Bluetooth unavailable post 10.11.4 upgrade

Are you just restarting your Mac, or are you shutting it down, and then rebooting only to have continuing bluetooth issues? I have two machines here running El Capitan 10.11.4 and neither missed a beat with Bluetooth connectivity — with Apple, or third-party products.

I would try downloading and installing OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 Combo Update to see if that fixes the problem.

bluetooth not working after upgrade to El Capitan from Yosemite

So , did you solve the bluetooth issue .... by doing the "OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 Combo Update" on top of (after/in addition to) the regular 10.11.4 update ??

I mean : is it possible to do the "10.11.4 Combo Update" when Capitan 10.11.4 is already installed (as an update of 10.11.3) ?

.. thanks

Is it possible to do the "10.11.4 Combo Update" when Capitan 10.11.4 is already installed (as a regular update of 10.11.3) ?

.. thanks

Hi JonP68

- my Mac: iMac 27 Retina 3,2 GHz late 2015, delivered with 10.11.3

- I updated last week to 10.11.4 with no probs for 2 days, I switched to standby several times.

- Then I added to Safari 9.1 the popular plug-in "AD Block" and powered off my iMac

(I don't believe AD Block to cause the prob, but it's better to tell the complete story)

- When powering on unfortunately BT-keyboard and -mouse didn´t work!

- I connected keyboard with load-cable and plugged in a USB-mouse and by this i could try: SMC-Reset, NVRAM-Reset, both with no result

- System-Information showed "no BT devices"

- Booting the iMac with "D" pressed delivered: BT-problem "NDL 001"

- thanks to apple-hotline the BT-prob was solved by:

deleting com.apple.Bluetooth.plist - powering down the iMac - disconnect power-cable - unplug cable-mouse/keyboard - switch off and on BT-mouse/keyboard - reconnect iMacs power - switch on the iMac.

greets from Germany, Peter

Yes, it is not a problem. It may or may not fix things depending upon what is behind the problem. But I usually suggest this when the problem arises just after a big upgrade or an update. The Combo updater replaces everything included in all prior updates since the original upgrade was released. For El Capitan that would be 10.11.2 - 10.11.4. It is always worth a try. It can't screw anything up any worse than it may already be, but it could fix things just right. If it doesn't, then you have to look elsewhere for a solution.

and ... Tomorrow ?

I tried a lot before on my (late 2015) iMac 27 that arrived with 11.3 with no problems in february and was updated to 11.4 about a week ago and the next day I guess showing no bluetooth connectivity .. I tried 'deleting com.apple.Bluetooth.plist' and 'com.apple.Bluetooth.plist.lockfile' / performing 2 different routines of a 'SMC-Reset' ... and finally when connectivity problems got worse ... :I did put back in the prefs folder (/Library/Preferences/) an older removed 'plist' file - apparently (file date info) from before the regular 11.4 update from 11.3 .. with file-name "com.apple.Bluetooth.plist~orig" that I renamed "com.apple.Bluetooth.plist" and I also put back in the prefs folder the removed ''com.apple.Bluetooth.plist.lockfile' ...

Following that some 2-3 days ago - all appears to be fixed / well for hours perhaps - I can shut down the iMac , and start the machine again (reboot) some time later ... but (I just noticed) many hours later - after shut down - the iMac has no Bluetooth connectivity and I need to rewire the keyboard and touchpad to get control ... and perform an instant 'restart' resulting again in Bluetooth connectivity.

So I wonder - Peter - tomorrow or the day after ... is the problem still gone on your machine ??

Re your solution "deleting com.apple.Bluetooth.plist - powering down the iMac - disconnect power-cable - unplug cable-mouse/keyboard - switch off and on BT-mouse/keyboard - reconnect iMacs power - switch on the iMac"

.. I did something similar before but not 'switch off and on BT-mouse/keyboard' ...

I will try your 'rules' tomorrow

thanks ! - I will first try (of course) the 'power-off' described by Peter in Aachen - but keep this in mind for later ..

Upps! After last days without prob. after shutdown BT failed again.

- I did Apple-recommendet procedere again: no sucess, did it againe: still no BT

- I replaced the BT-plist by a saved formerly running BT-plist, shut down, restart: no BT

- By finder I saw that replaced BT-plist right there.

- I shut down / restarted again: No BT

- Finally I cabeld just a mouse, and with the arrow just left from password-mask I choosed: "restart" (without shut down),

and from then I'm enjoying BT again on my iMac.

So my advice:

- Leave cable keyboard and mouse wired, relax and wait for apples sustanaibly workaround hopefullx in next weeks

or/and

- if you have, save a running BT-Plist and try my last hope with the restart without complete shutdown

greets from Germany, Peter

In between I phoned Apple-support and E-mailed them the facts and attached the failuring BT-Plist and a running one, so the engineers can investigate.

