Mavericks no longer recognizing bluetooth dongle

Question

Mavericks no longer recognizing bluetooth dongle

Like many other people who found that their bluetooth mouse or trackpad "jumped around" when using their macbook closed with an external monitor, I solved the problem with an external bluetooth dongle.

The "jumping around" problem is caused by the internal bluetooth antenna in the macbook pro having poor reception when the case is closed.

I used the popular IOgear Bluetooth 4.0 USB dongle. With this external USB dongle, my trackpad worked perfectly.

Under Mountain Lion, the OS recognized that a newer bluetooth device than the one built into the laptop was available, and just started using it.

Under Mavericks, the OS is back to using the internal bluetooth, and I can't figure out how to force it to use the external dongle.

HELP!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 3:34 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 23, 2013 4:44 PM in response to ebrandon_appleuser

OK. I partially answered my own question.

I downloaded the Apple Developer Hardware Tools here Hardware IO Tools for Xcode - October 2013

You may need a free Apple developers account to do this.

One of the tools is "Bluetooth Explorer"

Under the "Tools" menu is "HCI Controller Selector". This showed that the internal controller was active, and allowed me to switch to the external dongle (called "broadcom" in the menu, because even though it's IOgear it contains the Broadcom chipset).

Unfortunately, this gets reset every restart.

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO MAKE THE EXTERNAL DONGLE THE DEFAULT?

Reply

Answer 2

Oct 25, 2013 6:57 PM in response to ebrandon_appleuser

OK -- it turns out that it doesn't get reset after restarting (although there is a warning in Bluetooth Explorer that it will).

So problem completely solved!

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 25, 2013 5:42 AM in response to ebrandon_appleuser

when I open the "Host Controller Selector" the "pick a host controller" drop down doesn't display any options. It just says "None". I've tried all the regular fixes (restart, pram rest, safeboot) and still nothing.

I have a Mac Pro 2009, and have a IOgear Bluetooth 4.0 USB dongle.

Please HELP!

Reply

Answer 4

Mar 25, 2014 11:55 AM in response to ebrandon_appleuser

I have the IOGear 2.1 which stopped working with Mavericks and my Mac Pro 2008. I can choose between Apple and Broadcom but it didn't work. I had to go into mouse preferences and add the mouse to my connected devices list again. Now it's working!! Thought I was gonna have to buy the ashtray just to get bluetooth.

Reply

Answer 5

ThisIsFM

Level 1

0 points

Nov 7, 2014 11:24 PM in response to ebrandon_appleuser

This Works PERFECTLY!

THANK YOU!!!

Reply

Answer 6

Oct 14, 2015 3:48 AM in response to ebrandon_appleuser

I have a 2009 27" iMac. I connected the same GBU521 dongle and downloaded Apple's Bluetooth Explorer utility. However, the moment I select the new host controller I lose my connection with both my keyboard and trackpad, rendering the iMac unresponsive. The only way to regain control of the iMac at this point is to force a restart via the power button, after which the Bluetooth host controller reverts back to the default.

How do I reconnect my keyboard and trackpad after connecting to the new host controller?

Reply