Xbox (One) Wireless Controller won't connect

[Jeb E.]

Xbox One Wireless Controllers (Model 1708) refuse to connect via bluetooth with Ubuntu 17.10 in the gnome-control-center.
Placing the controller into pairing mode makes it visible on the Bluetooth Devices list and the device pairs, but does not make the full connection needed to pull the controller out of pairing mode.

This renders my controller unusable with my Ubuntu PC unless I want to resort to using the wire (microUSB).

Please fix. See the attached system information below.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: gnome-control-center 1:3.26.2-0ubuntu0.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-32.35-lowlatency 4.13.13
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-32-lowlatency x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.7
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sat Feb 17 09:26:14 2018
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-control-center
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

Screenshot

[jebeld17 (jebeld17-linux-kernel-bugs)]

** SEE THE ORIGINAL BUG REPORT IN LAUNCHPAD HERE:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-control-center/+bug/1750146 **

Xbox One Wireless Controllers refuse to connect via bluetooth with Ubuntu 17.10 in the gnome-control-center.
Placing the controller into pairing mode makes it visible on the Bluetooth Devices list and the device pairs, but does not make the full connection needed to pull the controller out of pairing mode.

This renders my controller unusable with my Ubuntu PC unless I want to resort to using the wire (microUSB).

Please fix. See the attached system information below.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: gnome-control-center 1:3.26.2-0ubuntu0.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-32.35-lowlatency 4.13.13
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-32-lowlatency x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.7
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sat Feb 17 09:26:14 2018
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gnome-control-center
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Andre Lima (andrelima175)]

Hello Guys!

I have the same problem in Ubuntu 16.04.4 x64. I'm using the white Xbox One Controller. The light just start blinking and never paired the controller.

Researching on forums i find a trick to solve the problem. But that just works one time. After that the problem returns.

The trick is: edit this file -> /etc/sysfs.conf
              adding this line -> module/bluetooth/parameters/disable_ertm = 1

So, maybe it's an error with bluetooth ERTM (Enhanced Re-Transmission Mode a L2CAP Bluetooth stack feature).

Best Regards!

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

Thank you for the update, Andre.
Has anyone had a chance to try this fix?

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

And PS: Sorry, I just now saw the fix is only temporary.

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

I've tried on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and I'm still getting the same issues.

[jebeld17 (jebeld17-linux-kernel-bugs)]

I've tried on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and I'm still getting the same issues.

[Andre Lima (andrelima175)]

I'm using this workaround as a permanent solution. (while waiting for kernel patches for this problem)

- Install sysfsutils. (with synaptic or on terminal)
- edit this file with sudo - sudo nano /etc/sysfs.conf
- add this line at the end - /module/bluetooth/parameters/disable_ertm = 1
- reboot.

Now the controller is working without problems on Ubuntu 18.04.

On ubuntu 16.04.4 the controller start moving the mouse after the first workaround. If it happens use this:
- On terminal type - xinput list - and copy how your system recognize the gamepad. Generally is something
  like "Xbox Wireless Controller"
- Open a terminal and type - xinput --set-prop "Xbox Wireless Controller" "Device Enabled" 0
- Repeat that second trick every time you got the problem.

Regards! Hope it helps.

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

No fix yet?

[Paul M (pauljohn1)]

Same problems experienced on 19.04 Ubuntu.

[Sami Pietila (sampie)]

I have the latest Ubuntu 20.04 and it also seems to have this bug. There are workarounds, but I think it should work out of the box like it does on Windows. It is weird to have this kind of bug as Xbox One controller might just be the most popular controller and these kinds of issues prevent people from gaming on Linux.

[noelboettcher2004 (noelboettcher2004-linux-kernel-bugs)]

Same issues with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with the 5.7.0 Kernel.

[Thorsten Schneider (tschneider-v)]

Can confirm this still happens with kernel 5.8.1. While the device is listed correctly with its full name in bluetoothctl and can be trusted, the final pairing will not work. syslog will constantly have a "Refusing...." message for the device and the connection:

Aug 12 15:47:25 htpc blueman-mechanism: Exiting
Aug 12 15:47:38 htpc systemd[1]: Starting Stop ureadahead data collection...
Aug 12 15:47:38 htpc systemd[1]: Started Stop ureadahead data collection.
Aug 12 15:47:51 htpc bluetoothd[962]: Refusing input device connect: No such file or directory (2)
Aug 12 15:47:51 htpc bluetoothd[962]: Refusing connection from C8:3F:26:44:17:2D: unknown device

For example an 8bitdo Arcade Stick can be paired and connected without issues over bluetooth.

