Can't get successful Bluetooth pairing on old Dell E6400 [Solved]

[CharlesV]

I thought for kicks to see what it would do.

It installs pulseaudio with it, and wants to remove pipewire stuff.

Of course I haven't let it do that.

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Install
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth (16.1+dfsg1-2+b1)
pulseaudio (16.1+dfsg1-2+b1)

Remove
pipewire-alsa [1.0.0-1~mx23+1]
pipewire-setup-mx [25.03.01]

Just something to be mindful of when you want to install that package, check what it wants to do.

It definately moves things around and changes how things work.

Here was my audio and bluetooth section of QSI when I built my machine, before it had BT issues:

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Audio:
  Device-1: Intel vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 1-8.4:6
    alternate: snd_soc_avs,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl chip-ID: 046d:0825 class-ID: 0102 bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    serial: <filter> chip-ID: 8086:7a50 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU104 HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3
    speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f8 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.10-1-liquorix-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.6 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
  
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-14:8 chip-ID: 8087:0033 class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter>
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff link-mode: peripheral accept
    service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio, telephony
    

and here it is now, with pulseaudio-module-bluetooth installed. (Which cured the BT issues. I had approx 8 months of updates before BT started acting up.)

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Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake High Definition Audio vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 1-8.4:6 alternate: snd_soc_avs,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl chip-ID: 046d:0825
    bus-ID: 00:1f.3 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter> chip-ID: 8086:7a50 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU104 HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3
    speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f8 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.16-1-liquorix-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.6 status: off with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: off 2: wireplumber
    status: off tools: pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
  Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active tools: pacat,pactl,pavucontrol
  
  Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-14:8 chip-ID: 8087:0033 class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter>
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff link-mode: peripheral accept
    service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio, telephony

I can check the machines I have installed that on, but in each case they went from BT issues to rock solid BT.

[harrycalnan]

Since my initial joy of having resolved the issue by installing pusleaudio-module-bluetooth, bluetooth stopped working again (maybe a kernel update clobbered it, not sure.) Without getting into the weeds about the error messages I'm seeing, wondering whether removing the Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Mini-card from the PC and purchasing a dongle would be another way to resolve the issue. The mini-card is ancient - hardware and software technology have moved forward since the Dell E6400's heyday.

Viable option, or needless step?

Thanks,

Harry

[CharlesV]

Since my initial joy of having resolved the issue by installing pusleaudio-module-bluetooth, bluetooth stopped working again (maybe a kernel update clobbered it, not sure.) Without getting into the weeds about the error messages I'm seeing, wondering whether removing the Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Mini-card from the PC and purchasing a dongle would be another way to resolve the issue. The mini-card is ancient - hardware and software technology have moved forward since the Dell E6400's heyday.

Viable option, or needless step?

Thanks,

Harry

Verify that bluetooth is on

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service bluetooth status 

Verify that pipewire is on - If PipeWire is active, it will show a line like "Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire [version])".

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pactl info 

You might try reinstalling bluetooth.
- Reinstall Bluetooh ( MX Package Installer, search for Bluetooth, Switch to Enabled Repos tab, uncheck the "Hide Library..." selection, also check "Install Recommended..." ) .. and then install.
__*** Personally, I think installing the above, but using the Test repo is better. At this time it *should* be the same packages, however this is where I continue to install and not have issues.

As for adapters, there are some pretty good ones out there,I have used this one a couple of times and it was very good. For $12 it might be worth a try just to test it with.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ZIILLI

[harrycalnan]

As far as I can tell, everything looks good, Charles V.:

service bluetooth status
● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sun 2025-05-04 12:11:31 EDT; 2h 12min ago
Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
Main PID: 11391 (bluetoothd)
Status: "Running"
Tasks: 1 (limit: 9409)
Memory: 1.6M
CPU: 260ms
CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
└─11391 /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd

pactl info
Server String: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 35
Server Protocol Version: 35
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 113
Tile Size: 65472
User Name: harry
Host Name: calnanMX
Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.0.0)
Server Version: 15.0.0
Default Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo
Default Source: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo.monitor
Cookie: 5b3f:80d4

Regards,

Harry

[CharlesV]

Well.. there is no question that a kernel upgrade shows as that it updates bluetooth files. Also of interest my timeshift backups show that my bluetooh input.conf, main.conf have changed and are backed up quite often - although I do not know the 'why' of this one.

It might be VERY worthwhile to check the previous *working* /etc/bluetooth/input.conf, /etc/bluetooth/main.conf against your current set and see what is different.

Also, possibly check out the kernel updates on bluetooth too. ( Although I am not sure you could tell anything more than this version worked vs that one didnt.)
Example on my machine:
/usr/lib/modules/6.12.8-1-liquorix-amd64/kernel/drivers/bluetooth/
__ vs
/usr/lib/modules/6.12.16-1-liquorix-amd64/kernel/drivers/bluetooth/

[harrycalnan]

Installed a dongle and that made all the difference. Bluetooth is working without incident. Guess the older 370 Bluetooth Mini-card just couldn't do the job.

Thanks again, Charles V.

Harry

[CharlesV]

Installed a dongle and that made all the difference. Bluetooth is working without incident. Guess the older 370 Bluetooth Mini-card just couldn't do the job.

Thanks again, Charles V.

Harry

Your very welcome and glad you have it resolved :-)