Bluetooth keyboard lockup problem

[seroster]

I have a relatively new Raspberry Pi 4 setup with Retropie 4.8.5. I was on 4.8 when I discovered this problem, then updated and tried again, but the behavior is the game: the bluetooth utility can see my new Logitech K380 keyboard, but when I try to connect, the "Please choose a security mode" menu appears and the device/software locks up when I make a choice.

I've looked through similar cases on the forum but don't see any posts about bluetooth keyboard issues except where "it suddenly started to work" - i.e. I didn't glean a solution from previous threads.

I do have one other Bluetooth device connected - an 8BitDo controller, which is working correctly.

I read a post from a while ago about reverting to 4.6 and am wondering if that is what I would have to do? Or trying what is described here? https://core-electronics.com.au/guides/workaround-for-the-retropie-bluetooth-security-bug/

Sorry if I'm being stupid,
Chris

[mitu]

Try the procedure from https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/590221/pairing-logitech-k380-in-ubuntu-20-04, using the bluetoothctl command line utility. Seems the kekyboard may need a pairing code to complete the pairing with the Pi.

[seroster]

Thanks, I got partway through the bluetoothctl process but it gave output not quite like was shown in that example.

I can get to the terminal (hadn't done this before) and run bluetoothctl
I can get the MAC address of the keyboard
I can issue the trust command and that succeeds.

However, when I try to pair, I see:

[bluetooth]# pair <macaddress>
[CMG] Device <macaddress> Connected: yes
[agent] Passkey: 056660
[Keyboard K380]# _

The underscore is the cursor, if that's not clear. And at that point I am not sure what I am supposed to do, and after a little bit pairing times out/fails.

Any ideas?

[mitu]

@seroster said in Bluetooth keyboard lockup problem:

The underscore is the cursor, if that's not clear. And at that point I am not sure what I am supposed to do, and after a little bit pairing times out/fails.

From the link I mentioned, I understand you type the passkey on the keyboard to complete the pairing ?

[seroster]

@mitu Ahhh on the keyboard to be PAIRED? No, I did not understand. Thanks, I'll try that.

edit: of course, it now works. I can't quite believe I didn't understand that part of the instructions haha