LE 10.0.0 Adding a bluetooth keyboard fails when pairing code is shown. The code is invisible and impossible to enter.

mnemonic · September 11, 2021 at 1:25 PM

Problem: Adding a bluetooth keyboard works until the code to enter in the keyboard for pairing is shown. The numbers are invisible in the GUI. Additionally I was not able to enter any numbers and press return, the GUI is locked in that state. I tried it on the CLI, which allowed me to see the pairing code numbers, but it's not possible to enter them on the keyboard. Even when using the CLI the GUI tries to show the code field with the invisible numbers.

Internal bluetooth is disable via dtoverlay=disable-bt in config txt. Using CSR8510 external BT dongle instead because of metal case.

LibreELEC:~ # cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4L

LibreELEC:~ # dmesg | grep CSR

[ 2.317830] usb 1-1.3: Product: CSR8510 A10

[ 267.698120] usb 1-1.3: Product: CSR8510 A10

LibreELEC:~ # lsusb

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431 VIA Labs, Inc. Hub

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

**chewitt** · September 11, 2021 at 2:37 PM Official Post

It's a known issue but nobody submitted a fix yet. Use "bluetoothctl" to make the pairing .. this works from the CLI.

mnemonic · September 11, 2021 at 4:41 PM

Tried it again using CLI, this time successful. Below is info of what I did, maybe it can help somebody.

It seems there was some rudiment from my gui tries which prevented the CLI attempt to work on my first try.

On Libreelec over ssh:

Input:

bluetoothctl

scan on

trust XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

pair XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

Output:

...

[agent] PIN code: XXXXXX

...

On Keyboard:

XXXXXX Enter

Output:

...

Pairing successful

...

Skeeve · October 17, 2021 at 9:40 AM

Yesterday my keyboard worked. Today it was not connected.

Trying to reconnect always resulted in „connection refused“ or „authentication rejected“

Same when trying it with bluetoothctl.

Are there any more Tipps?

mbu2 · November 15, 2021 at 4:04 PM

Quote from mnemonic

Problem: Adding a bluetooth keyboard works until the code to enter in the keyboard for pairing is shown. The numbers are invisible in the GUI.

Hi guys, same problem here (RPi 4).

But the CLI workaround didn't worked for me, as "bluetooth ctl" returns "-sh: bt: not foud"

Luckily I got an old RF keyboard, but I guess there's not much live left on it.

Any ideas about how to deal with this?

mbu2 · November 15, 2021 at 6:49 PM

Well, I'm answering myself: "bluetoothctl" works, as long as you don't place an space before "ctl".

My BT keyboard is paired now, even after rebooting LE 10.0.1.

Thank you mnemonic and chewitt for pointing me in the right direction.

I noticed another bug related to this. Every time I tried the trust and connect option in BT menu, system reboots.

Cheers

zen85 · November 20, 2021 at 3:10 PM

i am also experiencing this bug... it bugs me very much. the key i am supposed to press is just not there... bluetoothctl is also not working

renatomarcio · November 20, 2021 at 6:53 PM

same problem here. Tried the cli procedure, worked for a while, stopped within minutes.

Confirm also reboot issue mentioned above when pairing.

Even when paired with cli, gui locks asking for confirmation number.

zen85 · November 21, 2021 at 1:31 PM

Quote from renatomarcio

same problem here. Tried the cli procedure, worked for a while, stopped within minutes.
Confirm also reboot issue mentioned above when pairing.
Even when paired with cli, gui locks asking for confirmation number.

thats exactly what i am experiencing... what i dont get is, that it worked perfectly before i rebootet (i think the system was up for a few month...)

eavidalp · March 17, 2022 at 6:20 AM

Is there an official fix for this bug? It's really annoying!

czkowal · March 20, 2022 at 1:28 PM

hi I have a problem with connecting bt keyboard. When doing through kodi it keeps restarting. Tried using ssh and blutoothctl but keep saying not available when trying pair keyboard. It works when I tried to pair it with a mobile phone.

Glorious1 · December 29, 2022 at 6:47 PM

Problems with connecting bluetooth keyboard as noted in this thread. Raspberry pi 4b. LE 10.0.3

Using LibreELEC settings Bluetooth menu: System reboots when I choose "Pair" or "Trust and Connect". Anyway, it lists about a dozen MAC addresses and I have no idea which it is.

Using SSH and bluetoothctl: "scan on" results in a great many MAC addresses; again I have no idea where to go from there.

**chewitt** · December 30, 2022 at 9:02 AM

You will need to look on the device to discover the device MAC address. If it's a half-decent device it should be on a sticker somewhere. Worst case you might need to pair it with a phone or other desktop computer and then look at the connection details to find it out before unpairing and then using the info to pair in LE.

Glorious1 · January 1, 2023 at 12:21 AM

Quote from chewitt

You will need to look on the device to discover the device MAC address. If it's a half-decent device it should be on a sticker somewhere. Worst case you might need to pair it with a phone or other desktop computer and then look at the connection details to find it out before unpairing and then using the info to pair in LE.

Thank you. I was thinking about that and wondering what to pair it with, but then one day the GUI bluetooth menu decided to work for some reason. When I turned the keyboard on the menu showed the manufacturer and device, and I was able to trust/connect/pair eventually by doing it in the right sequence. I noted the MAC address now in case I have to re-pair it, I can try the SSH/bluetoothctl method.

mbu2 · March 27, 2023 at 7:35 PM

Hey guys,

I made a fresh install with LE 11.0.1, and I didn't need to go the SSH/bluetoothctl way for pairing my BT keyboard. Although the pairing message get frozen on screen so I have to reboot, when LE started again the keyboard was paired.

So I guess BT pairing it's not perfect yet, but thank you very much for the improvement!