I can't remove a bluetooth device with bluetooth-properties

[mikbini]

Binary package hint: gnome-bluetooth

In the "Devices" I see a mysterious device of type "All Types", listed as an hexadecimal address with bytes separated by minus signs (i.e. 00-23-...).

I am not able to remove this device; in .xsession-errors I find:

** (bluetooth-properties:5582): WARNING **: Failed to remove device 00-23-6C-C0-7F-C3: Device creation in progress

This happens on a fresh lucid install and I never paired this device with ubuntu. It might be possible I paired under osx before switching.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: gnome-bluetooth 2.30.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-19.28-generic 2.6.32.10+drm33.1
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-19-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Architecture: i386
Date: Sat Apr 3 09:55:17 2010
InstallationMedia: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/installer/media-info'
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-bluetooth

[Wayne Clark (w-cl-verizon)]

I have 3 devices which I set up and 7 which I did not. I was able to remove a device which I set up but I can't remove any that I did not.

[Wayne Clark (w-cl-verizon)]

I ran blueman-manager as root and here is the the output. Note - only the first 2 devices are mine:

sudo /usr/bin/blueman-manager
Loading configuration plugins
Using gconf config backend
_________
on_bluez_name_owner_changed (/usr/bin/blueman-manager:104)
org.bluez owner changed to :1.6
Using gconf config backend
_________
SetAdapter (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/DeviceList.py:300)
None
_________
on_adapter_changed (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerToolbar.py:89)
toolbar adapter /org/bluez/3344/hci0
_________
__init__ (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/main/Device.py:35)
caching initial properties
_________
add_device (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/DeviceList.py:359)
adding new device
_________
do_cache (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/DeviceList.py:550)
Caching new device 00:07:A4:B6:A6:F2
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDeviceList.py:278)
row update event Fake False
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDeviceList.py:278)
row update event Trusted 1
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDeviceList.py:278)
row update event Paired 1
_________
__init__ (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/main/Device.py:35)
caching initial properties
_________
add_device (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/DeviceList.py:359)
adding new device
_________
do_cache (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/DeviceList.py:550)
Caching new device 00:0D:18:A0:45:E5
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDeviceList.py:278)
row update event Fake False
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDeviceList.py:278)
row update event Trusted 1
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDeviceList.py:278)
row update event Paired 1
_________
__init__ (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/main/Device.py:35)
caching initial properties
_________
add_device (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/DeviceList.py:359)
adding new device
_________
do_cache (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/DeviceList.py:550)
Caching new device 5E:0F:00:00:FF:02
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDeviceList.py:278)
row update event Fake False
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDeviceList.py:278)
row update event Trusted 0
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDeviceList.py:278)
row update event Paired 1
_________
__init__ (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/main/Device.py:35)
caching initial properties
_________
add_device (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/DeviceList.py:359)
adding new device
_________
do_cache (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/DeviceList.py:550)
Caching new device 30:30:10:02:1A:8B
_________
row_update_event (/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/blueman/gui/manager/ManagerDe...

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

I've been seeing this problem too. I bought a very cheap USB bluetooth dongle and similarly to the previous commenter the following addresses appear already paired and cannot be removed:

5E:0F:00:00:FF:02
30:30:10:02:1A:8B
00:00:60:00:00:05
00:42:03:01:F4:03
5E:C4:2F:47:66:BC
20:00:09:1A:18:32
FA:60:28:14:08:2B

A quick search on google seems to show an OSX user reporting these addresses too. It would be interesting to know if people seeing this issue all have the same bluetooth dongle. lsusb reports mine as:

Bus 005 Device 003: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

I should note that I see the same behaviour with the bluetooth USB dongle in another machine running Fedora 12. A search of the mailing lists has also turned this posting up: http://marc.info/?l=linux-bluetooth&m=127418642624769&w=2 .

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

On the #bluez-devel channel ms7821 helpfully pointed me at the
hciconfig hci0 revision
command which displays the adaptor's MAC address. The bad news is a quick Google shows that the address mine has (00:15:83:15:A3:10) is not unique! Information like that at http://www.dealextreme.com/forums/Forums.dx/Forum.11866~threadid.507031 makes it sound like there is little that can be done about these cheap clone devices.

[mikbini (mikbini)]

My "dongle" is actually the macbook integrated bluetooth adapter.

As I said above I think that in my case I paired with the now unremovable device (an apple bluetooth mouse) under osx before switching to ubuntu.

[Tim te Beek (timtebeek)]

I solved my problems with an unremovable previously paired mouse by
installing the
BlueMan (http://blueman-project.org/screenshots.html) bluetooth manager and
removing the device from there.. Following this I was able to normally pair
my mouse
and no longer need BlueMan. (I've it paired in both Windows 7 & Ubuntu 10.04
now)

Hope this approach proves useful for anyone else having similar problems.

