# bluetooth, only working 1% of the time after world update

## eminenz

hello everyone,

i recently did a world update and now my bluetooth only works once every while, and i can not pin down why it doesn't work most of the time.

first of all, the following bluetooth software is installed.

```
[ebuild   R    ] net-wireless/bluez-4.99  USE="alsa consolekit cups gstreamer pcmcia readline test-programs usb -caps -debug (-selinux)" 0 kB

[ebuild   R    ] dev-libs/openobex-1.5  USE="bluetooth syslog usb -debug -irda" 0 kB

[ebuild   R    ] app-mobilephone/obex-data-server-0.4.5  USE="gtk imagemagick usb -debug" 0 kB

[ebuild   R   ~] net-wireless/blueman-1.23-r2  USE="nls policykit -gconf -network -pulseaudio -sendto" 0 kB
```

```
# lsmod |grep -e bt 

btusb                  17105  2 

bluetooth             134277  23 bnep,rfcomm,btusb

```

I executed

```
rfkill unblock bluetooth 

/etc/init.d/bluetooth start

hciconfig hci0 up

```

And everything is reported to have worked as espected.

Now the strange things:

blueman-applet sometimes reports "bluetooth is deactiveted", sometimes "bluetooth is activated".

sometimes i can find other bt devices using hcitool scan, sometimes not

just an hour ago I sent 1 file from my phone via opp to my home directory; it worked. afterwards i was not able to find my pc from my phone or vice versa; sending worked neither. After rebooting, i wasn't able to send 1 file again; that mostly helped in the past.

here is a tail of my syslog and in vain trying to connect after reboot.:

```
Aug  3 18:18:35 exitus bluetoothd[2415]: HCI dev 0 down

Aug  3 18:18:35 exitus bluetoothd[2415]: Adapter /org/bluez/2411/hci0 has been disabled

Aug  3 18:19:19 exitus dbus[2399]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.UDisks' (using servicehelper)

Aug  3 18:19:19 exitus dbus[2399]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.UDisks'

Aug  3 18:19:23 exitus dbus[2399]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.UPower' (using servicehelper)

Aug  3 18:19:23 exitus dbus[2399]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.UPower'

Aug  3 18:19:32 exitus hp-systray: hp-systray[3462]: warning: No hp: or hpfax: devices found in any installed CUPS queue. Exiting.

Aug  3 18:19:35 exitus dbus[2399]: [system] Activating service name='org.blueman.Mechanism' (using servicehelper)

Aug  3 18:19:36 exitus blueman-mechanism: Starting blueman-mechanism 

Aug  3 18:19:36 exitus dbus[2399]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.blueman.Mechanism'

Aug  3 18:19:36 exitus blueman-mechanism: loading Config 

Aug  3 18:19:36 exitus blueman-mechanism: loading Network 

Aug  3 18:19:36 exitus blueman-mechanism: loading Ppp 

Aug  3 18:19:36 exitus blueman-mechanism: loading RfKill 

Aug  3 18:20:06 exitus blueman-mechanism: Exiting 

Aug  3 18:20:19 exitus bluetoothd[2415]: HCI dev 0 up

Aug  3 18:20:19 exitus bluetoothd[2415]: Adapter /org/bluez/2411/hci0 has been enabled

Aug  3 18:28:06 exitus bluetoothd[4935]: Bluetooth daemon 4.99

Aug  3 18:28:06 exitus bluetoothd[4935]: Unable to get on D-Bus

Aug  3 18:29:38 exitus dbus[2399]: [system] Activating service name='org.blueman.Mechanism' (using servicehelper)

Aug  3 18:29:39 exitus blueman-mechanism: Starting blueman-mechanism 

Aug  3 18:29:39 exitus dbus[2399]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.blueman.Mechanism'

Aug  3 18:29:39 exitus blueman-mechanism: loading Config 

Aug  3 18:29:39 exitus blueman-mechanism: loading Network 

Aug  3 18:29:39 exitus blueman-mechanism: loading Ppp 

Aug  3 18:29:39 exitus blueman-mechanism: loading RfKill 

Aug  3 18:29:57 exitus bluetoothd[2415]: C8:7B:5B:3E:74:EC: error updating services: Connection timed out (110)

Aug  3 18:30:09 exitus blueman-mechanism: Exiting 

```

What i find a little interesting is that blueman-mechanism loads "rfkill", although i disabled that plugin in blueman.

