Lost PS3 bluetooth after updating Raspbian

Lagorth

@symp when I type hciconfig in terminal nothing happens. So bluetooth isn't working, right?

jmebd

@HoolyHoo Thanks for your help! Back off the bluetooth dongle crutch again!

eightbit

Right. After the downgrade you will see output from hciconfig. Before it you will not (because it is not working with 0.1.1). Downgrading it worked for me as well.

A Former User

same thing here with the 8bitdo NES30 pro, after update bluetooth didnt want to recognize or connect to the controller. I've now downgraded it and shows up in the "unregister and remove bluetoothdevice" menu....some progress better than none. I even had to do a fresh install of retropie and copy over all the roms thinking it was something wrong with the system

Meneer Jansen

My personal howto for Bluez 5 and the command line (notice that you can also confugure BT from within Emulationstation):

Bluez 5

Ubuntu 14.04 still uses Bluez 4 (see below). Debian 8 'Jessie' uses ver. 5.

Summary:
- bluetootlctl
- agent on
- devices
- pair 11:22:33:AA:BB:CC
- Enter PIN
- trust 11:22:33:AA:BB:CC
- connect 11:22:33:AA:BB:CC
Use the utility 'bluetoothctl' for everything. Once this program is started then it changes your prompt to:

[bluetooth]#
If it "sees" a BT controller or device then the prompt is blue. Type "help" for a list of commands.
Get MAC address of bluetooth keyboard or other device. Set your device in pairing mode (!) and type:

devices

Example of output:

Device 20:15:06:05:61:80 Bluetooth 3.0 Keyboard

Tip: put dongle in device discovery mode with "scan on" command if device is not yet on the list.
Set "agent on"!
Type "pair XX:YY:01:05:61:80" (TAB completion works).
If you've set the agent on then it should ask you to type a PIN code on the keyboard and to press enter on it afterwards.
Then trust, connect etc.
Type "quit". Your keyboard should be connected now.
I don't know how or why, but its autoconnected at boot. If not, check the references.
Troubleshooting:
- To list BT dongles and their MAC address type "list" (not necessary if you've got only
  one). Example of output:
  [bluetooth]# list
  Controller XX:YY:ZZ:01:02:B6 raspberrypi [default]
- Set your dongle on w/: "power on".
- Prompt not blue and error org.bluez.Error.NotReady: Power issue? ????????????!!!!!!!
- hciconfig hci0 up
References:
[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth#Bluetoothctl

[2] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth_keyboard

[3] Possible errors messages: http://maemo.org/api_refs/5.0/beta/bluez/adapter.html

Wolfman100

I have now been digging around attempting to get the bluetooth controller in the Pi to see the PS3 controller at root level from the commandline using bluetoothctl following this guide:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth#Bluetoothctl

The Pi does not see the PS3 controller when scanning for devices but every other bluetooth device around.This leads me to assume that one of two scenarios is ocurring:

1)The Bluetooth in the PS3 controller is broken
2)The Pi's Bluetooth needs sixpair to be running in order to see the PS3 controller

If someone with more in-depth knowledge than me confirm whether either of these possibilities are true?

eightbit

@Wolfman100 said in Lost PS3 bluetooth after updating Raspbian:

I have now been digging around attempting to get the bluetooth controller in the Pi to see the PS3 controller at root level from the commandline using bluetoothctl following this guide:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth#Bluetoothctl

The Pi does not see the PS3 controller when scanning for devices but every other bluetooth device around.This leads me to assume that one of two scenarios is ocurring:

1)The Bluetooth in the PS3 controller is broken
2)The Pi's Bluetooth needs sixpair to be running in order to see the PS3 controller

If someone with more in-depth knowledge than me confirm whether either of these possibilities are true?

Are you using the RetroPie-Setup to set up the PS3 controller? Mine works fine.

Wolfman100

Yes I am.When prompted I plug the PS3 controller in via USB then disconnect it and push the 'PS' button to pair but nothing happens.

opensourcefan

@Wolfman100 said in Lost PS3 bluetooth after updating Raspbian:

Yes I am.When prompted I plug the PS3 controller in via USB then disconnect it and push the 'PS' button to pair but nothing happens.

