# Bluetooth: Not Available



## rhazeman (Nov 5, 2007)

Hello there

Few days ago I noticed my bluetooth icon (top bar) has a "M/W" shape on it and when I put my mouse pointer it indicates "Bluetooth: Not Available". Any idea whats going on?


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## xero (Nov 5, 2007)

hello rhazeman
i've had this issue before with both usb bluetooth from dlink and built-in bluetooth from apple. if your bluetooth is via a 3rd party usb bluetooth adapter then unplug it, reboot and plug it back in after you reach the desktop. 

if you have built-in usb then simply reboot and it should come back. 

if that still doesn't solve it, the the above after moving the following files to your desktop.

com.apple.Bluetooth.plist 
located in ~/Library/Preferences/

com.apple.Bluetooth.00xxxxxxxxxx.plist
located in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/

the end of the last file will have the mac address of the device your using to connect to the internet. (most likely your built in ethernet port)


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## rhazeman (Nov 5, 2007)

i'll try it out soon. any idea whats the probable cause of it?


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## xero (Nov 5, 2007)

i wish i knew.. it happens to me about once a month. a LOT less now that i have moved to the apple internal bluetooth.


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## cpurdy (Aug 26, 2010)

rhazeman said:


> Few days ago I noticed my bluetooth icon (top bar) has a "M/W" shape on it and when I put my mouse pointer it indicates "Bluetooth: Not Available". Any idea whats going on?



At least one problem is that the bluetooth adapter flakes out and even turns off when it doesn't get enough power. Unplug your USB & firewire stuff (which is what caused the issue on my MBP), shut down the machine, let it rest for a few minutes, then power it back up.

I can reproduce this problem at whim now just by plugging too many power-draining USB devices into my MBP.

Peace,

Cameron.


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