Debian Sid Cannot Connect to Bluetooth Keyboard

Question

I am running Debian Sid with the following bluetooth related packages:

• blueman 2.0.4-1
• bluetooth 5.43-1
• bluez 5.43-1
• bluez-firmware 1.2-3
• firmware-misc-nonfree 20161130-2
• gnome-bluetooth 3.20.1-1

I am trying to connect the Microsoft Surface Ergonomic Keyboard without much success. Any help would be appreciated! Below you will find detailed information about my riddle.

gnome bluetooth

gnome-bluetooth detects the keyboard but cannot connect to it. After clicking on the detected device, gnome-bluetooth will quickly return to Not configured .

Sometimes, and I still have to find out when gnome-bluetooth asks for a PIN to connect. Most of the time, the connection drops before I type the key on the keyboard.

Rarely, gnome-bluetooth manages to connect to the keyboard. However, within a minute, he gets scared, quickly moving back and forth between Connected and Not configured .

hcitool

hcitool scan returns no result, as well as hcitool inq .

bluetoothctl

With scan on , bluetoothctl detects the keyboard. However, the following errors occur:

• Entering pair immediately after discovery shows the following:

   Attempting to pair with [mac address] [CHG] Device [mac address] Connected: yes Failed to pair: org.bluez.Error.AuthenticationFailed [CHG] Device [mac address] Connected: no 

• Entering trust [mac address] before matching the results with the same error message.

• Putting pairable on before pairing the results with the same error message.

• Typing connect [mac address] shows the following:

   [CHG] Device [mac address] Connected: yes Failed to connect: org.bluez.Error.Failed [CHG] Device [mac address] Connected: no 

• Entering trust or pairable before using connect results in the same error message.

syslog error tracking

This, I believe, the corresponding journal:

 dbus-daemon[1068]: Activating via systemd: service name='org.bluez.obex' unit='dbus-org.bluez.obex.service' dbus-daemon[1068]: Activating via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.bluez.obex.service': Unit dbus-org.bluez.obex.service not found. blueman.desktop[1381]: ERROR:dbus.connection:Exception in handler for D-bus signal: blueman.desktop[1381]: Traceback(most recent call last): blueman.desktop[1381]: File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/dbus/connection.py", line 230, in maybe_handle_message blueman.desktop[1381]: self._handler(*args, **kwargs) blueman.desktop[1381]: File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/blueman/bluez/PropertiesBlueZInterface.py", line 55, in wrapper blueman.desktop[1381]: handler(name, value, **kwargs) blueman.desktop[1381]: File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/blueman/plugins/applet/GameControllerWakelock.py", line 36, in on_device_property_changed blueman.desktop[1381]: klass = Device(path).get_properties()["Class"] & 0x1fff blueman.desktop[1381]: KeyError: 'Class' 

Answer 1

According to this blueman bugreport , your syslog shows an error in the GameControllerWakelock plugin, which causes the blueman to fail, which is probably the reason why the GUI errors. You can disable this plugin or upgrade to a newer version of blueman to fix it. (For example, setting 2.1-alpha )

However, disabling the plugin probably will not fix the connection problem, but only the graphical interface. An Authentification Error usually means that the PIN is incorrect. The bug report also mentions that they have implemented a PIN code database, which is likely to land in 2.1 , so updating can cost just one shot. If your keyboard is not already in the PIN database, I would suggest you create a problem in blueman github and talk with the guys!