[Intrepid] New Bluetooth Wizard fails to pair with devices: reintroduce hidd

Bug #281580 reported by Ricky Campbell
124
This bug affects 9 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Mactel Support
Invalid
Medium
Unassigned
bluez (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Unassigned
Nominated for Intrepid by Nicolas Viau

Bug Description

Binary package hint: bluez

With the latest updates to Intrepid testing, the new bluetooth device setup wizard (which is an excellent improvement over the previous setup methods) fails to pair with my Apple Keyboard (pre-aluminum, broadcom based). No debug information or error messages are given other than "failed to pair".

Further making this an issue is the fact that the recent bluetooth updates also removed the hidd binary from Ubuntu (again).

This method seems to be the only thing that works for Apple Bluetooth Keyboards recently:
http://idebian.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/manage-hid-bluetooth-devices-in-linux/

Notice that it requires hci to be reset, but cannot use hid2hci to do this. The keyboard was working fine previous to the update using the method in the above link.

Removing reliable and useful software from the repos that can be useful for workarounds when new software is introduced is not a good idea. The hidd binary has been removed several times from Ubuntu and each time it has been requested that it is put back. Please make this binary available in the repos via other means so that it can be used as a fallback in the future.

Revision history for this message
Ricky Campbell (cyberdork33) wrote :
Changed in mactel-support:
importance: Undecided → Medium
Revision history for this message
Mario Limonciello (superm1) wrote :

I'm leaning towards these keyboards being rather finicky. I've got an aluminum bt keyboard. When I try to pair, look at this bluetoothd output:

bluetoothd[6925]: Temporary agent registered for hci0/00:1B:63:FA:CD:5A at :1.132:/org/bluez/agent/wizard
bluetoothd[6925]: adapter_get_device(00:1B:63:FA:CD:5A)
bluetoothd[6925]: Hangup or error on bonding IO channel
bluetoothd[6925]: Releasing agent :1.132, /org/bluez/agent/wizard
bluetoothd[6925]: Removing device /org/bluez/hci0/dev_00_1B_63_FA_CD_5A

I can't even get my phone to recognize it reliably when it claims to be in discovery mode.

Revision history for this message
Mario Limonciello (superm1) wrote :

I tried again, after I was convinced it really was in discovery mode, and the device worked fine. It asked me for entering the pin, and I'm typing on it right now.

Revision history for this message
Ricky Campbell (cyberdork33) wrote :

I have one of the white keyboards that predates the aluminum ones. I had it working fine using hidd and the hci reset method described in the blog post I mentioned in the bug description.

I have had trouble with this keyboard ever since the bluetooth stack was overhauled for Hardy. I used the actual terminal commands to inferface with bluetooth through dbus, and it works everytime. That, however, does not prompt for a pairing key or anything. I described this method here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4486290

I have also tried numerous other tweaks such as altering the bluetooth device name to include only a very simple string of letters. Putting the keyboard in discovery mode, and scanning finds the device, but when you attempt to connect it just gives an error. That is all. If there is any more tecnical output I can give you please let me know and I will be glad to get it for you.

Revision history for this message
meba (jakub-rtfm) wrote :

I have removed Mactel support from this bugreport, because it's not related to Apple devices only. I have Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse with the same problem. And - NO problems with older Ubuntu having hidd. Just type hidd --connect AA:BB... and everything works (forever).

New wizard behaviour:
- Connect device
- Mouse works
- Inactivity for few minutes
- Disconnected
- Try to pair again, "pairing failed", which is displayed immediatelly, without even "trying".

I consider this critical and I believe this should focus on reenabling hidd as the new stack seems to be buggy for advanced users. Really - can it cause a lot of pain to beginners if they have hidd? I don't think so.

P.S.: No, please don't suggest fixing the bug in the wizard, this report is intentionally provided as a request to REINTRODUCE HIDD.

Changed in bluez:
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in mactel-support:
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Matthias Urlichs (smurf) wrote : Re: [Bug 281580] Re: [Intrepid] New Bluetooth Wizard fails to pair with Apple Keyboard...

Hi,

meba:
> I consider this critical and I believe this should focus on reenabling
> hidd as the new stack seems to be buggy for advanced users. Really - can
> it cause a lot of pain to beginners if they have hidd?

The real problem with hidd is that the "hidd --connect" workaround is
"good enough", so that the real underlying bug is never fixed.

> P.S.: No, please don't suggest fixing the bug in the wizard, this report
> is intentionally provided as a request to REINTRODUCE HIDD.
>
Exactly.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's (again!) too late to fix this properly,
so we seem to be stuck with the damn hidd workaround for another half
year. :-(

On the other hand (and the main reason why I, nevertheless, consider
this bug to be a real problem): there are certainly use cases for having
a scriptable replacement for HIDD, particularly (but not limited to)
"--connect".

