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Level 1

23 points

El Capitan - Bluetooth Not Available

I've been looking through the forums and I'm seeing several references to folks running El Capitan getting the bluetooth icon with a lightning bolt through it, and a drop-down menu that just states "Bluetooth: Not Available". I have a MacBook Pro 15" Retina (Mid-2015).

My additional symptoms are:

There is NO Bluetooth Preference Pane. It's gone.
There are various errors in /var/log/system.log:
- Oct 6 09:00:57 ohcpisvp kernel[0]: Sandbox: AssetCacheLocato(1222) deny(1) file-read-data /Applications/Utilities/Bluetooth File Exchange.app/Contents/MacOS/Bluetooth File Exchange/..namedfork/rsrc
- Oct 6 09:00:57 ohcpisvp kernel[0]: Sandbox: AssetCacheLocato(1222) deny(1) file-read-data /Applications/Utilities/Bluetooth File Exchange.app
- Oct 6 09:00:57 ohcpisvp kernel[0]: **** [IOBluetoothFamily][SearchForTransportEventTimeOutHandler] -- Missing Bluetooth Controller Transport!
Running System Report shows "No Information found" under Bluetooth

This started with an upgrade from Yosemite to El Capitan (retail App Store). Bluetooth operated fine previously.

Disk Utility returns clean.

There is no longer a "Fix Permissions", as El Capitan instantiated the "System Integrity Protection" capability, removing fix permissions (and permanently fixing permissions on all system files).

I have tried the two solutions that were posted elsewhere:

Reset SMC (Shutdown, press CNTL-Option-SHIFT-Power, let all of them go simultaneously, then power up)
Delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

The SMC reset, initially, seemed to return Bluetooth functionality, but putting the system to sleep and re-awakening it caused it to disappear again, since them it's been offline.

Looking to see how many other folks are experiencing this issue, so we can get some attention on it (especially since it seems to have been a common occurrence during the Betas), and to see if anyone has a sticky solution? Resetting the SMC every time I boot seems a bit ridiculous.

-Rob

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Oct 6, 2015 6:24 AM

101 replies

Jun 3, 2016 8:33 PM in response to McDoughnut

I tried ONYX.. Ran the diagnostics & that didn't show or fix anything..I'm sort of afraid to run much else on there, since I'm not much of a geek & maybe it will do something negatively to the computer. I also ran the wireless diagnostics, thinking it might find something, which. of course, it did not.

Another suggestion was to edit the NVRAM file and insert the lines that another guy has listed in his. He had the problem but then solved it & he sent me the lines of the NVRAM that apply to Bluetooth. My NV file does not contain any reference to Bluetooth at all...

I have a neighbor, who is very very knowledgeable on the Mac & he's doing some research before he started editing the file.

I'll keep you informed if I find anything...Thanks for all your help !!

Jun 4, 2016 1:05 AM in response to hankyc914

hankyc914, really sorry you're still having these issues !

Mine were solved with a single NVRAM reset.

Thanks McDoughnut for the tip with the debug menu. I'm keeping that in case Bluetooth misbehaves again.

Jun 8, 2016 11:24 AM in response to Fil-mac

After months of struggling with this, I turned off FileVault.... Only been a couple of hours but as this is the only change I made and the Bluetooth issue has not surfaced, I am feeling that this is very promising.

Jun 8, 2016 11:49 AM in response to Macounette

I tried to reset NVRAM several times with no luck.... I have just about given up... I have work arounds for my BT devices & till Apple fixes the issue

i guess I will have to keep using them

Thanks

Jun 8, 2016 11:51 AM in response to mitch.sharp

Hi Mitch

I looked into my Filevault & it was never turned on..So mine must be a different issue than your.. Continued success with your Bluetooth.

Eventually I'll get mine back....maybe

seba737

Level 1

4 points

Jun 8, 2016 6:22 PM in response to pickerin

http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/bluetooth-el-capitan-10-11-5-fix.194833/

Jun 8, 2016 8:30 PM in response to seba737

Not sure I did it correctly, but did not work for me.. I unzipped all the files & dragged to Ktext utility...nada !!! Maybe IU didnt do it right I'll try it again

Thanks anyway

Jun 8, 2016 8:37 PM in response to hankyc914

This is what I get

-- Kext Utility --

v2.5.4 © cVad 2008-2013

Mac OS X 10.5-10.9

Fast repair all Kexts permissions

SLE Kexts Installer

Mkext Packer/UnPacker

cvad-mac.narod.ru

www.applelife.ru

ProductName : Mac OS X ProductVersion: 10.11.5 BuildVersion: 15F34

Bootargs :

Kernel : Darwin Kernel Version 15.5.0: Tue Apr 19 18:36:36 PDT 2016

Model ID : iMac17,1 KernelMode: x86_64

CPU TYPE : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20GHz

CPU ID : Ox506E3 (329443)

