Bluetooth died with update to MacOS Ventura and Bluetooth Controller will not power back on

I've got exactly the same issue as you Mike, made my Mac Mini completely unusable now with no ability to connect keyboard/mouse/headset any more. Please do post any updates here if you get them from Apple Support. I'm guessing another update will be required to fix this, it's almost like there's no drivers for the bluetooth hardware in Ventura, you would think with Apple's closed eco system they would be testing their own software against all their own hardware platforms to avoid these sorts of issues.

I hear you brother.

been faithful to Apple but within one year :

• lost 512gigs of photos cause Apple wasn’t aware of bug (most of people still don’t know it) related to reading sim profile which may lock you out of your phone and stop accepting your passcode ,
• lost MacBook Pro (it was 10 years old but it was a killer after I upgraded sad and ram myself , sadly they couldn’t determine what’s wrong+they don’t sell batteries for such old models+even if they did determine and sold the batteries , they could refuse fixing because of “unauthorised” modifications [after the warranty expired 8 years ago anyway 🤣) ,
• my Mac mini (latest purchase) got Bluetooth bricked ,

oh! Have I mentioned that my brand new Apple Watch Series 7 doesn’t respond properly to accessibility gestures for 20-40% of the time ? And that my AirPods Pro sometimes connect to wrong device ? 🤣🫡

Had the same issue with my early 2011 MacBook Pro running Ventura via Open Core.

System information showed BT module firmware v0 c0 and status as 'off'.

SMC and PRAM reset did not solve it; neither did a reinstall of Ventura.

Eventually appear to have solved my problem by accident. I booted in recovery mode using a flash drive with the Catalina Patcher setup. I had been intended to try a full OS rollback but when I attempted it, the Catalina Patcher would not run now that the Open Core EFI partition is in place. I then quit the process and restarted the machine (not wanting to do anything drastic just yet).

However, after the restart the BT was working again and the firmware now reported as v16938 c847. In my case the v0 c0 indicated missing (possibly USB-1.1 related) firmware, not a hardware issue. Might be that whatever legacy bit of firmware was missing was added back by the Catalina recovery boot.

Hope this helps.

I had this exact issue today on my 2019 Vantura Mac Pro - as a matter of fact I found this thread by searching on the output of system_profiler SPBluetoothDataType from the terminal:

 Bluetooth Controller:

 Address: NULL

 State: Off

 Chipset: BCM_4350C2

 Discoverable: Off

 Firmware Version: v0 c0

 Product ID: 0x0001

 Supported services: 0x382039 < HFP AVRCP A2DP HID Braille AACP GATT Serial >

 Transport: UART

 Vendor ID: 0x004C (Apple)

I would try to turn on bluetooth from the top menu - hit the oval switch and it would look like it was turned on but when looking at the blutooth settings the icon would just spin and there where no devices present. Of note when I used opt shift and then clicked on Bluetooth settings it would indicate the bluetooth was not discoverable which would make sense, since the service was not stated. I also tried sudo pkill bluetoothd with a restart and sudo pkill bluetooth with a restart. The only thinbg this achieved as setting the bluetooth switch back to off. Also of note this whole time the bluetooth icon in the top menu had a left to right slash through it incidating it was disfucntional. Nothing suggested online made any difference for correcting this situation. Bluetooth simply was not functional and could not be turned on. I even went as far as unplgging all (and I have many - above 20 -- as this is part of a music studio) USB devices (which is complete garbage in my opinion but I tried it along with multiple reboots). One thing that might have brought this on was I was listening to Airpod Pros outside and a couple times I walked beyond the listening range. I found all this out about 10 minutes before a video meeting and found that my Airpor Pros would not connect and my Bluetooth was non functional.

Here is what I had to do for the fix. Reboot the Mac Pro Ventura into recovery mode with cmd r held down during reboot. then chose the reinstallOS into the original target disk. This is very poorly explained online - it's called a step by step guide -> use it Apple, it is too easy to completely hork your system by making the wrong choice during the process. But doing this reinstalled Ventura into the target disk without changing any settings or uninstalling/overwriting any applications and all the machine settings were intact. It took aobut an hour give or take. Another important point when doing this procedure you need to have a keyboard and that is directly connected to the machine. When the Ventura OS reinstall was complete the bluetooth sedrvice fired right up and it could discover my Airpod Pros as well as my smart/magic keyboard and tracker. Thisis now the current output of system_profiler SPBluetoothDataType from the terminal:

    Bluetooth Controller:

     Address: F8:FF:C2:0C:48:45

     State: On

     Chipset: BCM_4364B3

     Discoverable: On

     Firmware Version: v91 c4210

     Supported services: 0x382039 < HFP AVRCP A2DP HID Braille AACP GATT SerialPort >

     Transport: UART

     Vendor ID: 0x004C (Apple)

   Not Connected:

     EXPC02G41Q3MD6V:

       Address: 88:66:5A:52:3C:AD

     Michael’s AirPods Pro:

