Bluetooth: Not Available

Breezer

When I wake my MacBook (1.83GHz Core Duo model, 10.5.6) from sleep, I'm now consistently getting a zigzag line drawn through the Bluetooth icon in my menu bar, and when I click on it I get the message "Bluetooth: Not Available."

I can never remember this happening in Tiger, I think it was a Leopard bug, but it only happened intermittently, and came back when I waited a while. Now it's every time I wake from sleep, and the only thing that seems to fix it is a restart. Even that only fixes it until the next time I wake the computer from sleep.

I've tried repairing permissions, and resetting the PRAM, which seems to be touted as a fix - nothing. I'm on the point of doing a clean install of Leopard, which I really don't want to have to do.

Anyone here come across this issue (it seems to be a very common one) and actually managed to fix it?

11811

this happened mine the other day actually, altho it hasn't happened since I restarted my machine appeared to be a once off, but looks like its a bug of some sort alright..(i'm still on 10.5.5 tho)

drunkmonkey

i've the same problem with my powerbook, nothing seems to fix it, went missing after a software upgrade.....

Breezer

I've found a workaround, for what it's worth: switch Bluetooth off before the computer sleeps, and it will still be turned off (as opposed to "unavailable") when you wake the computer up again. It's annoying that this hasn't been fixed though.

<Cynicism>Maybe it's Apple giving us a gentle push to buy Snow Leopard</Cynicism>

Breezer

I'm resurrecting this thread. I originally thought 10.5.7 fixed this but it now seems to have gotten worse. I've been getting a different menu bar icon with the 'not available' message: an X through the Bluetooth symbol rather than a zigzag. Then my MacBook started refusing to sleep when Bluetooth wasn't available, so I started shutting it down fully instead. Today I've booted up, and my laptop (menu bar, system preferences, system profiler) is denying that I have a Bluetooth module.

Expert opinion: hardware or software? This never happens on my Mini, which would suggest hardware. But looking on various forums on the web, it seems to happen on a load of different computers, which could suggest software. It also never happened before I upgraded to Leopard.

Is there any way of checking if it's software related (short of a clean reinstall)? Maybe using target disc mode and my Mini or something?

EDIT: Forget it, I went and did an erase and install, back to 10.5.0, and I still have no Bluetooth. Obviously it's the hardware. Huh boy. Anyone here any good at taking MacBooks apart and want to quote me? PMs appreciated

Breezer

And I'm back again, since I've finally managed to fix this (Bluetooth has been working flawlessly for 7+ hours and the MacBook can sleep again anyway).

I'm just posting this in case anyone happens to search for the error here in the future and finds the tip useful. Basically you need to open up your MacBook and reroute the Bluetooth cable away from other cables. See the post by 'Tom Voon' on Apple's forums and this iFixIt guide.

Be careful prying up the keyboard case: those things are flimsy and I managed to crack mine in 2 places. Nothing a little superglue couldn't sort out and it's far better than not being able to use sleep mode or bluetooth.