Why does one Bluetooth adapter work on Ubuntu 22.04 without any hassle and the second one doesn’t work at all? How to fix the second one?

Question

I bought this adapter (Bluetooth v5.0 without antenna, model: Ugreen CM390): https://aliexpress.ru/item/32696756077.html?spm=a2g2w.orderdetail.0.0.279c4aa6DlokG9&sku_id=12000036022906650. This works on Ubuntu out of the box. I didn't install anything. Maybe Ubuntu itself installed something - like Windows 10.

I bought this adapter (Bluetooth v5.4 with antenna, model: Ugreen CM749): https://aliexpress.ru/item/32696756077.html?spm=a2g2w.orderdetail.0.0.279c4aa6DlokG9&sku_id=12000036022906629. And I can't turn it on.

Below is a screenshot of the first Bluetooth adapter working. Everything works great.

Below is a screenshot of the second Bluetooth adapter working. This does not work. Notice the switch at the top right. It is in the right position, that is, Bluetooth is active. But it doesn't work.

On Windows 10 the second Bluetooth adapter works fine. What do I need to do to get this to work on Ubuntu 22.04?

EDITED

This is the output of the lsusb command for Bluetooth 5.0 without antenna:

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID c0f4:05e0 SZH usb keyboard
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2b89:8761 Realtek Bluetooth Radio
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 09da:c10a A4Tech Co., Ltd. USB Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

This is the output of the sudo dmesg|egrep -i 'blue|firm' command for Bluetooth 5.0 without antenna:

[    0.141167] Spectre V2 : Enabling Speculation Barrier for firmware calls
[    0.346768] ACPI: [Firmware Bug]: BIOS _OSI(Linux) query ignored
[    0.409321] acpi PNP0A08:00: [Firmware Info]: MMCONFIG for domain 0000 [bus 00-3f] only partially covers this bridge
[    1.676838] usb 1-3: Product: Bluetooth Radio
[    4.225739] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.22
[    4.225763] NET: Registered PF_BLUETOOTH protocol family
[    4.225765] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[    4.225770] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[    4.225774] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[    4.225779] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[    4.390769] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: examining hci_ver=0a hci_rev=000b lmp_ver=0a lmp_subver=8761
[    4.393774] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: rom_version status=0 version=1
[    4.393781] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8761bu_fw.bin
[    4.415884] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8761bu_config.bin
[    4.419289] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: cfg_sz 6, total sz 30210
[    5.166834] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: fw version 0xdfc6d922
[    6.853668] [drm] Found UVD firmware Version: 1.130 Family ID: 16
[    6.856060] [drm] Found VCE firmware Version: 53.26 Binary ID: 3
[    7.174650] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[    7.174655] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[    7.174661] Bluetooth: BNEP socket layer initialized
[    7.177395] Bluetooth: MGMT ver 1.22
[   56.970179] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[   56.970187] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[   56.970193] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
[ 5345.185364] Bluetooth: hci0: Opcode 0x1005 failed: -110
[ 5345.185365] Bluetooth: hci0: command 0x1005 tx timeout
[ 6098.391006] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: examining hci_ver=0a hci_rev=000b lmp_ver=0a lmp_subver=8761
[ 6098.393993] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: rom_version status=0 version=1
[ 6098.393999] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8761bu_fw.bin
[ 6098.394415] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8761bu_config.bin
[ 6098.394457] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: cfg_sz 6, total sz 30210
[ 6099.142095] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: fw version 0xdfc6d922
[ 6099.281235] Bluetooth: MGMT ver 1.22

This is the output of the hciconfig -a command for Bluetooth 5.0 without antenna:

hci0:   Type: Primary  Bus: USB
    BD Address: 0A:62:29:01:34:0D  ACL MTU: 1021:6  SCO MTU: 255:12
    UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN INQUIRY 
    RX bytes:7835 acl:0 sco:0 events:230 errors:0
    TX bytes:35742 acl:0 sco:0 commands:205 errors:0
    Features: 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xfe 0xdb 0xfd 0x7b 0x87
    Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3 
    Link policy: RSWITCH HOLD SNIFF PARK 
    Link mode: PERIPHERAL ACCEPT 
    Name: 'evgeny-ubuntu'
    Class: 0x7c0104
    Service Classes: Rendering, Capturing, Object Transfer, Audio, Telephony
    Device Class: Computer, Desktop workstation
    HCI Version: 5.1 (0xa)  Revision: 0xdfc6
    LMP Version: 5.1 (0xa)  Subversion: 0xd922
    Manufacturer: Realtek Semiconductor Corporation (93)

