Disable built-in Bluetooth and force dongle

mk55

Hi guys!

I can't get the built in Bluetooth to recognize my gamepad, but i have a dongle that i know would work..

Problem is i can't disable the built-in Bluetooth in BIOS (ridiculously there's no option for it) and hence (i guess) Batocera doesn't use the dongle..

I know the dongle works because i've tried on another system, and it worked flawlessly..

So, is there a way to tell Batocera to ignore the built-in intel crap and use my superior no-name dongle?

The Board i'm using is a MSI B450i Gaming AC just in case somebody has it working or a solution already at hand..

Thanks in advance!

Dragu

mk55
I suppose your board has a M2 slot with combined Wifi + Bluetooth. Now the problem is, if you pull out this card (and recuperate the screw, what is not so easy), you have the option to replace it by just a Wifi card and stay the bluetooth for the usb stick. This m2 story is just silly because in the newest they even integrate not downgradable
bluetooth 5 ? that nobody use. Totaly pervert. I suppose you want to connect a bluetooth 3 device. Its not easy to find the right module, there are about dozens different just from Intel.

Dragu

mk55
nadenislamarre
I was having about the same problem as I changed in my bartop the PI3 against the Asrock j5005-itx board. This board has an empty M2 slot and you must choose the module card on your own. For me, I just wanted to connect my BT 3.0 keyboard as before with the PI3. I have now a full collection of this modules and finally put an AC7265 inside, but also this last didnt solved the problem. Never possible to pair the BT 3.0 keyboard. So I also bought a basic BT 3.0 connector.
I have also a dual boot installation with Batocera and Windows10 on this machine. So I can compare behaviour of both systems.
-Windows10 : As I put the BT 3.0 Usb stick, Windows recognize the stick and put me out a driver error on the Intel BT part. And it is only after disabling the Intel driver, that I could pair with the BT 3.0 Usb stick.
-Batocera : He (dmesg) found both Bluetooth hardware, but enabled just the M2 Intel driver, so that no connection was possible. This is just the linux behaviour with Intel supremacy. To resolve I change keyboard again a Rii K16 BT+RF, and use the RF part on the bartop.
But good if you find a selection solution, as you told, for this problem.

mk55

Dragu

The pad is a 8BitDoSF30Pro and yes you're correct it's a combined WiFi/Bluetooth m2 card

Halvhjearne

[ 10.659001] platform regulatory.0: Direct firmware load for regulatory.db failed with error -2
[ 10.765563] iwlwifi 0000:1c:00.0: loaded firmware version 29.1044073957.0 op_mode iwlmvm

Halvhjearne

what is the output of:

dmesg | grep firmware

nadenislamarre

there is a system file to modify forthat. right now, i don't remember which one, but this is in my todo list to be able to selectthe bluetooth dongle. not yet possible easyly

Dragu

mk55
nadenislamarre

I spend the evening in my bartop. This m2 antenna connectors were invented by devil or minimum a pervert. Mostly invisible and even more difficult to unplug as to put it in place. So, as I was having a spare antenna, I just put one more so that both connectors are now used.
To the result, after remounting board, in windows 10 my 1byone keyboard is now found and functioning. The pairing was impossible before. Means that even an AC7265 can downswitch to BT3.0. But the touchpad is much worser as with the PI3 where it was working smoother.
Coming to Batocera, now also he found something, but what ? So very simple if I put my BT keyboard in pairing mode, I have the message "CONTROLLER PAIRED", but the pairing led on the keyboard continues to flash. There is also no list from bluetooth devices in the corner. I suppose he paired just randomly to what he think. No idea to what. Sure not my keyboard directly under his nose.
As I remember in Recalbox you was having a list of the devicesand you could choose from, and this seems missing here. Anyway something wrong concerning BT in Batocera.

