How-To: Fix “Bluetooth Not Available” problem in Mac OSX
Apr.13, 2008 in
How To
Recently my Bluetooth on my MacBook Pro stopped working without warning. The bluetooth icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen displayed with a line through it, and showed “Bluetooth Not Available” when I clicked on it. This was REALLY annoying as I use a bluetooth mouse on my Macbook Pro.
Thankfully, it was really easy to fix:
- Turn the MacBook off
- Wait
- Turn the MacBook on
However I’ve discovered that there are many others having the same problem. Sometimes you need to reset your PRAM to correct the issue. To do this, follow these instructions:
- Cold Reboot your computer (turn it off, wait, turn it on)
- As soon as it begins to power up, hold down the following keys at the same time:
- Command
- Option
- P
- R
August 28th, 2008 at 9:34 am
This post is an insult to my time. This doesn’t fix the big “Bluetooth Not Available” issue, the one that should be the subject of a class action against Apple. You’re just talking about a accidental drop of the driver which can happen and isn’t really an issue.
The Bluetooth Not Available problem is either a Logic Board problem or a driver problem. Nothing can really fix it. except for Apple, who have been ignoring this problem for more than a year now… THANKS FOR THE SERVICE APPLE!
August 28th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Hi Princess Lea,
The solution above worked for me – which is why I posted it. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you! Maybe you should contact Apple and vent your frustration to them?
Regards,
Ev
October 30th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I am having the same problem on my iMac late 2006 modle. Any help would be appreciated!
April 27th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I can’t send anything from my laptop or receive through bluetooth.
May 21st, 2009 at 5:54 am
Thanks, that seems to have done the trick on our early 2006 Intel Core Duo iMac. I was thinking of doing a PRAM reset anyway because there had been a general slowup and things were beginning to go awry – but I’d neglected to do so for some reason. Thanks for the reminder.
And Lea – before you call Marty a scruffy-looking Nerfherder it may be worth considering that not all hardware is the same; just because you used up some of your time resetting doesn’t mean it’s not a value thing to try. I hereby posit that your overconfidence is your weakness. Har har har.
May 21st, 2009 at 5:58 am
Whoa, sorry – why did I call anybody Marty just then?Must’ve glimpsed the name and let it bore into my subconscious…. ><
May 29th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Ev,
Online manners are not what they used to be, as evidenced by the first reaction you received. I feel certain the effort you took to post this solution has helped many people, including myself.
July 18th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Thx! your solution worked!!!!
July 30th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Worked for me too! Bluetooth icon didn’t show up on 2-year old iMac after restarting. System profiler said hardware wasn’t installed. Resetting the PRAM did the trick. Anymore, I’ve only found resetting the PRAM helpful with releasing IP addresses – whereas it used to be more more regularly used – but I’ll add this to my memory bank.
August 23rd, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Thanks. It worked. I was thinking my logic board failed, because my mac didn’t boot past the blue login screen. After an hour of sitting for the Leopard DVD to fix the disk, I log back in only to find out that the “Bluetooth is not available”. Anyways, thanks!
August 24th, 2009 at 2:47 am
This fix worked perfectly on my ’06 Intel iMac. Thank you!
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:37 am
I have also had this problem and apple care have managed to fix it for me in fifteen mins after I’d spent an hour of research trying to figure it out. He advised me to restart my PRAM just as the poster has kindly done but he also asked me to reset my SCM – I think this is what he called it – it’s the power manager for the usb/bluetooth/peripherals and it can be reset by taking the power cable out, the battery out and holding the power button down for ten seconds. This resets it and gave me full control over my bluetooth again. Yey Apple, my heros!
October 7th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
thanks for this!
such a simple solution to a weird problem.
October 10th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Thanks, it did the trick. I thought the BlueTooth module had died.
You get so used to Mac OS being rock solid that you dismiss a reboot as the way to solve anything.
@princess lea – you are an idiot!
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:24 am
Thanks so much. This worked perfectly.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Thanks – SCM Apple test didn’t work for me. But PRAM did. Excellent
December 27th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Im with Princess Lea on this one… it happened to me out of nowhere, Bluetooth losing connection after about 10 min, then going on and off with 5-10 minutes interval.
My mac mini is over 2 years old… so no chance of getting this fixed on the warrenty.
Also taking an advice from a friend, “try to “unplug”´bluetooth units”(mouse, keyboard) remove batteries and put it back in…. thanks to that swift move, I have now lost all connection with the keyboard…. doesn´t even light up with brand new batteries!!!!
so I am looking to buy a new mac mini and keyboard, which would set me back around $950(this is in Denmark)
I guess this is the plan from apple? rock solid my ass, this is the worst thing I have ever encountered on any platform.
I can see from other forums that this issued has been existing for over 2 years…
Makes me want to go from apple to some other mini pc supplier
January 18th, 2010 at 6:46 am
MacBook Pro bluetooth “unavailable”?
Hi please can someone help me?
I had a Macbook for 2 years and the bluetooth always worked perfectly.
Late 2009 I got a new Macbook Pro, which is better and more updated than my old Macbook (apparantly!)
Everything is great, but the bluetooth won’t work which is a big problem for me as I depend on it for work.
