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

Long story short, the bluetooth software in my OS is messed up. Any idea how I can uninstall/reinstall it without doing a COMPLETE OS install? I'm tired of deleting the bluetooth prefs and restarting to fix the issue and having two keyboards (one BT, the other wired) on my desk every day to swap out when my BT fails. My beach ball of death is spinning right now as we speak after trying JUST to select the dropdown from my menu bar.

Any help to easily reinstall the software would be greatly appreciated.

8 core Nehalem Mac Pro. 12gb RAM., Mac OS X (10.6.2), 20 Cinema, 23 Cinema, Apple T.V., iPhone, iPod, Nano, MacBook

Posted on Mar 21, 2011 8:19 AM

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Posted on Aug 4, 2011 8:20 AM

I'm having the same problem. Where is the Bluetooth Explorer found?

35 replies

Mar 21, 2011 10:55 AM in response to iPhotoStuff 2

Hello i:

There is no "easy" way to reinstall components of OS X. I strongly suggest you reinstall OS X 10.6 (from your software install DVD) and then run software update. I that way, you will be relatively sure that whatever is causing your problem (if it is software-related) will be addressed. The reinstall will leave all of your own programs and data intact. Be sure to have a good backup before you do anything.

Barry

Sep 29, 2011 4:29 PM in response to X423424X

this fixed my problem with bluetooth on Lion. i was *thisclose* to going to the apple store and having them check it out. thanks for your help, really appreciate it.


as an fyi: my problem was that my Jawbone Jambox would connect to my macbook pro and within 5 seconds disconnect via bluetooth. removed all devices and readded them, even called Jawbone and they were stumped. following your instructions is what finally fixed my issue 🙂

Mar 21, 2011 11:40 PM in response to iPhotoStuff 2

Before you go through the ritual of reinstalling the entire system just try to do a "factory reset" of your bluetooth environment. To do this you need to run the Bluetooth Explorer which is a utility installed as part of XCode.

1. Launch Bluetooth Explorer.
2. Select the "Modify Software & Device Configuration" from the Utilities menu.
3. Keep the first 4 checkboxes checked (one will say "Full factory reset").
4. Click "Perform actions" button (lower right of window).
5. Reboot (possibly the Reboot NOW button will work, if not just do a normal reboot).

Hopefully that will clear your problem(s) so you can re-pair your bluetooth devices.

Good luck.

Aug 29, 2011 6:14 PM in response to Jim Ratliff

Your welcome.


For future reference to anyone reading this and this thread, if you are using Lion, it would be nice to know if my above instructions are equally applicable to the version of Xcode for Lion. Since I am not (and have no current intentions of) running Lion I don't know if Bluetooth Explorer even exists in the Lion version of Xcode or has the same interface if it does. Thanks in advance.

Nov 12, 2011 10:42 AM in response to X423424X

After hours and weeks of bluetooth pain, and almost giving up on a dongle that would not work on my 2008 mac pro I finally have solved the problem using Bluetooth explorer with Xcode for lion.


I was ready to disconnect the BT board and drill holes to add an external antenna, but tthis is an elegant, cheap and very simple solution.


Huge thanks to X423424X. You are my hero!

Dec 4, 2011 8:53 PM in response to dogsnack

Xcode are the developer tools. .


If you have an older mac pro, i.e., one that did not come with Lion, a version of it usually comes on the installer dvd (Optional Installs). I am not sure if it isn't a mac pro. For Lion you need to buy it (small charge) from the App Store. Prior to the App Store you used to be able to join the ADC (Apple Developer Connection, http://connect.apple.com) and download it for free. Not sure you can do that anymore.

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

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