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

Hello all,


I have a 2018 Mac Mini that has luckily never had a bluetooth issue. I made the mistake of installing Ventura the day it was released (I normally wait a few weeks to let someone else figure out/get terrorized by all the weird one-off bugs). From the moment Ventura was installed the bluetooth has been "off". Clicking the bluetooth toggle in any of the numerous locations like the menu bar and system preferrences shows that bluetooth is trying to start (little spinning icon but it never switches to "on")


I have tried all the workarounds like rolling back to Monterey (still dead), reset the SMC, and reset the NVRAM, sudo pkill bluetoothd and blueutil to try and power on bluetooth. BlueUtil shows the power state as 255 but the BlueUtil documentation gives two options: 0 is off and 1 is on. I also ran Apple Diagnostics and it gave the ADP000 all clear.


I opened the system report and the following is shown for the Bluetooth controller.


 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)


Any insights?


-Michael


Mac mini, macOS 12.6

Posted on Oct 27, 2022 1:12 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 25, 2024 5:23 PM

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.

Similar questions

68 replies

Nov 22, 2022 9:27 AM in response to MikeontheMike

Apple just called.


The engineering team determined that I have a hardware failure. They could not be specific as to what. It just happened to occur at the time of Upgrade NOT because of the upgrade. (I should have bought a lottery ticket! What a coincidence!)


They set an appointment for me to go to an Apple store and PAY to have it fixed.


It sounds like everyone needs to get ready to feel the hurt. Sounds like Apple is sweeping this issue under the rug and ignoring it instead of acknowledging it.

Feb 9, 2023 5:48 AM in response to dgtlptry

Just to close out on my experience, I pushed my luck and requested an M2 Pro model as a replacement as my old 2018 model (base model) has 4 Thunderbolt ports and I used them all, Ken the support chap said that was a good enough justification for him and put it through and it got authorised and I received it about 3 days later. So moral of the story is, if you don't ask you don't get and once you reach the right people, Apple's support is pretty good. Just got to escalate and not accept things like you need to pay for a hardware replacement.

Nov 3, 2022 7:19 AM in response to MikeontheMike

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.

Jan 6, 2023 8:01 AM in response to MikeontheMike

So just before Xmas I e-mailed Tim Cook to complain about this, wasn't expecting a reply from him but hoping something might come of it. Well had a call today from a really good Apple support guy in Ireland who was really helpful. He seemed to just be the frontline guy working to get my Mac Mini sent back to Apple for their engineers to take a look at. I got the impression from a few comments he made this issue has got a bit political in Apple. He also said I wouldn't be getting my Mac Mini back, would be a replacement as they don't make the 2018 model any more. I got the impression they wanted a sample 'broken' one back to understand what's going on here. They're covering the shipping back to Ireland, I just need to box it up and arrange with TNT. Hopefully something good will come out of this.

Jan 19, 2023 10:11 AM in response to Sparky1511

THANK YOU Sparky1511 - after reading your post I did the same and emailed Tim Cook. I just got a call from Ireland and my broken Mac Mini 2018 will be picked up in Germany and shipped to Ireland in the next few days. Apple will probably send me back a new m2 mini after checking, as the support told me. Thank you for your input - without it I'd still be spinning circles of support with no effective help.


[Edited by Moderator]


Feb 9, 2023 3:34 AM in response to dgtlptry

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.....

Sep 5, 2023 1:44 AM in response to MikeontheMike

After reading through the COUNTLESS complaints, it appears that Apple is doing what they always do, blame it on anything else and make us pay for it. I'm currently on an iMac, as soon as I did the Ventura 13.5.1 update, the Bluetooth failed, and it appears that everyone else here has had the same situation, regardless of the system/device. For the US office to tell customers to call the UK line, only to be blown off, screams volumes and raises huge red flags as to NOT taking accountability. Personally, it seems like every time Apple has an update, something fails and I'm paying for it, and I'm a disabled widow trying to stretch pennies. This is absolutely shameful customer service. We know and they know that this is because of their end, and from the thousands of comments online globally, the rest of the world knows as well. I'm tired of being blown off.

Nov 10, 2022 10:29 AM in response to MikeontheMike

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)

Nov 11, 2022 6:53 AM in response to HDieck

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.

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

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