I'll inform you about their response.

I tryed again: Unfortunately no BT after power down and restart.

But again my under "Finally I cabeld just a mouse, ..." method worked!

Small simplifying: It`s not necessary to close the password-mask with the arrow left of it.

Simply with the cable mouse I choosed: "restart" (without shut down) at bottom of screen - and BT is fine as long as my iMac isn't switched off but keeps running or "sleeps" at Stand-By.

But mind: the replacing of an saved running BT-Plist, as I did some hours ago, seems to be a condition.

But how to get that???

As in my first post (march 31) I did:

"deleting com.apple.Bluetooth.plist - powering down the iMac - disconnect power-cable - unplug cable-mouse/keyboard - switch off and on BT-mouse/keyboard - reconnect iMacs power - switch on the iMac."

I didn't mention: I did 3 or 4 times until BT came up. So try several times, if BT comes up, save the BT-Plist!

hi Peter ,

I have been working on a solution for about a week - last few days a lot of time , especially yesterday (all day).

Meanwhile I have had success sometimes for 1-2 days and then the problem returned.

Summary of what I did - below a list by head .. not accurate (Solution far below - advice AppleCare Telephone Support)

- Apple's online advice to disconnect all USB disks etc / shut down - switch on - and add all USB devices again (I disconnected all)

- Removing the bluetooth plist file(s) (on the Mac without any attached devices) and powering down and switch on ... I had both the plist file and a file with extension plist~orig ... and a ..plist.lockfile /// I saved the file that I removed from the prefs folder ... Experimenting was with removing just 1 , 2 , 3 . I had success for a while with the "com.apple.Bluetooth.plist~orig" (which dates from before the 11.4 update) when I renamed the extension to "com.apple.Bluetooth.plist"

- In a early phase I had also done a SMC reset

- I never tried a PRAM reset

- I am aware that after switching on the Mac when keyboard and trackpad get no bluetooth connection it suffices to connect the trackpad and do a restart to get back Bluetooth ...

- Yesterday I followed first 'Peter in Aachen's' advice :

"deleting com.apple.Bluetooth.plist - powering down the iMac - disconnect power-cable - unplug cable-mouse/keyboard - switch off and on BT-mouse/keyboard - reconnect iMacs power - switch on the iMac."

That did not work (no BT in Menu / system prefs). Next plug in Trackpad , restart ... unplug TP .. got BT again .. Next shut down and removed powercord 3 min .. Switch on .. again no BT.. `Plug in TP .. restart ....(?) plug in both KB en TP switch KB en TP off using the switches on the Keyboard and Trackpad .... NOW for the first time ever the Bluetooth set up assistant window appeared ... i unplugged KB and TP and switched both on ..! Connected .. shutdown , reboot , again no BT

Next did the 11.4 combo-update adviced by theratter but no BT after restart

Did again the 11.4 combi update now after removing the bluetooth lockfile ... no BT after update (and no 'lockfile' after the update) ..... THEN at some moment I got BT again ... also after restart , also after power down and switch on , also after shut down and removing the powercord for some 3 minutes and switch on ... also after attaching all the USB and thunderbolt devices .. also after switch off Mac - remove power cord and switch on ... So all solved .. but the I attached my headphone .and ddi again the test routine of shut down / power removing ... etc .. And now again no BT !!!!

I concluded there is just no logic to be found ... Then I decided to contact AppleCare Telephone Support.

The advice I got was to "Reinstall OS X" from the 'Recovery-HD-Volume' .. that is the invisible partition on your internal HD.

That is what I did :

1. Restart Mac while holding down the command (cloverleaf) and R keys (command + R). Keep holding both keys down until the Apple logo appears.
2. Once the Apple logo appears, the Mac is booting from the Recovery HD volume. After a bit (starting up can take longer when booting from the Recovery HD, so be patient), a window appears with several options
3. I selected Reinstall OS X

Next several system components are downloaded from Apple online ..

This took (I have a basic Wifi account) about an hour.

Next the log-in window appeared again with user accounts ... And bluetooth for both the keyboard and trackpad worked OK.

All data and settings were OK (untouched).

Next I tested the BT by restart / next by switching off Mac / next by switching off Mac and removing powercord 3 minutes ... no problems everytime after switching on Mac.

Today , no problems again after switching on the Mac .. bluetooth still working

I am not going to do another test with eg removing the powercord overnight ...

I believe .. hope now ... my BT problems are over .... If /when the problem reappears I will post that here ..

Hope this ("Reinstall OS X" from the 'Recovery-HD-Volume') will help you too ...

Hi , thanks -- did not work .. see my detailed reponse below "

Apr 3, 2016 9:34 PM Re: Bluetooth unavailable post 10.11.4 upgrade

in response to Peter in Aachen