gnome-bluetooth Friendly Name reverts to default device name after reboot

[Yannick Drolet]

Binary package hint: gnome-bluetooth

I bought one of those USB Bluetooth v2.1 dongle from eBay, to replace my old v1.2 dongle which worked perfectly, and came from eBay too. I plugged it into my PC, turned on my PC, transfered some files from a PDA and talked via a Bluetooth headset, everything worked as expected. However, I'm unable to change the friendly name via the GNOME Bluetooth properties. The name is stuck to "ISSCBTM". In fact, the friendly name reverts to "ISSCBTM" only after a reboot. If I change the friendly name, my Bluetooth devices will see the new friendly name during all my session, but after a reboot, they'll see again the default "ISSCBTM". I tried on both Karmic and Lucid, with the same dongle but with different PCs, and the same thing happens. This didn't happen with my old v1.2 dongle.

If I use this new v2.1 dongle with Windows XP or Windows 7, BlueSoleil or built-in driver, everything works perfectly. I can change the friendly name without any troubles, and stays even after a reboot.

I found that this same problem happens with Fedora, https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=551574

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Jul 29 16:05:53 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.2)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: gnome-bluetooth 2.28.1-0ubuntu2
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-22.60-generic
SourcePackage: gnome-bluetooth
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-22-generic i686
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:3201): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:3201): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:3243): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:3235): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (firefox-bin:5519): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times

[valkyr (locki)]

Same problem here with 10.04.1, except my friendly name on every reboot is "ISSCEDRBTA".

[felichas (felipe-chas)]

The same problem here.
The USB dongle I use was built into the computer (an HP Compaq tc4200)

The friendly name that shows in gnome > System > Preferences > Bluetooth > Friendly name
actually is "HP integrated Bluetooth module".

This does not match my /etc/bluetooth/main.conf
$ grep -B3 "Name =" /etc/bluetooth/main.conf
# Default adaper name
# %h - substituted for hostname
# %d - substituted for adapter id
Name = %h-%d

Instead it matches the hardware product name
$ lsusb -v |grep -B8 "HP integrated Bluetooth module"
  bDeviceClass 224 Wireless
  bDeviceSubClass 1 Radio Frequency
  bDeviceProtocol 1 Bluetooth
  bMaxPacketSize0 64
  idVendor 0x03f0 Hewlett-Packard
  idProduct 0x011d Integrated Bluetooth Module
  bcdDevice 0.17
  iManufacturer 1 Broadcom
  iProduct 2 HP integrated Bluetooth module

 - If I update the Friendly name via gnome applet or gnome bluetooth system preferences it does change only until next reboot.
 - If I update the Friendly name via hciconfig, as per: $ sudo hciconfig hci0 name MyNewName
   again it does change but only until next reboot.
 - Modyfying /etc/bluetooth/main.conf doesn't make any different.
 - Only by including the hciconfig name command in my /etc/rc.local I can update the name of the device.

[balak (balak)]

I see the same issue. Bluetooth name doesn't stay after reboots.

[bhasker (bhasker-unixindia)]

In fact it need not be reboot.
Set the friendly name in the bluetooth applet
disable bluetooth (switch off bluetooth)
enable bluetooth (swithch on bluetooth)
Bet it an internal bluetooth device or an USB dongle
the friendly name is lost ! This is a big problem...

[Santiago Roland (santiago-roland)]

same problem here

[Santiago Roland (santiago-roland)]

i plugged the dongle "Bus 004 Device 004: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
" in motherboard usb and in encore 5in1 usb, one inside and 4 outside the computer and the same problem always, after turning on/off the bluetooth, the friendly name is forgotten, and i cannot connect to my samsung star s5230, it says no "service list"... any ideas?

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue that you reported is one that should be reproducible with the live environment of the Desktop CD of the stable release - Oneiric Ocelot. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can work on getting it fixed. You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ . Thanks again and we appreciate your help.

[abdulmajid (abdulmajid88)]

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

[Evan Peck (colors)]

This is text from Fedora 551574:

Description of problem:

Friendly name (defaults to "Broadcom BCM2035") is not saved when changed to
something else.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

gnome-bluetooth-2.28.6-1.fc12.x86_64

How reproducible:

Every time.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Edit the friendly name. Close the applet via close button and reopen it,
everything is fine.
2. Reboot the system, the friendly name has changed back to "Broadcom BCM2035".
3.

Actual results:

Expected results:

Additional info:

*END TEXT*

If those instructions hold true every time, this can be reopened.
I am hoping one of you will test this with your dongles and submit what happened.
This needs to be able to be replicated before it can be confirmed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gnome-bluetooth (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]