16-inch MacBook Pro Bluetooth issue

I also have the exact same problem (connected CSR BT 4.0 dongle through a dock, bluetooth stopped working). I tried Antihawks method with two different dongles, but was not successful.

1. I tried a cheap dongle (https://vod.ebay.de/vod/FetchOrderDetails?itemid=191930036075&transid=1745988835009&ul_noapp=true), could not see any bluetooth devices at all, but repeated the procedure over and over again. After one of several restarts my Macbook Pro could suddenly see my iPhone without the external dongle connected and even connect to it, but after closing the connection I could not reproduce this success.
2. Ordered another dongle (Startech Bluetooth Adapter USBBT1EDR2 USB) and tried it. This time I could easily find my devices (iPad, iPhone), but I never got to the point where the internal module would find any devices after I unplugged the dongle. I did SMC resets, reset the bluetooth module, NVRAM reset, deleted the .plist, booted into safe mode, but nothing worked.

I am really desperate right now as I invested a lot of time (and money) in solving a problem that should be solved by the manufacturer of a 6000 EUR professional notebook that is still under warranty. I have to use the device on a daily basis to do my job and cannot give it away even for 3-4 days and I am really annoyed by the fact that every apple employee I talked to could not offer any solution for this problem.

Maybe anybody here has a hint what I could try to make it work? Was it important for you guys to connect to Android devices or could you also make this solution work by connecting to Apple devices?

Any help is highly appreciated.

Thank you!

I know this doesn’t solve your problem but just know you’re not alone in this.

It’s absolutely baffling to me that a company this size cares so little about a problem this serious. If Apple really cared about your 6k EUR you wouldn’t see this problem marked as “resolved”. Guess what, they won’t look further into this as “it is not an issue anymore” just because some people managed to find a workaround that works 50/50 of the time.

I really hope this thread is marked as unresolved again because spending time and money in an external dongle to fix an internal issue is not a solution.

voldomazta wrote:

I was skeptical at first but I have to report now that the solution above worked for me.

I had to buy a 2.0 dongle to get it to work.

Glad that you got it to work. Can you send a picture or link to the dongle specs?

jamiefromkirkcaldy wrote:

For number 2, can you post a couple of screenshots from the System Information when the No 2 dongle is plugged in?

If you can also post a screenshot from the USB section when you click on the USB Dongle.

That will give us a little more information to see the exact chipset and version.

Hi Jamie,

glad you asked! Here is a picture showing chipset etc. of the second module (Startech Bluetooth Adapter USBBT1EDR2 USB):

Maybe one of you has found a working module in Germany? Or is anybody willing to send me their proven to work module to Germany? Of course I would pay the shipping, buy a beer and send it back after fixing my Mac.

Cheers!

I honestly don't know the cause of the 2nd breakage. Its onset was similar to the original onset of my problem: flakey bluetooth connection, high latency on my bluetooth accessories like keyboard and trackpad, and eventually, non-responsiveness. My fix only lasted a few days.

Hi,

"HCI Selector in Bluetooth Explorer.app still shows None" this is normal according to my findings. I first diagnosed by friends Mac and he asked me to take a look at this. I had never plugged in CSR 4.0 dongle at this point on my own Mac and I checked it and it read "None" on the selector. Later on I broke my own Mac's bluetooth with my friend's CSR 4.0 dongle when he lend it to me to check on exact fix procedure.

And to the "weird quirks" I had these from the unboxing of my machine, bluetooth seemed unstable at time to time especially on bluetooth headphones. Link crashes or no audio or connection resets. Normally these autorecover after 5 seconds. I accepted this as a bug feature as we are talking about first revision of 16" MacBook Pro in my case. Apple is fixing these kinds of bugs regulary and overall experience has been good.

At the moment I have bug where my machine is crashing with complete power failure after 5-10 seconds when it is running low on battery <5%, system is on full load and I plug in charger that comes with the Mac.

These kind of things happen...

I have same issue with my 16inch MacBook Pro, I've done all the resets but bluetooth won't work, I have to use an external bluetooth dongle before I can use my AirPods or even connect to other Bluetooths devices. its so frustrating as paying nearly 3grand for a laptop that has issues with bluetooth

Same problem here. I've tried all the solutions talked about in this thread, with 4 different BT2.0 modules and was never able to get it working again. Apple really needs to have a better solution than to replace the logic board every time someone plugs in a BT Dongle.

Also tried everything here over hours of resets/reboots/plug-unplug cycles. Bought a no-brand mushroom-headed Bluetooth 2.0 USB dongle that resembled those from which others reported success - no luck. (Anyone who has an external dongle that seemed to wake the onboard - you should rent it out!)

Had hopes new MacOS Catalina 10.15.6 update, available today (August 13), might include a software fix – given some comments upthread that recent hardware replacements had been deferred. After installation, no luck - internal Bluetooth still dead.

I can confirm, that this workaround successfully works also on 10.15.6.

I'm from Switzerland and I have about 30 BLE 2.0 (BCM 2045A Chipset) dongles available. With these I have been able to solve the problem multiple times. If someone needs one -> just write me a PN.

Thanks,Boris

Hi, Boris - Interested but don't see any direct-messaging options here. Could you email me (gojomo@ on the big G's domain), and/or share exact brand/model (or how chipset is reliably identified) in case there are other local providers with similar units?

Boris - that's very helpful info, thanks! Alas, I'm in the US & haven't yet found an alternate source for a BCM2045A Bluetooth 2.0 dongle.

Somewhat surprising that Apple can't have their Bluetooth/MacBook engineers figure a software fix, given all the work by outsiders here. (If inserting a USB peripheral can trigger a set of steps that persistently re-enables onboard Bluetooth, software should easily be able to simulate the same steps.) But I suppose we have to cut this scrappy, resource-constrained garage startup some slack, while it waits for some kindly volunteer to donate the knowhow for a fix.

T2 does not control BT/WiFi.

Good to know. Given that the issue was surviving the complete re-install of OS, I assumed it was on T2. I guess there are more firmware with storage that persist through disk/OS wipes.

Try Product Feedback - Apple or https://feedbackassistant.apple.com....

I did. I'm still waiting for the response, though.

Hi there !

Same issue here with my 4-months 16-inch MBP.

BUT i never plug any dongle like yours.

Issue appeared when i plugged my new mavic air 2 drone to my laptop. Bluetooth doesn’t connect anymore with my keyboard/trackpad/airpods pro...

do apple are working on that trouble ?

i did all above, pram/nvram/new install/terminal/reset bluetooth plist....

no bluetooth anymore !

keep in touch !