PI 3 + PS3 Bluetooth controller freeze fix. UPDATED

Rion

@Rascas Thank you!

Lagorth

pi3, 3.7, updated to kernel 4.4, ps3 wireless

I got my pi last month and was running retropie with the old kernel before and got everything running except for the random freezing problem. So I updated the kernel to 4.4 yesterday. Now it seems impossible for me to pair my ps3 wireless with my pi. Maybe I missed some important settings?

That's what I did:

'sudo apt-get install rpi-update'
'sudo rpi-update 15ffab5493d74b12194e6bfc5bbb1c0f71140155'
'sudo update-ca-certificates --fresh'

I also tried to use:

'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade'

Still the controller is working with usb, only. Any suggestions what else I could try to get my bluetooth working again? (I'm quite new to all of this so it is hard to tell what's going wrong for me)

opensourcefan

I think this is a bug with the update itself. It may be killing the Bluetooth. Take a look at this thread https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/905/lost-ps3-bluetooth-after-updating-raspbian/9

eightbit

I foresaw there being a BT issue in retropie when I saw the release notes for Raspian on Distrowatch yesterday from Simon Long:

"We've just released a new version of our Raspbian image with some (hopefully) useful features. When the Pi 3 launched back in February, we'd not had time to do much in terms of getting access to the new on-board Bluetooth hardware. There was a working software stack, but the UI was non-existent. I'd hoped to be able to use one of the existing Linux Bluetooth UIs, but on trying them all, none were really what I was looking for in terms of usability and integration with the look and feel of the desktop. I really didn't want to write one from scratch, but that ended up being what I did, which meant a fun few weeks trying to make head or tail of the mysteries of BlueZ and D-Bus. After a few false starts, I finally got something I felt was usable, and so there is now a Bluetooth plugin for the LXPanel taskbar."

So, the new bluetooth module does fix BT in LXDE...but apparently breaks in in Retropie. The short term solution is to downgrade it as stated in the previous post (although I have yet to confirm that...but I see no reason why it would not work) but again it is a short term solution. The solution is not to suppress the update but to fix the compatibility issue in Retropie. Hopefully we'll see a v3.8 with compatibility with the new BT module fixed so that we can enjoy the best of all worlds.

eightbit

After a dist-upgrade, do:

wget http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/pool/main/p/pi-bluetooth/pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb

and

sudo dpkg -i pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb

Reboot afterward. If hciconfig give you an output the bluetooth is working again.

This will downgrade the bluetooth module and allow the PS3 controller (and other BT devices) to work again. Best part is now that the kernel has been updated the freezing no longer exists. I have been using the PS3 controller all night without a freeze.

Wolfman100

what way can I check what version of the bluetooth module is installed from the commandline and also how to check if the bluetooth module is seeing the controller at commandline level?

eightbit

@Wolfman100

If you download the pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb and do a sudo dpkg -i pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb, you will get a warning that you are downgrading the file. You will then know you are running the newer version that is not working. You can allow the downgrade.

I believe you can do an hcitool dev to show all on devices if I remember correctly. Don't quote me on that though...

Wolfman100

@eightbit Thanks for that info.I will have a look at that this evening.I am running RetroPie installed in OSMC and am wondering whether this is causing some kind of Bluetooth conflict between 'bluetoothctl' and 'sixpair'.

I have a bluetooth keyboard which works flawlessly with this setup and also works within RetroPie.This leads me to believe that because this Bluetooth keyboard is working in RetroPie that RetroPie is using Bluetoothctl which OSMC is using rather than enabling SIxpair?

Wolfman100

I have tried the downgrade but encountered the following error:

root@osmc://# sudo apt-get install rpi-update
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package rpi-update
root@osmc://# wget http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/pool/main/p/pi-bluetooth/pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb
--2016-05-16 12:04:03-- http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/pool/main/p/pi-bluetooth/pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb
Resolving archive.raspberrypi.org (archive.raspberrypi.org)... 93.93.135.188, 93.93.128.133, 93.93.130.236, ...
Connecting to archive.raspberrypi.org (archive.raspberrypi.org)|93.93.135.188|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 3182 (3.1K) [application/x-debian-package]
Saving to: ‘pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb’

pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_ 100%[=====================>] 3.11K --.-KB/s in 0.001s

2016-05-16 12:04:03 (2.75 MB/s) - ‘pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb’ saved [3182/3182]

root@osmc://# sudo dpkg -i pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb
Selecting previously unselected package pi-bluetooth.
(Reading database ... 51347 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb ...
Unpacking pi-bluetooth (0.1.0) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of pi-bluetooth:
pi-bluetooth depends on bluez-firmware; however:
Package bluez-firmware is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package pi-bluetooth (--install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
pi-bluetooth
root@osmc://#

It says package bluez-firmware is not installed.It must be though otherwise I wouldn't be able to use my bluetooth keyboard right?!Could this be that I am doing it as a root user under OSMC?

smoothmalik

ive literary tried every step in this thread and now my controller when i press to connect to BT connects and then the system freezes up right after ...Is there a legit clean way to get this thing working without a million different steps?

Rascas

@smoothmalik if you read the first post, you only need one step and it is to update and upgrade. It works for me so I cannot see why it wont work for others. I had already installed the package raspberrypi-sys-mods so check if you have that installed also.

smoothmalik

@Rascas I started with the first post and nothing worked so I kept going down the thread to other suggestions which lead to where i am now lol fucked...im prolly just gonna do another clean install and try this for like the 3rd time...

Rascas

@smoothmalik Besides the PS3 gamepad install, it is just 2 more commands, pretty easy ;)

opensourcefan

Attempting to downgrade and I get the following:

dpkg-deb: error: 'pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb' is not a debian format archive

What am I suppose to do with that...

BuZz

You didn't download it correctly I guess. But you don't need to downgrade - install raspberrypi-sys-mods

opensourcefan

I did double check the download but I'll try install aspberrypi-sys-mods and see what happens. What should happen?

EDIT: you meant install raspberrypi-sys-mods correct, with the 'r' in front?

opensourcefan

I confirmed my download and re-downloaded it a couple times, that didn't work. I took the deb off of another card that I had and it downgraded just fine.

I don't know what sys-mods is so I'll learn about it before trying it.

BuZz

I did - the R got lost somewhere :-) sudo apt-get install raspberrypi-sys-mods answer Y if it asks about overwriting a file

smoothmalik

@Rascas I'm goin to do a fresh install. after emulationstation loads what steps do I absolutely need to do and in what order?

Rascas

@smoothmalik You do only the 2 commands in the first post, after the "EDIT". Than install the PS3 commands, check the wiki if you dont know how. That is only it.