Bluetooth pairing after hardware change

ashley_au

I have a bunch of identical Intel NUCs which I use for Batocera among other things. Recently one began to display CPU fan problems so I swapped the internal drives into a spare. Everything worked with the exception of my Bluetooth XBOX controller.

I’ve attempted to pair via the UI and command line with bluetoothctl.

The device appears to connect but immediately disconnect. My suspicion is something relating the hardware MAC of the Bluetooth interface, as this will have changed with the motherboard. This is a previously trusted controller I’ve been using since the v36 update.

[bluetooth]# connect A8:8C:3E:23:C0:D2

Attempting to connect to A8:8C:3E:23:C0:D2

[CHG] Device A8:8C:3E:23:C0:D2 Connected: yes

Connection successful

[CHG] Device A8:8C:3E:23:C0:D2 Connected: no

[CHG] Device A8:8C:3E:23:C0:D2 Connected: yes

[CHG] Device A8:8C:3E:23:C0:D2 Connected: no

I’d appreciate any ideas or suggestions.

joinski

ashley_au
I would try the following:

In Batocera under Controller Settings, Forget A Controller -> delete all entries and reboot
Update the firmware of the controller (if there is an update available)
Try to reset the Controller before pairing (if possible… i don’t know if and how this is possible with your Bluetooth Xbox Controller. On PS3 controllers for example, there is a tiny hole on the backside, which you could press with a needle or thin toothpick, to reset it back to factory default).
Try with another bluetooth adapter/dongle (to rule out the internal Bluetooth Adapter of the NUC as cause of the issue). You can either blacklist the internal bluetooth adapter of the NUC or disconnect it from the board, if possible and then use a simple USB bluetooth dongle (see Wiki for compatible devices).
Try with another Blueooth Xbox controller (to rule out your Xbox controller as cause of the issue)
Try with a fresh new install of Batocera (to rule out your batocera instalation as cause of the issue)

ashley_au

thanks for the really detailed suggestions!

with the exception of a fresh install I have tried all of the above, even connecting the errant controller via USB cable directly to Batocera which of course works. a new PS4 controller pairs perfectly too.

without claiming to be an expert, could there be something buried in the BlueZ 5.66 implementation that still references the old motherboard Bluetooth adapter MAC address or hardware id?

kinda avoiding a rebuild if possible 😉

joinski

ashley_au
Don’t you have a spare usb flash drive laying around, which you could use for testing purpose?

ashley_au

sure thing, i booted from a default image and found the controller does pair and works just as before. it’s what lead me to looking into BlueZ as the possible issue. so it kinda looks like software not hardware.

was hoping to avoid a fresh install. it’s a system that’s been in daily use since v31 with over 30,000 games / assets / overlays etc. there’s a lot of customisations and other media that I’ve added over a few years. high scores too! lol.

my ASUS NUCs employ M.2 radios but the Intel’s use SMD’s which I find more difficult to relocate. so i tested the same process with the ASUS hardware and found that swapping the radios solved the problem. here’s what i did:

installed/configured batocera 36 on asus nuc #1
swapped ssd to identical nuc #2 and booted
config works but no Bluetooth controller
shutdown and swapped M.2 radio package (contains wifi and bluetooth interface)
rebooted, controller paired with no additional action required, prior config applied

in my opinion it would appear that the Bluetooth stack may not be aware of the base hardware change. am not an expert but changing the hardware back just works.

thanks again for the advice however, I appreciate it.

ashley_au

looking for a BlueZ SME who can clarify this?