MBP: cannot turn off bluetooth

I had the same exact problem, and plugging in a usb mouse solved it for me as well, thank you!
I have a 2nd problem, may be unrelated to the magic trackpad-related problem: this morning when I turned on my formerly trusty white apple wireless keyboard, it didn't work. Changed batteries, no help. I tried re-pairing (both before and after deleting what I think was the previous bluetooth profile for the keyboard). The bluetooth setup software finds the 'apple wireless keyboard' and generates a pairing passcode, but time and again when I type it in, it fails to pair and says I typed it in wrong. I have checked other discussion boards and found some who had identical problem, but no suggestions that worked. (I'm just wondering if any other magic trackpad users have had this problem). Or not...

I would like to add to this discussion. I rarely use Bluetooth, and don't have a magic trackpad. But the other day, I transferred a file from my MacBook to my iMac using Bluetooth, and now the Bluetooth on my MacBook won't turn off. Both computers are running Snow Leopard 10.6.4. I even deleted the pairing with my iMac, and turned off Bluetooth sharing, and restarted...same symptom. This looks like a Snow Leopard bug to me.

Same thing happened to me on my 2006 macbook. Just set up my magic trackpad and wireless keyboard and was unable to turn off bluetooth. But then i deleted com.apple.Bluetooth.plist from ~/Library/Preferences/ , ran disk utility and that fixed it : )

Never mind 😟 After turning my bluetooth back on and connecting my magic trackpad, i can't turn off my blue tooth without getting "You cannot control your computer if you turn Bluetooth off at this time" Hmmm.....

I have this same issue. Mostly my post repeats/confirms things others have already observed, with a few added details.

Certainly this is a bug in the software. I have filed a bug report with Apple, but heard nothing back.

It seems that the Magic Trackpad driver conflicts with the built in trackpad driver in some ways. For example, I can only see one of two possible "trackpad" panes in system preferences at a time. There is one installed by the magic trackpad that has options like the three finger drag gesture, and the built-in one that has the option "ignore accidental trackpad input", which I can now only see when the magic trackpad is disconnected.

I think my OS now believes that the built-in trackpad is a bluetooth device, and thus won't shut off bluetooth unless I have some other pointer installed (like a usb mouse). Indeed, installing a USB mouse allows me to turn bluetooth off, and then the built-in trackpad still works fine, but I have to plug in the USB mouse again every time I want to turn off bluetooth. This occurs even when the machine "knows" that there are no bluetooth devices connected (and when the magic trackpad is bound to another machine, left at home, removed from the devices list, has no batteries, etc, etc. Clearly the issue is in the driver software, not the bluetooth link itself).

Having the magic trackpad drivers also seems to greatly increase the sensitivity of the built-in trackpad. For years I have never had any spurious trackpad clicks from this MacBook, but since installing the magic trackpad drivers, I get them all the time.

A friend of mine who has a very recent MBP doesn't have these issues. We are guessing it is because his built-in trackpad is already "magic". He also didn't need to intall the driver update to get full function out of the magic trackpad.

Seems like this add-on driver is really buggy. I'm a little annoyed that Apple hasn't responded to my bug report, and encourage all of you to file your own reports. (I also got extra annoying-sauce with y update, since I learned about the "bluetooth can't be disabled" issue at the beginning of a 5 hour plane flight, on which I had been planning to use my Mac.)

You Sir, are a star! 🙂

As soon as I plugged in the USB mouse I was able to disable Bluetooth. Very likely to be a bug related to the drivers of the magic pad - ever had this problem before I hooked up a magic pad to my MB. (And I had a BT mouse & keyboard connected long before and never ran into this problem)

Apple: Please get this fixed: Bluetooth and other wireless 'thingies' are not allowed on airplanes. So this is essential - No point in buying your new shiny ultraportables when you can't use them on an airplane.

I've got the same problem here... I have a MBP late 2010 running OS 10.6.6 and when my Logitech bluetooth mouse is attached, i cant turn off my bluetooth...
The bug seems not to be fixed yet.

I was having the same problem, and none of the proposed solutions were working. Then I found this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964. Followed the instructions for my Mac model, and now everything is perfectly fine.