AR3011 Bluetooth not starting after being stoped (but detected)

[b8e5n]

kernel : 4.2.0-27
onboard bluetooth controller : AR3011
The Bluetooth was working great. I deactivated the bluetooth via the indicator, and then, impossible to start it. Neither from the settings bluetooth interface, neither via hciconfig. The service was of course started without problems.
The device was well recognized and started, could find which usb port and everything. However hciconfig could not see it:

$ hciconfig -a hci0
hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB
        BD Address: 00:00:00:00:00:00 ACL MTU: 0:0 SCO MTU: 0:0
        DOWN
        RX bytes:0 acl:0 sco:0 events:0 errors:0
        TX bytes:12 acl:0 sco:0 commands:4 errors:0

Of course I restarted the system, tried purging all bluetooth related packages, tried installing blueman. Nothing would make it start.
Finally I found this thread of arch linux :
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=171357

So basically I shut down the computer, waited a while, started the computer and the bluetooth is functional again.
I will try reproducing the bug. I tried, but it did not happen again. Maybe it's because I was listening music, lost signal, came back to the pc and closed bluetooth.

Any thoughts of what is this caused by?

[b8e5n (b8e5n)]

Ok, I managed to get it to crash and not wanting to restart. For now hciconfig does see it:
hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB
 BD Address: 00:26:83:33:58:D5 ACL MTU: 1022:8 SCO MTU: 121:3
 DOWN INIT RUNNING
 RX bytes:395790 acl:133 sco:0 events:55401 errors:0
 TX bytes:36922154 acl:54927 sco:0 commands:362 errors:9
 Features: 0xff 0xfe 0x0d 0xfe 0x98 0x7f 0x79 0x87
 Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3
 Link policy: RSWITCH HOLD SNIFF
 Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT

I will try to reboot.

Method for crashing:
Disconnected my headset
from the indicator:
stopped the bluetooth
started the bluetooth (many times and it managed to start)
re-stopped the bluetooth
indicator --> device name --> connection --> on (was off)
start bluetooth
does not start anymore.

$ sudo hciconfig hci0 up
Can't init device hci0: Connection timed out (110)

Also, I tried to :
$ sudo service bluetooth force-reload
then I got an apport crash pumping out. Afterwards, a stop start did not pose problem. Neither doing another force-reload.

I will try to reboot and see if it still see it in hciconfig.

[b8e5n (b8e5n)]

Just rebooted:

$ sudo hciconfig -a
hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB
 BD Address: 00:00:00:00:00:00 ACL MTU: 0:0 SCO MTU: 0:0
 DOWN
 RX bytes:0 acl:0 sco:0 events:0 errors:0
 TX bytes:6 acl:0 sco:0 commands:2 errors:0
 Features: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
 Packet type: DM1 DH1 HV1
 Link policy:
 Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT
$ lsusb
Bus 006 Device 004: ID 0cf3:3005 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR3011 Bluetooth

So it is detected, but still cannot be controlled

[b8e5n (b8e5n)]

Simple poweroff and bit of waiting is not sufficient. I have to power off, disconnect the PSU and try to start the computer (to empty capacitors). Then after restarting the bluetooth works again.

[Michael Paulson (mickpaulson)]

With a fresh install of 16.04 on HP 4430s laptop, I have this same issue. BT worked before I setup my wireless network, and then didn't. I also can confirm the workaround above of shutting down the laptop, removing power(battery as well), seems to correct the issue. Fixes tried:
1. uninstalled and reinstalled bluetooth
2. echo "options ath9k btcoex_enable=1" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf
3. installed mainline kernel 4.6.3-040603-generic via dpkg -i
4. tried workaround above--seemed to correct, but for how long?

Steps to reproduce:
1. put laptop into suspended mode
2. Bluetooth icon shows on status bar, but will not reconnect
3. rebooted--> BT still Broken
4. shutdown laptop and removed all power
5. BT corrected

Attached BT_Issue_corrected.txt which shows when issue is occrring and when working(working part on bottom:
1. While the issue was occurring created BT_Issue.txt--> hciconfig > BT_Issue.txt, lsmod >> BT_Issue.txt, lsusb, dmesg | grep -i blue, lspci
2. While the issue was corrected created BT_Issue_corrected.txt--> hciconfig > BT_Issue.txt, lsmod >> BT_Issue.txt, lsusb >> BT_Issue.txt, dmesg | grep -i blue >> BT_Issue.txt, lspci >> BT_Issue.txt

[b8e5n (b8e5n)]

Now on Ubuntu 16.10, same desktop hardware, nothing changed... Same problem. I forgot that cutting the power completely is the only way, I was struggling for couple of hours, again.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 16.10 (yakkety) reached end-of-life on July 20, 2017.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in.