I already tried downgrading and rebuild my bluetooth-ebuilds, but it didn't help. (Am back to 4.99 again)

I have no more idea where to look or what to try, maybe somebody of you can help me?

----------

## eminenz

to be more precise, IF rebooting helps, I can perform one bluetooth file transfer action - i.e. sending one file or three files in a row (using a bluetooth file transfer manaager).

However it is not possible to send file 1, then wait until it is successfully sent and then select the next file. Only the first "action" is performed, regardless of how many files (or like) there are.

Although i can no longer send files via obex, hcitool scan still works for a while.

----------

## eminenz

ok.... the problem is still there and I'm still hoping for help...

Haven't found anything new worth publishing yet.

----------

## Logicien

Hello,

it can be usefull to know on which computer you work and the exact trademark and port/chipset of the Bluetooth device. I ask for that because I have and Acer Aspire X1470 desktop who was freezing completely with some Bluetooth USB dongle, like Iogear and Cambridge.

I had to use an Asus/Atheros BT211 Bluetooth USB who use the ath3k module and linux-firmware binary to make it work properly on Linux. All my Linux system (ArchLinux/Debian/Funtoo) are stable, but with some Bluetooth devices, from the moment it try to pair with my cellular and do files transfert, I have a kernel panic.

It would be more occurate to use only one interface, I say obexftp or Blueman for test, but not both. I use a pincodes file in /var/lib/bluetooth/xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx/ for pairing.

As a side note, I can pull files from my Android cellular using obexftp with my Linux desktop, but I can not push files from my cellular to my desktop, because Android say the Obex Object Push profile is not available on my desktop. The sdptool say the profile is supported on my desktop. So Bluetooth is not an easy protocol to handle.

----------

## Ant P.

Sounds like pretty much every experience I've had with blueZ, ever. At least you're not alone.

----------

## eminenz

Hi, I'm using an 

USDB-ID 044e:3001 Alps Electric Co., Ltd UGTZ4 Bluetooth

internal USB-Bluetooth within an Asus A6Va Laptop.

Parining works without problmes, and so DID file pushing and receiving before the last world update (including bluez stack)...

----------

## eminenz

 *Ant P. wrote:*   

> Sounds like pretty much every experience I've had with blueZ, ever. At least you're not alone.

 

Great   :Rolling Eyes: 

But you're right: The more people with that problem, the more likely it will be fixed^^

----------

## khayyam

 *eminenz wrote:*   

> But you're right: The more people with that problem, the more likely it will be fixed^^

 

eminenz ... but the fix will more likely be more of the same ... broken by design. I call it broken to have a protocol stack (bluez) depend on an IPC (dbus) ...

Its furrydesktop at its very worst, entirely opaque automagic ... and when it fails there is no possibility of reaching into the lower level protocol to debug the process, thats a closed world, its enirely in the hands of redmondhat, furrydesktop, et al.

Thats not very helpful, but I think my analysis is correct ...

