How do I uninstall/reinstall bluetooth software that is corrupted?

OS Lion and that stupidly named pointing device are supposed to be a great new thang

instead it's a shambles.

I found myself unable to set it up at first because the Bluetooth doesn't fire up until a latter stage of system initialisation,..... so my introduction to my shiny new computer was being unable to navigate except by keyboard whilst being taunted about trackpad detection, which it clearly couldn't do.

Now it's cocked up again when the batteries needed replacing and it seems that the trackpad itself doesn't have a reset feature. What kind of boneheaded twit designed it this way? Are Apple devs really that unaware of the priority of pointing devices?

I'm thinking compensation is in order, it's so stressful trying to use this poxy setup.

...and it seems that the trackpad itself doesn't have a reset feature.

It does have a on/off button which can double as a reset button turning it off the trackpad and then back on. Its on the right side and even has a icon on it indicating its purpose.

Source: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Magic_Trackpad_UG.pdf

Read manual on how to use this button.

Thanks but that doesn't help in the slightest bit ...

Perhaps I didn't make it clear when I said 'it doesn't seem to have a reset feature.'

The on/off button doesn't unpair it.

Hence there's no point to it and it isn't even an on/off button, it's a pointless decoration, because it doesn't cause the trackpad to go into searching mode (flashing light).

This is what I meant.

This is bad design because the trackpad is top priority when you don't have a mouse, and should obviously be able to reset itself properly into unpaired mode without any assistance from a buggy OS on another device.

Perhaps I didn't make it clear when I said 'it doesn't seem to have a reset feature.'

You are right. You didn't make it clear.

The on/off button doesn't unpair it.

And neither does the on/off on the mouse either. Why would you want to unpair it? It's not something you would normally do so the operation is made available as a preference pane. Same for pairing. So get a mouse as a backup. They can be had for under $10. You should never be put into a position where you are dependent on a single input or pointing device. You need to anticipate that things can go wrong and handle it accordingly.

I see nothing wrong with this physical/software design. But obviously you do. So we'll agree to disagree. I'm not debating this with you any longer.

I want to unpair the trackpad, so that it can be re-paired.

Unfortunately OS Lion is unable to unpair the trackpad, leaving it bricked.

No amount of patronizing or insulting replies will change this, but an honest and knowledgeable one might!

Unfortunately OS Lion is unable to unpair the trackpad, leaving it bricked.

Ok, from your point of view its "bricked" and you don't want to do anything about it. So I guess you'll just have to go and buy an alternate pointing device after all.

Good luck, good night, and good bye.

RESOLVED - the replacement batteries (both sets) were too flat to work in the Trackpad.

Verified by trying the original batteries (which are rechargeable and have been charged overnight), getting immediate success, and then switching them again, and back, to see the problem get fixed again.

So if you are unable to detect your Trackpad, blame your batteries first.

My replacement batteries are also rechargeable but appear to have lost their charge whilst sitting idle for months. Sure they could power the single light flash, but they didn't allow a Bluetooth connection.

After the initial surprise and embarrassment of this, I am still annoyed, actually.

The battery power level should be indicated on the Trackpad itself, especially when it refuses to handshake as a result.

Even a simple rapid flash warning with the green power light would have diagnosed this unambiguously.

Perhaps a firmware update could address this.

this totally worked for me on Mountain lion 10.8.2! So stoked. The Bluetooth Explorer is no longer part of Xcode 4.5.2. It is now a stand alone pkg on apple's developer site. Thanks for the tip and instructions ~

Hello people,

I found this post when i bought my Belkin mini Bluetooth (4.0) dongle and checked if I needed to do something before things will work.

First of all, as X423424X mentioned above, the Bluetooth Explorer is a tool that is part of the XCode developer suite. So for all you non apple developer program members: his solution won't work.

Maybe a friend or someone in your neighbourhood has a developer account, ask them to provide you with that app.

Where can it be found under the latest XCode 4.5 > ?

Apple moved some of the tooling from the standard dev box into downloadable modules. You can find them when:

1. You startup XCode

2. Click on "Xcode" in the top menu

3. Select "open developer tool"

4. Select "More developer tools..."

This will bring you to the developer.apple.com/downloads section, specifically the Commandline tools listing will be displayed.

Bluetooth Explorer is an app that is bundled along in the bundle "Hardware IO Tools for XCode - Late July 2012".

Download it, open the DMG file and click the .prefpane file to install the network connection pinching preferences app if you'd like (not related to bluetooth) and copy all the other apps (or just the Bluetooth Explorer, whatever you wish) somewhere in your Applications folder.

Run Bluetooth Explorer and follow X423424X's steps.

Good luck

I have a mac mini 2013. One day mouse and keyboard just stoped working, I thoght it was the batteries so I went and go new ones. That was not the case. But from the steps up above and folowing the steops for the Bluetooth Explorer it works perfect now. Thank you alot.

Hello,

I have a Mid 2009 Macbook Pro that had a bluetooth hardware and software installed. Magically just stopped working and telling me that there is no hardware installed. When I try to do a firmware update the software us up to date. Any tips and tricks running MAC OS X 10.7.5 Thanks

Thank you so much !

Thank you very much.

I was trying to fix my hopping and bad scrolling magic mouse for weeks: deleting com.apple.BT... / reinstalling Mavericks / resetting PRAM (and such), nothing worked, even not buying a new BT-Dongle.

Now all is good.

Thanks again.

KR Daniel

Mac Pro 2010 8x2,4 Ghz 24 Gb RAM, Mac OS 10.9.2; BT-Dongel CSR V4.0

Thanks! I used this recipe (although it needs to be update to be correct in 2014) to restore a completely broken Bluetooth system after upgrading my 15" Macbook Pro Retina to Yosemite. After the OS upgrade I could turn the BT radio on and off, but it would not connected to, discover, or pair with any Bluetooth devices. Following several other proposed solutions (Verify Disk, Repair Disk Permissions, Reset PRAM, Reset SMC, etc...) did nothing. Using Bluetooth Explorer (from Apple, not the App Store) finally did the trick.

Anyway, updated for 2014:

Bluetooth Explore is no longer bundled with XCode. It must be downloaded separately from https://developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action. You will need a (free) developer account to access the download.

Download the "Hardware IO Tools for XCode" DMG file and double-click to mount it. Then run Bluetooth Explorer right from within the mounted volume.

I checked off almost all the boxes in order to do a complete reset of the BT system. Pressed the "Go" button, then rebooted. Everything worked perfectly after the reboot.

after upgrading from Mavericks to Yosemite on my Imac 2013 (basically my BT apple keyboard and mouse work perfectly but I can't get my mobile phone (samsung galaxy star) seen by my mac... it pairs but when I try to download something it doesn't work saying it is disconnected) so I followed the above instructions given by redfernplace... but once I click on the bluetooth explorer icon, the bluetooth symbol appears in the lower app bar and nothing else happens.... I downloaded the Hardware IO Tools for XCode 6.1 file.