I’m having issues with bluetooth pairing after upgrading my motherboard to the Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX which has a Reaktek 8852 bluetooth module. I can scan the devices and attempt to pair, however the pairing process always fails due to timeout. Any assistance would be appreciated.
Linux Hardware Database (LHDB) will show you what others with similar hardware are experiencing. There are often additional notes to tell you more than you get from the basic database entries. For popular hardware there are often individual projects to improve on the kernel.org drivers (e.g., by reverse engineering where vendor support isn’t available). If your MB has socketed wifi/bluetooth, you may find it better to upgrade to wifi and bluetooth hardware from a vendor (and model!) that is being actively supported on linux such as Intel. Otherwise you may need to fight with drivers everytime you get a newer kernel.
As far as I can tell based on other reports on LHDB, the motherboards that used the same chipset from Gigabyte work without issue, and when trying out of kernel drivers the issue is the same. I upgraded the motherboard from one that used an intel bluetooth chipset, is it possible that it’s interfering somehow?
I would prefer not have to swap the motherboard, so if you have any suggestions for usb bluetooth adapters that work well with fedora I have open ears. I only use it for a single pair of headphones so it doesn’t need to be anything too extravagant.
5 years ago the puppy ate my BT ear buds. Sine then I only use BT for authentication apps that require proximity to a smart phone. I do have an old USB BT adapter from Pluggable, who have been good about telling you which of their devices support Linux. The LHDB is helpful if the vendor provides details of the chipset. Vendors that don’t provide details often sell units with a mixture of chipsets under the same produce name, so avoid them.
They specify on their site that it’s a RTL8852CE for my revision of the motherboard, however the only out of kernel drivers that I found for it are not for version 6 of the kernel, and doesn’t seems to have seen any work in over a year, but it does include my chipset as one of the supported ones.
The motherboards I use do not have an integrated bluetooth chipset. I use a card with wifi&bluetooth capability so I can choose the chipset myself.
If your chipset is built in then you might try a different method – either a usb dongle or pcie or M.2 card with a working chipset.
My laptop is old enough that the bluetooth is supported and in my 2 desktops I have pcie in one and M.2 in the other, both with intel chipsets.
So a usb or m.2 with an intel chipset is probably the way to go then?
Does your existing wifi use M.2? How is the socket keyed?
There are also PCIe wifi cards. They aren’t expensive, so both is an option: M.2 or PCI for regular use, USB for times when the M.2 has a problem, and can be used on other systems. Not all Intel chipsets are well supported, so LHDB should be consulted if the vendor doesn’t explicitly claim linux support.
With M.2 the antenna connection can be a problem unless the card is . My desktop has antenna connectors on the back of the case, some M.2 cards come with a cover plate for a card slot with antenna connectors.
Quoting an Amazon review of the rather old Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) Desktop Kit, AX200, 2230, 2x2 AX+BT, vPro® used in a Gigabyte system.
I got this Intel WiFi card because I wanted WiFi that worked in Linux also. I used the second m.2 SSD slot on my Gigabyte B550M AORUS Pro mobo (Ryzen 5600X). That second m.2 slot goes through the B550 chipset PCIe instead of directly to the CPU’s PCIe controller.
This install required an adapter sled because this WiFi card is keyed for an A or E key pin configuration (that’s how it does Bluetooth also). So I also got the Sintech M key to E key adapter sled. The sled connects into the mobo’s m.2 M keyed slot (typically used for a SSD) and then the WiFi card plugs into the E keyed slot on top of the sled. Then a cable goes from the sled to a USB header on the motherboard for Bluetooth function, while WiFi uses the PCIe bus.
Note that the description of this card says:
- Compatibility: Only for use on Intel Windows 10 64-bit machines, that are not currently on a BiOS lock, and do not contain an Intel 9560 CNVI part.
- Modules uses an M.2 connector and a standard Key A or E socket. Adapters are available for sales for use with motherboards that don’t have Key A or E sockets
Intel 9560 CNVI refers to processors with integrated wireless IP support. Newer Intel wifi cards use CNVI.
Unfortunately my current wifi/bluetooth module is soldered to the board along with the antenna connectors. I’ll likely just use a bluetooth usb for the time being until the chipset has better native support, as I only use Bluetooth for audio, and the Wi-Fi works perfectly fine.
My switch to m.2 was a result of a failing qualcom PCIe card and the mobo (ASRock B550 Pro) had an m.2 slot specifically for wifi. It also made the airflow for the GPU more open with one less PCIe card.
Update: I have successfully paired a DualShock 4 controller with my bluetooth module. I had only tested with bluetooth audio devices before, is it possible that it’s not a driver issue but some other intermediary issue with audio specifically?
Specifically I was testing with a pair of Sony WH-XB900N wireless headphones and Sennheiser Momentum 2 True Wireless Earbuds
The controller uses bluetooth 2.1 apparently, the headphones use bluetooth 4.2, and the earbuds use bluetooth 5.1, so maybe a case of partial support? I don’t really understand how it’s only working at a lower bluetooth version than the chipset supports.
Usually a higher version device also supports lower version devices (though not always).
The controller is supported at 2.1.
The earbuds at 5.1 and headphones at 4.2 are not working so it seems the bluetooth controller in the PC may not support either of the higher level audio devices even with the upgraded kernel and drivers.
This seems one time where changing the motherboard may have been the issue with non-supported hardware.
I would file a bug report against the realtek drivers and at the same time get a usb bluetooth dongle that is supported for a quick resolution. Most intel chipsets should be supported, and some others as well.
How would I file a bug against a specific driver? Would I do it against the linux kernel and then mention it or is there a better way?
See How to file a bug. It is best to use RedHat Bugzilla so other Fedora users with the same problem can find the bug and perhaps contribute useful data. Ultimately the bug should be passed to the upstream developer, but RH Devs. will be better able to identify the appropriate upstream than Fedora Users.
I was successful in using a bluetooth 5.0 usb to connect my headphones. The plasma interface for selecting a different interface didn’t seem to work, however I was able to use bluetoothctl to make it work.
Hi, apologies for necroing, if that is what this is.
Byron, your answer is the currently maintained RTL8852CE OOK drivers at:
I managed to compile and install cleanly on Debian’s 6.1.20, even with the extra Debian dpkg steps, on my new lappy. It even has a Fedora install procedure.
Good luck and have fun!
Thanks for the reply, but I’m pretty sure this driver only covers the wifi side of the device, not the bluetooth component. However it seems that since I made this post the bluetooth drivers have been updated and it is working for me now.
OK. So which bluetooth drivers have been updated? I may need to push to get them done in deb.