If there's no documented way to replace hidd in those cases, that's a
regression which NEEDS to be fixed!

--
Matthias Urlichs | {M:U} IT Design @ m-u-it.de | <email address hidden>
Disclaimer: The quote was selected randomly. Really. | http://smurf.noris.de
v4sw7$Yhw6+8ln7ma7u7L!wl7DUi2e6t3TMWb8HAGen6g3a4s6Mr1p-3/-6 hackerkey.com
 - -
"Thus a certain false psychology, a certain kind of fantasy in interpreting
 motives and experiences, is the necessary prerequisite for becoming a
 Christian and experiencing the need for redemption. With the insight into
 this aberration of reason and imagination, one ceases to be a Christian."
                        [Nietzsche]

Revision history for this message
meba (jakub-rtfm) wrote :

I would like to ask for this to be critical priority because there is currently NO way to connect the mouse once it gets disconnected and there is no workaround. Reboot didn't help, restarting bluetooth didn't help. My mouse is currently a brick.

Just to make sure, I have changed batteries in it and did not help.

Revision history for this message
Onkar Shinde (onkarshinde) wrote :

hidd binaries and all others were removed by upstream. Can you please send them mail telling that it is not possible to work without them?

Revision history for this message
Mario Limonciello (superm1) wrote :

This would be a feature change to add these back in, but i'm adding a debdiff to do so (along with two other bugs that get closed in the same upload).

Can someone from ubuntu-release comment?

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package bluez - 4.12-0ubuntu3

---------------
bluez (4.12-0ubuntu3) intrepid; urgency=low

  * debian/bluez.postinst:
    - Don't show output for MAKEDEV. (LP: 280360)
  * Add dell_bt_365.patch which will enable putting the Dell BT365
    adapter into HCI mode upon bootup. (LP: #286724)
  * debian/control:
    - Add one more binary package for old compatibility binaries. (LP: #281580)
  * debian/rules:
    - Enable compatibility binaries. These are HIGHLY discouraged from usage
      and will not necessarily be here in the future.
  * debian/bluez.install:
    - Adjust what binaries get installed, to be able to pull out hidd, dund,
      and pand as necessary.

 -- Mario Limonciello <email address hidden> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:37:24 -0500

Changed in bluez:
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Vincent Thomas (vincent-thomas) wrote :

Thank you !
I had to remove all files in /var/lib/bluetooth/MAC_ADDRESS_OF_THE_DEVICE/*
(I think it was not necessary to delete all files...)
Now it works !

Revision history for this message
Ricky Campbell (cyberdork33) wrote :

After upgrading, binaries still appear to be missing, Bluetooth wizard still fails as before.

[code]cyberdork33@Grover-Ubuntu:~$ aptitude show bluez
Package: bluez
New: yes
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 4.12-0ubuntu3
Priority: optional
Section: admin
Maintainer: Ubuntu Core Developers <email address hidden>
Uncompressed Size: 1417k
Depends: libbluetooth3 (>= 4.9), libc6 (>= 2.4), libdbus-1-3 (>= 1.1.1),
         libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.14.0), libnl1, libusb-0.1-4 (>= 2:0.1.12),
         module-init-tools, makedev | udev, lsb-base, dbus
Replaces: bluez-audio, bluez-input, bluez-network, bluez-serial, bluez-utils (<=
          4.9)
Description: Bluetooth tools and daemons
 This package contains tools and system daemons for using Bluetooth devices.

 BlueZ is the official Linux Bluetooth protocol stack. It is an Open Source
 project distributed under GNU General Public License (GPL).
Homepage: http://www.bluez.org[/code]

Changed in bluez:
status: Fix Released → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Steve Langasek (vorlon) wrote :

This was fixed by adding a separate bluez-compat package, which will not be installed by default.

Changed in bluez:
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
MrMEEE (mj-casalogic) wrote :

I'm still having problems...

hidd gives me:
root@falcon:/var/log# hidd
 00:14:51:CE:46:A8 martins mus [0000:0000] connected
 00:1B:63:FD:3D:6F Apple Wireless Keyboard [0000:0000] connected

The 0000:0000 used to be the manufacture and model definitions

So there seems to be some problem with bluez, not fetching the id, this
gives me problems getting me apple bluetooth wireless keyboard to
work... The basic functionallity works.. but the "fn"-button doesn't...
probably because the manufacture and model definitions aren't being
reported correctly...

Revision history for this message
Vincenzo Di Somma (vds) wrote :

Worked fine for me for while and stopped after latest update...

