[SOLVED] Dismal Bluetooth signal strength on Dell XPS 13

[gcantieni]

Hi Linux gurus,

It has recently become important that my Bluetooth works since my headphone jack broke. After installing blueman I can now reliably connect to my Bluetooth devices. However, the signal strength is really bad--my headphones have to be around 6-10 inches away from my computer or they will skip and disconnect.

I found this link of a similar issue who seemed to claim it was a driver issue: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2301243. Also, this Arch Linux post said it could be an issue of multiple Bluetooth devices on the same bus (though this might only apply for dongles): https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php ... 1#p1440161.

I'm wondering if people think I should update my drivers (if that's even possible for me) or perhaps update my version of Mint (some posts here seemed to imply that newer versions have better Bluetooth support). I'm a newbie and am not sure what the best way of getting better drivers would be for my Broadcom network adapter, so I would appreciate any guidance in that area. Thanks so much for reading, please post if you have any input!

My internal Bluetooth adapter info (assuming my computer uses the same controller for Bluetooth and other networking):

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lspci -knn | grep Net
3a:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4350 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a3] (rev 08)
	Subsystem: Dell BCM4350 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [1028:0023]

Other information:

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inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: gcantien-XPS-13-9350 Kernel: 4.13.0-38-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.6 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: XPS 13 9350
           Mobo: Dell model: 07TYC2 v: A00 Bios: Dell v: 1.0.0 date: 09/10/2015
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-6200U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9600
           clock speeds: max: 2800 MHz 1: 596 MHz 2: 599 MHz 3: 599 MHz 4: 599 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Sky Lake Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 3200x1800@59.98hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-38-generic
Network:   Card: Broadcom BCM4350 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter driver: brcmfmac bus-ID: 3a:00.0
           IF: wlp58s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: NA (-) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 model: N/A size: 256.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 89G used: 58G (69%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.00GB used: 2.14GB (27%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-0
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0C mobo: 27.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 287 Uptime: 8:27 Memory: 6269.5/7838.0MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35

[gcantieni]

I found the answer in a post that I probably should have looked for directly after the Linux Installation: a guide to adding Dell XPS 13 Compatibility with Ubuntu. Turns out it WAS a driver issue--the Dell XPS 13 does not work properly out of the box. To fix, I followed the instructions under the Bluetooth subsection here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/709794/ ... patibility.

Here's just the Bluetooth section:

Bluetooth
To make Bluetooth work properly you have to install the Broadcom firmware.

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wget http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER03272920M/1/9350_Network_Driver_XMJK7_WN32_12.0.1.720_A00.EXE
unzip 9350_Network_Driver_XMJK7_WN32_12.0.1.720_A00.EXE
cp Win64/BCM4350C5_003.006.007.0095.1703.hex ./
hex2hcd BCM4350C5_003.006.007.0095.1703.hex
mv BCM4350C5_003.006.007.0095.1703.hcd /lib/firmware/brcm/BCM-0a5c-6412.hcd

Reload the module and Bluetooth should work.

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sudo modprobe -r btusb   
sudo modprobe btusb

Now, this issue is fixed for me. My thanks to hg8 and Community♦ on Ask Ubuntu. Hope this helps anyone with a Broadcom BCM4350 network adapter in their computer [14e4:43a3] .

[rcjcarr]

Thanks a lot. That worked for me as well on my Dell XPS 13 9350.