I remember this same issue when I first tried. I think it all needs to be done before closing the window, not sure because it's not super clear. Maybe connect and wait for a bit then disconnect and wait for a bit before turning it on again. It would be great if it check marked the steps to show that they have been accomplished so you know when to move onto the next.

stayupthetree

@opensourcefan When it works, it works regardless if the screen is there or not. Similar to the USB Rom service, it is backgrounded.

Worth noting to those with trouble, apparently you have to choose between using the PS3 controller on bluetooth or using anything else. The 'sixad' install takes over as the bluetooth controller that would start as a system service. It is apparently a one or the other thing, or so I gathered from this https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/issues/1181

stayupthetree

@Wolfman100 Did you downgrade pi-bluetooth from 0.1.1 to 0.1.0?

eightbit

@Wolfman100 said in Lost PS3 bluetooth after updating Raspbian:

Yes I am.When prompted I plug the PS3 controller in via USB then disconnect it and push the 'PS' button to pair but nothing happens.

Provided your BT is working (make sure to downgrade it to 0.1.0 if you did not already) when you plug in the PS3 controller you should see all four lights blinking. Then you unplug it and press the PS button and it should vibrate, rotate the lights and stop at light #1. Now it is synced.

Wolfman100

When I attempt this all I get is the controller constantly vibrating and all 4 lights flashing,meaning it is not pairing.I have however not downgraded to 0.1.0 yet,which I will try later.

stayupthetree

@Wolfman100 Dude. Seriously.

Wolfman100

Yes.Seriously.

This is what I get when I attempt to downgrade:

root@osmc:/# cd pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb
bash: cd: pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb: Not a directory
root@osmc:/# sudo dpkg -i pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb
(Reading database ... 51351 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb ...
Unpacking pi-bluetooth (0.1.0) over (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

Meneer Jansen

@Wolfman100 said in Lost PS3 bluetooth after updating Raspbian:

Yes.Seriously.

This is what I get when I attempt to downgrade:

root@osmc:/# cd pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb

pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb Is not a directory but a file. So you cannot change directory (cd) to it I'm afraid. The rest of the commands underneath might not give sensible output therefore. Try to cd to the directory in which you downloaded the .deb file. Then try to install it w/ the commands you used earlier.

root@osmc:/# sudo dpkg -i pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb
(Reading database ... 51351 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb ...
Unpacking pi-bluetooth (0.1.0) over (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

I deduce from the output above that you installed OSMC: not an RetroPie image or Raspbian (w/ RetroPie installed in Raspbian). Raspbian is a "real" Linux installation and you can solve dependency problems like you have by installing software from the internet. Try:

apt-get install bluez-firmware

Or ask in an OSMC forum how to install it. Good luck! :)

Wolfman100

Apolagies.Those top two lines shouldn't have been in the post,that was a mistake.

I CD to the directory with the pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.ded and then when I attempt to run it with sudo dpkg -i pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb I get the error:

root@osmc:/# sudo dpkg -i pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb
(Reading database ... 51351 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack pi-bluetooth_0.1.0_armhf.deb ...
Unpacking pi-bluetooth (0.1.0) over (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

Wolfman100

I have now managed to succesfully downgrade.The only device which shows up is my Bluetooth Keyboard.When I scan and turn the Bluetooth Keyboad Off it see's no devices and my PS3 controller does not connect.

Wolfman100

I tested it with my Wii Controller which Bluetoothctl see's,but not my PS3 Controller...

Meneer Jansen

@Wolfman100 said in Lost PS3 bluetooth after updating Raspbian:

I tested it with my Wii Controller which Bluetoothctl see's,but not my PS3 Controller...

There are lot of people w/ PS3 controller probs. It needs a very special way of installing (read: nightmare). If I'm not mistaken then the PS3 controller has "2 bluetooth modes": one that only the PS3 understands and one general "real" BT mode. See: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Setting-up-a-PS3-controller

You might try opening a separate topic 'bout this or search the forum (like I said: you're not exactly the frist one to struggle w/ this).

Good luck. :-)