Arch Linux

zekebsatx

Member

Registered: 2016-01-29

Posts: 66

Bluetooth suddenly unstable

Bluetooth was working yesterday, maybe even today (can't remember), but then I lost connection to my devices and can't get it back.

here is what bluetoothctl looks like when I try to connect:

[bluetooth]# scan on
Discovery started
[CHG] Controller 30:52:CB:84:ED:DA Discovering: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 74:2F:68:B0:44:21 RSSI: -53
[CHG] Device 74:2F:68:B0:44:21 TxPower: 4
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[Majestouch Convertible 2]# pair 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 
Attempting to pair with 00:18:00:3C:08:E6
[agent] PIN code: 296084
Failed to pair: org.bluez.Error.AuthenticationCanceled
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:18:00:3C:08:E6 Connected: no
[bluetooth]# 

the toggling between connected:yes and connected:no happens very rapidly, less than 1-sec for each condition.

Here is systemctl status for bluetooth:

 bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; vendor pr
   Active: active (running) since Tue 2016-11-08 09:23:18 CST; 1h 49min ago
     Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
 Main PID: 29065 (bluetoothd)
   Status: "Running"
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
           └─29065 /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd

Nov 08 09:23:18 ArchXPS systemd[1]: Stopped Bluetooth service.
Nov 08 09:23:18 ArchXPS systemd[1]: Starting Bluetooth service...
Nov 08 09:23:18 ArchXPS bluetoothd[29065]: Bluetooth daemon 5.43
Nov 08 09:23:18 ArchXPS systemd[1]: Started Bluetooth service.
Nov 08 09:23:18 ArchXPS bluetoothd[29065]: Starting SDP server
Nov 08 09:23:18 ArchXPS bluetoothd[29065]: Bluetooth management interface 1.13 i
Nov 08 09:23:18 ArchXPS bluetoothd[29065]: Failed to obtain handles for "Service Changed" characteristic.
Nov 08 09:23:18 ArchXPS bluetoothd[29065]: Sap driver initialization failed.
Nov 08 09:23:18 ArchXPS bluetoothd[29065]: sap-server: Operation not permitted (1)
lines 1-19/19 (END)

I had noticed a "stopped due to rfkill", so I issued

$rfkill unblock bluetooth

but the problem remains.

noobExtreme

Member

From: South Africa

Registered: 2016-11-08

Posts: 28

Re: Bluetooth suddenly unstable

Is your Bluetooth Broadcom by any chance? if yes does the problem go away if you setup your bluetooth from scratch like in the wiki?

zekebsatx

Member

Registered: 2016-01-29

Posts: 66

Re: Bluetooth suddenly unstable

@n00bExtreme

HAAAA!  It is indeed a broadcom POS, and I had done everything in the wiki you linked to EXCEPT

 # rmmod btusb

Doing that and then modprobing btusb got it working again.

THANKS!!!!!

I had just given up and ordered the Intel 7560 wifi+BT, because it functions under Linux, but this fix will keep me going with !#@%$@#$#@ Broadcom for a while longer.

noobExtreme

Member

From: South Africa

Registered: 2016-11-08

Posts: 28

Re: Bluetooth suddenly unstable

Yeah that broadcom bluetooth does whatever it wants at times. Had one hell of an adventure trying to get my bluetooth speaker to work...

If you have to do this consistently you can try making a script to handle the initialisation. That way you only need to double click to get it working and of have to open terminal everytimes.

paco3346

Member

Registered: 2017-01-13

Posts: 3

Re: Bluetooth suddenly unstable

@n00bExtreme

HAAAA!  It is indeed a broadcom POS, and I had done everything in the wiki you linked to EXCEPT

 # rmmod btusb

Doing that and then modprobing btusb got it working again.

THANKS!!!!!

I had just given up and ordered the Intel 7560 wifi+BT, because it functions under Linux, but this fix will keep me going with !#@%$@#$#@ Broadcom for a while longer.

OMG that's it?!
I have a MBP and the bluetooth has always been intermittent. Haven't been able to use it for the past week and all I had to do was rmmod and modprobe.

Thanks man!