Setting up Bluetooth dongle

Question

I am trying to get my Bluetooth dongle set up. When I search for it using lsusb, the following comes up in the terminal:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0409:0059 NEC Corp. HighSpeed Hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp. BCM2046B1 USB 2.0 Hub (part of BCM2046 Bluetooth)
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0a5c:4502 Broadcom Corp. Keyboard (Boot Interface Subclass)
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 0a5c:4503 Broadcom Corp. Mouse (Boot Interface Subclass)
Bus 001 Device 008: ID 0a5c:2153 Broadcom Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 046d:c03d Logitech, Inc. M-BT96a Pilot Optical Mouse
Bus 001 Device 010: ID 046d:c30a Logitech, Inc. iTouch Composite

Then, I try to run /etc/init.d/bluetooth status and the feedback is that Bluetooth is running.

But then, when I try to run hcitool scan I immediately get that device is not available: No such device although I know I have at least two active Bluetooth clients running next to it.

Does anybody have any idea what I'm doing wrong and how can I connect to my Bluetooth devices?

I have a Targus 2.0 Bluetooth dongle and I'm running the latest version of Wheezy.

Answer 1

Is that the Broadcom thing? If so, it does not present itself as a Bluetooth adapter your Pi can talk to as Bluetooth. Instead, it looks like a dongle which transparently translates your Bluetooth keyboard+mouse into an USB keyboard+mouse.

Try the command hid2hci to switch the dongle to HCI mode. If that doesn't work, try to exchange it for a different manufacturer's adapter.

Conversely, if it is not, then your dongle doesn't show up on your USB at all. Which device vanishes from the list when you unplug it?

If the answer is "none", then the most likely reason is that it's not getting enough power. Do you have a powered hub? What does the kernel log (dmesg|tail -30) say?

Answer 2

I do not have a definitive answer, but for me the output of lsusb is:

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)

and hcitool scan works for me, listing the visible devices.

Maybe your device is not in "HCI Mode"? Try:

/lib/udev/hid2hci

I also find that I need to use sudo to use some commands like hcitool info

sudo hcitool info

else I get the error: Can't create connection: Operation not permitted

Answer 3

You have to get output like this when trying with lsusb :
(attention to HCI mode information)

#lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB-2.0 4-Port HUB
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB-2.0 4-Port HUB
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)

Answer 4

Check that you are setting it up as root. Type the commands with sudo in front of them (you'll be asked for your password).

Answer 5

First off, run the scan as root (sudo hcitool scan), that should eliminate any permission issue.

If that does not resolve it for you, run sudo hcitool dev and see if your device is listed in the output. If it is not - that is where you will need to start (i.e. the device is not being recognized by the system and you may actually have a hardware failure or the dongle is not fully engaged)

Once the device shows in the dev list, you should be able to follow the instructions at command line SPP bluetooth setup to get it fully functioning.

Answer 6

My Bluetooth dongle is Targus 4.0 (ACB75AU)

I had a similar problem and ended up having to download a set of broadcom firmware. https://launchpad.net/bcm20702a1

After extracting the software i got a bunch of folders, the one of interest being lib > firmware > bcm20702a1. It looks like it has a few versions of firmware in there. I took the file named BCM20702A1_001.002.014.0449.0672.hcd and copied ti to my RaspberryPi B 2 into the folder named /lib/firmware/brcm. The file needs to be renamed to BCM20702A1-0a5c-21e8.hcd.

After that you can take the bluetooth dongle out and put it back in and it should work. If not, power-cycle your Pi.

Run service bluetooth status and hciconfig -a to get more info on the status of your device.

Here's the file I took from the archive. I tried the last file, but it didn't seem to work, so I went to the one before that assuming they are just different versions of firmware for the same device.