Lost Bluetooth

[cjboorman]

I have a WiFi/Bluetooth combo card (BCM94360CD/BCM94331CD to PCI-e 1X Adapter, http://www.ebay.com/itm/BCM94360CD-...tosh-and-PC-/231370068228?hash=item35debb1104) which worked perfectly (natively) on my Yosemite build, but after I upgraded to El Capitan - my Bluetooth device disappeared.

Now my Apple Wireless Keyboard and MagicTouch Mouse no longer work, but I can use a USB keyboard and mouse (ugh!).

I still have the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar, but when I click it, it just says "Bluetooth Not Available"; and in the System Report, Hardware > Bluetooth shows "No information found".

I've already spent several hours trying various hacks and patches - but I've had no luck so far.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

 

[cheetaa]

I guess your USB internal port where the bluetooth cable is attached (from wifi card) is not working.

Check the USB fixes post and try to find a solution to make your USB ports working again.

El Capitan USB issues

 

[cjboorman]

I tested the WiFi/Bluetooth combo card's USB connection, and it's working properly.

Interestingly, I have full WiFi functionality - and since the WiFi device is part of the same combo card, the WiFi device must be getting 5 VDC power; therefore the Bluetooth device must be getting it as well.

 

[cjboorman]

When I use DPCIManager to view the list of PCI Devices on my machine, only one Broadcom device shows up - and it's listed as a "BCM4360 802.11 ac Wireless Network Adapter".

But I don't see the Bluetooth Adapter?!

 

[cjboorman]

I plugged in an old USB Bluetooth adapter (Cambridge Silicon Radio), and I got Bluetooth working! Although I didn't get the Bluetooth working on my BCM94360CD/BCM94331CD to PCI-e 1X combo card - at least I can now use my wireless keyboard and MagicMouse.

I'd still like to get my BCM94360CD/BCM94331CD to PCI-e 1X combo card working though.

 

[ammulder]

If you look in About This Mac / System Report / USB, do you see the bluetooth device on your combo card listed there in addition to the CSR one?

 

[cjboorman]

No, the Bluetooth device on the combo card is absent.

Incidentally, it shows the USB Bluetooth device as "Built-in".

I got the combo card because of its native support. It was automatically detected in Yosemite, and was fully functional. This would seem to indicate that genuine Macs with this Bluetooth hardware would also experience this problem, but I find that difficult to believe. Perhaps there's something different about the way this combo card interfaces with the system. It's a tiny card that is physically plugged into an M2 slot onboard another card that is physically plugged into a PCI Express x1 slot.

 

[ammulder]

If the combo card Bluetooth is absent in the USB listing, then I'm pretty sure the USB port it's using is not working. (Certain USB ports not working is very common in El Capitan.)

For boards with an m.2 or PCIe half-mini slot, there's no visible USB connection or wiring, it just has a USB port built into the slot mechanics. For your PCIe card, you may have wired it to a USB port on the motherboard; I'm not sure how that works. But however it's connected, it doesn't appear to be to a USB port that's working under El Capitan.

On mine with an onboard PCIe half-mini, I edited my DSDT to remove the unused USB port listings to make room for the ports that actually were used, including the PCIe half-mini slot's USB port. But you can achieve something similar with a couple kexts that remap the USB2 ports to a different USB controller than USB3 ports. More details in the various "Fix USB" threads kicking around.

 

[cjboorman]

The combo card wouldn't appear in the USB listing because it's not connected to a USB port (although I'm now using a USB Bluetooth device). The combo card is plugged into a PCI Express x1 slot on the PCI Express Bus.

There is a "System Information > Hardware > PCI" listing, but it shows nothing connected.

Incidentally, I tried moving the combo card to another PCI Express slot - but that changed nothing.

 

[ammulder]

I'm going to say this one more time, and then I'll go away.

Your Bluetooth requires a working USB port. It may or may not be a physical port that's visible to you. It may just be part of some other connector. For instance, my m.2 and half-mini PCIe cards both get their USB connectivity through the physical m.2/half-mini PCIe connection. I've heard of other ones that you physically wire to e.g. a USB header on your board. But if the USB port that your motherboard assigns to the combo card or the plug it's using isn't working, then the Bluetooth device won't work.

If this doesn't make sense, let me know and I will try to explain better.

If you disagree, then we'll agree to disagree and leave it at that.