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[Bug 1573351] Re: Unable to connect bluetooth keyboard with many different symptoms

 

bug creation dialogue did not save the correct package name - presumably
I didn't do something properly.

** Package changed: usb-creator (Ubuntu) => bluez (Ubuntu)

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1573351

Title:
  Unable to connect bluetooth keyboard with many different symptoms

Status in bluez package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I have been struggling to pair and connect the bluetooth docking
  station (keyboard and touchpad) to my Asus T300 Chi transformer
  notepad. I run xenial 16.04 64-bit on this system, built from the beta
  2 distribution and fully up-to-date at the tiime of the release
  candidtae freeze. I've managed to work on the system with a usb
  keyboard and mouse, as well as the touch-sensitive screen.

  The latest version of bluez from the repository was 5.37.0ubuntu5.
  Running various compinations of actions under the gui and also
  bluetoothctl, I tried to analyse the failures with syslog and btmon.
  This was very frustrating because I eventually realised the software
  and hardware state could be corrupted, leading to unrepeatability in
  my tests. I still experienced what are probably timing bugs when I
  started from a power-off and reboot.

  The keyboard would sometimes fail to pair, sometimes say it was paired
  when it wasn't, sometimes pair and then get into a
  connected/disconnected loop. Sometimes it would connect, but the keys
  were dead. It was too confusing to list all the different failure
  symptoms. On the other hand, I had no problems connecting my android
  phone to the system over bluetooth, so this eliminated a lot of
  possibilities.

  Initially, I thought my symptoms were related to
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez/+bug/1490349, but I
  eventually concluded this was not the case. I tried repeating my tests
  with a bluetooth usb dongle, a different machine, and several
  different ubuntu releases, but didn't have a system old enough to test
  with something that others reported to be working.

  btmon traces showed the keyboard reports its capabilities included
  Secure Simple Pairing, but every pairing attempt which got far enough
  would require a pin, often without saying what it was! I currently
  have the original windows 10 image and so could boot it under grub2.
  Even though the keyboard had previously been paired to the latest
  windows driver, it failed to connect. I suspected the failed ubuntu
  attempts had replaced the pairing credentials because both operating
  systems use the same bluetooth adapters on the computer and keyboard.
  (At least this new experience meant I couldn't make the usual claim
  "it works with windows!) It took many attempts to get the keyboard
  paired. The windows driver doesn't use SSP either, because it requires
  its automatically-generated pin to be entered on the keyboard. I found
  I could force the old credentials to be deleted by powering-off the
  keyboard and tablet, then booting windows without the keyboard. Then
  hold the keyboard switch hard to the right while windows detected it,
  then initiate pairing and let the switch spring to its normal middle
  position. Windows would then display a new pin and I had to enter it
  on the keyboard fairly quickly, or the attempt would fail. I wrote
  down the pin in case I could use it with ubuntu (I later found I
  couldn't).

  I followed bluez upwards along its distribution path. Even debian
  unstable ships the 5.37 package, but the latest version from the
  developers is 5.39. 5.38 was a large bug fix release, and 5.39 fixes
  some more bugs. I did a manual build and install. I used bluetoothctl
  and had to start the default agent before starting the pairing
  process. Pairing failed and I wasn't prompted for the windows pin. I
  erased the windows pin on the keyboard and issued the pair command -
  bluez gave me a new pin and after typed it on the keyboard the pairing
  was successful. The info command showed it had used legacy pairing
  (like windows), rather than SSP. The keyboard connected and
  disconnected a coule of times, then stayed disconnected. I tried
  issuing the trust command and the device status changed to paired and
  trusted. I despondently type a few letters on the keyboard and was
  astonished when they appeared on the screen! bluetoothctl displayed
  the connected:on message.

  The keyboard is now working perfectly. The blue LED seldom comes on as
  I expected - it stays solidly blue with windows, but only flicks on
  briefly when reconnecting after inactivity. I can even use it to
  trigger a  system resume from suspend state from the keyboard or
  touchpad.

  Obviously, grub2 does not support bluetooth or touchscreen devices, so
  ubuntu is my default boot system. I can only get to windows with a usb
  keyboard connected.

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