LinuxQuestions.org - Bluetooth dongle not working

- Linux - Newbie (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/)

- - Bluetooth dongle not working - Debian Testing (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/bluetooth-dongle-not-working-debian-testing-4175714687/)

Bluetooth dongle not working - Debian Testing

Hi,

I have a generic unbranded BT dongle which isn't working.

Code:

lsusb|grep -i Blue

Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)

Using Debian testing with a recent kernel:
uname -a

Code:

Linux PC 5.16.0-1-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 5.16.7-2 (2022-02-09) x86_64 GNU/Linux

lsmod|grep -i bt

Code:

btusb                  65536  0

btrtl                  28672  1 btusb

btbcm                  20480  1 btusb

btintel                45056  1 btusb

bluetooth            765952  12 btrtl,btintel,btbcm,bnep,btusb

btrfs                1667072  0

xor                    24576  1 btrfs

raid6_pq              122880  1 btrfs

zstd_compress        311296  1 btrfs

libcrc32c              16384  4 nf_conntrack,nf_nat,btrfs,nf_tables

usbcore              327680  9 xhci_hcd,ehci_pci,usbhid,r8712u,usb_storage,ehci_hcd,btusb,xhci_pci,uas

systemctl status bluetooth:

Code:

● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service

    Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)

    Active: active (running) since Sat 2022-07-16 14:37:54 IDT; 7min ago

      Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)

  Main PID: 515 (bluetoothd)

    Status: "Running"

      Tasks: 1 (limit: 9332)

    Memory: 2.8M

        CPU: 24ms

    CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service

            └─515 /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd



Jul 16 14:37:52 acc bluetoothd[515]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEScanIntervalConnect” in group “Con>

Jul 16 14:37:52 acc bluetoothd[515]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEScanWindowConnect” in group “Contr>

Jul 16 14:37:52 acc bluetoothd[515]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEMinConnectionInterval” in group “C>

Jul 16 14:37:52 acc bluetoothd[515]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEMaxConnectionInterval” in group “C>

Jul 16 14:37:52 acc bluetoothd[515]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEConnectionLatency” in group “Contr>

Jul 16 14:37:52 acc bluetoothd[515]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEConnectionSupervisionTimeout” in g>

Jul 16 14:37:52 acc bluetoothd[515]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEAutoconnecttimeout” in group “Cont>

Jul 16 14:37:54 acc systemd[1]: Started Bluetooth service.

Jul 16 14:37:54 acc bluetoothd[515]: Starting SDP server

Jul 16 14:37:54 acc bluetoothd[515]: Bluetooth management interface 1.21 initialized

I've removed blueman so only "bluetooth" service is running:
systemctl list-unit-files|grep blue

Code:

bluetooth.service                          enabled        enabled

dbus-org.bluez.service                    alias          -

bluetooth.target                          static          -

bluetoothctl:

Code:

Agent registered

[bluetooth]# show

No default controller available

so no controller is detected.

I've installed linux-firware & I'm a member of group "bluetooth".

Any suggestions?.

Thanks

Did the bluetooth dongle originally work and then stopped working, or it never worked? Can you plug it into another computer to verify that the dongle is functional?

It may just that the devices is switched off. Bluetoothctl from a command line is used to control bluetooth devices. If nothing else this should work.
I'm new to this as I'm trying to control a smart watch and still fiddling around with the commands.
From a shell :-
Bluetoothctl
power on
exit

Have you tried looking into dmesg or journalctl, sometime it gives some valuable response while pluggin and unplugging the device.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fixer1234 (Post 6368257)

Did the bluetooth dongle originally work and then stopped working, or it never worked? Can you plug it into another computer to verify that the dongle is functional?

Thanks. The dongle wasn't tested on another machine but it lights up just fine when plugged-in & it's recognized in lsusb so doesn't seem to be defective.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rayfward (Post 6368286)

Thanks. It lights up (blue LED flashing) when plugged in so doesn't seem to be off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiteshpandey (Post 6368380)

Have you tried looking into dmesg or journalctl, sometime it gives some valuable response while pluggin and unplugging the device.

Thanks.

Code:

dmesg|grep -i -e bt -e bluetooth

didn't find anything relevant.

Any firmware missing?

Code:

sudo dmesg | grep firmware

any other blockage?

