Xbox Series X controller connects via bluetooth but Steam and games dont recognize inputs

Hello,

In the past I’ve set up my Xbox controller with my laptop via bluetooth using the xpadneo-dkms package in the AUR. It used to work well, but I haven’t used it in a while

Today I tried to connect my controller, and it does connect and stays connected, and the battery level is also reported. However, Steam and videogames do not seem to respond to any of the inputs. I tried to make sure that the xpadneo kernel module is loaded, and it seems to be. I’m not sure what else to check or do. Does anyone have any idea?

Does the controller rumble when you turn it on while the computer is running?

It does not

Okay if it doesn’t rumble then the controller isn’t being driven by xpadneo. Did you follow the directions from here?

I followed the instructions from the arch wiki. I installed xpadneo-dkms via the AUR. Pamac shows that it’s installed (version 0.9.4-1). This was a while back (June 29)

Should I uninstall it, and follow the instructions on the website?

You should also consider updating the controller’s firmware on a Windows pc or XBox before you go on.
Updating to the latest firmware fixed my bluetooth connection issues.

The arch wiki links to the link I posted. Did you do that in the beginning? And like the other poster said do you have the ability to update your controller?

I’ve already updated the firmware via Windows. Also, the arch wiki also mentioned that i can just install the AUR package.

It used to work fine on this machine. I think an update broke it without me realizing, but not sure to be honest.

You know what, I’ll try reinstalling the package. let’s see what happens.

Well, this is what I got while reinstalling xpadneo… maybe this is the issue? Though I’m not sure how to solve it. It also mentions that the transaction is successful, which is confusing… is it successful or not? I am using 5.15.60 (LTS kernel)


Remove upgraded DKMS modules
Reinstalling xpadneo-dkms (0.9.4-1)...
Running post-transaction hooks...
Reloading device manager configuration...
Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
Install DKMS modules
==> ERROR: Missing dev kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing sbin kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing lib kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing sys kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing lib64 kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing etc kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing mnt kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing bin kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing proc kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing rootfs-pkgs.txt kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing desktopfs-pkgs.txt kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing root kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing var kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing tmp kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing run kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing usr kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing opt kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing boot kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing home kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
==> ERROR: Missing srv kernel headers for module hid-xpadneo/0.9.4.
Refreshing PackageKit...
Transaction successfully finished.

Do you have these installed:? dkms bluez bluez-utils and the current linux headers for you kernel

1 Like

Hi, I was just about to post a very similar problem I encountered last night…

I am running:
Linux version 5.15.60-1-MANJARO (builduser@fv-az462-678) (gcc (GCC) 12.1.1 20220730, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.39) #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Aug 11 13:14:05 UTC 2022

  • For the past 5 months, my (2) Xbox controllers has been working perfectly over Bluetooth for all of my Steam games.
  • I DID have to update the firmware in both of the controllers on a Windows 10 machine.
  • Both controllers DO connect to Bluetooth and they DO rumble on connect.
  • Both controllers WORK but they exhibit the same behavior: some stick actions work, some stick actions are reversed, some buttons are mapped wrong.
  • This happened just a few days agp. I don’t remember exactly when it stopped working, but it WAS working normally on August 29 because I was live-streaming some Elden Ring on Twitch.
  • Both controllers work normally when connected via USB cables

In case it helps, here’s my modinfo, up to, but not including the signing key:

# modinfo hid_xpadneo
filename:       /lib/modules/5.15.60-1-MANJARO/updates/dkms/hid-xpadneo.ko.xz
version:        0.9.4
description:    Linux kernel driver for Xbox ONE S+ gamepads (BT), incl. FF
author:         Kai Krakow <kai@kaishome.de>
author:         Florian Dollinger <dollinger.florian@gmx.de>
license:        GPL
srcversion:     E2618C906388296F82E12D6
alias:          hid:b0005g*v0000045Ep00000B13
alias:          hid:b0005g*v0000045Ep00000B22
alias:          hid:b0005g*v0000045Ep00000B05
alias:          hid:b0005g*v0000045Ep00000B20
alias:          hid:b0005g*v0000045Ep000002E0
alias:          hid:b0005g*v0000045Ep000002FD
depends:        ff-memless
retpoline:      Y
name:           hid_xpadneo
vermagic:       5.15.60-1-MANJARO SMP preempt mod_unload 
sig_id:         PKCS#7
signer:         DKMS module signing key
...

