Cannot pair my 8bitdo NES30 pro with RetroPie 4.1 (RPi3)

kalgon

Hi,

I have RetroPie 4.1 running on a RPi3. I recently bought 2 NES30 pro (firmware 1.71) but I can't pair them via bluetooth with my RPi.

I see them in retropie_setup.sh but each time I try to register & connect, I get the following error:

An error occurred connecting to the bluetooth device
(Creating device failed: org.bluez.Error.ConnectionAttemptFailed: Page Timeout)

I have also tried to pair them directly in bluetoothctl but the result is the same.

Note that pairing my controllers to my android phone or windows laptop works without problem so I don't think there's something wrong with the controllers (maybe the RPi bluetooth).

Thanks a lot!

kalgon

Ugh... Believe it or not, pairing works when I am not further than 50cm from the RPi... (I was trying at a distance of 2m when I got all the problems). Is the bluetooth on RPi3 that bad for everyone or is there a problem with mine?

BuZz

It should just work - I got a new NES30 Pro the other day, and it paired first time.

It's definitely in the pairing mode etc ? (flashing blue?)

Please read through https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Setting-up-an-8bitdo-Bluetooth-controller and check if there is anything you did differently.

BuZz

@kalgon does it work once paired from further away ? Mine works from a few meters away fine - do you have an enclosure on the RPI that could be causing an issue ?

kalgon

@BuZz When I am near my RPi, everything is ok (pairing/gaming) but as soon as I start to move away from it (> 1m), inputs start to lag up to a point (2m) where nothing works anymore.

BuZz

@kalgon I can only think some hardware is faulty. If the controller is fine on the of, maybe the RPI has an issue.

kalgon

@BuZz Thanks, that's what I feared.

Do you know by any chance if WiFi routers could be interfering with bluetooth? WiFi and bluetooth share the same 2.4Ghz frequency and my router is located next to my RPi.

Do you recommend any particular model of bluetooth dongle?

BuZz

@kalgon that could perhaps. Try moving the RPI to see if that's the issue. If so you could try switching channel on router.

Bakeman

@buzz

Omg thank you so much. I have 2 Nes30 and 2 Nes30 Pro and the last freaking controller wouldnt match with my raspberry for several hours now.. it literally was the distance. I didnt come up with this idea, because all other 3, even the other nes30 pro, worked perfectly from far away. I put it right on the raspberry and it worked instant.
Maybe there are several version with different antenna or sthg?

Again: thanks, im a little mad about this garbage, but also happy it works now.