Arch Linux

T3STY

Member

Registered: 2020-01-29

Posts: 17

New troubleshooting solution for bluetooth devices and Xbox controller

Hello,

After lots of troubles with my bluetooth adapter and devices, I have finally came across a solution.
I believe this will be useful to many people, and I would like it to be added as a troubleshooting step in the Bluetooth wiki.

I have posted on the forum for such issues, but briefly, the issues I experienced were:

1. Devices pair very slowly, and fail multiple times before a successful pair

2. Devices disconnect at random, and fail to reconnect

3. Devices get very laggy or experience "stuck key" syndrome. For example typing on my keyboard "Arch linux" would get stuck on repeating some key even when not pressed e.g. "Arch liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinux". Or also, my mouse cursor would teleport across the screen during the lag.

4. My Xbox Series X Controller would fail multiple times to pair; or it would initially pair but button the (X) button still blinks and it is unresponsive to any input (steam would partially detect it as the controller test would trigger rumble, but not react to any other button presses)

The solution that I found was posted by Simon on his blog's article at the link below:
https://www.simon-neutert.de/posts/2025 … box-nuc11/

Here are the changes that he suggests making:
NOTE: steps copied from the article above, just in case the link goes down. There are more details about why each change is necessary in the article.

/etc/bluetooth/main.conf

[General]
ControllerMode = dual
Privacy = device
FastConnectable = true
JustWorksRepairing = confirm

[LE]
MinConnectionInterval=7
MaxConnectionInterval=9
ConnectionLatency=0

/etc/bluetooth/input.conf

[General]
UserspaceHID=false
ClassicBondedOnly=false

/etc/modprobe.d/bluetooth.conf (create the file if it doesn't exist)

options bluetooth disable_ertm=1

After this, just restart the bluetooth service, or reboot.

---

In the wiki there are the troubleshooting steps 6.4 Pairing and connectivity issues and 6.5.4 Continually connect/disconnect with TP-LINK UB400 and Xbox controller which may address issues like the ones I mentioned above. However, these didn't work for me. They partially resolved the reconnection/lag issues (which were less frequent but still there), but the Xbox controller would not ever pair and work correctly.
Possibly, it could be due to bluetooth controller differences, drivers, implementation... My controller is a Wi-Fi + Bluetooth combined M.2 adapter, via a Realtek RTL8723AU_BT chip, on a Gigabyte B650I AX motherboard.

After following the steps in the guide, my Xbox controller pairs immediately and always remains connected while not in stand by. Waking the controller connects it in less than 2 seconds. Steam and other apps/games recognize it properly as Xbox controller (instead of maybe a generic controller); No more "stuck key" syndrome; No more devices disconnecting or lagging.
They didn't fix the long pairing/connection time issues with my mouse (Trust OZAA) and keyboard (Keychron K7-D3)!.
At the login screen, the keyboard either connects within a few seconds, or retries to connect lots times for 1-2 minutes before succeding (it's a lottery, either works or I need to retry multiple times) - once connected it does work flawlessly, but I may experience the same issue again when waking the PC from standby.
My mouse fails to pair a dozen times before succeding - but once paired it works flawlessly and connects immediately at the login screen.
I suspect these issues are much more device related rather than config/adapter (the Xbox controller pairs right away and connects immediately at the login screen before my keyboard or mouse).

Sorry for the long read...
I would like to hear your opinion on whether this is a valid solution and it deserves to be added, or not, to the wiki.
I would also like to open a debate on security, specifically, about the UserspaceHID=false config. Does this create a potential security issue?

Last edited by T3STY (Today 13:41:28)