Bluetooth unavailable + Screen flicker on MBP mid 2012
Eek! A few weeks ago (right after I discovered the data-& energy-saving “tether via bluetooth” function on android, sigh..) I found that my MBP showed me the “bluetooth unavailable” symbol in the icon bar: A greyed out icon with a sawtooth wave on front of it. I could not connect to any device, no submenu is shown.
But: this does occur randomly! So I guess this is some hardware defect?
Additionaly, recently when I opened the MBP, the screen would flicker initially (not the green-stripe flicker, but some flashing, then grey/white noise, then the standard screen, with the “BT not available” symbol.
Is the BT antenna somewhat connected to the screen cable? Is there something I can do to fix the BT issue and to prevent things getting worse?
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So I helped myself with a TP-LINK USB dongle to get WIFI back. But now I'm a bit in the mood to get this fixed again. I wasn’t sure about the “black clutch” thing, but I guess you mean the black U-rounded cover at the bottom of the display?
Then it could be that I damaged the antenna somehow, as the plastic has been bumped indeed, just as you guessed. I don’t want to to anything with the display and a heat gun, and the display is working fine again, so it seems the LVDS is working fine.
That still leaves me open to the question if not the BT/WIFI module is broken because a broken antenna might rather result in bad connection quality than not being able to switch on at all/being unavailable, wouldn’t it?
Plus: can I replace just the antennas somehow? I didn’t get this very well.
Thank you anyways for your detailed answer, this helped me a lot!
huedrant さんによる
If you dont want to bother with the heat gun and glass removal, you cannot replace the cable alone. You will need to do the display replacement. The Antenna for this model is routed into the screen. When you remove the screen, you remove the antenna (and display cable, obviously). You need a new display and antenna cables, but do not want to lift the glass (I don't blame you, its easy to break if you've never done it). The solution is the same as what dan told u a while ago. If your wifi issue continues to persist after replacement, then you should change the wifi card, which is NOT located in the screen but above the optical drive. But given that the display cable was showing signs of failing, AND your wifi was going out, I would suspect the display and antenna cables before the card. Display replacement is definitely what you should try first!
Nick W. さんによる
Perfect, thanks for your thoughts and your recommendations. I think that in this case, I'll just wait until more problems occur.
Is there any WIFI USB driver that acts like a normal AirPort driver software in the system? The TP-Link works, but is a little clumsy in regards of OSX system integration. But maybe that's another topic.
huedrant さんによる
If the TP Link is working, you should be OK. Apple does not manufacture USB wifi dongles as far as I am aware, thus you must continue using the clunky
software TP Link gave you. Seems like you are of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindset. So am I! If TP Link is getting the job done, don't worry about buying another dongle as it will require yet another driver to be installed. Put that money towards a new display. If you would like to use the regular mac software for your internet at this point, the only option is using an Ethernet cable.
Nick W. さんによる
So finally I found out what the problem was: A broken WIFI/BT module. Unfortunately, I only found out after I already replaced the display and still BT&WiFi didn't work. After reassembling, I finally tried out my last resort: switching the wifi module - and voila: It worked!
So if anyone out there gets their hands on any cheap 2009-2012 MBP, give it a try!
huedrant さんによる