best ... khay

----------

## Fitzcarraldo

I have been experiencing the same problem after I upgraded the kernel from linux-3.3.5-gentoo to linux-3.5.4-gentoo. I'm using KDE 4.9.1 and the following packages:

```
# eix -I blue

[I] dev-python/pybluez

     Available versions:  0.18 {{examples}}

     Installed versions:  0.18(14:38:30 30/09/12)(-examples)

     Homepage:            http://code.google.com/p/pybluez/

     Description:         Python bindings for Bluez Bluetooth Stack

[I] net-libs/libbluedevil

     Available versions:  (4) 1.9.2

        {{aqua debug}}

     Installed versions:  1.9.2(4)(14:37:49 30/09/12)(-aqua -debug)

     Homepage:            http://projects.kde.org/projects/playground/libs/libbluedevil

     Description:         Qt wrapper for bluez used in the KDE bluetooth stack

[I] net-wireless/bluedevil

     Available versions:  (4) 1.2.3

        {{aqua debug LINGUAS="ar bs ca ca@valencia cs da de el en_GB eo es et eu fa fi fr ga hu it ja ko lt mai ms nb nds nl pa pl pt pt_BR ro ru sk sl sr sr@ijekavian sr@ijekavianlatin sr@latin sv th tr ug uk zh_CN zh_TW"}}

     Installed versions:  1.2.3(4)(14:41:38 30/09/12)(-aqua -debug LINGUAS="en_GB pt_BR -ar -bs -ca -ca@valencia -cs -da -de -el -eo -es -et -eu -fa -fi -fr -ga -hu -it -ja -ko -lt -mai -ms -nb -nds -nl -pa -pl -pt -ro -ru -sk -sl -sr -sr@ijekavian -sr@ijekavianlatin -sr@latin -sv -th -tr -ug -uk -zh_CN -zh_TW")

     Homepage:            http://projects.kde.org/projects/extragear/base/bluedevil

     Description:         Bluetooth stack for KDE

[I] net-wireless/bluez

     Available versions:  4.98-r2 4.99 (~)4.101-r3 {{alsa caps +consolekit cups debug gstreamer pcmcia readline selinux test-programs usb}}

     Installed versions:  4.101-r3(14:37:12 30/09/12)(alsa consolekit cups pcmcia readline usb -debug -gstreamer -selinux -test-programs)

     Homepage:            http://www.bluez.org/

     Description:         Bluetooth Tools and System Daemons for Linux

[I] net-wireless/bluez-firmware

     Available versions:  *1.1 (~)1.2

     Installed versions:  1.2(14:36:11 30/09/12)

     Homepage:            http://bluez.sourceforge.net/

     Description:         Firmware for Broadcom BCM203x and STLC2300 Bluetooth chips.

[I] net-wireless/bluez-hcidump

     Available versions:  2.0 2.2 2.3 2.4

     Installed versions:  2.4(14:38:11 30/09/12)

     Homepage:            http://www.bluez.org/

     Description:         Bluetooth HCI packet analyzer

Found 6 matches.
```

```
# eix -I obex

[I] app-mobilephone/obex-data-server

     Available versions:  0.4.4 0.4.5 {{debug gtk imagemagick usb}}

     Installed versions:  0.4.5(18:34:57 29/09/12)(gtk usb -debug -imagemagick)

     Homepage:            http://tadas.dailyda.com/blog/category/obex-data-server/

     Description:         A DBus service providing easy to use API for using OBEX

[I] app-mobilephone/obexd

     Available versions:  0.44 0.46 (~)0.47 {{-eds nokia -server usb}}

     Installed versions:  0.47(18:35:22 29/09/12)(usb -eds -nokia -server)

     Homepage:            http://www.bluez.org/

     Description:         OBEX Server and Client

[I] app-mobilephone/obexftp

     Available versions:  0.23-r1 {{bluetooth debug perl python ruby tcl}}

     Installed versions:  0.23-r1(14:39:14 30/09/12)(bluetooth -debug -perl -python -ruby -tcl)

     Homepage:            http://dev.zuckschwerdt.org/openobex/wiki/ObexFtp

     Description:         File transfer over OBEX for mobile phones

[I] dev-libs/openobex

     Available versions:  1.3 (~)1.4 1.5 {{bluetooth debug irda syslog usb}}

     Installed versions:  1.5(18:34:35 29/09/12)(bluetooth irda usb -debug -syslog)

     Homepage:            http://sourceforge.net/projects/openobex/

     Description:         An implementation of the OBEX protocol used for transferring data to mobile devices

Found 4 matches.
```

I tried re-merging the above-mentioned packages, as well as a world update, but those still didn't solve the problem, although sometimes if I re-merge obexftp then Bluetooth works for a while after I reboot.

