Update bricked my Bluetooth :(

[colinwil]

I just updated my two week old 27" iMac 5k to the new El Capitan that came out today.

Everything appeared to go smoothly, but since it finished, Bluetooth doesn't work. The Bluetooth symbol in the status bar has a squiggly line through it, and obviously my mouse etc. doesn't connect.

I've done the usual stuff:

- I unplugged everything except the keyboard and rebooted.
- I renamed com.apple.bluetooth.plist so that it would create a fresh new one.
- I did an SMC reset

But still nothing. If I go to System Preferences there's not even a Bluetooth section here anymore. And if I run the Diagnostics by rebooting with the 'D' pressed it says 'There may be an issue with the Bluetooth hardware. Reference code NDL001'.

Of course they may well be a problem with the Bluetooth hardware - but it's a pretty huge coincidence that this happened since upgrading El Capitan.

Anyone else seeing anything like this?

Or anyone got any suggestions of things I might try to shake it back to life
[doublepost=1458605739][/doublepost]Latest update - in desperation I uninstalled iStat Menus, and shortly after that, Bluetooth un-squiggled in the status bar, reappeared in System Preferences, and my mouse connected. Phew

Hopefully it'll stay fixed...

 

[h9826790]

Try a SMC and PRAM reset.

May be the hardware was faulty for a long time (according to your Apple Hardware test result), but just partly failure and keep working in normal situation. El Capitan is just the trigger.

Anyway, a $5 BT USB dongle can easily fix it (if the BT hardware is really broken) .

 

[Kasperk]

I am having the same issue with my iMac 5k (late-2015). Is the "iStat Menus" that you are talking about a third-party application?

 

[chrfr]

I just updated my two week old 27" iMac 5k to the new El Capitan that came out today.

Everything appeared to go smoothly, but since it finished, Bluetooth doesn't work. The Bluetooth symbol in the status bar has a squiggly line through it, and obviously my mouse etc. doesn't connect.

Apple has a tech note on this. Shut down the computer, disconnect all USB devices and then turn the computer back on after 2 minutes, then reconnect USB. The note also states that resetting PRAM/NVRAM won't resolve this.
https://support.apple.com/HT203646

 

[colinwil]

I am having the same issue with my iMac 5k (late-2015). Is the "iStat Menus" that you are talking about a third-party application?

Yes it's a very neat thing that does temperature monitoring etc. I don't have any real reason to suspect it, and it may just be coincidence that Bluetooth started working on my iMac shortly after I uninstalled it. The tech note mentioned in this thread sounds more likely to me. But we'll see...

 

[magnoman]

i had same problem with mine had to use a logitech keyboard/mouse to restart then all is ok.
But all seems random and it has come back a few times for me.
i have not uninstalled istat either

 

[colinwil]

i had same problem with mine had to use a logitech keyboard/mouse to restart then all is ok.
But all seems random and it has come back a few times for me.
i have not uninstalled istat either

I had it again just now (and I hadn't reinstalled iStat menus - so it looks like a red herring) after a reboot. I did another reboot and everything started working again.

 

[Kasperk]

I haven't managed to fix mine at all after installing the latest update, tried all the fixes. Just been using it through the lightning cable, will give it another try later.

I have a apple thunderbolt screen connected too, which I did not remove when trying earlier. It might be the reason why it did not work.

 

[Matthias46]

Just updated my two week old 27" iMac 5k and same thing...Bluetooth is gone.

Nice work Apple!

 

[Kasperk]

Just updated my two week old 27" iMac 5k and same thing...Bluetooth is gone.

Nice work Apple!

Im in the same boat, tried disconnecting everything now. Still same problem.

Update:
What fixed it for me
Resetting the NVRAM

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R.
3. Turn on your Mac.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys immediately after you hear the startup sound.
5. Hold these keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for a second time.
6. Release the keys.

 

[magnoman]

Thanks Kasperk
that also fixed my problems hopefully it stays like that missus was getting annoyed turning it off all the time

 

[laurent_g83]

Had the same problem, also a late 2015 iMac 27' 5k.
The fix for me was to reinstall OSX.

1. Make sure you have a backup
2. Restart the computer holding Command (⌘) + R
3. Chose "Reinstall OSX" and follow the steps.

