Bluetooth flaky in Mavericks?

I'm running the latest macOS 10.12.6 on my early 2013 15" retina MBP and I am encountering the same problems. And I have had them for years I think. I don't use a bluetooth mouse or keyboard, therefore the only times I notice it, is if I try to connect to my bluetooth speaker or headphones and sometimes it just works and my Bose QC 35 connect as they should and sometimes they aren't able to find my Mac at all. A restart used to do it for me, but it's a bit annoying to have the need to restart your Mac to connect to some headphones.

The terminal input seems to do it for me, thanks.

I would really like to know what apple screwed up to cause this problem, because I have had several different OS over the years and the problem stayed.

Hello Ed,

Thank you for the details of the issue you are experiencing with Bluetooth on your iMac. I recommend following the steps in the section titled "Top troubleshooting tips" in the article below. Step 9 (resetting the PRAM and NVRAM) specifically stands out to me for the issue you described:

9. Restart your computer

Sometimes a simple restart of your Mac is all it takes to get things running smoothly again. You may also want to try resetting your computer's PRAM and NVRAM.

Bluetooth Quick Assist

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1153

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

Best,

Sheila M.

Try resetting the SMC.

Barry

Did the SMC and/or NVRAM resets fix this issue?

Since installing Mavericks, I lose functionality of my bluetooth peripherals often too. Forutnately so far, it's only one peripheral at a time, so i can use one to fix the other by following these steps.

When my bluetooth keyboard quits working, I use the mouse/trackpad to do the following:

click  (top left corner of screen) > System Preferences... > Bluetooth

When Bluetooth settings come up, mysteriously it toggles the functionality of my keyboard again!

When my bluetooth mouse/trackpad quit working, I use the keyboard to do the following:

cmd + space (to bring up spotlight, top right corner of screen) > type the word "bluetooth" > use down arrow to select "System Preferences: Bluetooth" > then hit enter

When Bluetooth settings come up, it toggles the functionality of my mouse/trackpad again.

Hope this helps.

I'm repeatedly having an issue with my late 2009 iMac 27" i5 losing my BT keyboard. It seemed like it happened when the computer turned off, sometimes when it just slept. I struggled for a while; trashing the BT pref file, un-, then re-installing the keyboard, zapping PRAM and SMC. Constantly got the message that there was no keyboard discoverable, and turning the keyboard on and off did not help. I finally found that turning off the keyboard, then turning it on and holding the button 5 seconds forced the iMac to discover, then connect. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, but I never saw anything about the keyboard needing to be made discoverable, particularly by the desktop it came with. But it does seem to work.

Never had issues with BT keyboard before upgrading to Mavericks. Looking around, I see lots of suggestions, but is there an Apple fix (as opposed to tricks to reconnect)?

I'm having the exact same problem with my recently purchased MBP Retina. It seems under Mavericks that when I turn the computer off it will not reconnect with my BT keyboard and trackpad. I have to turn both devices on, tell the MBP to forget both devices and then repair by holding the power on button on both devices. This works but is frustrating. If there is a better solution I'd love to know. This is my first Apple Mac purchase and is a bit disappointing. Hopefully the next Mavericks update fixes this issue.

Same here with a MBP 2009...I have to constantly remove my Logitech bluetooth speaker and re-pair (sync) as although it is recognized within the Bluetooth dropdown menu, a connection can't be made. Removing and re-pairing is the only solution. This is pretty basic stuff and unfortunately indicative of the diminishing quality I've experienced with Apple OS of late whenever the OS X or iOS is "upgraded".

Apple should be ASHAMED of themselves. This OS is unuseable. I can't even sync my trackpad which I picked up in October of last year. Now I hear I have to re-install the OS? Really? Thats great, how many hours will it take to do that? Here is an idea. Make an OS that works.

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

Haven't seen an Apple-endorsed fix but this is what I did just this morning when I (again..) encountered this issue. The PRAM/SMC zaps didn't fix it for me.

Open up a shell and type:

sudo kextunload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport

sudo kextload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport

This will remove and then add back the driver for the Bluetooth chip in (at least my) 13-inch, Mid 2012 MBP. After that the keyboard will reconnect and everything works again. Your mileage may vary as I'm fairly certain there are other BT controllers and/or driver kexts used by different hardware versions.

Bear in mind that this is not a permanent fix but will spare you a reboot when the issue occurs. The permanent fix needs to come from Apple...

I've been having the same issue w/ my "Magic Trackpad" for months. Has been worse since I reset pram the other day. Console command of removing and reinstalling the bluetooth seems to work:

sudo kextunload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport

sudo kextload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport

Saves me from having to restart the machine.

Would be nice if Apple would endorse this fix. I had to dig around online before I felt comfortable trying it!

For those that might not know SUDO commands are not to be taken lightly...

I just ran into the same issue in Yosemite.

My machine is a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013), 2.4 Ghz Intel Core i7 with 16Gb of RAM.

However, my issue ONLY happens when, after a full charge I remove the power cord and start using it from the battery.

After a while (5-10 mins) bluetooth connectivity is lost and both mighty mouse and apple keyboard are unresponsive.. almost as if the computer had sent them an "turn yourself off" command.

If I turn off the mouse and back on again the little light blinks indefinitely looking for the computer.

The command thing worked like a charm for me.

This is the only thing that helped me on my MacBook Pro5,1

sudo kextunload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport

sudo kextload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport

Cheers to Samwise_S