Revert back to internal bluetooth controller doesn't work

When the Mac mini 2018 was released, I was experiencing Magic Mouse 2 issues (choppiness, etc), like many others actually, so I decided to get a bluetooth adapter (IOGear GBU521) and see if the problem would go away. It did...


I plugged in the new adapter, went into Bluetooth Explorer, under "HCI Controller Selector" selected my adapter "Broadcom Corp, Location ID XXXXXXX", made it ACTIVE and I was good to go. One thing though. When I would reboot, it would go back to the internal bluetooth controller so after reading about it, I used this Terminal code sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always and all was good...


A year later and after moving my workstation around, I would like to go back to using the internal bluetooth controller but it seems I can't.


This is what I did... I unplugged the Adapter and the mouse and keyboard no longer show under the bluetooth devices panel, for me to Connect to. So I tried the following...


1- Unplugged all devices and hubs going to the Mac mini except for a wired mouse, keyboard and monitor so I can set things up.


2- I entered this code in Terminal sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior (to go back to the default setting).


3- I trashed com.apple.bluetooth.plist & com.apple.bluetooth.xxxxxxxxxx (random numbers and letters)


4- Shift-Option to Debug (Reset the Bluetooth Module, Factory reset all connected Apple devices, Remove all devices) re-booted.


5- PRAM (Option-Command-P-R)


6- SMC (Unplug AC cord, 15 seconds, replug and wait 5 seconds) Reboot.


I'm not sure what I may be missing here but all that I've tried so far isn't working and I've tried it multiple times. Maybe there's a Kext file I need to delete but I'm not sure what to do. I know I can plug the Adapter back in again, and the mouse and keyboard will show up in the Bluetooth panel but I shouldn't have to anymore.


Any help or advice would be appreciated.


Thank you.

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 1, 2020 5:06 PM

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15 replies

Jul 2, 2020 2:34 PM in response to hcsitas

I have just tried to pair the Magic Trackpad (not 2) but it won't even show up in the list but strangely enough, my newly purchased AirPods Pro does...hmm... but when I try to Connect them, using Control click, nothing happens. I've tried turning Bluetooth on and off but still nothing... Also, I can discover devices on my iPhone.



When I look at the Bluetooth Explorer Event Log, this is the info I get. I've tried to research this but not having much luck.



I've enclosed my System Report - Bluetooth and may there's some info there that may help.


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Revert back to internal bluetooth controller doesn't work

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