QuickTip: Resolving Bluetooth Issues With Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
Posted by vikashazrati on Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Around a month back I upgraded from 7.10 to 8.04
Most of the stuff worked fine except that my Bluetooth service was broken. I could no longer transfer files from my Nokia 3230 phone to my laptop. The steps defined in my earlier post did not work either and I was always greeted with an “Unable to connect” error. It became terribly irritating after a while and then there had to be a way to get around that.
The way that I suggest is one of the possible many ways, if you find something else please let me know. Read on …
There is a bug Bug #191704 in bluez-utils (Ubuntu) reported on forums which gave me hint on how to make it work.
The crux is that there are some problem with missing hidd in newer versions of bluez-utils as a result of which you have to downgrade to an older version of bluez-utils which works.
These are the steps to downgrade
1. sudo dpkg -r bluez-audio bluez-utils
2. Visit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/b/bluez-utils/, down load and install the package bluez-utils_3.9-0ubuntu4_i386.deb.
Once you start installing you would be warned for an upgrade already present. Ignore that!
Once the installation begins it would prompt for replacing your hcid.conf. Do not replace that. I am assuming that you have already made all the changes described in my earlier post.
Your Bluetooth service would be restarted.
3. Now restart your Bluetooth file sharing application, under Applications–>Accessories–>BlueTooth File Sharing
4. Do a send via bluetooth via your mobile and you should be all set.
Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 1:32 am
That worked Thanks
Now to get my mobile set up as a modem
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Dear Vikash,
I am a new Ubuntu 8.04 user. I use a Compaq Presario B3800.
I have Bluez Util installed in my Ubuntu.
Yet, I cannot find Applications–>Accessories–>BlueTooth File Sharing.
Any idea why, mate?
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Hi Anand,
You would have to follow the steps mentioned in my earlier post. It would be better to have a look at that. In a nutshell you would have to install the gnome-bluetooth. Here are the steps.
Then open Synaptic Package Manager (from the System -> Administration menu). Search for and install gnome-bluetooth.
Next, open a terminal window, and type the following, which will open the rc.local configuration file in Gedit:
Code:
gksu gedit /etc/rc.local
Scroll down to the blank line above “exit 0″, and type the following:
Code:
hciconfig hci0 inqmode 0
Note that the characters in the line after hci and inqmode are zeros and not the letter “O”. Save the file, close Gedit, and then restart your computer.
Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 5:20 am
Hi Vikas,
Thank you for the rapid reply!
I did not realise that I needed the Gnome Bluetooth application as well.
Tried installing it through Synaptics Package Manager. But it didn’t let me install it, citing the following problem:
“W: Failed to fetch http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/libb/libbtctl/libbtctl4_0.9.0-2_i386.deb
403 Forbidden
W: Failed to fetch http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gnome-bluetooth/libgnomebt0_0.11.0-0ubuntu1_i386.deb
403 Forbidden
W: Failed to fetch http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/g/gnome-bluetooth/gnome-bluetooth_0.11.0-0ubuntu1_i386.deb
403 Forbidden”
Grrrr!
Friday, July 4, 2008 at 5:18 am
Ah Vikas, dont worry about the above. I solved it. It is due to an unrelated problem.
Managed to install Gnome Bluetooth and inserted the code lines you mentioned. Still no luck. My cellphone still cannot detect a Bluetooth connection in the vicinity.
Maybe the Ubuntu operating system is not able to sync with my Bluetooth card?
I will try to solve this problem and let u know.
Cheers.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 12:39 am
Hi, Vikas.
First of all, thank you very much for your explanations. I’m completely new at Linux, but I managed to follow your instructions. However, I’m afraid they didn’t work in my laptop (Sony Vaio VGN-SZ71MN/B). The situation is the same as before: everything seems to be ok (I made some tests that I read about with the terminal), but it cannot detect mobile phones, and mobile phones cannot detect it. Do you know what can be happening?
Thanks very much in advance.
Fidel
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 10:14 am
Hi Fidel,
Did you follow the instructions in part I as well as part II?
Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 12:27 am
Yes, I did… but I got nothing.
Thanks again.
F
Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 11:16 pm
[...] un po’ ho scoperto che il problema è dovuto a un difetto di compilazione di bluez-utils, e che per risolvere il [...]