Can't connect a specific Bluetooth device to a specific Ubuntu machine
I have a laptop running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and a Bluetooth mouse (Logitech MX Vertical). I can pair/connect this mouse to other devices, including another one running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. I can also pair/connect the problematic Ubuntu laptop to other Bluetooth devices. So I suspect both devices are functioning mostly right.
I don’t know why these two specific devices won’t pair/connect anymore. I left them connected overnight and when I returned in the morning they were not longer connected and wouldn’t connect anymore.
Is there something that could have blacklisted the device for some reason? I’m not sure where to start looking for this kind of a problem.
Note, it is hard to tell what the actual problem is "remotely"…
so therefore a "mini-tutorial".
$ bluetoothctl
Agent registered
[CHG] Controller 24:EE:9A:E2:9C:F7 Pairable: yes
[bluetooth]# agent on
Agent is already registered
[bluetooth]# scan on
Discovery started
[CHG] Controller 24:EE:9A:E2:9C:F7 Discovering: yes
[NEW] Device 78:DC:57:BE:3C:F5 78-DC-57-BE-3C-F5
[NEW] Device 58:E7:AA:47:82:A4 58-E7-AA-47-82-A4
[NEW] Device 6C:BD:E9:94:7E:2A 6C-BD-E9-94-7E-2A
[NEW] Device DC:56:E7:48:16:EE DC-56-E7-48-16-EE
[NEW] Device 26:BF:89:3F:5E:2B 26-BF-89-3F-5E-2B
...
[bluetooth]# scan off
...
[bluetooth]# help
Menu main:
Available commands:
'-------------------
advertise Advertise Options Submenu
scan Scan Options Submenu
gatt Generic Attribute Submenu
list List available controllers
show [ctrl] Controller information
select <ctrl> Select default controller
devices List available devices
paired-devices List paired devices
system-alias <name> Set controller alias
reset-alias Reset controller alias
power <on/off> Set controller power
pairable <on/off> Set controller pairable mode
discoverable <on/off> Set controller discoverable mode
discoverable-timeout [value] Set discoverable timeout
agent <on/off/capability> Enable/disable agent with given capability
default-agent Set agent as the default one
advertise <on/off/type> Enable/disable advertising with given type
set-alias <alias> Set device alias
scan <on/off> Scan for devices
info [dev] Device information
pair [dev] Pair with device
trust [dev] Trust device
untrust [dev] Untrust device
block [dev] Block device
unblock [dev] Unblock device
remove <dev> Remove device
connect <dev> Connect device
disconnect [dev] Disconnect device
menu <name> Select submenu
version Display version
quit Quit program
exit Quit program
help Display help about this program
export Print environment variables
[bluetooth]# quit
$
Note the commands to set controller (computer) pairable, trust, unblock and so on…
If you take your time playing with these and their inverses, you might be able to eventually get it working.
Redoing any or all of block/unblock, untrust/trust, remove/pair in some sort of sequence might actually help.
Thos [dev] is supposed to be any of the 78:DC:57:BE:3C:F5 MAC-look-a-like sequences.
Reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth might be of some help, though it is quite technical.
Good luck!
<pre> is supposed to leave "preformatted" text unaffected, apparently not entirely so here.