I’m gonna keep playing around with it, using some of steps from xpadneo | Advanced Linux Driver for Xbox One Wireless Controller (shipped with Xbox One S)

I just uninstalled xpadneo-dkms, rebooted, and reinstalled it. No errors. Same problem - inputs are mapped wrong.

Okay and here’s the output from dmesg -wdH while connecting the Xbox controller via Bluetooth:

[<    9.904653>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: BLE firmware version 5.13
[<    0.000003>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: pretending XB1S Windows wireless mode (changed PID from 0x0B13 to 0x02FD)
[<    0.000001>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: working around wrong SDL2 mappings (changed version from 0x00000513 to 0x00001130)
[<    0.000001>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: report descriptor size: 283 bytes
[<    0.000001>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: fixing up Rx axis
[<    0.000001>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: fixing up Ry axis
[<    0.000001>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: fixing up Z axis
[<    0.000000>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: fixing up Rz axis
[<    0.000001>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: fixing up button mapping
[<    0.000067>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: enabling compliance with Linux Gamepad Specification
[<    0.000026>] input: Xbox Wireless Controller as /devices/virtual/misc/uhid/0005:045E:0B13.000C/input/input38
[<    0.000181>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: input,hidraw10: BLUETOOTH HID v11.30 Gamepad [Xbox Wireless Controller] on 98:3b:8f:97:4f:68
[<    0.000004>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: controller quirks: 0x00000050
[<    0.990135>] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B13.000C: Xbox Wireless Controller [14:cb:65:7f:11:d0] connected

UPDATE:

I did a number of tests with the controller connected to Bluetooth, and it seemed to be working, so I decided to make a chart, using https://gamepad-tester.com/ to test all sticks and buttons, first using USB, then using Bluetooth:

XBOX Controller Test using https://gamepad-tester.com/

Controller      USB         Bluetooth
----------      ---         ---------
Left stick      
- up            axis 1-     axis 1-     same   
- down          axis 1+     axis 1+     same
- left          axis 0-     axis 0-     same
- right         axis 0+     axis 0+     same
- press         b9          b9          same

Right stick
- up            axis 4-     axis 4-     same
- down          axis 4+     axis 4+     same
- left          axis 3-     axis 3-     same
- right         axis 3+     axis 3+     same
- press         b10         b10         same

D-pad
- up            axis 7-     axis 7-     same
- down          axis 7+     axis 7+     same
- left          axis 6-     axis 6-     same
- right         axis 6+     axis 6+     same

X button        b2          b2          same
Y button        b3          b3          same
A button        b0          b0          same
B button        b1          b1          same

LT              axis 2-to+  axis 2-to+  same
LB              b4          b4          same

RT              axis 5-to+  axis 5-to+  same
RB              b5          b5          same

page            b6          b6          same
menu            b7          b7          same

As you can see, my controller is STILL working properly over bluetooth, so from here, I think the problem must be a recent Steam update because that’s where I play all of my games.

I have no idea if this helps you @9a3eedi but at least you have more ideas.

Now I’m going to see if anyone reported this on the Steam forum.

I do have those installed, except for the linux headers. Before I install it, I needed to do a stable update (September 12), so I did a stable update, then I installed the linux headers for my kernel. I’m running 5.15, so I installed linux515-headers. The post hook also seems to have caused it to rebuild xpadneo-dkms.

I had assumed that the headers were installed already, which is why I didn’t think too much of those errors. But it turns out those errors pointed exactly to what the problem was…

After a reboot, lo and behold my controller vibrates after reconnecting and it’s working. Thank you very much for the help!

@rob215x I think you have a separate issue than myself. In my case, the controllers did not vibrate at all when connecting, and it was completely unresponsive I would suggest opening a new thread for that.

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