Bluetooth crashes when searching / connecting new devices (also, save my relationship)

Hi everyone,

I have talked my girlfriend into installing Linux on her new Laptop. After much swaying and running the Live ISO to prove that everything will work just fine, she actually went for it. Horray, I say! One less human being in the claws of Windows.

But, unfortunately, I forgot to check one thing: Wether Bluetooth functions. Now she is very aggravated for her beloved In-Ear-Buds are not working. My relationship is on the brink of destruction, you got to help me :wink:

The Error:
When trying to search for Bluetooth Devices, Bluetooth just seems to “shutdown”. The “add device” button in KDE plasma disappears, the bluetooth service crashes. It can be restarted with $ systemctl restart bluetooth.service - then the add device button reappears.
When acting fast enough, the In-Ear-Buds (or any other bluetooth device) is actually shown and can be selected, but then it crashes while trying to establish the connection. After a long wait, it results in a “The setup of device-xyz has failed” error.

The system:
Running Manjaro KDE with Kernel 6.6.3 (latest updates). Relevant entries from inxi:

System:
  Kernel: 6.6.3-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
    clocksource: tsc Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.9 tk: Qt v: 5.15.11
    info: latte-dock wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro Linux
    base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eh3xxx v: N/A
    serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter>
  Mobo: HP model: 8BC7 v: 68.10 serial: <filter> UEFI: AMI v: F.02
    date: 03/24/2023
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: rtw89_8852be v: kernel
    pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:b852
    class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-4:4 chip-ID: 0bda:b85c class-ID: e001
    serial: <filter>
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.3
    lmp-v: 12 class-ID: 7c010c

I guess, this must be related to the device rtw_89_8852be, the Realtek WiFi/Bluetooth Adapter. The driver for this is included in the Kernel since 5.2+.

Who is willing to help? :slight_smile:
As always, any comment is much appreciated.

Solved it. It seems to be a bug in KDE actually, the device can be paired via terminal. I used:

For others as info: I used
bluetoothctl
scan on
Now find the right device and note the MAC adress.
pair [MAC]
connect [MAC]
trust [MAC]

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