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Level 1

30 points

Bluetooth Problems on Yosemite (Solution: 'Turn Wifi Off' then on again)

Bluetooth Problems on Yosemite (Solution: 'Turn Wifi Off' then on again)

(There are sooo many discussion threads/posts on this topic, I decided to create a new one with a potential solution. Please reply if this solves your problems with bluetooth connection, reconnection, and/or pairing problems on Yosemite.)

If you can not connect/reconnect your bluetooth devices, try "Turn Wifi Off". It seems to 'wake up' the bluetooth and then my devices reconnect.

In my case, after sleep/wake of my MacBook, my bluetooth keyboard & speaker would NOT reconnect. When I 'Turn Wifi Off" my bluetooth starts working again and my bluetooth keyboard & speaker immediately reconnect. I also read on some non-Apple.com forum that sometimes 'Turn Wifi Off' on yosemite makes bluetooth start working again. Other times, 'Turn Wifi Off' followed by 'Turn Wifi' On makes bluetooth start working again.

In my case, whenever I can not get my bluetooth devices to connect/reconnect to my MacBook, I simply "Turn Wifi Off" and it immediately connects.

Please REPLY if 'Turn Wifi Off' fixes your bluetooth connect/reconnect problems!

Thank You.

P.S. I'm guessing that with the 'Handoff a.k.a. Continuity' enhancements to Yosemeti, which uses Bluetooth to dynamically enable iOS devices to coordinate workflows with MacBooks, that Handoff's dynamic explolitation of bluetooth behind the scenes, which introduces a somewhat new style of load/usage on Bluetooth, that it has messed up the way Bluetooth is managed in Yosemite. I'm guessing that Apple is aware of this and will fix it eventually. Until then, "Turn Wi-Fi Off" seems to do the trick for me when I want to 'wake up' my MacBook's bluetooth and get my external devices connected again.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 26, 2014 8:45 AM

21 replies

timgws

Level 1

0 points

Jun 8, 2015 5:05 PM in response to eupharia

I have written a small Bash script that appears to resolve this issue for me.

My New MacBook Pro Retina 13" has this issue each time I wake the machine up from sleep.

eupharia wrote:

Guess what? The bluetooth just couldn't turn off after it loses connection! OS X 10.10.3, It happened twice today. I had to restart the computer to get it work.

By "couldn't turn off" I mean the turning off option is there in the menu but I click it and nothing happened. And it is not working either. So I couldn't restart the bluetooth but had to restart the whole computer...

#!/bin/sh function msg() { foo=$2 what="$(tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' <<< ${foo:0:1})${foo:1}" echo ">> ${what}ing $1..."; } function __blued() { msg "blued" "$1"; sudo launchctl $1 /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.blued.plist } function __driver() { msg "bluetooth driver" "$1"; sudo kext$1 -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport } __blued "unload" __driver "unload" sleep 5; __driver "load"; __blued "load"

I have added this script in my /usr/bin folder as "fix-bluetooth"... this way, I can just run fix-bluetooth in my terminal and everything starts working again.

I am sure someone can come up with an easier/better solution, but this works for me.

Oct 30, 2015 4:47 AM in response to BillHahn

Excellent, worked for me straight away.

I tried all sorts of fixes, deleting preferences etc before I found your solution. I turned off Wifi and my trackpad popped up instantly.

Thank you

Oct 30, 2015 5:43 AM in response to BillHahn

I've found you don't even have to ACTUALLY turn off Wi-Fi... Just hover over the Turn Off Wi-Fi in the status bar and your BT device will connect.

andrey.s

Level 1

4 points

Dec 5, 2015 12:41 AM in response to timgws

Thank you, friend!

Works perfectly on Macbook Pro 9,1.

Sep 22, 2016 1:58 PM in response to BillHahn

Why is this still a problem now that we are on macOS Sierra now though? I'm still having this issue and I have a Macbook Pro 13" mid 2012. By now you would think they'd have a patch for it.

arod418

Level 1

9 points

Feb 1, 2017 8:37 PM in response to BillHahn

This worked for me on my MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012) running Sierra 10.12.2. I've been had this issue for months now trying to pair my Bose Bluetooth QC35s. Thank you so much!

Bluetooth Problems on Yosemite (Solution: 'Turn Wifi Off' then on again)