all, try: 1) power down phone, wait for Mac to unfreeze, then 2) do the following:

Execute this in AppleScript (open a window in Script Editor and run it, or make your own Applet, or run it in terminal with osascript -e):

*tell application "System Events" to tell current location of network preferences to disconnect current configuration of service "<name>"*

where <name> is the name of your bluetooth configuration in the Network Preferences.

You will probably have to execute it twice to get the process to terminate. It seems to replicate the old strategy in 10.4 where repeated clicking on "Disconnect" in the menu would eventually terminate the process cleanly.

I've the same problem with new MacBook C2D 2,2GhZ preinstalled with 10.5.1

I'm hopping mad about this!

It's kinda of a let down.
I'm disappointed 😟

I've got the same problem, but I noticed that by closing my macbook for a minute or two, it goes to sleep the pinwheel goes away. Then I can at least use/save/close other applications without a problem. I can't kill the pppd process in any way and multiple clicks on the "disconnecting" message don't work. I'm using a simple Moto RAZR V3m from verizon for bluetooth connectivity that I also use with a Palm PDA for internet access and I keep the phone within a foot or two of the Macbook.

I was so proud of myself. I paired my Cingular 8125 bluetooth modem to MacBook Pro so I could run the web, whereever. Then I got the disconnecting loop. I love my laptop. I need my Internet connectity...I'm a ph.D candidate. Please, please Apple fix this problem. I've been using Apples since the IIe.

Thanks to all who have posted before me.

I am having the same problem as previously mentioned. I am using an HTC Mogul on Sprint with USB Modem software connecting over bluetooth. The issue with the phone being out of range of the laptop seems like a null issue in my case because the phone is within 5 inches of the top of the monitor while open so i wouldn't assume its more than 18 inches from the bluetooth receiver.

I've attempted to use the apple script that Derivatize mentioned and it doesn't seem to do the trick. I have not been to the feedback site but that is probably my next step. As of right now I'm waiting for USB Modem to release OSX 10.5.1 drivers to rid myself of this issue.