Hi friends,
I'm on a pretty fresh Debian install (bookworm, with 6.11.10 kernel) and installed a bunch of non-free-firmware packages, but whatever I do, I can't seem to make Bluetooth work reliably? I'd love some help if you can spare it.
My mobo has a networking device that supports Bluetooth and I'm using it perfectly well for WiFi. I also have an old USB dongle from a previous computer (ASUS BT400), so I tried that, didn't do much to change it. I purchased a different one (TP-Link UB500) that other users said they simply plugged in and it worked, but it's behaving a lot like the last one, so I think it's something in the software.
Here's what it looks like: all of these can scan devices ready to pair, and they show up as pairable in Settings (default GNOME) and bluetoothctl. If I click on a device in Settings, a loading spinner shows up, then the device gets removed, then added back, as if nothing happened.
If I try to do it via bluetoothctl (after a `scan on` command, get the MAC, then `pair <MAC>` or `connect <MAC>`), the pairing step almost always fails with `Failed to pair: org.bluez.Error.ConnectionAttemptFailed`. If I try to connect, it times out, or the device gets lost and unreachable, then added back in the scan list.
Once or twice, ever, I've gotten a successful connection via bluetoothctl, but it's not reproducible, and a few times I've gotten mono audio with terrible quality. I tried debugging this with an LLM at one point, and I think I reverted any config/settings changes I tried that didn't work.
I guess some more concrete questions:
Thanks for your time, and if this isn't the appropriate place for this, apologies, I can take it elsewhere. Thanks!
I'm on a pretty fresh Debian install (bookworm, with 6.11.10 kernel) and installed a bunch of non-free-firmware packages, but whatever I do, I can't seem to make Bluetooth work reliably? I'd love some help if you can spare it.
My mobo has a networking device that supports Bluetooth and I'm using it perfectly well for WiFi. I also have an old USB dongle from a previous computer (ASUS BT400), so I tried that, didn't do much to change it. I purchased a different one (TP-Link UB500) that other users said they simply plugged in and it worked, but it's behaving a lot like the last one, so I think it's something in the software.
Here's what it looks like: all of these can scan devices ready to pair, and they show up as pairable in Settings (default GNOME) and bluetoothctl. If I click on a device in Settings, a loading spinner shows up, then the device gets removed, then added back, as if nothing happened.
If I try to do it via bluetoothctl (after a `scan on` command, get the MAC, then `pair <MAC>` or `connect <MAC>`), the pairing step almost always fails with `Failed to pair: org.bluez.Error.ConnectionAttemptFailed`. If I try to connect, it times out, or the device gets lost and unreachable, then added back in the scan list.
Once or twice, ever, I've gotten a successful connection via bluetoothctl, but it's not reproducible, and a few times I've gotten mono audio with terrible quality. I tried debugging this with an LLM at one point, and I think I reverted any config/settings changes I tried that didn't work.
I guess some more concrete questions:
- Is there a way to make the org.bluez.Error more actionable as to what's going on? That's my best hint, I think.
- Maybe I should just nuke the whole Bluetooth config, start fresh? How would be the best way to do that?
Thanks for your time, and if this isn't the appropriate place for this, apologies, I can take it elsewhere. Thanks!
Statistics: Posted by srpablo — 2025-03-06 02:50 — Replies 1 — Views 49