[mikbini (mikbini)]

I tried to remove the unknown device with blueman but it crashed (I opened bug #585273 for this).

[mikbini (mikbini)]

I should have added that blueman crash reports the same "Device creation in progress" message given by bluetooth-properties error message.

[KeithG (grider-4)]

Just upgraded to 10.04. Now every time I reboot, there are a ton of BT device addresses listed. Some can be deleted, but some cannot. I do not know where to look for the config file to delete them there. Everything seesm to work (after I uninstalled gnome bluetooth and installed blueman), but there are still devices showing up which are not real and I cannot delete them.

[Matthieu (matthieu-jeanson)]

I had the same problem (Ubuntu 10.10 on Macbook). blueman did not help. I fixed it by booting again in MacOSX, remove the device (disconnecting only did not help) then I could set it up as a new device in Ubuntu again.
I am not too familiar with bluetooth, but maybe there is something in the bluetooth adapter that stores the pairing with the device and it expects the OS to handle that properly (?). Anyway, hope that helps whoever may have the same problem...

[Forrest Sheng Bao (forrest.bao)]

I have the same problem with my WACOM tablet and iMac. My ubuntu version is 10.10. I cannot remove the Wacom tablet, neither can i reconnect it from my iMac.

[abdulmajid (abdulmajid88)]

I have the same problem. my device is
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)

[NANODUDE (nanodude)]

Following devices seem to show up on every PC using Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode):

5E:0F:00:00:FF:02
30:30:10:02:1A:8B
00:00:60:00:00:05
00:42:03:01:F4:03
5E:C4:2F:47:66:BC
20:00:09:1A:18:32
FA:60:28:14:08:2B

You can only remove them by doing following:
1. Click on the Bluetooth icon in the tray.
2. Click Set Up Bluetooth (Settings) or however it's called there (I'm using a German version so I don't know how it is translated in English)
3. In the Devices section you will find all Devices mentioned above, click on one of them.
4. Click on Details and there you will find "Block Device checkbox", check it.
5. Press OK.
6. Now select this device again and click Remove.
7. Press OK.

Now do the same to other devices to get rid of them.
I don't know if its only a temporary fix, didn't try if they reappear after restart.
But have fun. ;)

[NANODUDE (nanodude)]

By the way I'm using Kubuntu 12.04.
If you are using Gnome based Distribution you will posssibly have to download and istall the default Bluetooth manager of Kubuntu.
I didn't test my solution on any Gnome based Distribution.

[Jeff Lane  (bladernr)]

Why is this two years old, and more importantly, why is there no obvious way to remove bluetooth devices once they're paired? Nor any easy way to re-enter the PIN if you messed it up the first time?

This still affects gnome-bluetooth (bluetooth-applet specifically) in Precise and Quantal, and I presume Raring since this has existed since Lucid.

[Julie Brandon (jewelie)]

Hi folks, especially Jeff Lane

I managed to connect a bluetooth mouse up using the unity applet (gnome-bluetooth), and then somehow managed to mess it up in a way similar to the way you folks have - it didn't appear in the bluetooth devices list, yet when I turned it on the lock appeared on the bluetooth icon and it appeared in the applet list... but no "connection" button and didn't appear in the devices list.

This was a relatively new install of Ubuntu 14.04-2 LTS 64bit but I didn't want to just reinstall, so I tried a few different solutions listed (including a few command line commands and blueman) to try to delete the device, all giving the same error as the original poster.

So I gave up and did a locate blue | less and had a look to see where bluetooth state information was and to see if I couldn't erase it and start afresh.

I came across the directory /var/lib/bluetooth/ that appears to hold entries for such devices, including the half-installed-half-broken device - I turned bluetooth off, deleted everything in this directory, rebooted and then could finally get the mouse to repair again! :D

This can't be considered tooooooo radical, because you can delete these entries in that directory as a normal user.

You can probably just get away with deleting the directory associated with the MAC of the device that is causing the problems, if you don't want to lose all your pairings.

Hope that this method of circumvention helps some others here too?

It's certainly a bug and a nasty one that can appear quickly after a verbatim fresh install of 14.04-2 LTS too.

[Julie Brandon (jewelie)]

Does anyone know how I can indicate that this bug is also present on 14.02-LTS on the bugtracking options - can't work out which option it is!?

[Julie Brandon (jewelie)]

Given that;

  - the problem appears to be at a pretty low-level,

  - the only known method of circumvention appears to be to reset the state information held in /var/lib/bluetooth, which is used by the bluez bluetoothd daemon,

  - that bluetoothd is owned by the bluez package, and

  - even the bluez utilities and tools can't remove these corrupted states,

it looks a lot like this is actually a fairly low-level bug with either bluez or the associated utilities, so I'm including the blues package in this bug report.

Julie
x

[dino99 (9d9)]

This version has expired a while ago