Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Treadpool

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 10, 2016
3
1
Boston, MA
I did an in-place upgrade of El Capitan to Sierra a week or so ago. Everything seems ok except for Bluetooth. It's completely non-existent.

I've tried re-installing Sierra, SMC reset, and NVRAM reset. I've tried deleting the bluetooth plist file. When I go to About this Mac and select System Report, the Bluetooth section under "Hardware" says "No information found".

When I go to Bluetooth in System Preferences -> Network, Bluetooth is off. The option to "Turn Bluetooth On" is greyed out.

Bluetooth was working fine before the upgrade and now it seems there's no driver or anything installed. Any ideas?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: senand

Treadpool

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 10, 2016
3
1
Boston, MA
Thanks - looked for that. All it gives me is the option to "Create Diagnostics Report on the Desktop". I don't see any of the other options in that menu when holding down the keys it says to.
 

senand

macrumors newbie
Jan 24, 2017
1
0
I have exactly the same problem.
Funnily, it used to work on Sierra for me, and now an unknown reason it stopped working, with the same symptoms as described.

Did you fix it in the meantime?
[doublepost=1485275008][/doublepost]For me resetting the NVRAM worked
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
 

Treadpool

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 10, 2016
3
1
Boston, MA
I have exactly the same problem.
Funnily, it used to work on Sierra for me, and now an unknown reason it stopped working, with the same symptoms as described.

Did you fix it in the meantime?
[doublepost=1485275008][/doublepost]For me resetting the NVRAM worked
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

Unfortunately, no. I had to buy a Bluetooth USB dongle - seems the upgrade messed up my Bluetooth permanently. Brought it into the store and they agree - offered to replace the comms board for $150. I politely declined. Then again, it's hard to directly associate it (and prove the case) to an OS upgrade even though it worked fine minutes prior in El Capitan. Dead in Sierra.
 
Last edited:

apoklipsys

macrumors newbie
Apr 25, 2017
1
0
Unfortunately, no. I had to buy a Bluetooth USB dongle - seems the upgrade messed up my Bluetooth permanently. Brought it into the store and they agree - offered to replace the comms board for $150. I politely declined. Then again, it's hard to directly associate it (and prove the case) to an OS upgrade even though it worked fine minutes prior in El Capitan. Dead in Sierra.


Hi Guys, i've done all the recommended steps and nothing.. and changed the comm board, nothing.., a few weeks ago i was working with apple support and they told me to delete the login items on my user account, after that, it worked.., but a month after problem is the same, and no login items.. everything happened after a Sierra update.
 

nobodykeys

macrumors newbie
Aug 18, 2009
5
0
Unfortunately, no. I had to buy a Bluetooth USB dongle - seems the upgrade messed up my Bluetooth permanently. Brought it into the store and they agree - offered to replace the comms board for $150. I politely declined. Then again, it's hard to directly associate it (and prove the case) to an OS upgrade even though it worked fine minutes prior in El Capitan. Dead in Sierra.

Hi - which dongle did you get? Most on Amazon don't seem to endorse Mac support.

Also, was it straightforward to set up? I read on some other forums how it was problematic to get the OS to switch to using the dongle Bluetooth, as opposed to the inbuilt Bluetooth.
 

tomkessler

macrumors newbie
Nov 2, 2017
1
0
I ran into this on a 2017 imac. In addition to pram reset, smc reset, and erasing the Bluetooth.plist files
I had to boot into safe / fix mode.
 

macbookbro1967

macrumors newbie
Mar 19, 2016
4
1
I did an in-place upgrade of El Capitan to Sierra a week or so ago. Everything seems ok except for Bluetooth. It's completely non-existent.

I've tried re-installing Sierra, SMC reset, and NVRAM reset. I've tried deleting the bluetooth plist file. When I go to About this Mac and select System Report, the Bluetooth section under "Hardware" says "No information found".

When I go to Bluetooth in System Preferences -> Network, Bluetooth is off. The option to "Turn Bluetooth On" is greyed out.

Bluetooth was working fine before the upgrade and now it seems there's no driver or anything installed. Any ideas?

