<< Solved >> Bluetooth stopped working after updating to 10.15.1 (BCM943602CS)

[Kittciokas]

My own wifi/BT card is this one:

View attachment 435444​

... which from your description, sounds like yours too. Catalina 10.15.1 has had no affect on this card whatsoever. All working perfectly as before. This is what made me think your problem is USB.

Yeah, this card looks exactly like mine. I already ordered new BCM943602CS module (without adapter), i hope it will work, and it's not an adapter fault (it shouldn't be, WiFi still works fine). And if does, i will be removing it every time i update my system, and reinstalling it after it.

I bought it from here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281701519595

EDIT: I remembered, that I read somewhere, that Product ID 0xf007 is shown when bluetooth is not initialized or in flashing mode. When it does function, it should show 0x8290. I guess it really is bricked. That would explain why it doesn't work even in Windows.

As for USB configuration, i'll look into it later. I'd love to clean it up either way.

 

[Kittciokas]

Just wanted to post an update of the situation. Spoiler: no success.

This is the photo of BCM943602CS with the adapter that i have - exactly as yours:

I tried to make it work on Windows. Before I booted to Windows, i changed PCI slot, and once booted, i used different USB port (external). No success of installing drivers. I installed a few, install was successful, it either said that there's no device that need those drivers or just said that BCM4xxx drivers has been successfully installed. Under Device Manager it still didn't recognise it properly. I tried to do this - select the device > Update drivers > Browse my computer for driver software > Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer > Bluetooth > Apple Inc., as i installed a few drivers, i had 5 options to choose, all of them starts with "Apple Broadcom Built-in Bluetooth Version:..." It had versions like 3, 5, 6.... I tried them all. All it said (with every version of driver) was "This device cannot start. (Code 10)". I believe that it's definitely bricked. As i wrote earlier, i found out that Product ID 0xf007 means that device isn't started or in firmware flash mode. And here it says, that not that it's not found, but that "device cannot start".

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Just wanted to post an update of the situation. Spoiler: no success.

This is the photo of BCM943602CS with the adapter that i have - exactly as yours:
View attachment 435460

I tried to make it work on Windows. Before I booted to Windows, i changed PCI slot, and once booted, i used different USB port (external). No success of installing drivers. I installed a few, install was successful, it either said that there's no device that need those drivers or just said that BCM4xxx drivers has been successfully installed. Under Device Manager it still didn't recognise it properly. I tried to do this - select the device > Update drivers > Browse my computer for driver software > Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer > Bluetooth > Apple Inc., as i installed a few drivers, i had 5 options to choose, all of them starts with "Apple Broadcom Built-in Bluetooth Version:..." It had versions like 3, 5, 6.... I tried them all. All it said (with every version of driver) was "This device cannot start. (Code 10)". I believe that it's definitely bricked. As i wrote earlier, i found out that Product ID 0xf007 means that device isn't started or in firmware flash mode. And here it says, that not that it's not found, but that "device cannot start".
View attachment 435461

Hmm not good.

The only positive I see is that the Apple Broadcom Built-in Bluetooth, is at least recognised as such. You never know, maybe it isn't totally bricked.

I'll check which BT drivers my own Windows 10 install is using, later on today. Probably no use given what you've discovered.

The thing nagging here for me is that I know of another X99 build with the same problem. MacPro6,1 seems the system-definition involved too.

I don't believe in coincidences ...

 

[Kittciokas]

The only positive I see is that the Apple Broadcom Built-in Bluetooth, is at least recognised as such. You never know, maybe it isn't totally bricked.

It wasn't recognised as such until i chose the drivers (i mentioned before). Without drivers it's listed as Broadcom Bluetooth Download Device (as far as i remember) - the same as in macOS.
Do you have a link to a topic about X99 and BCM943602CS with the same problem?

 

[Kittciokas]

I just found a really useful topic online: https://github.com/the-darkvoid/dfu-util-osx/issues/1

Some of the quotes:

Hey, I'm using a bcm943602cs wifi+bt card with native support，but it seems like the firmware need upgrade to enable bluetooth in 10.12.

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread. I'm having the same issue with the same card, legitimate Apple hardware running a legit copy of macOS on an rMBP. I am trying to update the card firmware which seems to have gotten corrupted in one of the latest software updates (10.13.6), after which bluetooth no longer works. Any ideas on how to put the card in DFU mode? Thanks in advance.

