Score:2

Ubuntu

How to check bluetooth device's manufacturer and install drivers for it on Ubuntu 22.04

Dan

2/11/24, 5:18 PM

I'm running a Ubuntu 22.04 on an MSI CX61 2QC laptop. I'm having some problems with bluetooth and I suspect they might be caused by an out-of-date driver, or even by the fact that there is no driver for this device for Linux.

To check what kind of bluetooth device my laptop has, I have done:

dmesg | grep -i blue
[    1.447635] usb 1-1.3: Product: RT Bluetooth Radio
[    2.570559] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.22
[    2.570584] NET: Registered PF_BLUETOOTH protocol family
[    2.570586] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[    2.570591] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[    2.570593] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[    2.570597] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[    2.643774] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: examining hci_ver=06 hci_rev=0e3d lmp_ver=06 lmp_subver=a5b1
[    2.643780] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: unknown IC info, lmp subver a5b1, hci rev 0e3d, hci ver 0006
[    2.643783] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: assuming no firmware upload needed

Blueetooth seems to be connected through USB somehow, so I have done:

lsusb
[...]
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 13d3:3394 IMC Networks Bluetooth
[...]

How can I install drivers for that?

EDIT

After disabling Windows Fast Boot as explained below, I know see the following in dmesg:

[    1.727956] usb 1-1.3: Product: RT Bluetooth Radio
[    2.668492] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.22
[    2.668518] NET: Registered PF_BLUETOOTH protocol family
[    2.668520] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[    2.668525] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[    2.668527] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[    2.668533] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[    2.840932] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: examining hci_ver=06 hci_rev=0e3d lmp_ver=06 lmp_subver=a5b1
[    3.784039] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: examining hci_ver=06 hci_rev=000b lmp_ver=06 lmp_subver=1200
[    3.784046] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: loading rtl_bt/rtl8723a_fw.bin
[    4.551112] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: fw version 0x0e3da5b1
[    4.811045] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[    4.811052] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[    4.811057] Bluetooth: BNEP socket layer initialized
[    4.812603] Bluetooth: MGMT ver 1.22

1068

1 + 7

hardware

bluetooth

drivers

22.04

David

2/11/24, 5:27 PM

Try looking on the database for the driver. https://linux-hardware.org/index.php?id=usb:13d3-3410

Dan

2/11/24, 5:38 PM

I have found it exactly here: https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb:13d3-3394. With this, am I supposed to download the driver from somewhere?

Pilot6

2/11/24, 5:47 PM

Is it a dual boot with Windows?

Dan

2/11/24, 5:48 PM

@Pilot6 yes, how do you know it?

Pilot6

2/11/24, 5:51 PM

It is a guess. Shut down Windows properly and check. You need to disable Fast Startup feature. Windows doesn't really shut down and this creates problems for some devices.

Dan

2/11/24, 6:41 PM

I tried it and now it seems the device is recognized. Alas, my bluetooth problem (not being able to connect to a device with bluetoothctl) persists

Pilot6

2/11/24, 8:28 PM

At least firmware is now loading.

Score:3

Ubuntu

Pilot6

2/11/24, 5:38 PM

This is a Realtek device. More precise it is a Realtek 8723AE chip. You can find this out from log messages with RTL and kernel source code btusb.c

{ USB_DEVICE(0x13d3, 0x3394), .driver_info = BTUSB_REALTEK },

These messages show that the IC is not well supported by Linux kernel:

[    2.643774] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: examining hci_ver=06 hci_rev=0e3d lmp_ver=06 lmp_subver=a5b1
[    2.643780] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: unknown IC info, lmp subver a5b1, hci rev 0e3d, hci ver 0006
[    2.643783] Bluetooth: hci0: RTL: assuming no firmware upload needed

Maybe some firmware is needed.

My suggestions are:

Try to install the latest mainline kernel and check how it works there. Maybe support for this device has been already added.
If p.1 doesn't help, report a bug to Launchpad by running
```
 ubuntu-bug linux
```

If the installation is a dual-boot with Windows, disable Windows Fast Startup feature and check if it helps.

+ 6

Dan

2/11/24, 5:39 PM

What is the IC?

Pilot6

2/11/24, 5:41 PM

IC means integrated circuit.

Dan

2/11/24, 5:46 PM

This is strange though, I have found the exact device in the Linux kernel database (see above) and it's supposed to be supported in kernel v4.0+ (I'm running 5.15)

Dan

2/11/24, 5:47 PM

> You can find this out log messages with RTL and kernel source code btusb.c. What do you mean by RTL in this context?

Pilot6

2/11/24, 5:47 PM

It is supported, but maybe not very well ;-)

Pilot6

2/11/24, 5:49 PM

I mean that the device is a Realtek 8723AE WiFi+BT chip. You can also check `lspci` to see the PCI part of it.

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