Bluetooth earphones freeze out my USB keyboard (but not the mouse plugged into it)?!?

One for the WTF department…

I admit to being a total Bluetooth noob, but I don’t see why this should happen. I recently added Bluetooth earphones to my XFCE-based Manjaro system. Twice now, with a reboot in between, the earphones had a glitch (sound went out on one ear or playback was jittering) and my USB keyboard got no response, even after I quit the mpv player. The mouse plugged into the hub on my keyboard kept working the whole time, too. This is on a Tanix/Intel mini pc, pulse audio driver.

This is the output of inxi -Fazy:

System:
  Kernel: 5.11.1-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.11-x86_64 
  root=UUID=c8e669d6-890c-431a-9083-a5bee720d372 rw quiet apparmor=1 
  security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 
  dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Mini-pc System: IP3 Tech product: TX95 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: IP3 model: AB1A serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 0.02 
  date: 06/30/2020 
CPU:
  Info: Quad Core model: Intel Celeron N3450 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Goldmont 
  family: 6 model-id: 5C (92) stepping: 9 microcode: 40 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 8756 
  Speed: 806 MHz min/max: 800/2200 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 806 2: 1031 
  3: 1668 4: 1651 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
  Type: mds status: Not affected 
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
  Type: spec_store_bypass status: Not affected 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, 
  IBRS_FW, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds status: Not affected 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 500 driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  chip ID: 8086:5a85 class ID: 0300 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 driver: loaded: intel 
  unloaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa display ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2") 
  s-diag: 582mm (22.9") 
  Monitor-1: HDMI1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 500 (APL 2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.3.4 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series Audio Cluster 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci 
  bus ID: 00:0e.0 chip ID: 8086:5a98 class ID: 0403 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.11.1-1-MANJARO 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  class ID: 0200 
  IF: enp1s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel Wireless 3165 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: e000 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 8086:3165 class ID: 0280 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IF-ID-1: nordlynx state: unknown speed: 10 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
  bus ID: 1-7:3 chip ID: 8087:0a2a class ID: e001 
  Message: Required tool hciconfig not installed. Check --recommends 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 250.47 GiB used: 85.61 GiB (34.2%) 
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk1 maj-min: 179:0 vendor: HP model: DF4128 size: 116.48 GiB 
  block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B rotation: SSD serial: <filter> 
  rev: 0x8 scheme: GPT 
  ID-2: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB model: Genesys SD USB3 Reader 
  size: 119.08 GiB block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B serial: <filter> 
  rev: 1206 scheme: GPT 
  ID-3: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 type: USB vendor: Kingston 
  model: DataTraveler 102 size: 14.9 GiB block size: physical: 512 B 
  logical: 512 B serial: <filter> rev: PMAP scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw size: 118.79 GiB size: 116.87 GiB (98.39%) 
  used: 17.67 GiB (15.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc2 maj-min: 8:34 
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) 
  used: 312 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33 
Swap:
  Alert: No Swap data was found. 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 61.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 195 Uptime: 48m wakeups: 1 Memory: 7.63 GiB 
  used: 1.54 GiB (20.2%) Init: systemd v: 247 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 Packages: 
  pacman: 1259 lib: 394 flatpak: 0 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.0 
  running in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.01
  1. In the future, when providing code/output, please copy-paste that output in-between 3 backticks ``` at the beginning and end of the code/text so that the output looks like this:

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
    Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
    Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.
    Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
    

    instead of like this:

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.`

    (as that makes both our lives much easier)

  2. No need to do anything right now as I’m an editor here on this site and have fixed it for you already. However, in the future I might not see your post so review my edits by pushing the orange pencil above the post I just fixed. :wink:

  3. So this happens randomly after a reboot?
    If yes: if rebooting from Windows, shut down instead (you can still warm boot from Linux to Windows but should cold boot from Windows to Linux)

:+1:

Hi Fabby,

Thanks for fixing my formatting. I was wondering how to do that!

Regarding #3, I guess I need to clarify.

First, although Windows 10 is still there in case I need it, I rarely use it anymore, so this is not about rebooting from Windows. Second, it’s not only when rebooting at all. My usual way of dealing with unresponsive but necessary software is to (soft) reboot, but I don’t otherwise unless an install or update demands it.

I had been testing the new Bluetooth earphones with youtube.com, and they worked. Then I tried a video file from disk. That’s when the glitch happened and my keyboard - connected by wire to USB - was frozen out, while the mouse connected to it by wire remained in order. I quit the mpv video player, but still no keyboard response. So I rebooted, reconnected the Bluetooth earphones and played the disk file again, with the same results. I gave up on the earphones, and turned off Bluetooth. Perhaps 20 minutes later, the keyboard started responding again, all by itself. Since that post, I have tried the Bluetooth earphones again with no problem, so I can’t reproduce the problem at will. I am still mystified as to how Bluetooth was overwhelming a wire-connected keyboard, yet leaving the mouse responsive. And of course, I still have no way to fix it if it occurs again.

Hope that clears up the question.

Have you tried 5.4 LTS (or 5.10 LTS is 5.4 fails) as you’re on 5.11, which is an experimental kernel and the other ones are Long Time Support kernels)

:thinking:

As I said, I haven’t been able to reproduce the problem on 5.11 since that first day, but sure, I can switch back to 5.10 and see what happens there, too.

It would really help if I knew how to print out system info to submit here if it happens again. In that case, I would be without a keyboard, so I would need a mouse-only tool. :man_shrugging:

Please, don’t then but instead click the 3 dots below the answer to mark a solution like this below the answer that helped you most:
Solution
so that the next person that has the exact same problem you just had will benefit from your post as well as your question will now be in the “solved” status.

Ok, I was able to reproduce the problem on 5.11, now switching to 5.10. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll mark your suggestion to switch as a solution. :slight_smile:

1 Like

I found the cause of my keyboard lockouts - it’s not random, and it does occur under the 5.10 kernel as well as 5.11. These earphones (i12) have “control features” designed for iPhone. Among these is that touching the earphones - which is necessary for me because they slip out of my ears - pauses the playback (just files, not youtube). Being a Bluetooth noob, I didn’t know I was doing it!

If I use the keyboard’s space bar right then, it can restart the playback and the other keyboard shortcuts also work, at least sometimes. But if I touch the earphones again, playback starts (sometimes) and the keyboard gets frozen out. I have found that usually, putting the earphones in their case so they disconnect from Bluetooth will re-enable my keyboard, but given how often they slip, this is quite a burden.

As far as I am concerned, having these earphones’ control features lock out my keyboard is a BUG in either the Bluetooth driver or the specific driver for i12 earphones.

Does anyone know of an alternative Bluetooth driver that makes control features defeatable or configurable?

Thanks for reading, especially to Fabby!

Rick