It takes a while to run through the process and you might have to re-pair your bluetooth devices when it's done. I had to delete the bluetooth devices from the list and re-pair to get them to work. All your settings and files should be there and your bluetooth should be back to normal.

 

[Markee68]

Same here, 2 week old 27" iMac 5k

Been on the phone to Apple support

Reset SMC - didn't work
Reset NVRAM - didn't work
Reinstall OSX - didn't work

 

[goodmove]

Same here, 2 week old 27" iMac 5k

Been on the phone to Apple support

Reset SMC - didn't work
Reset NVRAM - didn't work
Reinstall OSX - didn't work

3 day old iMac 5K 27" had same issue. Did new install of 10.11.4 and t's better now. My Magic Trackpad 2 loses the connection only intermittently -every couple of hours for a few seconds. Also, had my first Mail crash since OS 9...

 

[Matthias46]

Some news from Apple?

 

[Markee68]

Well, turns out after spending nearly an hour on the phone to Apple support and taking into the Apple Store, my two week old iMac 5k has a faulty Airport (includes Bluetooth) card. Currently being replaced under warranty.

Strange that it worked without any issues but failed after a software update.

 

[laurent_g83]

Bad news here! The OSX clean install only fixed the problem temporarily. This morning when I started my computer my bluetooth was dead again and the squiggly line was back. It seems to be very intermittent as a restart sometimes fixes it. Very frustrating! Apple support seems to be unaware of any problem, I will continue to investigate solutions and report any findings.

 

[Markee68]

Bad news here! The OSX clean install only fixed the problem temporarily. This morning when I started my computer my bluetooth was dead again and the squiggly line was back. It seems to be very intermittent as a restart sometimes fixes it. Very frustrating! Apple support seems to be unaware of any problem, I will continue to investigate solutions and report any findings.

Maybe it's popped your Bluetooth (Airport) card like it did mine?

 

[lankox]

Having the same problem. Resetting PRAM did not help.

 

[Markee68]

If you've:

Reset your SMC
Reset NVRAM
Reinstalled OSX

It's probably a hardware failure like it was on mine.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

 

[laurent_g83]

Maybe it's popped your Bluetooth (Airport) card like it did mine?

Well, after some investigating and playing around, I reinstalled OS X again and reset NVRAM and it seems to be back to normal and stable, several restarts and I still have good bluetooth connectivity. Glad it worked out but not very impressed with Apple on this one. No communication, support unaware of any issues... After the iOS 9.3 fiasco and this it seems their testing is getting somewhat sloppy.

 

[ABC5S]

My update did not case any issues with bluetooth. If it was wide spread, it would have been reported as such.

 

[laurent_g83]

My update did not case any issues with bluetooth. If it was wide spread, it would have been reported as such.

Glad your computer is working fine and you are not experiencing this issue, but based on your signature you are using a MacBook Pro, not a late 2015 27" iMac 5k.
All users having problems are on the 27" iMac.....

 

[Ndalby]

Got the same issue as you guys with my 27" 5K Retina which was delivered last week, did the PRAM, NVRAM and Bluetooth plist delete which made it stable after a few restarts but once shutdown, it starts again. Also my 256GB SSD loading bar flickers on boot, gets to around a third then screen goes black, logo and bar flicker a few times then it loads to logon screen. Phoned Apple support and did 90min of troubleshooting with no improvement apart from Bluetooth, advised to return for replacement.

New iMac delivered today, all working brilliantly. Installed 10.11.4 with other App updates and both Bluetooth and SSD issue's have re-appeared. Go figure.

Anyone else noticed the SSD booting issue with theirs? Was previously running OS X on an external Thunderbolt SSD before upgrading my Mac and bar was always present during loading.

 

[tc94]

So I am running 10.11.14 on my MBP that is less than a year old. Using a Logitech K811 Keyboard and Logitech T651 Touchpad that both connect via bluetooth. They've been working fine until a few weeks ago. Now experiencing much of what you all are posting, including total disconnect. Tried restarting all devices and ensured all were updated. Resetting the PRAM has finally worked, but am still getting random disconnects and slow responses from both devices. At least after the PRAM reset, I am able to reconnect. Still a pain, but at least not totally bricked. Hoping an update will fix this.