Bluetooth detected but doesn't work. Fresh install

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1

I recently installed a manjaro with KDE on my laptop with a built-in bluetooth adapter and the bluetooth doesn’t appear to work properly. The bluetooth icon appears grayed out and when clicking on it and selecting “Add New Device” it cannot see any devices at all, even when I put my headset into pairing mode. Opening Bluetooth in KDE settings it appears as disabled. Trying to enable it has no effect whatsoever. However, the bluetooth does work if I boot into windows.
And another curious detail: I can connect my Android phone to this laptop by using KDE Connect and it appears to work – at least they detect each other and don’t report any errors. And this connection is happening through Bluetooth, so it must be working on some level. But why can’t I use it?

Output from
$ systemctl status bluetooth:

● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-01-08 17:21:01 CET; 2h 31min ago
       Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
   Main PID: 677 (bluetoothd)
     Status: "Running"
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 9374)
     Memory: 2.0M
     CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
             └─677 /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd

Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEScanI>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEScanW>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEMinCo>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEMaxCo>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEConne>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEConne>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEAutoc>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP systemd[1]: Started Bluetooth service.
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: Starting SDP server
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: Bluetooth management interface 1.18 initialized
...skipping...
● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-01-08 17:21:01 CET; 2h 31min ago
       Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
   Main PID: 677 (bluetoothd)
     Status: "Running"
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 9374)
     Memory: 2.0M
     CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
             └─677 /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd

Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEScanI>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEScanW>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEMinCo>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEMaxCo>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEConne>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEConne>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: src/main.c:parse_controller_config() Key file does not have key “LEAutoc>
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP systemd[1]: Started Bluetooth service.
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: Starting SDP server
Jan 08 17:21:01 ManjaroLP bluetoothd[677]: Bluetooth management interface 1.18 initialized
~

But running bluetoothctl show results in

No default controller available

And

[user@host ~]$ lsmod | grep blu
bluetooth             741376  13 btrtl,btintel,btbcm,bnep,ath3k,btusb
ecdh_generic           16384  1 bluetooth
rfkill                 28672  12 asus_wmi,bluetooth,cfg80211
crc16                  16384  2 bluetooth,ext4

And rfkill list gives:

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no

Finally
$ inxi -Fazy gives:

System:
  Kernel: 5.10.2-2-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64 root=/dev/mapper/vg0-root ro 
  cryptdevice=UUID=c273662c-17fe-4fed-a414-c4da2ce6fbf3:cryptlvm rw quiet 
  udev.log_priority=3 
  resume=/dev/disk/by-uuid/616b7481-c262-4d11-b277-da306deb5c10 
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.20.4 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM 
  Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: X550LN v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X550LN v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: X550LN.306 date: 06/26/2014 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 3.7 Wh condition: 3.9/38.5 Wh (10%) volts: 14.8/14.8 
  model: ASUSTeK X550A26 type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Not charging 
  cycles: 164 
CPU:
  Info: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-4200U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Haswell family: 6 model-id: 45 (69) stepping: 1 microcode: 26 
  L2 cache: 3 MiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 18366 
  Speed: 840 MHz min/max: 800/2600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 840 2: 814 3: 850 
  4: 837 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
  Type: l1tf 
  mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable 
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, 
  IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0a16 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM108M [GeForce 840M] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nouveau 
  v: kernel bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1341 
  Device-3: Chicony USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  bus ID: 2-5:2 chip ID: 04f2:b40a serial: <filter> 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 compositor: kwin_x11 
  driver: intel,nouveau unloaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa 
  display ID: :0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0") 
  s-diag: 414mm (16.3") 
  Monitor-1: eDP1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 99 size: 350x190mm (13.8x7.5") 
  diag: 398mm (15.7") 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 4400 (HSW GT2) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 20.3.1 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:03.0 chip ID: 8086:0a0c 
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:9c20 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.2-2-MANJARO 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 02:00.1 
  chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp2s0f1 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: AzureWave driver: ath9k v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 168c:0036 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 26.46 GiB (5.7%) 
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABF050 
  size: 465.76 GiB block size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
  serial: <filter> rev: 1J 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw size: 32 GiB size: 31.25 GiB (97.65%) used: 14.68 GiB (47.0%) 
  fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1 maj-min: 254:1 mapped: vg0-root 
  ID-2: /boot raw size: 388 MiB size: 367.7 MiB (94.77%) used: 161 MiB (43.8%) 
  fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 
  ID-3: /boot/efi raw size: 100 MiB size: 96 MiB (96.00%) 
  used: 43.4 MiB (45.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 
  ID-4: /home raw size: 277.64 GiB size: 272.28 GiB (98.07%) 
  used: 11.58 GiB (4.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-3 maj-min: 254:3 
  mapped: vg0-home 
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache pressure: 100 (default) 
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 16 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
  dev: /dev/dm-2 maj-min: 254:2 mapped: vg0-swap 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2100 
Info:
  Processes: 188 Uptime: 2h 40m wakeups: 1 Memory: 7.66 GiB 
  used: 1.65 GiB (21.5%) Init: systemd v: 247 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 
  clang: 11.0.0 Packages: pacman: 1677 lib: 428 flatpak: 0 Shell: Bash 
  v: 5.1.0 running in: konsole inxi: 3.2.01

What can be done to address this issue? As I mentioned, the adapter does work in Windows, but not in Linux.

2

I think linux kernel 5.10.2 has isues with bluetooth. you may give a try to 5.4 lts

3

You were right – booting with kernel 5.4 lts fixed the issue, but only partially. The bluetooth is now working and I was able to pair and connect my headset. The sound playback seems to work exactly as expected, however the sound recording isn’t working. I changed the profile of the bluetooth device to HSP/HFP, but it still the microphone isn’t recording anything. It might not be a bluetooth issue any more, however, since I have the same trouble with the built-in mic.

4

I switched to kernel 5.9.16. I had issues with 5.4, too. You can try it also.
I think the next update will include LTS kernel 5.10.5 and will not have issues. I will wait for it.

5

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