Bluetooth broken following 8bitdo FC30 setup

MistahJ

Hi all,

Pi Model or other hardware: 3 B+
Power Supply used: 5V 2.5A (supplied with ABOX kit)
RetroPie Version Used: 4.4
Built From: Downloaded from official website, image written to micro SD card
USB Devices connected: Wireless keyboard dongle, XBox 360 wireless receiver
Controller used: Xbox 360 (via wireless receiver)
Error messages received: Trying to view (not sure where they are to be found)
Log found in /dev/shm/runcommand.log (if relevant): Will post log later (writing .img of microSD as I type)
Guide used: Official Retropie website install/setup guides
File: Bluetooth (general)
Emulator:
Attachment of config files: Not sure which files to attach
How to replicate the problem: Setup 8bitdo controller as per Retropie website instructions, add rule for reconnecting controller during reboot, Bluetooth now messed up and unable to find/configure controller.

I am now setting up Retropie for the third time and am very nervous about trying to fix issues in case I break something and have to reinstall and setup from scratch (again!). I am currently making an .img of my SD to avoid that, however I have somehow managed to mess up Bluetooth after connecting an 8bitdo FC30 gamepad.

I followed the instructions on the Retropie site to connect the FC30 and all went well until I rebooted Retropie. After doing so, the controller wasn't connected and when I went back into the Bluetooth settings to check what might be happening I have found the there are no Bluetooth devices registered and I can't add my controller again as 'Searching...' just completes immediately and the controller isn't found. There are various error messages that flash up at the bottom of the screen regarding the Bluetooth service and 'sixad', but these flash up so quickly that I can't read them fast enough.

Where can I view the error information so that I can post it here for further support, and is it possible to just reinstall Bluetooth again so that I can start this process afresh?

Hope you can help!

mitu

@MistahJ Did you install the ps3controller driver from the RetroPie-Setup ? The driver will disable the native Linux Bluetooth stack and will make the PS3 controllers work with RetroPie.

MistahJ

@mitu No, definitely not. This is the first time I've even run the Bluetooth menu since installing Retropie actually, so no other devices have been used with Bluetooth at all.

mitu

@MistahJ For the 8bitdo controllers, there's no need to do anything else besides pairing them - there's no need to add any rules or choose a special connection mode, just use the defaults.
Some of them are not pairing on the first try (they're not found after Searching..) and you have to re-start them and re-try again.
What I would do is to clear any paired devices (if any), update the firmware on the controller to the latest version from the 8bitdo site and - when pairing - try starting them in Switch mode

Nintendo Switch: Hold POWER + Y for 1 second, LED will blink four times per cycle.

MistahJ

Well I didn't have any issues pairing the controller, nor setting up the buttons/d-pad in EmulationStation. The issue is that since rebooting, the functionality of Bluetooth has been corrupted so that I cannot clear any existing devices as it doesn't think there are any and when I try, it gives me a whole load of error text that I don't know where it is located otherwise I would paste it here. Any of the other Bluetooth menu functions also result in an error that flashes up (too quickly to fully read) and has something to do with 'sixad.service'. That's all I can read in the quick time the message appears and then disappears.

mitu

@MistahJ The sixad service is not installed by default, I'm not sure why you get those messages. Did you install the sixaxis driver ?
Can you exit Emulationstation and then run

sudo systemctl status bluetooth
sudo systemctl status sixad

and post the output ?

MistahJ

@mitu Thanks for the continuing support, and apologies for the delay in replying. I have typed in the console commands you provided and this is the output given...

Hope this helps!

mitu

@MistahJ said in Bluetooth broken following 8bitdo FC30 setup:

Hope this helps!

Yes and no. Looking at the status of your bluetooth service, you can see the service is not started and not functional, because it's missing some additional files.
Are you sure you used the right RetroPie 4.4 image ? On a stock RetroPie system, you shouldn't have this error, the Bluetooth service should be functional and running (even without any device configured).

What type (and capacity) of SD Card are you using ? Can you try another SD-card ?

MistahJ

@mitu Well as I said, the Bluetooth functionality was working perfectly when setting up the 8bitdo controller and problems only began when the Pi was restarted. As regards the SD card, it's a 32GB card, branded 'Team' and was bought from a local computer store. To be honest, I've had my doubts about it, so I think I'm going to purchase a 32GB Sandisk Ultra card to replace it. I have also since sourced the official Raspberry Pi 5.1v 2.5A PSU to replace the one sent with my ABOX kit. So between the two new pieces of kit, I'll set up Retropie afresh and see how it goes.

Thanks for your patience and help with this issue, it's appreciated.