Bluetooth device is not available?

Question

I followed this tutorial to set up my Bluetooth dongle and get it running. I have the same Bluetooth dongle that is in the tutorial, yet I can not seem to get it to work. I get to step "C" and then I run into problems. Here is some commands I ran to diagnose the problem:

$ hcitool scan
Device is not available: No such device
$ lsusb
...
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
...
$ hciconfig dev
hci0:   Type: BR/EDR  Bus: USB
        BD Address: 00:1B:10:00:2A:EC  ACL MTU: 1017:8  SCO MTU: 64:0
        DOWN
        RX bytes:1355 acl:0 sco:0 events:49 errors:0
        TX bytes:204 acl:0 sco:0 commands:48 errors:0
$ hciconfig -a
hci0:   Type: BR/EDR  Bus: USB
        BD Address: 00:1B:10:00:2A:EC  ACL MTU: 1017:8  SCO MTU: 64:0
        DOWN
        RX bytes:1355 acl:0 sco:0 events:49 errors:0
        TX bytes:204 acl:0 sco:0 commands:48 errors:0
        Features: 0xff 0xff 0x8d 0xfe 0x9b 0xf9 0x00 0x80
        Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3
        Link policy:
        Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT
$ hcitool dev
Devices:
$ sudo hciconfig hci0 piscan
Can't set scan mode on hci0: Network is down (100)
$ sudo hciconfig hci0 reset
Can't init device hci0: Operation not supported (95)
$ /etc/init.d/bluetooth status
[ ok ] bluetooth is running.
$ sudo bluez-simple-agent
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/bluez-simple-agent", line 104, in <module>
    path = manager.DefaultAdapter()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 70, in __call__
    return self._proxy_method(*args, **keywords)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 145, in __call__
    **keywords)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbus/connection.py", line 651, in call_blocking
    message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.bluez.Error.NoSuchAdapter: No such adapter

Any suggestions? Power isn't the issue since I'm running the dongle from a powered USB hub.

I do not want solutions that tell me to downgrade my software. That is not a solution, that is a workaround.

What are you powering from the hub the bluetooth dongle, the Pi or both? — Steve Robillard, Dec 03 '13 at 22:57
@SteveRobillard Edited it in at the bottom of what commands I ran. It said it was running. — syb0rg, Dec 04 '13 at 04:54
What did you get for: hcitool dev? Since bluetooth seems to be running on the Raspberry Pi, did you check that bluetooth on your mobile device is discoverable? Also check this guide and this guide. — uelboud, Dec 04 '13 at 18:17
I edited in the outputs of that command and some more from the links. Yes, my mobile device is discoverable. — syb0rg, Dec 04 '13 at 22:42
I'm having exactly the same error as you. Did you by chance got any update on this? — catteneo, Jan 08 '14 at 02:42
@catteneo No, I'm considering offering a bounty on this question soon to get an answer. — syb0rg, Jan 13 '14 at 04:25
I have the same issue. The output from bluetooth status is:
root@raspbmc:/home/pi# /etc/init.d/bluetooth status [ ok ] bluetooth is running would love any input — Black, Jan 13 '14 at 08:55
from what I've read; it just depends on the exact make and model of your BT dongle. Some work fine, others don't. If that's not the case I would love to hear how to fix it — Black, Jan 13 '14 at 08:56
but the bluetooth dongle is listed with lsusb ...hcitool scan will only show bluetooth devices around you, not the usb dongle... didi you startx and tried the bluetooth manager? — thorb, Jan 13 '14 at 10:15
@Francis But the company that sold them only sells Raspberry Pi merchandise, I feel as if the device should work. — syb0rg, Jan 13 '14 at 22:24
@thorb I have tried that, the bluetooth manager wasn't working properly. — syb0rg, Jan 13 '14 at 22:25
did you try to open the bt man from the bar at the bottom? (the little icon on the right side in the bottom bar, open with mouse right-click) — thorb, Jan 14 '14 at 06:19
@thorb Yep, the GUI bluetooth manager was acting funny and didn't work. — syb0rg, Apr 08 '14 at 22:19
Just because it is listed in lsusb doesn't mean it works. org.bluez.Error.NoSuchAdapter: <- that error, as ambiguous as it sounds, kind of means it cannot open the port to the hci profile of the Bluetooth protocol. This, unfortunately is a vendor specific issue, where the software is requesting a GUID "Profile" that doesn't exits. I had this issues with SPP, and it a bloody nightmare to get working. Possibly because the vendor used an out of date specification or uses a custom GUID that is no longer supported in the latest version of what ever you are using. Try and find working dongles — Piotr Kula, Apr 14 '14 at 16:23
Hi- Did you find a solution? Could you please post an answer and accept it. Thanks — Piotr Kula, Aug 27 '15 at 07:23

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 30 '16 at 02:03

9

Late answer, but recently experienced it. I noticed the interface is down. Yours is down too.

Running sudo hciconfig hci0 up on an updated firmware solved my problem. Not sure how that happened, as the people from this raspberrypi.org thread insists on downgrading.

answered Jan 30 '16 at 02:03

Aloha

7,136
1
28
52

This worked for me, after i unblocked the bluetooth interface with rfkill – mlhDev Dec 04 '16 at 15:46

score -2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 14 '14 at 06:31

-2

Check my answer in the following thread: http://www.raspberrypi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63418&p=469478

I had the same issue with the same dongle and been able to solve it downgrading the RPi kernel (raspbian).

Cheers,

Olivier

answered Mar 14 '14 at 06:31

Belokan

13
1

7

This answer needs to be re-written to incorporate details from that other thread to better make a complete question/answer pair here. – Jivings Mar 16 '14 at 12:07

Bluetooth device is not available?

2 Answers2