Bluetooth Problems with Mac OS X 10.4.4

I’ve been using Bluetooth with my Nokia phone seamlessly for the last 8 months when all of a sudden things sort of stopped working. I say “sort of” because some things worked, like sending files to the phone from the Mac using Bluetooth File Exchange, and the iSync stuff worked fine, but I could not send things from my phone to my Mac.

Some quick searching came across what sounded like the same problem Broken Bluetooth Mac OS X 10.4.4, and a small mention on a MacInTouch 10.4.4 page: “Since upgrading to 10.4.4 on my dual 2.0 G5, my Bluetooth no longer communicates with any of my devices.”

I tried re-establishing the connection between the phone and the Mac, and that didn’t work, I tried standing on my head while pressing “Send” and that didn’t work, and I then tried chaning a bunch of settings in my Bluetooth Preference Pane, and that sort of worked!

I’ll need to do more tests, but it seems like if I open the Bluetooth Preference Pane, and click around between the ‘Settings’, ‘Devices’, and ‘Sharing’ tabs while I hit “Send” on the phone, it will work, and files will transfer. I’ve done this a few times now, and I’m hoping it’s not just coincidence.

I’ve not yet installed the 10.4.5 update, (Apple, when you will stop requiring a reboot for these updates!?) but that might fix the problem. We’ll see…