Bluetooth missing from system preferences?

I hope I can help, at least with anyone else who may completely lose the bluetooth for no reason. I had the same problem, trackpad and keyboard didnt work, checked systems report, and no information was found under Bluetooth.

I called an apple support number, the guy had never heard of this happening but we corrected everything on the first try.

Try this; Apple Icon upper left screen/shut down.

Disconnect everything from the computer but the power

Once the computer is off, hold down SHIFT/CONTROL/OPTION and then press the power button. Hold all 4 keys for 5-6 seconds and release.

The computer should still be off at this point.

Cross you fingers and press the power button.

Once the computer powers up and you sign in, check to see if the bluetooth icon is now back in Systems Preferences.

It worked for me and all my devices were listed.

I hope this simple trick will work for all of you.

Cheers,

Rod Fox

This method worked for me, so thank you. Do not worry if your apple Bluetooth mouse and/or keyboard doesn't work or if Bluetooth doesnt appear in System Preferences. Simply, unplug all your usb devices/cables from your imac, shut down your iMac. Also, remove the power cable and give it a good 10-15 minutes rest.

Next, plug in the power cable, switch on power button and your mouse and keyboard should be connected once again

I just bought this used 2012 MacBook Pro, the owner set it back to factory settings. and everything was fine but when I wanted to connect my headphones (via bluetooth) and opened the system preferences bluetooth wasn't there in the first place. it tried you trick but it didn't work, you got another solution for me?

In that case don't waste time looking through system preferences. I do not know how or why, but your computer has lost its bluetooth functionality.

I would take it in to an Apple store and tell them what you have learend.

Look in your HD/System/Library/PreferencePanes folder for the Bluetooth.prefpane file. Is it there?

If it's not there download and run the OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.3 (Combo) updater and then check your System preferences again.

OT

Apple Menu / About This Mac / More Info / System Report.

Under Hardware, select Bluetooth (on the left). Do you see any info on the right?

This resets the SMC. (System Management Controller)

You do it differently on portables vs desktop machines. On a desktop machine it's a bit easier, you shut your mac down. Wait a second. Unplug the power cord. Wait 15 seconds. Plug it back in and start up your mac.

More on this at these links

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/reset-macs-smc-pram/

I think the key thing in diagnosing this problem is when you go to System Information (what used to be called System Profiler) and find nothing listed under Bluetooth. Any time you have problems with hardware/peripherals not interacting properly, check System Info to check if your mac can even see the device in question.

As Eustace says, it's likely a hardware fault, although the following suggestion worked for me when I helped my neighbour who lost all BT connectivity on his iMac a while back.

Apart from the Magic Mouse what keyboard do you have - wired or BT?

To do this you might need to use a wired mouse/keyboard just in case you lose your limited BT connectivity and end up not being able to log in. In Macintosh HD>Library>Preferences, do you have this file:

com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

If so, move it to the desktop and restart. If BT does come back to life this is where you might need the wired mouse/keyboard to get your BT devices re-connected. If this works you can dump the file you moved to the desktop.

Try moving it to the Trash, but don't empty the Trash until you have tested trying to get re-connected. If re-connection is established then you can delete it, if not you may as well return it to its original location.

Your's isn't the same as you're running Mavericks and they are running Mt. Lion.

Boot into the Recovery volume (boot with the Command + R keys held down) and reinstall the system. That should restore the Bluetooth preference pane.

Is the response (below) to seamusmc (using Mavericks), or to the original post from shblet343 (mt. lion)?

Boot into the Recovery volume (boot with the Command + R keys held down) and reinstall the system. That should restore the Bluetooth preference pane.

I am using Mt. Lion, and have reinstalled 10.8.3. Notta...