Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

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simplex

Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

I have as smart phones a Sony Xperia Z1 and an LG-E430.

I use a very cheap bluetooth dongle on my PC to establish bluetooth connections..

The problem: I cannot browse the file system of the Xperia Z1 compact from the PC, though Blueman's device window shows it in its list of known devices. "Browse files" is not greyed out. I can send files only from my PC to the Z1, not the other way round. I get the message (on the Z1) "Connection failed".

With the LG-E430, I can browse the file system from the PC, but as with the Z1, file transfer only works from PC to smart phone.

Maybe this can give some hints to the experts:
As laptops, I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 running Xubuntu 14.04 and a Samsung NC10 running Lubuntu 14.04. Bluetooth is integrated in the NC10, for the Dell I use the same cheap dongle as for the PC.

I can pair both phones with both laptops and send files forth and back.

But I cannot browse the filesystem of the Z1, neither on the Dell, nor on the NC10. In Blueman, the option "Browse device" is greyed out. With the LG-E430, I can browse the phone's file system without problems with both laptops.

This is very confusing, isn't it?

What can I do? Is this a Sony/LG problem or a problem of Linux's bluetooth driver?

Thank you in advance!
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
JeremyB
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by JeremyB »

Since you are using Blueman, right click the Blueman bluetooth icon on the taskbar and select Local Services, then go to Transfer Settings and enable receive over bluetooth

I don't know if your Sony/LG phones support browsing of the file system over bluetooth
simplex

Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

On my Xubuntu 14.04, the bluetooth icon is part of the indicator-plugin area. Right-clicking it just pops up a menu to change the indicators. Left-clicking it lets me switch on and off bluetooth, make my device visible or not, has a menu option to configure a new device (which searches endlessly for new devices), and a menu option for bluetooth configuration, which just does nothing when clicked. :( :?:
JeremyB
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by JeremyB »

I was messing around with it in Ubuntu this morning and noticed that there isn't an icon for Blueman like Linux Mint has. In the picture the Blueman indicator is the black bluetooth symbol and the lighter bluetooth symbol is for the built in bluetooth manager
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mjbt2hpcju0qk ... 6.png?dl=0

In Xubuntu you might be able to search for "Personal File Sharing" to enable "Receive Files over Bluetooth" as it works in Linux Mint 17+ and Ubuntu 14.04+
simplex

Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

JeremyB wrote:I was messing around with it in Ubuntu this morning and noticed that there isn't an icon for Blueman like Linux Mint has. In the picture the Blueman indicator is the black bluetooth symbol and the lighter bluetooth symbol is for the built in bluetooth manager
Yes, on Xubuntu, there is also this "lighter" symbol for the built in manager (which I described above as being worthless), and there is Blueman, which you can start from the preferences/configuration window.
In Xubuntu you might be able to search for "Personal File Sharing" to enable "Receive Files over Bluetooth" as it works in Linux Mint 17+ and Ubuntu 14.04+
No, I cannot find such a menu entry in Xubuntu 14.04.
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by JeremyB »

See if

Code: Select all

blueman-services
in terminal brings up the window
simplex

Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

JeremyB wrote:See if

Code: Select all

blueman-services
in terminal brings up the window
Yes, it does. And I have never seen this window before.

I am now completely confused and at the edge of desperation. This whole matter is a complete mess.

I have bought a much more expensive Bluetooth dongle (which has 5 stars on Amazon, just like my cheap one, and for both, there are many comments that say that they "work perfectly under Linux"). The following is a description of what happens with the new dongle and the LG-E430 smartphone:

I have another laptop, a Dell Inspiron 1525, also running Xubuntu 14.04. With the new, expensive dongle, everything works with Blueman as it should: I can sent files forth and accept files sent from the smartphone. And I can browse the file system!!! One thing to be criticized is that there is no bluetooth icon in the indicator area on the panel, although there should be one. The other thing is that I cannot browse folders with many subfolders, such as obex://[40:B0:FA:F9:AD:5A]/external_SD/Musik. I get the error message "Folder Musik could not be opened. Couldn't parse the incoming data." But it suffices to copy a Rolling Stones mp3-album to a freshly created folder on the smartphone.

On my Dell Latitude 6400, also running Xubuntu 14.04, the option "browse files" is greyed out, and I cannot browse files. The only thing I can do is to send files from the laptop to the smartphone. Strange...

But this here is a Mint Forum. Now, what does happen on Mint 17.2 with the new dongle plugged in into my main PC (not a laptop!)?

I plug it in, the Bluetooth icon appears in the system tray/notification area. Good. I select "Devices", Blueman opens, and start the search. My LG-E430 is found. Good. I select the device and add it to the list of known devices. I pair the devices, initiating the pairing by Blueman, and I get the same 6 letters number validation code on PC and smartphone. Good. I click "Trust this device" in Blueman. I press the "Configuration" button in Blueman; there are three choices: NAP, A2DP, and "Do not connect". (Everything translated back from DE->EN; I think the translation EN->DE ist incorrect.) I select "Do not connect". I get a congratulation message, which I just close. I go back to Blueman. I right click on the device. "Browse device" is not greyed out. If I select it nevertheless, nothing happens. Bad. Neither a file manager window is opened, nor there is a connection icon in the side bar of an already opened Caja. BAD. I right click and send a file. The file is copied to the folder "Bluetooth" on the smartphone. Good. I select a picture from the gallery of my smartphone and try to send it to the PC. A cool photo of Keith Richards. It is transfered to my /home/user/ folder. Good.

Now the same experiment with the cheap dongle on my PC (running Mint): Everything happens as just described.
Now the same experiment on the Dell Inspiron (running Xubuntu) with the cheap dongle. Everything happens as just described.