Revision history for this message
Ricky Campbell (cyberdork33) wrote :

hidd is there after isntalling the bluez-compat package, but it now fails to connect. The message returned when attempting to connect to the keyboard is "Can't get device information: Function not implemented"

Revision history for this message
MrMEEE (mj-casalogic) wrote :

The same problem I descriped about the manufacture and model definitions being missing, is also causing the scroll wheel on my bluetooth mouse, to not be working....

Revision history for this message
David Teirney (launchpad-teirney) wrote :

I am using MythBuntu Intrepid. The standard Bluetooth Wizard setup my bluetooth mouse fine, but then for no reason at all the mouse just stopped working. I'm assuming it disconnected due to inactivity as this behavior was described earlier in the ticket.

Clicking repeatedly on the mouse, turning off and on didn't help any.

Trying to reconnect through the Bluetooth Wizard just stated that "Pairing Failed". So, after some frustration and googling I found this ticket.

I have just installed "bluez-compat" and run "sudo hidd --search". The mouse was found, connected and now seems to be working fine.

I am disappointed that something as mainstream as using a bluetooth mouse doesn't work robustly out-of-the-box in the latest and greatest release of Ubuntu.

Revision history for this message
Pieter (diepes) wrote :

I am also strugeling with my Logitech bluetooth mouse. Wizard wont connect. Sometimes i got it working after struggeling with manual hidd etc.

Now after reading through the thread tried
$ sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth stop
$ sudo rm -r /var/lib/bluetooth/
$ sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth start

And after wizard discovered mouse (had to press discover on mouse) it just connected.

Revision history for this message
Przemysław Kochański (kochas315) wrote :

Same problem with Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000, described in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez-gnome/+bug/368500

Revision history for this message
Eshwar Andhavarapu (eshwar.andhavarapu) wrote :

Hi,
has anybody tried using blueman package? I'm using it on lucid when i faced problems with automatic reconnection. Works like a charm for me! unfortunate that such functionality is not in the standard bluetooth manager!

Revision history for this message
Slick (slick666) wrote : Re: [Mactel-support] [Bug 281580] Re: [Intrepid] New Bluetooth Wizard fails to pair with devices: reintroduce hidd

I had issues with the package when I installed it. I started getting all
sorts of errors when resuming and blue tooth never worked after a resume.
This was on a MacBook 1,1

On May 28, 2010 11:34 AM, "Eshwar Andhavarapu" <email address hidden> wrote:

Hi,
has anybody tried using blueman package? I'm using it on lucid when i faced
problems with automatic reconnection. Works like a charm for me! unfortunate
that such functionality is not in the standard bluetooth manager!

--
[Intrepid] New Bluetooth Wizard fails to pair with devices: reintroduce hidd
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/281580
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Mactel
Support, which is the registrant for Mactel Support.

Status in Mactel Support: Invalid
Status in “bluez” package in Ubuntu: Fix Released

Bug description:
Binary package hint: bluez

With the latest updates to Intrepid testing, the new bluetooth device setup
wizard (which is an excellent improvement over the previous setup methods)
fails to pair with my Apple Keyboard (pre-aluminum, broadcom based). No
debug information or error messages are given other than "failed to pair".

Further making this an issue is the fact that the recent bluetooth updates
also removed the hidd binary from Ubuntu (again).

This method seems to be the only thing that works for Apple Bluetooth
Keyboards recently:
http://idebian.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/manage-hid-bluetooth-devices-in-linux/

Notice that it requires hci to be reset, but cannot use hid2hci to do this.
The keyboard was working fine previous to the update using the method in the
above link.

Removing reliable and useful software from the repos that can be useful for
workarounds when new software is introduced is not a good idea. The hidd
binary has been removed several times from Ubuntu and each time it has been
requested that it is put back. Please make this binary available in the
repos via other means so that it can be used as a fallback in the future.

_______________________________________________
Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~mactel-support
Post to : <email address hidden>
Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~mactel-support
More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp

Revision history for this message
Wowbagger (ha87psc02) wrote :

Really, the RIGHT answer is:
1) get Bluez to actually DOCUMENT how the new Bluetooth stack is supposed to work:
1a) document the new configuration files in a meaningful fashion
1b) document how to accomplish basic functions, such as
1b1) using Bluetooth keyboard and mouse
1b2) using Bluetooth networking (PAN)
1b3) using Bluetooth modem (DUN)
1b4) using Bluetooth audio devices
2) Make proper GUIs and command line programs to configure the above use cases
3) REMOVE HIDD, and make any attempt to install it instead point the person to the new packages
4) Make a concerted effort to get people to update the web pages referring to the old methods.

And if Bluez will not or can not do this, then Canonical needs to step up and do it. This is a piece of system infrastructure, not just some random app. It not working really gives GNU/Linux a black eye.

Revision history for this message
Damiön la Bagh (kat-amsterdam) wrote :

Isn't
bluetoothctl

the current alternative to hidd?

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