USB Bluetooth adapter stops working after 10.8.5 upgrade

I too have experienced issues with a Bluetooth USB adaptor and OS X 10.8.5.

I'm using a Bluetooth USB adaptor on my 2009 Mac Pro, as I have experienced issues with the builtin BT and my Magic Trackpad. Now, the Magic Trackpad will not pair with the USB adaptor anymore, so I'm forced back to the lag of the original Bluetooth hardware, which may well put me off my Trackpad entirely.

It seems that some Broadcom based Bluetooth USB Adapters stopped to work with 10.8.5.

Up to 10.8.4 I was using an ANYCOM USB-550 without any problem, but since I installed 10.8.5 it is recognized on the USB (as a hub), but not as a Bluetooth device anymore.

I switched back to my old Keyspan USB Bluetooth Adapter which is CSR based, because this USB Adapter works at least with my MagicMouse, but not reliably with Audio anymore, because it is too slow, I guess.

Hopefully Apple will fix this soon.

I too am having this issue on my Mac Pro. I have three various branded USB Bluetooth adapters, and NONE of them are working now 😟 So now I cannot use my Magic Mouse or Trackpad 😟

Please Apple fix this issue!

After patching the file

/System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/BroadcomBluet oothHostControllerUSBTransport.kext/Contents/Info.plist

using TextWrangler by adding the correct product id of my ANYCOM USB-550 Bluetooth adapter it now works again.

Anycom USB-550

idProduct: 8531

idVendor: 2652

I just duplicated a complete key / dict area in this file (I used the Targus one, because it uses 8532 / 2562).

When you use TextWrangler with CLI commands from BareBones (not the version from the AppStore) you can edit system files and the file permissions will not be altered.

After saving the file you will need to delete the kernel extension cache and reboot.

I did this using the Terminal:

sudo rm -R /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches

Then you will need to reboot your Mac.

After that your Bluetooth USB Adapter should work again.

Hi everybody,

I had the same problem on a Macbook Air Mid 2012.

The culprit has been the vodafone USB modem software.

After deinstalling the vodafone software bluetooth was back to its old state.

So all the cool stuff metioned here might be a long way around for some simple issue.

Regards

Alex

Can you tell me how you did in detai?

I'm having a the same issue.

My dongle's id is

Product ID 0x2101

Vendor ID 0x0a5c

Where shoud I correc the script?

Can I change the script with Textedit built in Mac OS?

Can you tell me how you did in detai?

I'm having a the same issue.

My dongle's id is

Product ID 0x2101

Vendor ID 0x0a5c

Where shoud I correc the script?

Can I change the script with Textedit built in Mac OS?

I had exactly this problem, but it was fixed by downloading the complete 10.8.5 installer (via the Mac App Store) and reinstalling over the upgraded system using an external USB drive. There were a couple of minor things (I had to reinstall a couple of 3rd party drivers, and re-enable TRIM support for my 3rd-party SSD), but everything is now working perfectly. There must be a problem with the 10.8.5 updater that stomps on the bluetooth configuration that doesn't happen if you do a complete install.

Great.

I forgot to mention in my post, that you will need to convert the id(s) from hexadecimal to decimal to be able to use them in the Info.plist. Good, that you did it now.

@AwwwPuddin. Thanks for your code. Now the adaptor apperas in system infomamtion. and in the bluetooth preferences, my trackpad and mouse shows that they connected. But they don't work at all and the connection is easily disconnected. Do you have any idea?

Hi, same thing here, I obviously tried adding my "working but non-recognized out of the box" BT Adapter in Info.plist inside IOBluetoothFamliy.kext / BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport.kext, but that didn't do the trick...

From 10.8.3 to 10.8.4 that Belkin 4.0 BT adapter was perfectly working (BT chipset used inside is Broadcom 2070, the same as the one used in the IOGear BT 4.0 Adapter)

Now, I can see BT Icon in the menu bar, click on it, try to add devices or connect to my previsouly working devices... but nothing...

I can't seem to get any connection set up, no matter what...

I tried changing USB port, disconnecting/reconnecting Bluetooth, re-adding my devices, etc... nothing... :-(

Hmm. I have the exact same dongle, which also stopped working on my 2009 Mac Pro. I applied the fix as you did, but it didn't fix the problem. I still have no Bluetooth being recognized. Note that I have disconnected my internal Mac Pro's Bluetooth due to it being next to useless (poor reception).

Any other ideas?!?