MSI Bluetooth USB Dongle Connection Problems

Eldarby · 05-10-2011, 02:12 PM

Hi, everyone. I'm having some very frustrating problems with Bluetooth. The dongle appears to be working, but then it craps out on me after only a few minutes!

I'm using the blueman-manager GUI to connect to my cell phone. If I load blueman-manager almost immediately after connecting my dongle, I can use it for a few minutes, but only long enough to add my phone, pair it and mark it as trusted. Certainly not long enough to send or receive a single file, though. Eventually and inevitably, the connection breaks, blueman-manager hangs/freezes up, and I start getting errors in dmesg.

Here's all the relevant diagnostic stuff...

Code:

$ uname -r
2.6.33.4

$ cat /etc/slackware-version
Slackware 13.1.0

Code:

# lsusb -v -d 0c10:0000

Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0c10:0000  
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass          224 Wireless
  bDeviceSubClass         1 Radio Frequency
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Bluetooth
  bMaxPacketSize0        16
  idVendor           0x0c10 
  idProduct          0x0000 
  bcdDevice            3.73
  iManufacturer           1 ISSC
  iProduct                2 
  iSerial                 0 
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength          186
    bNumInterfaces          3
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0xc0
      Self Powered
    MaxPower                0mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       224 Wireless
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Radio Frequency
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 Bluetooth
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0010  1x 16 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       224 Wireless
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Radio Frequency
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 Bluetooth
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x03  EP 3 OUT
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0000  1x 0 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0000  1x 0 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       224 Wireless
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Radio Frequency
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 Bluetooth
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x03  EP 3 OUT
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0009  1x 9 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0009  1x 9 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       2
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       224 Wireless
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Radio Frequency
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 Bluetooth
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x03  EP 3 OUT
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0011  1x 17 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0011  1x 17 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       3
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       224 Wireless
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Radio Frequency
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 Bluetooth
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x03  EP 3 OUT
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0019  1x 25 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0019  1x 25 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       4
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       224 Wireless
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Radio Frequency
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 Bluetooth
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x03  EP 3 OUT
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0021  1x 33 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0021  1x 33 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       5
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       224 Wireless
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Radio Frequency
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 Bluetooth
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x03  EP 3 OUT
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0031  1x 49 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0031  1x 49 bytes
        bInterval               1
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        2
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           0
      bInterfaceClass       254 Application Specific Interface
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Device Firmware Update
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)

Code:

$ dmesg

usb 4-5: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
usb 4-5: New USB device found, idVendor=0c10, idProduct=0000
usb 4-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
usb 4-5: Manufacturer: ISSC
Bluetooth: Core ver 2.15
NET: Registered protocol family 31
Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: Generic Bluetooth USB driver ver 0.6
usbcore: registered new interface driver btusb
Bluetooth: L2CAP ver 2.14
Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
Bridge firewalling registered
Bluetooth: SCO (Voice Link) ver 0.6
Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
-- MARK --
hci_cmd_task: hci0 command tx timeout
hci_cmd_task: hci0 command tx timeout
hci_cmd_task: hci0 command tx timeout

I added the MARK myself to separate where the dmesg output stops immediately after plugging in the dongle from what appears after the connection is broken. It's right when that timeout error happens that the connection severs itself, and the error usually repeats itself several times.

Even if I just connect the dongle and not do anything except wait a few minutes, after a few minutes that timeout error will still happen. I'm running fluxbox and I don't believe I have any automounting programs, so there wouldn't be any interference from something like that.

rayfward · 05-11-2011, 02:02 AM

You may or may not find this helpful but try booting off a live CD and see if the same problem occurs. I use blue tooth with my mobile and occasionally the mobile hangs up on the connection. I still haven't figured out why this happens.

Eldarby · 05-22-2011, 10:57 AM

Hmm... that sounds pretty inconvenient, but if it might help, I guess I'll give it a shot. Can you recommend any live CDs that have bluetooth management built-in? I don't know if it's possible to download and install any packages from a repository in a live environment, so it'll probably have to be on the live CD from the get-go.

rayfward · 05-23-2011, 06:30 AM

Well I have tried this with Live Mint CD and a Virtual Ubuntu machine and both seem to work ok. On a virtual XP machine OVI works ok however I have two USB blue tooth devices and I think the Broadcom one works batter. If I examine the other device it's recognised a blue tooth but has not device details.

See how you get on with the above.

Eldarby · 06-11-2011, 02:23 PM

I tried Linux Mint in VirtualBox. No success. Here's how it went: I made sure to set up the dongle to be seen by the VM under USB devices, and I checked my guest OS's dmesg and lsusb to make sure it was seen, too. The dongle was seen, and the Bluetooth applet even showed up in the tray when I booted into Mint, so I opened it up. All I saw, aside from a button to get into settings on receiving files (which I don't want to do, I want to send,) was a big "Turn Bluetooth on" button, which did nothing but just gray itself out when I click it.

Think my dongle just might be a piece of crap? I'd buy another one, but I'm worried about wasting money on another one that's just as incompatible. What should I do now?

rayfward · 06-12-2011, 06:48 AM

Well if your looking for a Bluetooth dongle I got mine from a local supermarket. It's a Trust (Broadcom) one and it works a treat certainly better than my original one.

Since you first posted I switched to Linux Mint and have no complaints.

Good luck.

Eldarby · 06-13-2011, 07:16 AM

Thanks for the suggestion. My dongle is MSI, and I'm starting to wonder if I should stop buying their products, as this isn't the first problem I've had with MSI hardware lately. My motherboard is also MSI and one of the USB ports fried itself in less than 3 months, not to mention the placement of its SATA ports is really obstructive and in the way of the HDD cage. Took me forever to figure out a manageable arrangement for cabling inside this machine.

Mint looks nice from what I saw in VirtualBox but I think I'll stick with Salix, I prefer having Slackware under the hood over Debian/Ubuntu, just a personal choice. Thanks again for sticking with me here, I'll check out a Broadcom-based dongle as soon as I can afford to go out and buy one. If it works I'll mark this thread solved, for now I'll leave it open.

rayfward · 06-14-2011, 01:24 AM

Yes I too like Slackware based systems. Fedora's perpetual changes don't suit my working methods so I went with something with a bit longer shelf life.

Your not alone with hardware faults. I too am familiar with the little puff of smoke and the acrid spell of burning chips.
I lost a sata controller that way.

Good look.