[brschetgen]

I've got the 1st Gen. MacBook 2 GHz Core Duo and I'm past my complimentary AppleCare Software Support but have still got a few months left on the AppleCare Hardware Warrenty. I haven't done any major updates to it recently, although it is totally current w/ 10.4.9 etc. For no appearant software or hardware reason (I didn't drop the computer or anything), beginning this week my Bluetooth sporadically becomes "Unavailable" in the Menu Bar, its System Preference Pane goes away, and I can't use any of my devices. Does this sound like a hardware issue (my vote) or something in OS X. Thanks!

[Dr. DDS]

There are some options:
1) Did you run DiskUtility and repair permissions?
2) Did you run Apple Hardware Test?
3) You can try to create another account and see if the bluetooth still have problems..
See if it helps

[mfbernstein]

Look at the logs (/Applications/Utilities/Console - in particular system.log and console.log). You should be seeing events there when the Bluetooth disappears).

[brschetgen]

I ran Disk Utility and Apple Hardware Test, though I wish I knew that the Bluetooth was in fact not working at the time that I ran it because it does work most of the time. Subsequently, I did find that System Profiler finds nothing in the Bluetooth section when it is not working, but sees everything normal when it does work. I will check the Console for logs from when the Bluetooth disappears as well as creating a new user to see if the problem occurs there as well.

Thanks much for your responses.

[brschetgen]

Console tells me this:

Apr 24 17:16:05 bschetgen kernel[0]: USBF: 169.878 AppleUSBHubPort: Port 1 of Hub at 0x7d000000 reported error 0xe00002ed while doing set feature (resetting port)

Definitely sounds hardware to me... any thoughts?

[mfbernstein]

Looks like hardware to me too. The Bluetooth is connected via an internal USB hub. Have a look at the System Profiler, under USB. If Bluetooth HCI disappears from there when you get that error message in the log, then that's the explanation.

[brschetgen]

The Bluetooth does disappear from Profiler when the connection drops out. I talked with AppleCare and they agree and are going to replace the Bluetooth chip or the logic board. Thanks for all the input.