Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Bluetooth stopped working on my Mid-2012 MacBook Pro

I had been having intermittent issues with Bluetooth on my MacBook Pro. I would come to work and the wireless keyboard and magic mouse weren't connected. I shut the system down and restarted, which usually fixed the problem.


Today, however, there was nothing I could do to make them connect.


In addition to restarting the system a couple times, I tried the following:

  • Tried to turn Bluetooth Off/On, but Bluetooth wouldn't turn off from the Preferences pane
  • Downloaded blueutil and tried to turn BT off/on from there. When I try to turn it on, I get the following: Error: unable to turn Bluetooth on
  • If I try blueutil status, I get the following: Status: off
  • Looking at my my processes, I don't see blued running at all
  • I reset the SMC and then the PRAM, neither fixed the problem


Any ideas to prompt bluetooth to start/run? Can I test to see if the bluetooth hardware is faulty?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), null

Posted on Apr 22, 2015 1:27 PM

Reply
12 replies

Apr 16, 2017 3:34 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hello, I am having issues with BT, MBP mid 2012 (Sierra 10.12.4). It is disconnecting and connecting, the sound is being cut every few secs. I ran the diagnostic you suggested:


0 -com.apple.diagnosticextensions.osx.bluetooth.helper
0 -com.apple.bluetoothReporter
0 0com.apple.bluetoothaudiod
103 -com.apple.blued
0x9c03 M D com.apple.diagnosticextensions.osx.bluetooth.helper
0x5603 M D com.apple.bluetoothaudiod
0x5803 M D com.apple.bluetoothReporter
0x5303 M A com.apple.blued


Any idea about what to do?

Thanks in advace,

C

Apr 22, 2015 6:07 PM in response to a.calder

Back up all data.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

Right-click or control-click the line and select

Services Reveal

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Trash. You may be prompted for your administrator login password. Restart.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combinationcommand-C. In the Finder, select

Go Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

Apr 24, 2015 12:12 PM in response to Linc Davis

Well, before going to the Apple Store for support, my colleagues and I decided to try booting from a bootable external drive.


When we did that, everything worked fine. No problems with Bluetooth at all.


Realising this meant a software issue, we decided to try re-installing OS X. We rebooted, held down Command + R and started the process. During this time, my BT Magic Mouse worked perfectly, everything fine.


Once OS X was re-installed, it rebooted and brought me back to the login screen. I logged in and... same issues as before: BT not responding at all.


So clearly this is a software issue, one that isn't fixed by re-installing OS X.


I tried forcing the issue with the following:

sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.blued.plist


But I got the error:

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.blued.plist: Service is disabled


So, what could be disabling BT?

Apr 24, 2015 2:30 PM in response to a.calder

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.

Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Apr 24, 2015 3:18 PM in response to Linc Davis

Restarted in Safe Mode and the problem persisted: no BT.


Restarted normally and BT still not functioning. At this point, I noticed that a colleagues machine has the blued daemon running at all times, whereas my system does not have it listed at all. After checking in Activity Monitor, I confirmed it with the following:


My Mac:

sudo launchctl list | grep -i blue


-0com.apple.bluetoothReporter
-0com.apple.IOBluetoothUSBDFU
-0com.apple.bluetoothaudiod


Colleague's Mac:

-0com.apple.bluetoothReporter
-0com.apple.IOBluetoothUSBDFU
890com.apple.blued
-0com.apple.bluetoothaudiod


My Mac is clearly not starting blued, but I cannot find any errors or even notifications of this in system.log


So, I manually launched blued:

/usr/sbin/blued


A few seconds later, everything connected and now works. In fact, I am typing this message from my BT keyboard.


However, the BT preference pane is still not responding correctly (does not list BT devices, does not respond to any clicks on "Turn Bluetooth Off" button):

User uploaded file


The Bluetooth menu only lists the MAC addresses of the connected devices:

User uploaded file


If I restart the machine, blued does not launch and has to be started manually.


So - have I borked my blued, or crippled launchd from loading it?

Apr 24, 2015 4:40 PM in response to a.calder

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.

Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

launchctl print system | grep blue | pbcopy

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.

Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.

The output of the command will be automatically copied to the Clipboard. If the command produced no output, the Clipboard will be empty. Paste into a reply to this message.

The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.

Bluetooth stopped working on my Mid-2012 MacBook Pro

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.