Even real macs have this problem.

Hey, may be I can give you some information useful:
The card firmware seems to be auto updated by the system at power up or some time, I once change a card from a 11.11 rMBP to a 11.12 machine，and the firmware version get updated
I closed this issue because I find there is a hardware problem with the bcm943602cs, some capacitor disappear in the circuit board. So I think this is why bluetooth not work

Thank you for your feedback, the fact that the cards firmware gets uploaded on every boot seems reasonable to me. However I find it very suspicious that right after a software update it stopped working, the card now has a wrong product ID, bluetooth cannot be turned off on the preferences and no devices are detected.

My Product ID probably changed because of this too.

I did already. Tried reinstalling from scratch, going back all the way to El Capitan and even tried the Mojave beta. Bluetooth isn't even visible on versions < 10.13

I recovered with Time Machine to 10.15.0 - the same, bluetooth was gone.

right after a system software update? suspicious, to say the least

Mine stopped working right after update too!

Too many coincidences!

If the new ordered card works, i hope it won't get corrupted too.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I just found a really useful topic online: https://github.com/the-darkvoid/dfu-util-osx/issues/1

Some of the quotes:




Even real macs have this problem.




My Product ID probably changed because of this too.


I recovered with Time Machine to 10.15.0 - the same, bluetooth was gone.


Mine stopped working right after update too!

Too many coincidences!

If the new ordered card works, i hope it won't get corrupted too.

Interesting stuff, I agree.

The trouble is, if macOS updates firmware each boot, and 10.15.1 is the culprit - you know what I'm going to say - why are not all 2015 Macs that used this Broadcom card, not affected? That should be a major incident.

I'll do more research because clearly it is a problem and needs explaining.

I'm still not back at base, so will do more work later.

 

[headkaze]

The only positive I see is that the Apple Broadcom Built-in Bluetooth, is at least recognised as such. You never know, maybe it isn't totally bricked.

I've "bricked" my BT card before by uploading a corrupted PatchRAM firmware but you can just shutdown the machine and unplug it to restore the RAM.

I'm not sure what an official Apple BT device updated with a corrupted firmware using IOBluetoothUSBDFUTool will do though. You could try a manual DFU upload.

If you take a look in
/System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOBluetoothUSBDFU.kext/Contents/Resources you will see the DFU firmware that Apple provides. If your BT Product ID is 0x821D, for example, you can DFU upload with the following command:

sudo dfu-util -D /System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOBluetoothUSBDFU.kext/Contents/Resources/20702_821D.dfu

You can install dfu-util using homebrew with the following command:

brew install dfu-util

After that you can try reloading the BT driver with the following commands:

sudo kextunload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport
sudo kextload -b com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport

You may need to restart the Bluetooth daemon:

sudo launchctl stop com.apple.bluetoothd
sudo launchctl start com.apple.bluetoothd

 

[Kittciokas]

If you take a look in
/System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOBluetoothUSBDFU.kext/Contents/Resources you will see the DFU firmware that Apple provides. If your BT Product ID is 0x821D, for example, you can DFU upload with the following command:..

Thank you for a fresh perspective.

Too bad i don't know original Product ID of my card that was shown in System Report when Bluetooth worked fine. All i know that now it's 0xf007. So i don't really know which firmware to try to flash. Unless i can try all of the 20702_XXXX.dfu files.

 

[headkaze]

Thank you for a fresh perspective.

Too bad i don't know original Product ID of my card that was shown in System Report when Bluetooth worked fine. All i know that now it's 0xf007. So i don't really know which firmware to try to flash. Unless i can try all of the 20702_XXXX.dfu files.

What do you get when you run:

 sudo dfu-util -l

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Thank you for a fresh perspective.

Too bad i don't know original Product ID of my card that was shown in System Report when Bluetooth worked fine. All i know that now it's 0xf007. So i don't really know which firmware to try to flash. Unless i can try all of the 20702_XXXX.dfu files.

Still not back at base ...

Well, if it is the same card as mine then we are talking: 0x05AC-0x8290 and 20703A1.

Unless I'm wrong (and I could be), would there be a problem flashing the default firmware to this card?