MacOS – OS X 10.10.4 update on 2009 Mac Pro: stuck at “Missing bluetooth controller transport” on boot

macos

I have an early-2009 Mac Pro at work that had 10.10.3 on it. I attempted to update it (using the cached update on the local OS X update server) to 10.10.4 but, after boot, it got stuck on the grey screen with the progress bar at 50%.

Rebooting in verbose mode shows "Missing bluetooth controller transport".

Internet searches suggest that this is GPU related and also Hackintosh related. The latter is not in my case because this is a genuine Mac Pro.

I tried anyway booting into single-user-mode and following the suggestions of moving the Apple Intel HD graphics drivers out of place and touching the Extensions folder. This did not solve the issue.

This computer has two Nvidia GeForce GT 120 cards in it, though only one is actively used.

So: how do I fix it short of reinstalling the OS?

Best Answer

I'd certainly try it with only one of the GPUs in there, try swapping over if no joy.

I'd also be tempted to run the "standard toolkit" assuming you can get into the OS fully, though the first can be done from the Recovery partition…

  • Reset the SMC
    Shut down the computer. Unplug the mains power from the back & leave for 15 seconds. Plug back in & wait another 5. Boot.

  • Reset the NVRAM
    At the boot chimes, hold Cmd ⌘ Opt ⌥ P R
    Keep holding all 4 keys until you hear the chimes again, then release.

  • Fix permissions, Verify & if necessary Repair disk, using Disk Utility, from Recovery if you still can't fully boot - Cmd ⌘ R at the chimes.

If that does allow you to boot…

  • Reset Home folder permissions & ACLs using OnyX - Maintenance tab/permissions, tick the box at the top then Execute.

  • Update to 10.10.5 using the 10.10.5 combo update, not the delta from App Store

Being a Mac Pro you always have the option of just dropping in a new drive & putting a clean OS on there, from which you can poke & prod at the other drive with impunity.
There's also, of course, the option of then migrating a Time Machine backup to that new drive & simply discarding or repurposing the old one.