Register and Connect to Bluetooth Device not working

[powerpak]

I’m running RetroPie 3.4 on a RPI 2B.

Background: I have a PS3 controller working via Bluetooth, no problem. So I know my BT dongle is operational.

Problem: I am now trying to connect an SNES30 8bitdo controller following Floob’s instructions HERE, but I can’t get through Step 1.

I have Updated the RetroPie-Setup Script, rebooted, and then navigated to and chosen “Register and Connect to Bluetooth Device”, but when I click OK, nothing happens.

More precisely, a cursor begins blinking in the lower left corner of the screen, and that’s all that happens. I don’t get any type of dialog or output stating that something/nothing has been detected (as I have seen happen in Floobs tutorial vid).

Basically at that point, I can type commands where the cursor has appeared, and the system responds normally to commands, but it never addresses my attempt to detect a device.

Things I have tried and what happened:

1. running “Bluetoothctl”. I get the [bluetooth]# prompt, but cannot type anything. Cursor remains stationary, nothing happens when I type.

2. installing bluez tools and running various scans. This does detect the 8bitdo and return an address.

3. Uninstalling PS3 driver and running Setup again (made no apparent difference)

Any ideas or insight will be greatly appreciated. I’m a noob to all of this, and I have had fun learning and problem-solving so much to this point, but this one has me stumped. Questions, let me know and I’ll try to provide more info.

[Steven]

Did you solve this yet?

My RPi3 with RetroPie3.6 is doing the same thing, except I can’t get my offbrand PS3 controllers to connect at all via BT.

[powerpak]

No, no progress here. I’m out of ideas, except to maybe update to 3.6, don’t know if that would make any difference. Obviously not working on 3.6 for you.

My PS3 controller that does work is an official Sony, and the retroPie has the drivers built in, completely different connection process. You might want to find one of those to try in your case.

[meneerjansen]

I don’t like to configure BT viathe command line but if I really have to I follow this HowTo that I wrote. Good luck! :)

o================o
| – Bluetooth – |
o================o
At the time of writing (dec. 2013) Bluetooth in Linux is a mess. Bluez 5.5 seems to have solved the probs, but Debian Stable (7.0, Wheezy) still uses version 4.

List bluetooth dongles:

hcitool dev

Example of output:

hci0 AA:BB:CC:00:11:22

Get MAC address of bluetooth keyboard or other device. Set device in pairing mode!:

hcitool scan

Example of output:

Scanning …
AA:BB:CC:00:11:22 Wireless Keyboard

Pair said device:

bluez-simple-agent hci0 AA:BB:CC:00:11:22

It will ask for a confirmation code to be made up by you (I’d choose 0000). Then you must type it in on the on the BT-keyboard and press Enter. Sometimes the standard code used is 0000.

If the following error code is returned then you’ve already successfully paired said device:

Connecting device failed: org.bluez.Error.AlreadyExists: Already Exists

Trust device:

bluez-test-device trusted AA:BB:CC:00:11:22 yes

Connect device (this is where it always goes wrong!!!):

bluez-test-input connect AA:BB:CC:00:11:22 yes

Example of connect errors:

org.bluez.Error.Failed Connection refused (111)
org.bluez.Error.ConnectionAttemptFailed: Host is down (112)

And then what???

o=======================o
| – Trouble shooting – |
o=======================o
Restart bluetooth (choose the one that fits you system):

su -c “service bluetooth restart” (Debian 7 Wheezy)
sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart (Ubuntu 10.04)

Remove a paired device?

bluez-simple-agent hci0 AA:BB:CC:00:11:22 remove

In Ubuntu 10.04 the bluez Python scripts called ‘simple-agent’, ‘test-device’ etc. reside in (!!):

/usr/share/doc/bluez/examples/simple-agent

Error: “Creating device failed: org.bluez.Error.AlreadyExists: Bonding already exists”. Solve by: ??

[meneerjansen]

P.S. You can install hcitool etc. by installing the package ‘bluez’:

sudo apt-get install bluez

[powerpak]

Thanks for the reply. I’m running into a problem with this method.

I ran sudo apt-get install bluez and rebooted.

Upon reboot, I found the address of my BT dongle and of my controller as you indicated.

But when I attempt to run bluez-simple-agent hci0 AA:BB:CC:00:11:22 (where the address is what returned for my gamepad) I get -bash: bluez-simple-agent: command not found

Any advice?

[meneerjansen]

[quote=122034]Thanks for the reply. I’m running into a problem with this method.

I ran sudo apt-get install bluez and rebooted.

Upon reboot, I found the address of my BT dongle and of my controller as you indicated.

But when I attempt to run bluez-simple-agent hci0 AA:BB:CC:00:11:22 (where the address is what returned for my gamepad) I get -bash: bluez-simple-agent: command not found

Any advice?
[/quote]
Bluez is a very quirky indeed.

Some Linux talk now (sorry). My tutorial is so old that it only works for Bluez 4. Ubuntu 14.04 “Trusty Thar” (and Linux Mint) still use Bluez 4. Ubuntu and Mint are based on GNU Linux Debian. But the Debian 8 (code name “Jessie”) version that is on my Pi (i.e. Raspbian) already uses Bluez 5. In Bluez 5 things work radically different. The application ‘bluez-simple-agent’ and other utilities that I referred to in my HowTo do not exist any more and are replaced by ‘bluetoothctl’.

My new personal HowTo:

____________________________________________________________________
o=========o
– Bluez 5 –
o=========o
Ubuntu 14.04 still uses Bluez 4 (see below). Debian 8 ‘Jessie’ uses ver. 5.