There is a bluetooth logo in the top bar (by the battery sign and the time) and it says it’s available. My phone can recognise the bluetooth on the laptop, but when I click ‘send’ or ‘connect’ or whatever it just says “connection unavailable” or “connection error” and it won’t even attempt to let me send a file from my laptop to phone.
It’s not just my phone as I’ve tried it with other people’s too and it does the same thing.
I’ve checked all the bluetooth preferences and everything seems to be ok… I don’t understand!
Please can someone help me get it up and running? I would be SO grateful and obviously you get your 10 points!
Thank you very much
February 1st, 2010 at 10:52 am
Thank you very very much for this solution which has worked brilliantly for me. I must say this error is one of the most frustrating that I have ever encountered on my early 2009 unibody MacBook Pro17″, especially after the graphics card failed within 4 weeks of purchase and required a Logic board exchange!!! I had to be without my computer which I paid £3000 for for TWO WEEKS. In addition this most recent fault really depressed me because after the previous problem that I had really threw doubt in my mind about the quality and reliability of these very expensive machines. Its made worse by the fact that I normally love my Mac to bits and I WANT it to be bullet proof. ANyway thanks again!!
February 8th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Thanks very much for this, My Blue tooth just stopped working this morning and I’ve got a session this afternoon and need my Magic Mouse to work, so thanks again for this info. Much appreciated. Regards Josef Horhay. Mixing Engineer. Acoostic Zoo Recording Studio.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Worked for me too!! I’m on a 2008 iMac 24″. I tried rebooting and that didn’t do the trick, then I reset my PRAM and YIPPEE! I was back in action. Which is a good thing considering I use a wireless mouse and keyboard. My brain is also wireless…
February 15th, 2010 at 3:43 am
Thanks a lot – finally a solution that works !
Stef
February 21st, 2010 at 2:33 am
restarted and worked.thanks
geez u magic mouse… heh
March 5th, 2010 at 1:58 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you–both to the author and Jamie who suggested SCM. You two prevented a lot of frustration!
March 9th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
it worked !!! TQ bro…
thats great man!!
March 11th, 2010 at 4:04 am
Solution works well. A simple restart didn’t solve the ‘Bluetooth Not Available’ problem. But a shut-down, wait and cold reboot seemed to fix it. Thanks.
March 14th, 2010 at 12:25 am
WTF? Since when is rebooting your computer a “solution”? What is this, a Windows computer? I expected better from Apple.
March 14th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Not even close. I have a MacBook 2Ghz: I suspect another hardware problem. Your solution may work for other models but unfortunately not for this one. Thanks anyway.
March 15th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
It worked (the PRAM one) Thanks so much!!!!!
March 20th, 2010 at 3:33 am
WOW……THAT WAS EASY! THANKS FOR POSTING!
March 21st, 2010 at 11:50 am
hello… i don’t know what happened or what the problem is… but my macbook pro had bluetooth, but then it disappeared n now i think i did something to make it get erased from the network thing too… can anyone help?!
April 21st, 2010 at 4:22 pm
the pram worked GREAT THANKS!
April 27th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
WORKED FIRST TIME!
Thank you so much!
(Tell the Grumpy – that “someone needs a nap!”)
Danny
April 30th, 2010 at 6:14 am
@Princess Lea: I find your lack of faith disturbing. You are a rebel and a traitor. The posted suggestion worked for me and now my computer is fully operational.
May 11th, 2010 at 1:31 am
Thank you EV, this worked for me as well…
May 25th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
MBP, May 2008. Bluetooth just failed on me after continuous use with magic mouse and BT keyboard. In the last two days I had added a logitech V02 headset and then during a call the BT module failed. the above solution worked perfect.
Txs for the post. We all appreciate it.
May 29th, 2010 at 1:57 am
thanks! turning off and turning on worked!
sometimes the simplest things get overlooked!
thanks again
June 4th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Thanks resetting PRAM Worked for me!
June 6th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Well THANK YOU so much! this worked just fine for me. I spent some hours restoring applications from the CD without positive result. The bluetooth would not get going…
After following your simple advice I was able use my magic mouse again. Yes!
Thanx for the post.
Keep up the good work
Mari Barneveld
June 16th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Thanks, Works like a charm!!
June 28th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
I have a similar problem but for my mac mini (2006) the bluetooth returns after a simple simple restarting and disappears by chance after 10 minutes or 1 hours…
It’s more complicated than that it seems (excuse me for my english)
June 29th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Resetting the PRAM worked. Wonder if that was my problem all this time. Prior to this bluetooth I was having erratic behavior with boot and shutdown, and ended up doing a clean install. Things were nice and snappy again until I moved all my files back, at which point the boot/shutdown issue returned. My first boot after moving files back took 10 minutes, and then bluetooth was gone. Thanks for the post
July 1st, 2010 at 6:31 pm
so with only aa wireless kybrdd im screwed right….typed uusing sscrreeen keyboard anndd bad mousse aaaaaarggggh
July 5th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Thank you very much! It worked like a charm! You have saved me because they way I have set up my notebook is only to work with wireless keyboard and mouse. Thanks again!
July 14th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Unreal, thanks it worked for me. Love looking up solutions to problems on the internet
August 10th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Hi all, I have a MacBook Pro 1.1 (2Ghz). I have a line through the BT. Tried PRAM and SCM. Nothing. Does this MacBook even have BT?
If so – any other suggestions.
thx
Al