Code:

rfkill list all

also. Running bluetooth gui started from command line might shed some light also.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji (Post 6368467)

Any firmware missing?

Code:

sudo dmesg | grep firmware

any other blockage?

Code:

rfkill list all

also. Running bluetooth gui started from command line might shed some light also.

Thanks.

dmesg|grep firmware:

Code:

[  21.932618] platform regulatory.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db

[  22.007630] platform regulatory.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s

[  22.638339] usb 4-1.3: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

[  22.693107] usb 4-1.3: firmware: direct-loading firmware rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin

[  44.401263] r8169 0000:01:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware rtl_nic/rtl8168e-3.fw

[13136.892229] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s

[13136.900564] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db

[13144.889384] usb 4-1.3: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

[14717.081184] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db

[14717.081202] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s

[14725.025465] usb 4-1.3: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

[20318.538277] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db

[20318.538280] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s

[20326.545533] usb 4-1.3: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

[25540.258244] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db

[25540.258262] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s

[30975.546426] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s

[30975.546427] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db

[30983.362649] usb 4-1.3: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

rfkill list all
returns nothing.

That's weird. Maybe it isn't installed?

Code:

@biker:~

$ rfkill list all

0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

1: phy0: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

2: hci0: Bluetooth

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

$ apt-cache policy rfkill

rfkill:

  Installed: 2.36.1-8+deb11u1

  Candidate: 2.36.1-8+deb11u1

  Version table:

 *** 2.36.1-8+deb11u1 500

        500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/main amd64 Packages

        500 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security/main amd64 Packages

        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

@biker:~

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji (Post 6368539)

That's weird. Maybe it isn't installed?

Code:

@biker:~

$ rfkill list all

0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

1: phy0: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

2: hci0: Bluetooth

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

$ apt-cache policy rfkill

rfkill:

  Installed: 2.36.1-8+deb11u1

  Candidate: 2.36.1-8+deb11u1

  Version table:

 *** 2.36.1-8+deb11u1 500

        500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/main amd64 Packages

        500 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security/main amd64 Packages

        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

@biker:~

Thanks, but it's installed:

Code:

apt policy rfkill

rfkill:

  Installed: 2.38-4

  Candidate: 2.38-4

  Version table:

 *** 2.38-4 500

        500 http://deb.debian.org/debian testing/main amd64 Packages

        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

but still no output:

Code:

$rfkill list all

$

rfkill is a module. Is it loaded?

To find out, run lsmod | grep blue

Here is what I see with the same usb dongle.

Quote:

lsmod | grep blue
bluetooth 507904 39 btrtl,btintel,btbcm,bnep,btusb,rfcomm
ecdh_generic 16384 1 bluetooth
rfkill 32768 5 bluetooth

And here is the module:

Quote:

locate rfkill.ko
/lib/modules/5.15.38/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/amilo-rfkill.ko
/lib/modules/5.15.38/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko

This is on Slackware 15.0, the path to the module for you will vary on kernel version. If its not loaded, and you have the module, run modprobe rfkill.

rfkill should tell us if you have a soft or hard block on the device.

Quote:

Originally Posted by camorri (Post 6369353)

rfkill is a module. Is it loaded?

To find out, run lsmod | grep blue

Here is what I see with the same usb dongle.

And here is the module:

This is on Slackware 15.0, the path to the module for you will vary on kernel version. If its not loaded, and you have the module, run modprobe rfkill.

rfkill should tell us if you have a soft or hard block on the device.

Thanks.

rfkill was loaded. Just in case I've reloaded with modprobe but still no output:

Code:

rfkill list all

nothing is listed.

This is what's loaded for BT:

Code:

lsmod|grep -i -e bt -e blue

btrfs                1667072  0

xor                    24576  1 btrfs

raid6_pq              122880  1 btrfs

zstd_compress        311296  1 btrfs

libcrc32c              16384  4 nf_conntrack,nf_nat,btrfs,nf_tables

It appears you do not have any bluetooth modules loaded. Here is what I see:

Quote:

lsmod | grep blue
bluetooth 507904 39 btrtl,btintel,btbcm,bnep,btusb,rfcomm
ecdh_generic 16384 1 bluetooth
rfkill 32768 5 bluetooth

Re-run the command just looking for blue, nothing more. What you are seeing is just file system stuff.