I had the same thing on a 27" Late 2011 iMac. Upgraded to High Sierra and lost all Bluetooth functionality. Won't even show up in the system report. Hired a tech to check all the wiring and replace the bluetooth module to no avail. Had to buy a dongle. It recognized the dongle and restored bluetooth function right away but clearly there is a bug in Sierra and High Sierra affecting bluetooth Apple is not acknowledging. I tried all the fixes and procedures outlined in these help blogs. Nothing worked. Wish I had better news and some hope to offer. If anyone figures this out, please let me know.
[doublepost=1522432099][/doublepost]
How to Reset the Bluetooth Hardware Module on Mac OS X to Troubleshoot Challenging Bluetooth Issues

http://osxdaily.com/2015/12/15/reset-bluetooth-hardware-module-mac-osx/
This is only a good fix if you have a Bluetooth detected by the system. If your Bluetooth icon is greyed out, then what?
 

HJM.NL

macrumors 68030
Jul 25, 2016
2,770
4,586
Netherlands
I had the same thing on a 27" Late 2011 iMac. Upgraded to High Sierra and lost all Bluetooth functionality. Won't even show up in the system report. Hired a tech to check all the wiring and replace the bluetooth module to no avail. Had to buy a dongle. It recognized the dongle and restored bluetooth function right away but clearly there is a bug in Sierra and High Sierra affecting bluetooth Apple is not acknowledging. I tried all the fixes and procedures outlined in these help blogs. Nothing worked. Wish I had better news and some hope to offer. If anyone figures this out, please let me know.
[doublepost=1522432099][/doublepost]
This is only a good fix if you have a Bluetooth detected by the system. If your Bluetooth icon is greyed out, then what?
I have the same issues with my brand new iMac 27 inch 5K. Did all the possible actions and even reinstalled the system twice. Although there are more than 1197 reactions on apple’s forum about these issues. They didn’t tell me this is a known problem. I brought my Mac back for repairs since it’s still under warranty. I’ll post the outcome.
 

sdjensen

macrumors newbie
Oct 12, 2011
9
3
I brought my Mac back for repairs since it’s still under warranty. I’ll post the outcome.

Hi HJM.NL,

I am very curious to know if the repair solved your bluetooth issues. I currently have a iMac 27 inch 5K (2015) and since the last macOS update I haven't been able to connect any bluetooth devices to it - neither my magic keyboard/trackpad or 3rd party devices.
 

sdjensen

macrumors newbie
Oct 12, 2011
9
3
I currently have a iMac 27 inch 5K (2015) and since the last macOS update I haven't been able to connect any bluetooth devices to it - neither my magic keyboard/trackpad or 3rd party devices.

I just created a new test install of macOS (rolled back to 10.11.6 El Capitan) to see if the issues was with 10.13.4 (High Sierra), and when I go into system settings there is no area for Bluetooth - if I look at system information there is no bluetooth hardware found, so it seem like my bluetooth radio is toast.
 

HJM.NL

macrumors 68030
Jul 25, 2016
2,770
4,586
Netherlands
Hi HJM.NL,

I am very curious to know if the repair solved your bluetooth issues. I currently have a iMac 27 inch 5K (2015) and since the last macOS update I haven't been able to connect any bluetooth devices to it - neither my magic keyboard/trackpad or 3rd party devices.
Hello sdjensen, sorry for my late respond. I got my iMac back and they put in a whole new logicboard. I wonder why a whole new motherboard was necessary when only Bluetooth didn’t work... but that’s another topic.
I worked 5 minutes and then the issues with keyboard and mouse started again. I called Apple and they said to return it again. First repair took three weeks and this time it’s two weeks and still haven’t heard anything.
I asked Apple to give me a new iMac because I’ve issues with this iMac from day one. They won’t! Since the iMac is totally sealed it will be the second time they cut the screen open. It’s like getting a refurbished iMac for the full € 2880,-I’ve paid for.

Long story but I’m so frustrated and done with this brand. I’ve been a devoted Apple user since 1989 and even kept supporting the platform during the mid nineties. Since 2012 the computer division of Apple is going downhill and I see even serious cracks appearing in other categories they’re in.

The service guy from Apple told me that I should be happy that my iMac gets the repairs under warranty. But how can I be happy with a machine that doesn’t work as it supposed to do.

I really hope your iMac is better. Even the numerical keyboard transformed into a banana. Some research on the internet told me that the first batch of the magic Keyboard were faulty and Apple silently made a revision.

I got a new magic keyboard but I’m still waiting for my iMac to return. 5 weeks and counting...

Tim Cook should be ashamed into the rotten Apple he sold me!

Sorry for my frustrations!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.