Cannot recive files nor share files via blutooth

Whenever I try to share files via bluetooth from my phone it will not send and keeps failing, and also while sharing it from computer to phone it shows an error calleg ‘cannot activate name’. Any suggestion to solve this issue.

First of all it would be nice if you give us more info’s about your system:
Do a inxi -Fzx in terminal and post the output as </> Preformatted text here.

Second you can check if the service is running without troubles:
systemctl status bluetooth*

A bit unrelated but in the meantime you could send files over wireless using warpinator or KDE connect. (Until you solve your bluetooth problem)

System:
  Kernel: 5.18.11-200.fc36.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 2.37-27.fc36 Desktop: GNOME v: 42.3.1
    Distro: Fedora release 36 (Thirty Six)
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Dell product: Inspiron 15-3552 v: 4.4.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0M08DC v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: 4.4.0 date: 03/06/2018
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 14.4 Wh (51.4%) condition: 28.0/41.4 Wh (67.7%)
    volts: 15.9 min: 14.8 model: SMP-Sanyo2 DELL VN3N047 status: charging
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Pentium N3710 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Airmont
    rev: 4 cache: L1: 224 KiB L2: 2 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 580 high: 737 min/max: 480/2560 cores: 1: 623 2: 737
    3: 480 4: 480 bogomips: 12800
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx
    Integrated Graphics
    vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen8 bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: Realtek Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 1-5:3
  Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 1.22.1.3 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.3
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
    gpu: i915 resolution: 1360x768~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 405 (BSW) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.1.3
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series
    High Definition Audio
    vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.18.11-200.fc36.x86_64 running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.55 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 3160 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.0
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 1-2.1:4
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 4 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 223.57 GiB used: 9.15 GiB (4.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT240BX500SSD1 size: 223.57 GiB
    temp: 35 C
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 221.98 GiB used: 8.87 GiB (4.0%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 268.3 MiB (27.6%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 14 MiB (2.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
  ID-4: /home size: 221.98 GiB used: 8.87 GiB (4.0%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/sda3
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 3.65 GiB used: 532.6 MiB (14.3%)
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 26.0 C mobo: 47.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): fan-1: 0
Info:
  Processes: 608 Uptime: 21h 30m Memory: 3.65 GiB used: 2.18 GiB (59.7%)
  Init: systemd target: graphical (5) Compilers: gcc: 12.1.1 Packages: 25
  note: see --pkg Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 inxi: 3.3.19

systemctl status bluetooth*
● bluetooth.target - Bluetooth Support
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.target; static)
     Active: active since Wed 2022-07-20 17:01:18 IST; 44min ago
      Until: Wed 2022-07-20 17:01:18 IST; 44min ago
       Docs: man:systemd.special(7)

Jul 20 17:01:18 dell-inspiron systemd[1]: Reached target bluetooth.target - Bluetooth Support.

● bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2022-07-19 20:17:51 IST; 21h ago
       Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
   Main PID: 2817 (bluetoothd)
     Status: "Running"
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 4431)
     Memory: 1.9M
        CPU: 419ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
             └─ 2817 /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd

Jul 20 17:01:18 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.80 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/ldac
Jul 20 17:01:18 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.80 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/aac
Jul 20 17:01:18 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.80 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSink/sbc
Jul 20 17:01:18 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.80 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/sbc
Jul 20 17:01:18 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.80 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSink/sbc_xq
Jul 20 17:01:18 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.80 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/sbc_xq
Jul 20 17:01:18 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.80 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/faststream
Jul 20 17:01:18 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.80 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/faststream_duplex
Jul 20 17:16:38 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: /org/bluez/hci0/dev_1C_52_16_9B_68_D5/sep1/fd0: fd(41) ready
Jul 20 17:36:39 dell-inspiron bluetoothd[2817]: src/profile.c:ext_io_disconnected() Unable to get io data for Hands-Free Voice gateway>

In terminal use the bluetoothctl command and press twice TAB to see all the options.
I guess this is the best way to debug what is going on while debugging your issue.

[abhilasht@dell-inspiron ~]$ bluetoothctl
Agent registered
[bluetooth]# 
advertise             export                reset-alias
agent                 help                  scan
block                 info                  select
cancel-pairing        list                  set-alias
connect               menu                  show
default-agent         pair                  system-alias
devices               pairable              trust
disconnect            paired-devices        unblock
discoverable          power                 untrust
discoverable-timeout  quit                  version
exit                  remove                

Unfortunately we not always have ready solutions, so i gave you a tool to do some more tests.

Thank you, for your time instead of fixing bluetooth i am now using warpinator, somewhat lucky bluetooth tws are working.

I have a similar issue, when I try to send files over bluetooth it fails with an error related to obex. But it doesn’t matter since I use KDE connect for file transfer.

2 Likes

There is an other topic about debug, I just want to link that.
https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/how-do-i-diagnose-a-bluetooth-problem-on-fedora-linux/73489/4

2 Likes

It is necessary to install the bluez-obexd package to enable file transfer via bluetooth.

Use the command:

sudo dnf install bluez-obexd

I think this package should be installed by default to avoid this kind of problem. :slight_smile:

1 Like