Cores : 4 Cores, 4 Threads @ 3200MHz Bus: 25MHz FSB: 100MHz

Caches : L1i:32Kb L1d:32Kb L2:256Kb L3:6144Kb

CPU Features : FPU VME DE PSE TSC MSR PAE MCE CX8 APIC SEP MTRR PGE MCA CMOV PAT PSE36 CLFSH DS ACPI MMX FXSR SSE SSE2 SS HTT TM PBE SSE3 PCLMULQDQ DTES64 MON DSCPL VMX SMX EST TM2 SSSE3 FMA CX16 TPR PDCM SSE4.1 SSE4.2 x2APIC MOVBE POPCNT AES PCID XSAVE OSXSAVE SEGLIM64 TSCTMR AVX1.0 RDRAND F16C SYSCALL XD 1GBPAGE EM64T LAHF LZCNT PREFETCHW RDTSCP TSCI SMEP ERMS RDWRFSGS TSC_THREAD_OFFSET BMI1 HLE AVX2 BMI2 INVPCID RTM SMAP RDSEED ADX IPT SGX FPU_CSDS MPX CLFSOPT

RAM : 16384Mb HibernateMode: 0

SwapUsage : total = 0.00M used = 0.00M free = 0.00M (encrypted)

User : hankyc on HenryCoac27inch.fios-router.home

Detected ... Darwin Kernel Version 15.5.0.

Start working: 2016-06-08 23:33:11 -0400

Task: Install "AppleBluetoothMultitouch.kext (arches) x86_64"

to "/System/Library/Extensions"

Found existing "/System/Library/Extensions/AppleBluetoothMultitouch.kext"

BackUp : "AppleBluetoothMultitouch.kext" to "AppleBluetoothMultitouch.kext.bak" ... Error.

Install: "AppleBluetoothMultitouch.kext" ... Can't copy source file.

Task: Install "IOBluetoothHIDDriver.kext (arches) x86_64"

to "/System/Library/Extensions"

Found existing "/System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothHIDDriver.kext"

BackUp : "IOBluetoothHIDDriver.kext" to "IOBluetoothHIDDriver.kext.bak" ... Error.

Install: "IOBluetoothHIDDriver.kext" ... Can't copy source file.

Task: Install "IOBluetoothFamily.kext (arches) x86_64

BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport.kext (arches) x86_64

CSRBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport.kext (arches) x86_64

CSRHIDTransitionDriver.kext (arches) x86_64

IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport.kext (arches) x86_64

IOBluetoothSerialManager.kext (arches) x86_64

IOBluetoothUSBDFU.kext (arches) x86_64"

to "/System/Library/Extensions"

Found existing "/System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext"

BackUp : "IOBluetoothFamily.kext" to "IOBluetoothFamily.kext.bak" ... Error.

Install: "IOBluetoothFamily.kext" ... Can't copy source file.

Task: Install "AppleMultitouchDriver.kext (arches) x86_64"

to "/System/Library/Extensions"

Found existing "/System/Library/Extensions/AppleMultitouchDriver.kext"

BackUp : "AppleMultitouchDriver.kext" to "AppleMultitouchDriver.kext.bak" ... Error.

Install: "AppleMultitouchDriver.kext" ... Can't copy source file.

Updating the system cache files .............................. False

-- Timeout 60 sec.

-- Unknown error --

Syncing disk cache ... Done.

All done.

Have a nice ... day(night)

Enjoy ...

seba737

Level 1

4 points

Jun 9, 2016 5:39 AM in response to hankyc914

http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/bluetooth-problems-workaround-el-capitan.17492 2/ Try this one!

seba737

Level 1

4 points

Jun 9, 2016 11:03 AM in response to hankyc914

disable the SIP to copy the files

Jun 11, 2016 7:16 PM in response to seba737

Im not much of a tekkie.. What is SIP and how do I disable? Thanks in advance

Jun 20, 2016 2:48 PM in response to pickerin

I had the same problem...no Bluetooth...happened all of a sudden. Shut down...waited a few minutes...then powered up. Bluetooth back.

6uka

Level 1

28 points

Jul 3, 2016 5:31 AM in response to pickerin

Bluetooth not available issue on the late 2015 iMac. FileVault is off anyway. -unplugging USB devices didn't help - SMC reset didn't help (tried several times with different time periods) - plist trash only helped the first time - NVRAM reset helped after none of the above helped!!! haven't restarted yet, need to wait and see how long it would last

Jul 28, 2016 3:06 PM in response to 6uka

Installed new OS 10.11.6 and same issue. Tried to reset NVRAM. No luck.. Funny thing is BT keyboard & mouse work, but can only use basic properties. Function keys don't work and only single left or right click on mouse works, even though menu bar shows "Bluetooth Not Available". Weird and still if I restart in Safe mode it works...I wish Apple would find a fix already ....

Aug 2, 2016 10:58 PM in response to pickerin

I just purchased a 13-inch MacBook Pro, spent the better part of my evening trying to import my data, settings, applications, etc. from a desktop iMac Time Machine backup and then when I finally got things up and going was halted by this same "Bluetooth Not Available" message. Researched all the same methods of troubleshooting you have with no results at all, didn't even work for a little while. Finally, I realized I had my power plug and an external 27" display plugged into the laptop and wondered if I removed all connections to the laptop (as suggested in another troubleshooting article to remove all USB devices) would that work. And it did. So if you are stumped like I was, disconnect everything from the machine and startup from the battery (on a MacBook Pro) and hopefully it will work for anyone else experiencing what I experienced.

El Capitan - Bluetooth Not Available