---

This is the output of the lsusb command for Bluetooth 5.4 with antenna:

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID c0f4:05e0 SZH usb keyboard
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 33fa:0010  USB2.0-BT
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 09da:c10a A4Tech Co., Ltd. USB Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

This is the output of the sudo dmesg|egrep -i 'blue|firm' command for Bluetooth 5.4 with antenna:

[    0.141167] Spectre V2 : Enabling Speculation Barrier for firmware calls
[    0.346768] ACPI: [Firmware Bug]: BIOS _OSI(Linux) query ignored
[    0.409321] acpi PNP0A08:00: [Firmware Info]: MMCONFIG for domain 0000 [bus 00-3f] only partially covers this bridge
[    1.676838] usb 1-3: Product: Bluetooth Radio
[    4.225739] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.22
[    4.225763] NET: Registered PF_BLUETOOTH protocol family
[    4.225765] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[    4.225770] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[    4.225774] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[    4.225779] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[    4.390769] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: examining hci_ver=0a hci_rev=000b lmp_ver=0a lmp_subver=8761
[    4.393774] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: rom_version status=0 version=1
[    4.393781] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8761bu_fw.bin
[    4.415884] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8761bu_config.bin
[    4.419289] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: cfg_sz 6, total sz 30210
[    5.166834] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: fw version 0xdfc6d922
[    6.853668] [drm] Found UVD firmware Version: 1.130 Family ID: 16
[    6.856060] [drm] Found VCE firmware Version: 53.26 Binary ID: 3
[    7.174650] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[    7.174655] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[    7.174661] Bluetooth: BNEP socket layer initialized
[    7.177395] Bluetooth: MGMT ver 1.22
[   56.970179] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[   56.970187] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[   56.970193] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
[ 5345.185364] Bluetooth: hci0: Opcode 0x1005 failed: -110
[ 5345.185365] Bluetooth: hci0: command 0x1005 tx timeout

This is the output of the hciconfig -a command for Bluetooth 5.4 with antenna:

hci0:   Type: Primary  Bus: USB
    BD Address: 00:A7:41:03:04:51  ACL MTU: 0:0  SCO MTU: 0:0
    DOWN 
    RX bytes:165 acl:0 sco:0 events:9 errors:0
    TX bytes:273 acl:0 sco:0 commands:10 errors:0
    Features: 0xbf 0xee 0x49 0xfa 0xdb 0xbf 0x7b 0x87
    Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV3 
    Link policy: 
    Link mode: PERIPHERAL ACCEPT

aibrahim · Answer 1 · 2024-04-29T00:44:52.590

I am suffering a similar issue with different Bluetooth dongle. It seems there is a linux compatibility issue with a lot of existing bluetooth dongles with low price and even with a high price like tp-link.

For tp-link specifically, I cam across two posts, one of them claims that it is working fine while the other one is suffering a problem.

This post summarizes the problem. It also it explains a solution that includes a patch and a recompile for the kernel.

On the other side and as per your post

[    4.393781] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8761bu_fw.bin
[    4.415884] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8761bu_config.bin
[    4.419289] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: cfg_sz 6, total sz 30210
[    5.166834] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: fw version 0xdfc6d922

It looks like that your other dongle is of RTL8761B chipset. Here is an article that I came across that it seems solving a similar problem. I hope it helps.

Second update

I bought this Tp-Link adapter after I tried it on my linux system and it works fine with me just plugged and played. My Linux is Ubuntu 23.10 with kernel version Linux 6.5.0-28-generic

Why does one Bluetooth adapter work on Ubuntu 22.04 without any hassle and the second one doesn’t work at all? How to fix the second one?

1 Answers1

Second update