RetroPie forum home
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Home
    • Docs
    • Register
    • Login
    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Bluetooth dongle won't work

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Help and Support
    bluetoothdongleraspberry pi 2b
    7 Posts 2 Posters 1.0k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • D
      dingdongdynamo
      last edited by

      So I bought a USB Bluetooth dongle for my Pi 2. It's this one (sorry that the site is in Danish) and thought that would be fine for my Pi 2. However, while it's recognized, I can't seem to turn it on as I get the following error message:

      pi@retropie:~ $ hciconfig hci0 up
      Can't init device hci0: Operation not permitted (1)
      

      Here are some info:

      pi@retropie:~ $ hciconfig -a
      hci0:   Type: Primary  Bus: USB
              BD Address: 00:1A:7D:DA:71:11  ACL MTU: 679:9  SCO MTU: 48:16
              DOWN
              RX bytes:1722 acl:0 sco:0 events:90 errors:0
              TX bytes:1104 acl:0 sco:0 commands:90 errors:0
              Features: 0xff 0xff 0x87 0xfa 0xdb 0xbf 0x7b 0x83
              Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3
              Link policy: RSWITCH HOLD SNIFF PARK
              Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT
      
      pi@retropie:~ $ hcitool dev
      Devices:
      

      Also:
      Model: Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Rev 1.1
      RetroPie version: Says "Linux retropie 4.14.98-v7+" when I login via SSH.
      Built From: SD image on RetroPie website.

      Any ideas as to how I get it working? Or should I have gotten a different dongle?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • mituM
        mitu Global Moderator
        last edited by

        @dingdongdynamo said in Bluetooth dongle won't work:

        pi@retropie:~ $ hciconfig hci0 up
        Can't init device hci0: Operation not permitted (1)
        

        That's because you need admin rights for this operation, you can prefix the command with sudo to work. Regardless, it should work without doing this manual config.

        Can you run

        rfkill list all
        

        and post the output ? Maybe the BT radio is soft locked.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • D
          dingdongdynamo
          last edited by

          @mitu said in Bluetooth dongle won't work:

          hciconfig hci0 up

          Still getting an error with sudo:

          pi@retropie:~ $ sudo hciconfig hci0 up
          Can't init device hci0: Operation not supported (95)
          

          It's not soft locked:

          pi@retropie:~ $ rfkill list all
          1: phy0: Wireless LAN
                  Soft blocked: no
                  Hard blocked: no
          2: hci0: Bluetooth
                  Soft blocked: no
                  Hard blocked: no
          

          Should all dongles be compatible with a Pi 2 with RetroPie?

          mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • mituM
            mitu Global Moderator @dingdongdynamo
            last edited by

            @dingdongdynamo said in Bluetooth dongle won't work:

            Should all dongles be compatible with a Pi 2 with RetroPie?

            RetroPie is just plain Raspbian Lite at the OS level, so as long as it's compatible with Linux, the dongle should work. It might be that this particular device is not Linux compatible. For the record, this is the output of my dongle (which seems similar to this one) on the same Raspbian version:

            pi@retropie:~ $ hciconfig -a
            hci0:   Type: Primary  Bus: USB
                    BD Address: 00:1A:7D:DA:71:09  ACL MTU: 310:10  SCO MTU: 64:8
                    UP RUNNING PSCAN 
                    RX bytes:758 acl:0 sco:0 events:52 errors:0
                    TX bytes:1725 acl:0 sco:0 commands:44 errors:0
                    Features: 0xff 0xff 0x8f 0xfe 0xdb 0xff 0x5b 0x87
                    Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3 
                    Link policy: RSWITCH HOLD SNIFF PARK 
                    Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT 
                    Name: 'retropie'
                    Class: 0x000000
                    Service Classes: Unspecified
                    Device Class: Miscellaneous, 
                    HCI Version: 4.0 (0x6)  Revision: 0x22bb
                    LMP Version: 4.0 (0x6)  Subversion: 0x22bb
                    Manufacturer: Cambridge Silicon Radio (10)
            

            Can you get the dmesg output from unplugging and plugging the device:

            # unplug the dongle
            sudo dmesg -c
            
            # plug the dongle back and get the output of the follwing command
            dmesg
            
            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • D
              dingdongdynamo
              last edited by

              Thanks for helping me out here. This is what I get:

              pi@retropie:~ $ dmesg
              [69061.275907] usb 1-1.2: new full-speed USB device number 9 using dwc_otg
              [69061.408272] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0a12, idProduct=0001
              [69061.408292] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
              [69061.408306] usb 1-1.2: Product: USB1.1-A
              

              But yeah, it's probably a dongle that isn't compatible with Linux - I didn't know I should've checked for that. Unless you have something I can try, I'll probably just order a new one.

              mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • mituM
                mitu Global Moderator @dingdongdynamo
                last edited by

                @dingdongdynamo said in Bluetooth dongle won't work:

                Unless you have something I can try, I'll probably just order a new one.

                I'd say exchange it if possible (if you just bought it).

                D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • D
                  dingdongdynamo @mitu
                  last edited by

                  @mitu Will do. Thanks.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • First post
                    Last post

                  Contributions to the project are always appreciated, so if you would like to support us with a donation you can do so here.

                  Hosting provided by Mythic-Beasts. See the Hosting Information page for more information.