However, it seems that, if I restart the initscript, Bluetooth works (I'm not sure yet if this works every time I restart the initscript):

```
/etc/init.d/bluetooth restart
```

EDIT (Oct. 2, 2012): I was too hasty writing that, as this morning I find that restarting the initscript does not get Bluetooth working.

Here is some more information:

```
# uname -a

Linux meshedgedx 3.5.4-gentoo #1 SMP Sat Sep 22 07:25:14 BST 2012 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 720 @ 1.60GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
```

----------

## Fitzcarraldo

Did another world update last night to pull in KDE 4.9.2 and a few other packages, but still the same problem with Bluetooth. I even re-merged PulseAudio with USE="-bluetooth" in case that was causing it, but it made no difference.  :Crying or Very sad: 

/var/log/messages contains the following every time I start-up my laptop:

```
Oct  5 07:34:11 meshedgedx kernel: [    7.909792] usb 1-1.3: Product: BCM2046 Bluetooth Device

Oct  5 07:34:11 meshedgedx kernel: [   14.960794] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.16

Oct  5 07:34:11 meshedgedx kernel: [   14.960823] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized

Oct  5 07:34:11 meshedgedx kernel: [   14.960826] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized

Oct  5 07:34:11 meshedgedx kernel: [   14.960829] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized

Oct  5 07:34:11 meshedgedx kernel: [   14.960836] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: Bluetooth daemon 4.101

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: Starting SDP server

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx kernel: [   41.467819] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx kernel: [   41.467824] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: Bluetooth Management interface initialized

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx kernel: [   41.556006] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx kernel: [   41.556015] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx kernel: [   41.556018] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: input-headset driver probe failed for device 64:A7:69:BE:BE:E8

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: input-headset driver probe failed for device 3C:43:8E:2A:04:4D

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: Adapter /org/bluez/6702/hci0 has been enabled

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: mce replied with an error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown, The name com.nokia.mce was not provided by any .service files

Oct  5 07:34:20 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: hci0: Get Connections (0x0015) failed: Not Powered (0x0f)

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: Terminating

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: Stopping SDP server

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[6702]: Exit

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[12627]: Bluetooth daemon 4.101

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx dbus[5770]: [system] Activating service name='org.bluez' (using servicehelper)

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx dbus[5770]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.bluez'

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[12627]: Starting SDP server

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[12627]: Bluetooth Management interface initialized

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[12627]: input-headset driver probe failed for device 64:A7:69:BE:BE:E8

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[12627]: input-headset driver probe failed for device 3C:43:8E:2A:04:4D

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[12627]: Adapter /org/bluez/12627/hci0 has been enabled

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[12627]: hci0: Get Connections (0x0015) failed: Not Powered (0x0f)

Oct  5 08:36:41 meshedgedx bluetoothd[12627]: mce replied with an error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown, The name com.nokia.mce was not provided by any .service files
```

DBus? BlueZ? It was all working perfectly before I upgraded the kernel. And now...   :Evil or Very Mad: 

----------

## feystorm

Try adding the following to /etc/bluetooth/audio.conf and then restarting bluetoothd

```
[General]

Enable=Socket

```

It is case sensitive so "Enable=socket" will not work (I tried when I found this suggestion elsewhere and thought the solution wasn't it).

----------

## Fitzcarraldo

Thanks for the tip,  feystorm but, at least in my case, it makes no difference.

----------

## Fitzcarraldo

 *Fitzcarraldo wrote:*   

> Thanks for the tip,  feystorm but, at least in my case, it makes no difference.

 

Well, a couple of days after posting that, and a few reboots later (without having updated any packages and without having installed any new packages), the Bluetooth icon in KDE became responsive to me turning Bluetooth off/on, so I tried to upload a file from my phone to my laptop just to check if Bluetooth was indeed working again. It was. Since then I have left Discoverable ticked and Bluetooth turned on in the System Tray, and, after several more reboots, it remains working. So it could be that the edit you suggested, feystorm, did work after all, albeit only after several reboots for some reason. It could be coincidence, of course, but I doubt that. I've still got my fingers crossed, as it's early days, but I just wanted to let you know that Bluetooth on my machine is now working consistently again. Thanks!

----------