Bottom line: I see no difference between the cheap ad the expensive dongle on Mint. On Mint 17.2, I cannot browse files from my PC. On Xubuntu I can on one machine, I cannot on a diferent model.


BTW: Why do I always have to start the pairing process from the PC/laptop? I then get on both devices a 6 digit validation code. The other way round, I get the code only on the smartphone, no pairing request on the PC. Sometimes they (I do not know whom of them) want to have a 4 digit password. Confusing...
JeremyB
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by JeremyB »

Can you provide

Code: Select all

lsusb; uname -a; dmesg | egrep -i 'blue|firm'; hciconfig -a
from both computers
simplex

Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

JeremyB wrote:Can you provide

Code: Select all

lsusb; uname -a; dmesg | egrep -i 'blue|firm'; hciconfig -a
from both computers
I think what you mean is

Code: Select all

lsusb > out.txt; uname -a >> out.txt; dmesg | egrep -i 'blue|firm' >> out.txt; hciconfig -a >> out.txt
But the output is huge (110 lines per each command). I do not want to post the 4 combinations {{cheap dongle,expensive dongle} x {laptop,PC}} here. And I cannot attach an output file here!? I always get the error message "The extension <foo> is not allowed", even if I take ".bar" as extension or have no extension at all. (???)
JeremyB
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by JeremyB »

You could paste it at paste.ubuntu.com and post the URL
simplex

Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

Expensive dongle on Xubuntu laptop:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/12500115/

Cheap dongle on Xubuntu laptop:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/12500141/

Expensive dongle on Mint PC:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/12500182/

Cheap dongle on Mint PC:
http://paste.ubuntu.com/12500165/

Maybe it is worth to just make a diff?
JeremyB
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by JeremyB »

The Sony phone must have the browse file system over bluetooth disabled and it might be a setting the user cannot change as your bluetooth chipsets are almost identicle and have the same Vendor/Product ID
simplex

Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

JeremyB wrote:The Sony phone must have the browse file system over bluetooth disabled and it might be a setting the user cannot change as your bluetooth chipsets are almost identicle and have the same Vendor/Product ID
No, I do not think so. My whole description above was for the LG-E430 smart phone, which worked perfectly on one machine, not perfectly on the other.
The Sony smart phone is even worse. It cannot browse a laptop:

Now a last test: The Dell Latitude and the expensive dongle: I also have work here with Blueman; the choices I get when I click on the bluetooth icon in the notification area are not enough to pair two devices. Sending files back and forth works. Browsing the file system does not work. The option "Browse device" is greyed out.

BTW: Each new day I do these experiments, I have to delete the smart phones from the list of known smart phones in Blueman and have to search for them via a scan again. Pairing does not work otherwise. Whether I have have set the device as "trusted" or not is irrelevant.

I think I should try all this under Windows. :-(
JeremyB
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by JeremyB »

Can you browse the file system if it is connected via USB?
simplex

Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

Yes, perfectly.
JeremyB
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by JeremyB »

There might be a difference in some package version or package installed

Code: Select all

dpkg -l | grep blue
Compare the results of Linux Mint to the Kubuntu
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jungle_boy
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by jungle_boy »

simplex;
Try a live usb of Linux Mint with KDE DE. Here running well bluetooth options, I thing it is because KDE uses bluedevil instead blueman and QT libraries.
I think that the issue is in de Desktop Environment (cinnamon, fork of gnomeshell; mate, fork of gnome2)
Samsung Odyssey, Octa-core, i5 9300H, Geforce GTX 1650, 16GB RAM, SSD SAMSUNG NVMe 500GB
LM 21 Cinnamon
simplex

Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

JeremyB wrote:The Sony phone must have the browse file system over bluetooth disabled and it might be a setting the user cannot change as your bluetooth chipsets are almost identicle and have the same Vendor/Product ID
I think you are right. I have tested now the two dongles on a third laptop, my Dell Latitude 6400, and the LG-E430 allows browsing via both dongles, whereas the Sony does not.

What I have written in the original posting is wrong. All of a sudden, the LG-E430 seems to work perfectly with all combinations of machines and dongles. I am completely confused now.

I shall try the suggestions with the live stick and the KDE-version too and then report.
simplex

Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by simplex »

jungle_boy wrote:simplex;
Try a live usb of Linux Mint with KDE DE. Here running well bluetooth options, I thing it is because KDE uses bluedevil instead blueman and QT libraries.
I think that the issue is in de Desktop Environment (cinnamon, fork of gnomeshell; mate, fork of gnome2)
On the Mint KDE 17.2, the LG-E430 can browse and send files. Strangely, it cannot send files on the latest original Ubuntu 15.04.
The Sony can nothing, no matter what OS or what action.

BTE, when I pair a smart phone under 17.2, I am asked whether I want to pair it as "Send files", "PANU" and "No connection". The LG-E430 can do everything, no matter what I choose in this question. What is a "PANU"? In Ubuntu 15.02, this question does not appear any more.

I am tired now and frustrated from all those experiments. I will make a last one under Windows.

The Z1 compact has outstanding test results in magazines, but for me, it has so many little quirks that I spend more for configuring it than for using it. I would not buy it any more. May I will throw it into the bay.
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Re: Cannot connect bluetooth device properly

Post by jungle_boy »

Usually during the installation of linux mint, is missing some bytes of files, open Synaptic and reinstall bluedevil and obexftp; you will see that the installation was incomplete.
Samsung Odyssey, Octa-core, i5 9300H, Geforce GTX 1650, 16GB RAM, SSD SAMSUNG NVMe 500GB
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