Halvhjearne

mk55

i can take a look later on my own machine later (if i have the time), to see if i can remember/find the file nadenislamarre is talking about.
it is sometimes also possible to disable the m.2 slot entirely, or physically remove the adapter, but personally i would try and get the built in bt to work, rather than adding an extra adapter ...

you can most likely get the missing file from another distro, but im unsure if it will change anything, however there is an actual linux driver for your built in intel adapter.

does wifi work as expected?

Dragu

I was this evening reading again the specifications of this intel modules. And found something interesting concerning
my own installation. You have on every card minimum 2 micro-antenna connectors, named MAIN and AUX.
I have just one antenna connected, as it was told that you can combine Wifi and Bluetooth on one of this. Now, I used the connector named MAIN. But the circuit suggest that the combined socket is not MAIN but AUX. ! So, as I suppose this correct, for the moment the BT part on my m2 module has no antenna. This could be an explication that BT is not working, also for other people and yours, @mk55.
So, I am not sure that this could be a reason for integrated BT not to find devices, but first necessary to try. It will take for me some time because I must unscrew the board to reach this small trash.

nadenislamarre

hi,
i think to add a list of paired device.
but in batocera, the bluetooth part was rewritten and is now evenmential and is supposed to be more robust and more simpler.
when you click on pair a device, the first deviced wanted to be pair is pairing. the list to pair is not really usefull in fact, so i removed it.

Dragu

nadenislamarre
As this m2 combined Wifi/BT cards are more and more spreaded in new x86 boards, we will likely also have more problems.
You have on one hand the industry moving to BT 5.0 now as most game controllers and BT keyboards are always on BT 3.0.
And I found in the Intel m2 cards no pure BT3.0 module. The reason is simple, they are relative new and all based on low energy protocol. What may explicate the poor behaviour on my touchpad.
So, I choosed finally the most nearby, AC7265, with high Wifi speed G2,4+G5 and BT4.0 "sayed" to be able to downway connect with a BT3.0 device.
I have on my desk where bartop is standing about 4-5 different BT devices, but not all switched on.
Interesting in my check over Windows 10 is the fact that the card displayed as first choice my smartwatch, and only after the nearer and more powerfull BT3.0 keyboard.
I begin to understand the reason. Smartwatch (VC10) is a BT4.0 device, keyboard a BT3.0 device. This tells me that the m2 module will always give priority to the most near standard, BT4.0 (4.2, 5.0 and so on) and only after try lower BT3.0 devices, what we need. So this m2 modules could never connect directely to our game controllers.
You will not resolve this problem without a list of choice, I think.

nadenislamarre

except if i misunderstood, there is no priority, both devices will connect.
for one dongle, you can have several bt devices at the same time.
note that a list just allow to restrict connections, not to allow more

Dragu

nadenislamarre
All this last tests on Windows 10 and Batocera I just made with the build inside m2 card, no dongle connected. 🙂

Akanar

I’m also looking for this. I have crappy onboard bluetooth and bought the dongle from the wiki now I can’t use it because I have no way to disable the onboard.

Starbuck19

Hello,
I use this tweak to do this : https://askubuntu.com/questions/898881/deactivate-internal-bluetooth-adapter-while-leaving-usb-dongle-online

ssh to your batocera pc (user: root / password: linux)
write “lsusb” to find your devive id number, in my case (bluetooth on MSI Z390 motherboard): {idVendor}=“8087”, {idProduct}=“0025” but yours maybe different
when you have them, create a udev rules to deactivate bluetooth by write in your ssh window:
sudo -H gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/81-bluetooth-hci.rules
paste the following in the file you just created :
SUBSYSTEM==“usb”, MODE=“0666”, ATTRS{idVendor}==“8087”, ATTRS{idProduct}==“0025”, ATTR{authorized}=“0”
where your replace 8087 and 0025 by your bluetooth idvendor and idproduct
Save your file
Write in your ssh window : batocera-save-overlay to not loose your changes at reboot
Reboot
Done
Merry Christmas