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#1 2014-09-11 12:16:13

Modeler
Member
From: United Kingdom
Registered: 2011-07-28
Posts: 70

New Lenovo laptop: Bluetooth enabled but never sees any devices.

Really nasty one this; Bluetooth working fine under Windows (urgh) but never sees any devices under Linux. No errors at all; it just never sees anything. The device is of this type:

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:b728 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.

It looks like I'm not the only person with this problem:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2242379

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/hardwa … icate.html

I have tried the LTS kernel and get the same problem. I'm not sure what to try to debug it, TBH I can't find out what kernel module is driving it. The radio is definitely detected, powered on and unblocked:

[root@Lenovo-Z50 ~]# hciconfig 
hci0:	Type: BR/EDR  Bus: USB
	BD Address: 00:71:CC:19:58:EE  ACL MTU: 820:8  SCO MTU: 255:16
	UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN INQUIRY 
	RX bytes:1614 acl:0 sco:0 events:145 errors:0
	TX bytes:1583 acl:0 sco:0 commands:133 errors:0
[bluetooth]# show
Controller 00:71:CC:19:58:EE
	Name: Lenovo-Z50
	Alias: Lenovo-Z50
	Class: 0x0c010c
	Powered: yes
	Discoverable: yes
	Pairable: yes
	UUID: PnP Information           (00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Generic Access Profile    (00001800-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Generic Attribute Profile (00001801-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: A/V Remote Control        (0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: A/V Remote Control Target (0000110c-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Audio Source              (0000110a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: Audio Sink                (0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	Modalias: usb:v1D6Bp0246d0517
	Discovering: yes
[root@Lenovo-Z50 ~]# rfkill list
0: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
2: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
3: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

I have another Lenovo laptop running a very similar install of Arch and this works fine. This has a different Bluetooth adaptor though, made by Intel with USB ID 8087:07da. If they're side-by-side I can pair a mouse and a phone to the other one, but nothing at all shows up on the one with the Realtek adaptor. Any help would be very much appreciated!

EDIT: Just tried this laptop with Ubuntu 14.04 and 12.04.5, didn't work with either. Same problem. Bearing in mind the two threads linked above are unanswered and this clearly hasn't broken recently, I guess this adaptor just doesn't work in Linux (yet). Looks like I'll be returning this one to the store, which is a shame as it took me months to find a 1080p laptop for a reasonable price.

EDIT: Unnecessary test but Fedora 20 behaves exactly the same. I'm not sure how many current laptops on the market use this chipset, but it looks like a lot of Lenovos do. I have a netbook with a Realtek SD card reader that stopped working in Linux due to some kernel modules being amalgamated, but it works again with the current kernel. I may just sit tight on this one.

Last edited by Modeler (2014-09-12 08:45:58)


Wirth's law: "Software is getting slower more rapidly than hardware becomes faster"

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#2 2014-09-14 10:02:42

Modeler
Member
From: United Kingdom
Registered: 2011-07-28
Posts: 70

Re: New Lenovo laptop: Bluetooth enabled but never sees any devices.

Just bought a USB-BT4LE USB dongle by Plugable Technologies, Broadcom BCM20702A0 as a work-around. This sees other devices and I can pair with them, however I can't send or receive files from my Android phone or use its Internet connection over Bluetooth. Reading up on the forums there seems to be a lot of users having to downgrade to bluez-4, some solving their problems with Blueman and such. Seems Bluetooth support is patchy in general. Linux users - why do we do this to ourselves?!


Wirth's law: "Software is getting slower more rapidly than hardware becomes faster"

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#3 2014-09-15 00:03:01

allgood38
Member
Registered: 2013-11-04
Posts: 4
Website

Re: New Lenovo laptop: Bluetooth enabled but never sees any devices.

I had similar issues, downgrading to bluez4 might help, but I found it was much more of a hassle.

I had the most success using vanilla bluetoothctl commands to pair with the device, then using dbus commands to register the bluetooth device as a network access point or see device capabilities.

Are you using a network manager? I found NetworkManager was unable to set up the access point due to an error with its dhcp client setup, but connman was able to do it. Or by issuing the right dbus command, I created the network device manually and then ran dhcpcd on it directly.

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#4 2015-01-01 21:17:25

sunny0
Member
Registered: 2015-01-01
Posts: 1

Re: New Lenovo laptop: Bluetooth enabled but never sees any devices.

Just signed up to get answers for the exact same issue. I have a Lenovo Z40 with the same bluetooth hardware. Is there any solution upcoming or is it a lost cause?

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#5 2015-02-04 13:36:43

taynaud
Member
Registered: 2015-02-04
Posts: 1

Re: New Lenovo laptop: Bluetooth enabled but never sees any devices.

Hello,

Same issue with this device. I have notice that if I activate bluetooth on windows and reboot, it seems to work.

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#6 2016-05-10 15:37:30

mechapawky
Member
Registered: 2016-05-10
Posts: 2

Re: New Lenovo laptop: Bluetooth enabled but never sees any devices.

Hey! I have a Lenovo Z50-75 with arch and kde. I have the bluetooth problem too. Do you get any solution or still clueless about this? I'll send some cli outputs later. It has some errors but I have no idea why. It is strange.

Last edited by mechapawky (2016-05-11 04:14:55)

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#7 2016-05-11 12:10:09

Lone_Wolf
Member
From: Netherlands, Europe
Registered: 2005-10-04
Posts: 11,868

Re: New Lenovo laptop: Bluetooth enabled but never sees any devices.

It's likely a firmware problem, Check https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 4#p1626424


Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.


(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

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#8 2016-05-12 04:39:40

mechapawky
Member
Registered: 2016-05-10
Posts: 2

Re: New Lenovo laptop: Bluetooth enabled but never sees any devices.

hciconfig
hci0:   Type: BR/EDR  Bus: USB
        BD Address: C4:8E:8F:AB:72:24  ACL MTU: 820:8  SCO MTU: 255:16
        DOWN 
        RX bytes:1225 acl:0 sco:0 events:122 errors:0
        TX bytes:23230 acl:0 sco:0 commands:124 errors:0
hciconfig hci0 up
Can't init device hci0: Connection timed out (110)
rfkill list
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
1: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
3: hci0: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
bluetoothctl
[NEW] Controller C4:8E:8F:AB:72:24 ChromeLinux_0608 [default]
[bluetooth]# power on
Failed to set power on: org.bluez.Error.Failed

So I think there is no real solution. Just for firmware upgrade in kernel? btw My adapter is rtl7823be which I don't know... seem to be both bluetooth and wifi in one. Wi-fi works perfectly though.

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