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Can't turn on bluetooth on my system, Alienware 17 R3 with Ubuntu18.04, clicking the button turn on/off slider in the settings menu does nothing.

lspci -knn | grep Net -A3; lsusb
3c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [168c:003e] (rev 32)
    Subsystem: Bigfoot Networks, Inc. QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [1a56:1535]
    Kernel driver in use: ath10k_pci
    Kernel modules: ath10k_pci
3d:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5227 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5227] (rev 01)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1532:005c Razer USA, Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1bcf:2b8c Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0cf3:e300 Atheros Communications, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 187c:0528 Alienware Corporation 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

also 

dmesg | grep -i blue
[    5.013711] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.22
[    5.013723] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[    5.013726] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[    5.013727] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[    5.013733] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized

and 

usb-devices | awk '/0cf3/' RS=; rfkill
T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=04 Cnt=03 Dev#=  3 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 2.01 Cls=e0(wlcon) Sub=01 Prot=01 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=0cf3 ProdID=e300 Rev=00.01
C:  #Ifs= 2 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=100mA
I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=e0(wlcon) Sub=01 Prot=01 Driver=btusb
I:  If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=e0(wlcon) Sub=01 Prot=01 Driver=btusb
ID TYPE      DEVICE         SOFT      HARD
 0 wlan      dell-rbtn unblocked unblocked
 1 wlan      phy0      unblocked unblocked
 2 bluetooth hci0      unblocked unblocked

and kernel version

uname -r
4.20.15-042015-generic

I tried the solution here, but nothing happened, so I undid it using the steps provided in the answer.

I continued searching for other solutions as this appears to be a common problem, but it seems to depend heavily on adapter/machine, so I didn't want to attempt anything that I don't understand that is not specifically for my setup.

UPDATE: bluetoothctl doesn't give anything, but it seems like it gets stuck at trying to execute whatever it is meant to do after I press Enter, as the terminal curso moves to a new line (where I can't type) and just keeps on blinking forever, until I cancel it.

ALMOST SOLUTION: Doing sudo systemctl restart bluetooth gets the bluetooth running for me, but it has a side effect. The WiFi starts randomly disconnecting every 30-40 minutes, requiring a manual restart of network-manager via sudo su and service network-manager restart. I haven't found another way of restarting the network-manager or WiFi that brings it back.

ThunderBiggi
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  • Please add output of usb-devices | awk '/0cf3/' RS=; rfkill – Pilot6 Mar 11 '19 at 12:30
  • @Pilot6 Done, also added kernel version – ThunderBiggi Mar 11 '19 at 12:41
  • Did you try with a normal Ubuntu kernel? – Pilot6 Mar 11 '19 at 12:46
  • @Pilot6 Yes, when I first upgraded to 18.04, it wasn't working then either (as other things, like the wi-fi for example). Then I updated it and have been keeping it upto date since. The updated kernel did fix my wi-fi problem but not the bluetooth – ThunderBiggi Mar 11 '19 at 12:49
  • What does happen in terminal if you enter bluetoothctl, does it list a controller? – Jeremy31 Mar 11 '19 at 23:05
  • @Jeremy31 I updated my post with the information – ThunderBiggi Mar 12 '19 at 00:15
  • Any update? For me the Qualcom QCA6174 mostly, except it does not find low energy devices when running bluetoothctl scan on. – Harmen Aug 07 '19 at 17:35
  • @Harmen I found kind of a solution. sudo systemctl restart bluetooth gets it working. However this causes the wifi to randomly disconnect, requiring a manual restart of network manager from command line – ThunderBiggi Aug 08 '19 at 18:57
  • I have the exact same laptop and would point out there have been about a dozen driver and BIOS updates the last few months. If you download and install them in Windows it might help out. I haven't done it myself because everything I use works fine, but I don't use the built in WiFi nor Bluetooth on the Bigfoot Killer card. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Aug 09 '19 at 00:58
  • @WinEunuuchs2Unix I have downloaded and installed all the latest driver and BIOS updates from Dell - it has made no difference. What do you mean by "I don't use the built in WiFi nor Bluetooth on the Bigfoot Killer card." – ThunderBiggi Aug 11 '19 at 19:43

0 Answers0