[paananen.olli (paananen.olli-linux-kernel-bugs)]

Same issue in Arch linux kernel 5.8.1. Worked fine before with xpadneo or xpad driver if disabled bluetooth ertm. Works properly with lts kernel (5.4.58) so regression happened somewhere between 5.4 and 5.8. Systemctl status bluetooth spams this:

Refusing input device connect: No such file or directory (2)
Refusing connection from *controller mac*: unknown device

[paananen.olli (paananen.olli-linux-kernel-bugs)]

Correcting my previous post: doesn't work with lts 5.4 anymore. Seems to be rare occasion that i got it to pair succesfully with 5.4, after that it connected normally with even 5.7 and 5.8. Then suddenly again doesn't connect or pair properly with any of those.

[hurikhan77+bko (hurikhan77+bko-linux-kernel-bugs)]

Yeah, it seems to get worse with every 5.4 LTS update. Worked almost flawless about some months ago (despite taking something from 30-60s to successfully connect). But I don't see a correlation to any commits. But now, it's almost impossible to connect successfully, it usually disconnects after a 1-2 minutes (coincidentally just when entering a game).

I usually also see messages like this:

During use of the controller (probably around disconnect time):
[ 5304.480502] Bluetooth: Unexpected continuation frame (len 52)

When plugging the BT dongle:
[ 5241.926752] Bluetooth: hci0: unexpected event for opcode 0x0000

While it's in a loop of constantly connecting and disconnecting:
[ 1120.736530] Bluetooth: hci0: hardware error 0x58
[ 1120.923550] debugfs: File 'le_min_key_size' in directory 'hci0' already present!
[ 1120.923555] debugfs: File 'le_max_key_size' in directory 'hci0' already present!
[ 1120.923557] debugfs: File 'force_bredr_smp' in directory 'hci0' already present!

Other BT devices seem to just work fine tho I don't use a lot of them and only occasionally. It seems that the Xbox One S firmware does something strange in the BT protocol. It also needs either ERTM disabled to connect. Alternatively, one can apply this patch to be able to use ERTM:

https://github.com/kakra/linux/commit/c8b24d83f227a7fecfa9420d6756074e8f9b542c

I'm also feeling there's some internal state getting messed up within the controller on each BT pairing: Results are not really reproducible. I managed to get it to work flawlessly one time (stable connection despite 20-30s connect handshake time), then purged my Bluetooth config from /var/lib, re-paired the controller and now it's a mess - still with the same kernel version.

[Matthias.Pritschet (matthias.pritschet-linux-kernel-bugs)]

Dear sender!

Thank you for your message! Unfortunately, I am out of office until 27.9.2020 and hence will not be able to reply immediately.
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Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

Vielen Dank für Ihre E-Mail! Ich bin leider bis zum 27.9.2020 nicht erreichbar und kann daher nicht unmittelbar antworten.
Ihre Nachricht wird nicht weitergeleitet. In dringenden Fällen können Sie sich jedoch gern an unser Service-Center (<<email address hidden><mailto:<email address hidden>>> oder [phone]) wenden.

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[Yannick Barras (baryan7)]

I tried your solution andrelima175 with Ubuntu 18.04.

Unfortunately my Xbox Wireless Controller is paired, but the connection is still OFF. (cf. printscreen)

Does anyone have a clue ?

Thanks for your help

[Sami Pietila (sampie)]

Lately I have been using the controller with a wireless adapter (not bluetooth). This driver (https://github.com/medusalix/xow) seems to work well. It would be nice if Ubuntu would ship this driver by default. Now it must be manually installed from github.

[brauliobo (brauliobo-linux-kernel-bugs)]

I'm having the same Bluetooth errors on dmesg, then it quickly disconnects. KDE will keep trying to connect and disconnect until the device leave the pairing mode.

[Sami Pietila (sampie)]

On Ubuntu 22.10 I was able to connect a xbox one controller. However, this only worked after upgrading the firmware of the controller to the latest (by using Xbox Accessories app on Windows).

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

Ubuntu needs some way to upgrade the firmware for these controllers, and it's a little ridiculous if Microsoft won't help.

[delor.vd (delor.vd-linux-kernel-bugs)]

I always need to install [Xpadneo](https://github.com/atar-axis/xpadneo) in 2024. Without it, my Xbox One gamepad is not detected. Every distro and DE is affected.

[alexis.salin (alexis.salin-linux-kernel-bugs)]

Hello, can you add drivers for the Xbox controller? It's one of the most used controllers on PC and it's annoying because xpadneo disables secure boot.

[alexis.salin (alexis.salin-linux-kernel-bugs)]

I am also affected by this bug, can you fix it? Thank you.

[Alexis Salin (re4ven)]

Hello, can you add drivers for the Xbox controller? It's one of the most used controllers on PC and it's annoying because xpadneo disables secure boot.