El Capitan - Bluetooth Not Available

Question

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

Reply

Answer 1

mgx0

Level 1

24 points

Aug 3, 2016 3:30 AM in response to pickerin

to me it happened after sleep, only sometimes, it's intermittent. the only two things which worked were rebooting the OS X and/or reloading Bluetooth module.

as mentioned in http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/156863/bluetooth-issues-after-sleep-in- os-x-yosemite-10-10

do this in Terminal, when BT does not work again and you don't have to reboot:

sudo kextunload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport
sudo kextload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport

reset SMC or PRAM did work - not because I reset it, but because a reboot was also involved.

I'm thinking if this has something to do when Mac goes to sleep when being connected... but it's only happening on my Macbook Pro mid 2012. not with iMac late 2012

Reply

Answer 2

Aug 13, 2016 5:19 PM in response to pickerin

i have this same problem. PLEASE SOMEONE HELP US!! ITS HARD TO STAY WITH NO BLUETOOTH SERVICE!!

Reply

Answer 3

CCSI

Level 1

4 points

Sep 7, 2016 8:03 AM in response to pickerin

FYI I have a similar issue did the same things you tried the only thing that worked for me was to disconnect the peripherals (thunderbolt monitor, Dell monitor and LaCie hard drive) and restart laptop and the bluetooth worked. Connected all units to laptop and continued to work.

Reply

Answer 4

shines2k

Level 1

4 points

Sep 30, 2016 7:24 AM in response to pickerin

I'm having this problem too. Just this afternoon, I came back to my MacBook and it was frozen (black screen, spinner going forever). I did a hard power-off (since there was no other way) and when it booted back up, Bluetooth was gone. No preferences panel, bluetooth icon says "Bluetooth: Not Available".

I have tried every solution proposed in this thread: reset SMC, NVRAM, turn off and disconnect USB and wait, kext unload/load. El Capitan 10.11.6 on MacBook Pro 13" (early 2015).

Judging by this thread, Apple doesn't seem too interested in solving the problem.

Reply

Answer 5

shines2k

Level 1

4 points

Oct 3, 2016 1:53 AM in response to CCSI

Thank you! Of all the solutions I tried (SMC, NVRAM, disconnect and wait, kext unload/load, etc) this is the only one that worked for me.

Reply

Answer 6

Oct 10, 2016 12:48 PM in response to shines2k

Yesterday I upgraded my 27" iMac to Sierra, thinking it might, just might, solve my lack of Bluetooth issue, that I have since I got this computer 8 months ago. Sierra did not correct a thing. I tried all the suggestions all over again & none of them worked. But whats really funny is that my Bluetooth keyboard & mouse work, but only in very basic mode. None of the function keys on keyboard work and mouse can only be used to left or right click. Scrolling doesn't work.

I wonder when Apple is going to realize that lots of us are having these issues and address the problem.

Even though there are work arounds, its still extremely frustrating..

Reply

Answer 7

Oct 14, 2016 7:25 AM in response to hankyc914

I have the same symptoms in El Capitan. Mouse works in basic mode, but no scrolling.

Reply

Answer 8

diulay

Level 1

8 points

Nov 2, 2016 5:22 AM in response to pickerin

You can try:

1. Hold down shift and option

2. Click on Bluetooth icon (will open secret menu)

3. Go down to "debug" option

4. Select "Reset the Bluetooth Module"

Hope this helps

Reply

Answer 9

Nov 10, 2016 5:45 PM in response to pickerin

I have the exact same problem but it just started and seems unrelated to El Capitan upgrade.

Reply

Answer 10

Dec 9, 2016 2:21 PM in response to mister_saxon

me too whats the link for only bluetooth? any ideas why it's gone! just brought a bluetooth speakers!

Reply

Answer 11

yebdox

Level 1

28 points

Dec 23, 2016 4:01 PM in response to CCSI

This worked for me - 2011 27" iMac on El Capitan, quit recognizing bluetooth, no sys prefs visible, did not help to trash prefs file or reset PMU. Restarted, zapped the PRAM, nothing changed. But, after shutting down, unplugging both backup drives, letting it sit for 5 minutes, everything is fine on reboot. Able to plug drives back in and Bluetooth seems stable for now. Relief! We'll see, it is a 6 year old machine, but I have 29 Macs ranging from 2011 to 2016, and others retired that were older, I've never seen a loss of Bluetooth. Always something new.

Reply