1. Use the utility ‘bluetoothctl’ for everything. Once this program is started then it changes your prompt to:

[bluetooth]#

2. If it “sees” a BT controller or device then the prompt is blue. Type “help” for a list of commands.

4. Get MAC address of bluetooth keyboard or other device. Set your device in pairing mode (!) and type:

devices

Example of output:

Device 11:22:33:AA:BB:CC Bluetooth 3.0 Keyboard

Tip: put dongle in device discovery mode with “scan on” command if device is not yet on the list.

5. Set “agent on”!

6. Type “pair 11:22:33:AA:BB:CC” (TAB completion works).

7. If you’ve set the agent on then it should ask you to type a PIN code on the keyboard and to press enter on it afterwards.

8. Then trust, connect etc.

9. Type “quit”. Your keyboard should be connected now.

10. I don’t know how or why, but its autoconnected at boot. If not, check the references.

11. Troubleshooting:
– To list BT dongles and their MAC address type “list” (not necessary if you’ve got only one). Example of output:
[bluetooth]# list
Controller XX:YY:ZZ:11:22:33 raspberrypi [default]
– Set your dongle on w/: “power on”.

12. References:
[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth#Bluetoothctl

[2] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth_keyboard
______________________________________________________________________

Good luck :)

P.S. To make things more complicated: in my RetroPie installation the old Bluez 4 scripts still exist. There are in:

‘/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/bluetooth/’
I don’t know if they are still functional, but I think they are not there for nothing.

[powerpak]

Thanks so much for trying to help. As stated in my original post, I have tried bluetoothctl, but it doesn’t seem to be working as it’s supposed to.

I get the [bluetooth]# prompt, but it’s not blue even when my device is in pairing mode, and I can’t type anything at the prompt. There is a flashing cursor, but typing does nothing. I can only type command C to restore the command line.

Hopefully somebody can find a clue in all of this. Again, my BT dongle does work, and I have a PS3 controller working just fine via BT. However, I’m trying to connect an 8bitdo controller and my system’s Register and Connect is not working (as described in OP), and I can’t utilize bluetoothctl as described here and in the OP.

[meneerjansen]

[quote=122134]Thanks so much for trying to help. As stated in my original post, I have tried bluetoothctl, but it doesn’t seem to be working as it’s supposed to.

I get the [bluetooth]# prompt, but it’s not blue even when my device is in pairing mode, and I can’t type anything at the prompt. There is a flashing cursor, but typing does nothing. I can only type command C to restore the command line.

Hopefully somebody can find a clue in all of this. Again, my BT dongle does work, and I have a PS3 controller working just fine via BT. However, I’m trying to connect an 8bitdo controller and my system’s Register and Connect is not working (as described in OP), and I can’t utilize bluetoothctl as described here and in the OP.
[/quote]
Aha. I didn’t read your top post well enough. Anyway, I just couldn’t understand why bluetoothctl won’t respond. And then I read the RetroPie site you mentioned on ‘Setting up a bluetooth controller‘. And lo and behold. Scoll down that page to the section “Troubleshooting”. And indeed, the software needed to get the PS3 controler working is messing up the “standard” bluetooth Linux utilities (or drivers?).

Your problem is “sixad” which is needed to get the PS3 controller working. For all it$ money the PS3 controller is probably not stadard BT compliant (why would it need special software then). Unfortunately you have to choose between the PS3 controller or other BT devices. The following is said to solve tour BT probs but disabled the PS3 controller:

sudo apt-get --purge remove sixad

Good luck! :)

P.S. Wanna have an extra controller w/ some more buttons and sticks other than your SNES30 8bitdo? I know it aint no PS3 controller but its cheap and works without drivers. The Thrustmaster T Wireless. See for instance Amazon.co.uk.

[powerpak]

Thanks again, but I already tried removing sixad as mentioned in my original post.

I just tried it again, but it makes no difference in the behavior of Register and Connect, I just get the blinking cursor in the lower left and nothing happens. I waited a good five minutes just to see if anything would happen.

To describe what I did, I ran
sudo apt-get --purge remove sixad

Then I ran set-up, Updated scripts, rebooted, and went back Register and Connect Bluetooth Device, and it’s still not doing anything.

Also tested “bluetoothctl” again after removing sixad, and it made no change there either. Still behaves as described in OP.

Still wondering if anyone can solve this, or tell me if it’s time to reinstall retroPie or update to most recent version (I have no idea if that would help or just complicate things further). Would really like to get this 8bitdo controller working.

[meneerjansen]

[quote=122296]Thanks again, but I already tried removing sixad as mentioned in my original post.

I just tried it again, but it makes no difference in the behavior of Register and Connect, I just get the blinking cursor in the lower left and nothing happens. I waited a good five minutes just to see if anything would happen.

To describe what I did, I ran
sudo apt-get --purge remove sixad

Then I ran set-up, Updated scripts, rebooted, and went back Register and Connect Bluetooth Device, and it’s still not doing anything.

Also tested “bluetoothctl” again after removing sixad, and it made no change there either. Still behaves as described in OP.

Still wondering if anyone can solve this, or tell me if it’s time to reinstall retroPie or update to most recent version (I have no idea if that would help or just complicate things further). Would really like to get this 8bitdo controller working.

[/quote]
Again, I’m awfully sorry for not reading the OP well enough. It might be better to re-install RetroPie all together. Do you have a spare SD card on which you can install a fresh RetroPie?

In the troubleshooting section of the mentioned RetroPie Wiki there are some more tips on the 8bitdo SFC30 controller (press Start + R; remove and add device in bluez). You might try them?

[Author]

Posts