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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    PS4/5 bluetooth gamepads not being connected to/detected at startup

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    bluetoothcontollergamepadstartupps4 controller
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    • J
      Jasper
      last edited by

      Hello everyone, new here :)
      I've had retropie installed on my RPI4 for a while now and it has been sitting collecting dust and I wanted to brush some of the dust over and maybe have a friend come by for some Donkey Kong :D

      I have two gamepads, a PS4 and a PS5, each connected via bluetooth. I remember testing things out ways back when and it was working fine.

      It has been a while, but I've booted it up and my gamepads weren't working. I'd press a button and get no response, tried pairing mode, nothing. So I went to the config page, saw that both gamepads seemed registered (paired) but not connected. So I tried the "Connect to all paired devices" which did nothing (a line did go by at the bottom of the screen but it's so fast it's unreadable).

      So I removed all gamepads, tried connecting the PS5 first, then the PS4 and things were fine for a moment. I managed to configure inputs and tried them in a game to make sure it was working. I'm bright, so I didn't select a hotkey to exit the game so I rebooted the system.

      And it's the exact same thing. Pushing buttons on either of the controllers/putting them in pairing mode at the splash screen does absolutely nothing, and going into the Bluetooth configuration page I can see them as paired but not connected to (one is listed as Wireless Gamepad and the other as DualSense Wireless Gamepad iirc). Pressing Connect to Paired deviced does absolutely nothing, regardless of whether the gamepads are in pairing mode or not.

      The bluetooth connection mode is set to default (it was forced to background when I first fired it up from a couple years back).

      Any ideas? Many thanks :)

      J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • J
        Jasper @Jasper
        last edited by

        Okay I seem to have automagically fixed the problem somehow? This morning it still wasn't working so I left the gamepads to charge and left for an hour to take care of some chores. Came back, still nothing, so I removed them (again) and re-paired them (again).

        Been working ever since. Tried several reboots, a hard power off, they now re-pair upon pushing the PS button like magic. Maybe they just didn't have enough juice in them yesterday? I really don't know what else, I only left them for 5-10 mins on the charger to test things out. Either that or it was some freaky glitch.

        The system and all the packages have been updated to their latest versions last night.

        Anyway, I guess that settles it. At least for now. Hopefully it doesn't start acting up again.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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