My iMac Lost it's Bluetooth

iMac11,1 Intel Core i5, 2.66 GHz, 8 GB Memory Mac OS X 10.6.6 (10J567)

My iMac Lost it's Bluetooth. It's not as funny as it sounds. I use bluetooth with my keyboard/mouse and audio link to my hearing aids. Lucky that I have a usb keyboard/mouse or I'd be dead. It disappeared after a routine restart I do every couple of weeks or so prior to deleting unwanted files. The menu bar icon says "Bluetooth: Not Available," System Preferences does not contain a Bluetooth icon.

Any notions why? I really don't want to do a Time Machine recovery yet, I've let too much time go by since the last backup.

AzTom

Let's check the System Profiler to see what it says: Applications -> Utilities -> System Profiler.app. Click on Blue Tooth.

Thanks for the fast response.
"Applications -> Utilities -> System Profiler.app. Click on Blue Tooth." Response is "No information found."

Rhetorical: Where did it go? Did I somehow fat-finger it?

AzTom

Had the bluetooth disappear on mine once = a SMC reset took care of it so might try that.


For an iMac:

Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Attach the computers power cable.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.

See if it pops back up in System Preferences.

Blessed be the names of the Moderators of Mac-Forum!
The SMC reset did the trick. My Bluetooth is back and working.

Since my Apple ][ days in the late '70s I've experienced less than a dozen Apple ***?'s. By contrast my μSoft Windows experiences since the mid '80s have provided uncountable WTFs.

Thanks, AzTom

Glad it worked for you.

my mac book pro is having the same problem. but i cant do the restart like the imac. what can i do to fix it?

smc reset - scroll down to middle of page and use the link based on whether your Mac has a removable battery or not