       Address: A0:A3:09:23:DD:98

       Vendor ID: 0x004C

       Product ID: 0x200E

       Case Version: 1.4.0

       Firmware Version: 6A321

       Minor Type: Headphones

       Serial Number: GX8GNWUN1059

       Serial Number (Left): GX7GMGUU0C6K

       Serial Number (Right): GXDGN96G0C6J

This was the only way I could find to restore the Bluetooth service without a complete rebuild (this was close enough) but thankfully I didn't have to reinstall 156 apps and reconfigure the machine post a completely fresh install. the machine was exaclty the same configured with three huge screens and all logins and settings intact. The only thing I had to do was pair my Airpod Pros again. I would cross reference this outlined process with other references online for OS recovery it is tricky and nerve wracking requires patience. I have done rebuilds many, many times so I am familiar with the process. Start with an older cheese grater mac pro if you have to to get a feel for it. I would not reccomend this for a first timer unless you are willing to completely reinstall your OS from scratch and reinstall all your apps if you make a mistake. But I will tell you that it worked and restored the Bluetooth service to functionallity (running) when nothing else would work.

To bring this to an end: Today I received a new Mac Mini M2 in return for my broken Mac Mini 2018. It took a while...4 month to be exactly, but in the end Apple´s great customer care convinced me once again.

I guess it is like always in life: There are people who accept the first given solution, even if they have to pay. And there are people, who keep on fighting for their right and try all possible ways till they reach the goal. Choose wich way you wanna go.....

Hi MikeontheMike,

You've done some great troubleshooting so far for this issue. At this point we'd recommend that you connect with Apple for further assistance here: Apple Support

Have a great day and thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

Messaged apple support.

They asked me to do Nvram reset. (I couldn't do it straight away because I didn't yet know command and option corresponding keys one my wired 90's keyboard). I told them I've done reboot, trying switching bluetooth through top menu bar control centre as well as through settings and that I've tried terminal commands, removing bluetooth plist files, etc.

They booked a call for next day. The moment they called it was all in Japanese (I mean...seriously? after chatting in English for 1h?) . Luckily I speak Japanese on communicative level.

Then, after getting connected to English speaking support, I was asked to type new command "sudo killall -9 BlueTool bluetoothd" and restart computer and after that did not help, to restart in recovery mode and open terminal and try again. No help. Then we hanged up and after 4h I received another call (which we previously agreed upon) and I was asked to install some profile in settings, install CaptureData app (they provided download links for both files) and give it full disk access, to record screen while I was trying to switch the bluetooth on and finally to run mentioned above app and to send them DMG file with captured system logs. Now I was instructed to wait for about a week for the problem to be (hopefully) solved.

That's the update for the moment . Perhaps the above terminal command line would help some of you . Dunno :/

I have Mac mini 2018 that's two years old as well. I have Apple bluetooth Mouse, Tracker pad and Keyboard. The Mouse is laggy and disconnects. The keyboard disconnects then reconnects at times. Tracker is the only one with out lots of issues but does disconnect and reconnects at times. All working before the 13. What have Apple done with Ventura?

FYI my Mac mini 2018 Bluetooth very old "magic" keyboard and mouse have been OK after Ventura 13.0 and 13.0.1, currently with the following info:

Bluetooth Controller:

Address: **:**:**:**:**:**

State: On

Chipset: BCM_4364B0

Discoverable: Off

Firmware Version: v122 c4439

Supported services: 0x382039 < HFP AVRCP A2DP HID Braille AACP GATT SerialPort >

Transport: UART

Vendor ID: 0x004C (Apple)

MikeontheMike, Ventura 13.0.1 was released. Maybe that'll fix the Bluetooth issues 🥲

I fortunately switched Mac mini's at work. No plans to update to Ventura, since Bluetooth is working fine on Monterey 12.6.1

To my surprise, an Apple support representative (10 year veteran) reached out proactively to me via phone yesterday and was persistent until we were able to connect. Documented the issue and had me upload a log file. I have never had a tech company do that. It was nice to feel like a priority. Still suspect this will be a general OS update in the relatively near future, not a quick fix.

Had the same thing, first time I thought this has got to be a scam, someone claiming to be from Apple support calling me in the UK from Texas so didn't answer. Then got an e-mail, checked it all out and definitely seemed legit so messaged Josh back through the Apple website and said call again, he did and like you, took a load of captures of the issue. Hopefully it will help them get this sorted.

I had Josh from Austin Texas also reach out to me. On the third time of trying he got hold of me. He's captured some of the issue around the fact that all my bluetooth accessories are acting up. Disconnecting, and stuttering. Driving me up the wall. Jumping between the tracker pad and the mouse, all Apple products. All since Ventura upgrade. 13.0.1 didn't improve it.

Josh gave me a UK number to call to talk to a senior advisor about the issue. After being put on hold I was politely told to contact Josh again???? I think I prefer the USA support.