Disconnected bluetooth controller causes freezes on regular intervals

[Nobody]

Hardware: Raspberry Pi 3
Retropie version: 4.3.3
Emulation station: 3.6.5RP
Controller: 8bitdo fc30 pro
Kodi: 17.4

Description:

When bluetooth paired controller powers off, bluetoothd probes for a reconnect every ten or so seconds. When doing so, the raspberry pi freezes for approximately a second. This becomes an issue when working on the hardware over ssh or streaming media in Kodi.

Reproduce:

1. Connect a bluetooth controller
2. Power off bluetooth controller
3. ssh to device
4. Keep command line busy
5. Notice freezes

From /var/log/syslog

Nov  1 00:13:03 retropie bluetoothd[777]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Nov  1 00:13:03 retropie rsyslogd-2007: action 'action 17' suspended, next retry is Wed Nov  1 00:13:33 2017 [try http://www.rsyslog.com/e/2007 ]
Nov  1 00:13:08 retropie bluetoothd[777]: connect error: Host is down (112)
Nov  1 00:13:13 retropie bluetoothd[777]: a2dp-sink profile connect failed for <BT ADDRESS>: Protocol not available
Nov  1 00:13:33 retropie bluetoothd[777]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Nov  1 00:13:33 retropie rsyslogd-2007: action 'action 17' suspended, next retry is Wed Nov  1 00:14:03 2017 [try http://www.rsyslog.com/e/2007 ]
Nov  1 00:13:38 retropie bluetoothd[777]: connect error: Host is down (112)
Nov  1 00:13:43 retropie bluetoothd[777]: a2dp-sink profile connect failed for <BT ADDRESS>: Protocol not available
Nov  1 00:14:04 retropie bluetoothd[777]: Can't get HIDP connection info
Nov  1 00:14:04 retropie rsyslogd-2007: action 'action 17' suspended, next retry is Wed Nov  1 00:14:34 2017 [try http://www.rsyslog.com/e/2007 ]
Nov  1 00:14:09 retropie bluetoothd[777]: connect error: Host is down (112)
Nov  1 00:14:14 retropie bluetoothd[777]: a2dp-sink profile connect failed for <BT ADDRESS>: Protocol not available
Nov  1 00:14:34 retropie bluetoothd[777]: Can't get HIDP connection info

ps -aef|grep blue

root       777     1  0 00:03 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd
root       880     1  0 00:03 ?        00:00:00 /bin/sh -c while true; do for mac in <BT ADDRESS> <BT ADDRESS> <BT ADDRESS>; do hcitool con | grep -q "$mac" || echo "connect $mac" | bluetoothctl >/dev/null 2>&1; sleep 10; done; done

Cheers

[jonceramic]

@nobody I'm having the exact same issue. Has anyone found a solution? I had set my Bluetooth discovery to be active. I'm switching back to stack default to see if it improves, then going to try the boot discoverable (although I assume that's behavior that won't auto connect again...)

[jonceramic]

@jonceramic Update. On boot discoverable, things are working much better. In addition, it appears that it's no problem to reconnect the controller. I'm assuming possible that the controller needs to be on when the system is booted under this setup so it can be discovered immediately?

[jonceramic]

I take it back. It only seems to randomly fix the issue. Or possibly, something else is happening along with it.

[mitu]

@jonceramic said in Disconnected bluetooth controller causes freezes on regular intervals:

I'm assuming possible that the controller needs to be on when the system is booted under this setup so it can be discovered immediately

That's not necessary, if the pairing is ok, you can turn your controller on/off anytime. You didn't give any details about your system/controller, so it's hard to say if it's the same problem or not.
FWIW I have a 8bitdo SN30 controller that doesn't have any problems. It was updated to the latest firmware version available and I didn't have to fiddle with any bluetooth settings on the PI, it even goes into stand-by then reconnects back on a button press.