Bluetooth Gamepad - N1-3017

AboveUnrefined · 2016-04-07 02:34:14

Hi Everyone,

I've been wrestling with these generic bluetooth gamepads and am hoping someone can help me out. It's been really vexing so far and I will try to be as brief as possible in describing what I've been doing.

These gamepads are known as "N1-3017" and are available from various retailers in China. I'm sure there's others reselling them and there's probably various other models with other names. Based on what I can tell, they're pretty generic knock offs of a well known style gamepad but are just using regular bluetooth instead of being made to work with well known consoles. They are apparently designed to work mainly with mobile, like android or ios.

First, I will say that I know that these controllers do work; they do pair and connect with a RetroPie setup on an raspberry pi so I can confirm that it is possible for these to work. I was able to get 2 pair and connect in the pi environment and are usable as /dev/input/js0 and /dev/input/js1.

In my arch environment, I've done everything I can do and scoured all over for a solution but have yet to find anything that will work.

Here is my current situation within my arch environment:

I am able to pair these controllers, but they will not connect.

Here is what happens when I use bluetoothctl, I will try to put as much info as I can while using bluetoothctl:

[casey@hp-dv7-jumbo ~]$ sudo bluetoothctl -a
[NEW] Controller 00:02:72:C9:4D:BB hp-dv7-jumbo [default]
Agent registered
[bluetooth]# default-agent
Default agent request successful
[bluetooth]# power on
Changing power on succeeded
[bluetooth]# scan on
Discovery started
[CHG] Controller 00:02:72:C9:4D:BB Discovering: yes
[NEW] Device 24:4B:03:20:CD:F9 [TV] UN65JS9000
[NEW] Device 01:68:68:86:3F:58 BT2.0
[NEW] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 Gamepad
[bluetooth]# pair FF:62:68:02:63:25
Attempting to pair with FF:62:68:02:63:25
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 Modalias: usb:v05ACp022Cd011B
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 Modalias: usb:v1949p0402d011B
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 UUIDs: 00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 UUIDs: 00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 Paired: yes
Pairing successful
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 Connected: no
[bluetooth]# trust FF:62:68:02:63:25
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 Trusted: yes
Changing FF:62:68:02:63:25 trust succeeded
[bluetooth]# connect FF:62:68:02:63:25
Attempting to connect to FF:62:68:02:63:25
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 Connected: yes
Failed to connect: org.bluez.Error.Failed
[CHG] Device FF:62:68:02:63:25 Connected: no
[bluetooth]# info FF:62:68:02:63:25
Device FF:62:68:02:63:25
	Name: Gamepad
	Alias: Gamepad
	Class: 0x002540
	Icon: input-keyboard
	Paired: yes
	Trusted: yes
	Blocked: no
	Connected: no
	LegacyPairing: yes
	UUID: Human Interface Device... (00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	UUID: PnP Information           (00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
	Modalias: usb:v1949p0402d011B
	RSSI: -48
[bluetooth]#

You can see that it does go ahead and pair, but will not connect - I've done a lot of other things with bluetoothctl like setting pairable on, discoverable on, etc and have had no luck.

Here is the output for systemctl status bluetooth (note there might be extra info here from other attempts I've made prior to this message):

[casey@hp-dv7-jumbo ~]$ sudo systemctl status bluetooth
● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2016-04-06 21:57:01 EDT; 29min ago
     Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
 Main PID: 491 (bluetoothd)
   Status: "Running"
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 512)
   CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
           └─491 /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd

Apr 06 21:59:41 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Apr 06 21:59:53 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: connect error: Invalid exchange (52)
Apr 06 22:02:26 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Apr 06 22:02:38 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: connect error: Invalid exchange (52)
Apr 06 22:03:57 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Apr 06 22:04:08 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: connect error: Invalid exchange (52)
Apr 06 22:04:19 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Apr 06 22:04:31 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: connect error: Invalid exchange (52)
Apr 06 22:21:15 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Apr 06 22:21:31 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: connect error: Invalid exchange (52)

journalctl -xe doesn't yield any different information:

Apr 06 22:03:52 hp-dv7-jumbo sudo[1409]:    casey : TTY=pts/3 ; PWD=/home/casey ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/bluetoothctl
Apr 06 22:03:52 hp-dv7-jumbo sudo[1409]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Apr 06 22:03:57 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Apr 06 22:04:08 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: connect error: Invalid exchange (52)
Apr 06 22:04:19 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Apr 06 22:04:31 hp-dv7-jumbo bluetoothd[491]: connect error: Invalid exchange (52)
Apr 06 22:11:06 hp-dv7-jumbo sudo[1409]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root

I'm really stuck at this point and think trying things like adding custom udev rules and other sorts of things won't really help anything until I can get the gamepads to connect after pairing.

I appreciate the help!!

Last edited by AboveUnrefined (2016-04-07 02:37:56)

JohnBobSmith · 2016-04-07 21:15:08

Heres some web info worth looking at:
The wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth
A solved post regarding bluetooth (though I think it was a keyboard, not a gamepad): https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=189710
A bug report on the subject of bluetooth (again likely a keyboard and not a gamepad, but its still bluetooth): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … ug/1492441

Things to try:
You could try installing BlueZ, it might be an AUR package, but those are easy to work with.
You could try comparing output/input/files/whatever on the Rasp. Pi to your arch install.
The obvious yet sometimes not so obvious things like ensuring devices are on and plugged in.

I've never used bluetooth in the way you describe, only on my phone. But I hope you can find a solution soon!

AboveUnrefined · 2016-04-09 16:34:20

Thanks for the advice!

I did look at the wiki and can get other bluetooth devices to work like headphones, phone, and speakers but can't get the controllers to connect. I am getting the gist that downgrading the bluetooth stack might be able to make the controllers connect, however, I don't want to go ahead and do that since I have my other devices working and don't think that's the best way to go.

For now, I found some genuine PS3 controllers laying around so I'm just going to use those as those work as well. It's too bad that the controllers won't connect while using the new stack!

If anyone else has any ideas I can give it a whirl, otherwise I'm just going to use the PS3 controllers and use these generics on the pi.

Last edited by AboveUnrefined (2016-04-11 14:15:56)

Arch Linux

#1 2016-04-07 02:34:14

Bluetooth Gamepad - N1-3017

#2 2016-04-07 21:15:08

Re: Bluetooth Gamepad - N1-3017

#3 2016-04-09 16:34:20

Re: Bluetooth Gamepad - N1-3017

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