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

Jan 31, 2023 11:10 AM in response to MikeontheMike

After hearing about peoples success emailing Tim Cook I did the same. Clint, part of their US Executive Relations team, reached out to me. Since I had paid for repairs I asked if they would refund the repair costs (I paid just over $200 as the store manager unexpectedly offered a 50% discount). He had to contact the store and after a few days got back to me. He said that it was the stores decision to not refund my repair cost because I had accepted their 50% off offer. If I had paid full price they would have refunded my repair money. I don't understand that logic as it cost them the same amount at the end of the day whether they refund me the 50% I paid (when they already ate the other 50% in the discount) or the $400 if I paid full price.


This makes me even more wary of purchasing additional Apple products knowing they will not take responsibility for their OS upgrades that kill products. Unfortunate that the Executive team cannot make a customer service decision when their stores fail to take care of their customers. Not sure how their Europe team has the power to take care of their customers when the US team cannot.

Jan 31, 2023 11:58 AM in response to MikeontheMike

Mike, I am so sorry you had that experience. As I mentioned in my post, I was able to get Apple rep to make an exception to may out of warranty for repair. But I too was intrigued by the Tim Cook connection. I think it is notable and important that we create awareness that this problem should not be paid for. If I were you, I would let Tim Cook know of this rationale on store's dept. I am sure you will get your 100% back. If you don't, please let us know. Its notable also that Europe gets better care (?!) Makes no sense. We are the larger market.


Besides these experiences, I do think Apple is a terrific product and remain loyal to the brand. The products are easy to use across a variety of consumers and have a very long reliability and shelf life compared to the other side. I think we just need to be persistent in letting the leadership team know what's happening on lower tiers, which this thread has succeeded in. Thanks to all who have shared your stories! Keep sharing!

Feb 14, 2023 10:00 AM in response to torquing

This is very weird !


Since I posted this message on here, someone called Nadine from Apple Support has tried to connect to "ask me some questions", however each time I offer up a time there is no callback. I have now installed the latest 13.2.1 with no improvement on Bluetooth, the controller is still not recognised by the Kernal.


From what I read on here, reverting to Monterey will not fix the issue?


Apr 2, 2023 8:49 AM in response to MikeontheMike

Hola a todos. Nunca ha tenido problemas con el bluetooth. Desde el momento en que se instaló Ventura, el bluetooth ha estado "apagado". Al hacer clic en el conmutador de bluetooth en cualquiera de las numerosas ubicaciones, como la barra de menú y las preferencias del sistema, nunca he podido conectarlo, aparece como no visible.


Probé todas las soluciones alternativas comunicándome con el soporte técnico cómo restablecer el SMC y restablecer la NVRAM, sudo pkill bluetoothd y blueutil para probar y encender el bluetooth y también ejecuté Apple Diagnostics y le dio al ADP000 todo despejado.


Abrí el informe del sistema y se muestra lo siguiente para el controlador Bluetooth.



Controlador Bluetooth:

 Dirección: NULL

 Estado: No

 Chipset: BCM_4350C2

 Modo visible: No

 Versión del firmware: v0 c0

 Servicios compatibles: 0x382039 < HFP AVRCP A2DP HID Braille AACP GATT SerialPort >

 Transporte: USB

 ID del fabricante: 0x004C (Apple)


Después de todos estos informes como el de mi caso, alguien lo ha podido solucionar? que desesperante esta situación.



Sheila

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

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