Bluetooth stops working

[DrKlaw]

Hi all,


I'm having an odd problem. I have a bluetooth mouse that I use with my Pandora and it works almost perfectly. I find, however, if I stop using it for a bit, it will no longer work until I log out/log in. During normal operation, the bluetooth LED on the Pandora will flicker when I move the mouse to indicate activity. But it also does this when it is no longer working, so I know the mouse is communicating with the Pandora. It's almost as if the Pandora is ignoring the mouse. If I disconnect/reconnect or turn off/turn on bluetooth and/or mouse, it doesn't help. The only thing that seems to fix this is to log out/log in.


If someone knows how to fix this or at least how to revive the mouse after it stops working with something less drastic than logging out, I'd love to hear it.


Thanks!

 

[Mr_Loon]

What is the make / model of the mouse?


Not had any problems with my bluetooth mouse : Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000


The only thing that springs to mind is that the mouse enters some kind of sleep mode to conserve batteries which does not 'wake up' properly when used with Pandora. Rather weird that toggling bluetooth does not sort it out.

 

[EvilDragon]

Hm, hard to tell here.


Doesn't seem like a hardware issue, because it would stop working completely in this case.


Sounds like software, might be the mouse doesn't really send proper signals anymore or the Pandora doesn't receive them.


What does dmesg say if that happens.

 

[DarkCheetah]

My old bluetooth mouse used to do this on my PC. The mouse itself was a cheapo chinese knockoff though.

 

[bagmouse7]

Not had any problems with my bluetooth mouse : Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000

I use this same MS Notebook mouse 5000 as Mr_Loon and I have not had any problems. Maybe the mouse you have is going into some type of power saving mode...


Good luck.

 

[DrKlaw]

What is the make / model of the mouse?


Not had any problems with my bluetooth mouse : Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000


The only thing that springs to mind is that the mouse enters some kind of sleep mode to conserve batteries which does not 'wake up' properly when used with Pandora. Rather weird that toggling bluetooth does not sort it out.

It's a no-name mouse I found on eBay.


http://www.ebay.com/...#ht_2489wt_1270


I suppose that could be the issue... But, it works just fine with my laptop. I'll try it with two other laptops I have and see if it has issues with any of them.

Hm, hard to tell here.


Doesn't seem like a hardware issue, because it would stop working completely in this case.


Sounds like software, might be the mouse doesn't really send proper signals anymore or the Pandora doesn't receive them.


What does dmesg say if that happens.

Thanks ED. I can't run dmesg at the moment (I'm installing PanDebian and it could take some time) but I'll post it when I can. I'm going to guess that it's probably the mouse since others have not had issues with different mice. So, as a word of warning to others: don't get this mouse for the Pandora.


DrKlaw


EDIT: Strike-out warning off my mouse since it's still unclear if it's the Pandora or the mouse.

 

[DrKlaw]

Attached is the output of dmesg after the mouse stopped working but while the BT LED would still blink when I moved the mouse.


Not sure if this matters, but this time it entered this state after I paired my Pandora to my Laptop. I am on HF6 Alpha 4, by the way.

 

[Scipio]

I have the same problem _with_ the MS Notebook mouse 5000.


As far as I can tell I only get this problem when WIFI and Bluetooth is active at the same time.


I have borrowed an Logitech M305 and will try with that if it works better.

 

[Scipio]

Oh and I might add that I have reflashed the OS and tried multiple OS versions and I have the same problem in them all.

 

[DrKlaw]

I have the same problem _with_ the MS Notebook mouse 5000.


As far as I can tell I only get this problem when WIFI and Bluetooth is active at the same time.


I have borrowed an Logitech M305 and will try with that if it works better.

Thanks for this post! I had my finger on the button to buy a different BT mouse. I'm curious to see what happens with the M305, but now I'm thinking that it's the Pandora and not the mouse.


I can confirm that my WiFi is active when this happens. I haven't tried with WiFi off.

 

[bagmouse7]

Hmmm. I will do some more testing with both WiFi and Bluetooth enabled and report back.

 

[Scipio]

Fail. Looks like a miscommunication, apparently the M305 is wireles but through a USB plug.


So no go on testing another brand of bluetooth mouse.

 

[DrKlaw]

Ok. Thanks.


I haven't been able to confirm any link to WiFi, but I have ironed out a few ways to easily reproduce:


Turn off mouse


Log out of Pandora


Log into Pandora


Turn on mouse


(Mouse works fine)


Turn off mouse


Turn on mouse


(Mouse stops working)


More interesting information that might help:


"l2ping" works when the mouse has stopped working, meaning that the system and the mouse can reach eachother. hcitool info


"hcitool info" asks for and receives correct information from the mouse (device name, manufacturer, etc.)


I think that these facts are pointing to a software issue.

 

[Scipio]

Yes that is my feeling as well.


It seems like when I connect it to bluetooth it works fine and then as soon as I do not use the mouse for some moments when I go back to it it has stopped working. Perhaps some problem when the mouse goes to a "sleep mode" and then should wake up again.

 

[sukhi2011]

If it's doing that,it's definetely the mouse,it must be the software and the signal as ed said before,that is correct,just buy gembird,microsoft mouse they don't give any issue and besides the mouse are really cheap to buy.

 

[Scipio]

If it's doing that,it's definetely the mouse,it must be the software and the signal as ed said before,that is correct,just buy gembird,microsoft mouse they don't give any issue and besides the mouse are really cheap to buy.

If it were the mouse, should I not have the same problems on Windows as well with the same mouse?

 

[DrKlaw]

In the end, I think I will pick up a MS BT 5000 mouse but I had a question for all of those who have and use one with the Pandora:


Does its responsiveness become jittery and spotty during times of high system load? My current mouse behaves like that. For instance, when downloading a file, my BT mouse is almost unusable, but the nubs work just fine. I wonder if there is some bluetooth process that is competing for system resources. Does anyone know what that might be? Can I give it a higher priority (using NICE, I suppose...)? Thanks.