bluetooth mouse frequently times out

[Brad Marshall]

I'm using a Razor Orochi 2013 mouse with my Dell XPS13 laptop via bluetooth on Ubuntu 14.10, and have noticed a seeming increase in the frequency of the timeouts I'm seeing.

The symptoms are when I don't use my mouse for a while, it seems to go to sleep, and reasonably frequently when I go to use it again, it won't wake up for a while, and I see the following in my kernel logs:

  [Nov14 14:33] Bluetooth: hci0 command 0x0405 tx timeout

The solution I've ended up using to get it working again is to stop the bluetooth service, rmmod the appropriate modules (btusb, hidp, bluetooth etc), reload them and then restart bluetooth. Sometimes even this isn't sufficient and it takes a bit to recover.

Please let me know if you need any further information.

Kernel version:
$ uname -r
3.16.0-24-generic

Ubuntu version:
$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 14.10
Release: 14.10

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10
Package: linux-image-3.16.0-24-generic 3.16.0-24.32
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-24.32-generic 3.16.4
Uname: Linux 3.16.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: bradm 4079 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Fri Nov 14 14:31:33 2014
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=18b9df48-fd12-4eb7-a0e6-351c4ca43c83
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-08-19 (451 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Dell System XPS L322X
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.16.0-24-generic root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.16.0-24-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.16.0-24-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.138
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-10-10 (35 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 05/15/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A09
dmi.board.name: 0PJHXN
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 0.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA09:bd05/15/2013:svnDellInc.:pnDellSystemXPSL322X:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0PJHXN:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr0.1:
dmi.product.name: Dell System XPS L322X
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Did this issue occur in a previous version of Ubuntu, or is this a new issue?

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.18 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18-rc4-vivid/

[Brad Marshall (brad-marshall)]

> Did this issue occur in a previous version of Ubuntu, or is this a new issue?

Yes, it occured in previous versions, just not as frequently I think.

> Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds .
> Please test the latest v3.18 kernel[0].

Done, I tested with linux-image-3.18.0-031800rc4-generic.

> If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If anything, the bug is worse in upstream, as it was a lot harder to get the mouse to start responding again.

Please let me know if you need any further information or debugging done.

[Brad Marshall (brad-marshall)]

> If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BIOSUpdate does it change anything?

Done, and it doesn't seem to change anything.

> If it doesn't, could you please both specify what happened

Er, how can I specify what happened when its not changed? :) I'm still seeing timeouts, its still behaving the same.

> and provide the output of the following terminal command:

$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
A10
08/28/2013

Please let me know if you need anything else.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Brad Marshall, could you please test the latest mainline kernel (3.18-rc5) and advise to the results?

Also, did this issue not occur in a release prior to Utopic?

[Brad Marshall (brad-marshall)]

Hi,

> Brad Marshall, could you please test the latest mainline kernel (3.18-rc5) and advise to the results?

Done, roughly the same results - still timeouts, still having to reset the bluetooth service to get things going again sometimes.

> Also, did this issue not occur in a release prior to Utopic?

As mentioned in a previous comment, it did occur, just seemingly not as frequently.

Please let me know if you need any further information.

Thanks,
Brad

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Brad Marshall, which previous release(s) specifically did it occur in? As well, could you please quantify how much less frequently?

[Brad Marshall (brad-marshall)]

Hi,

> Brad Marshall, which previous release(s) specifically did it occur in? As well, could you please quantify how much less frequently?

I did my initial install on Raring, and I've upgraded across every release since then. I do remember it happening occasionally on the earlier ones - maybe a couple of times a week or so. It feels like its been increasing in frequency over time, but maybe thats just me getting more annoyed at it over time. I'm seeing it multiple times a day now, sometimes it takes a while to restart, sometimes I see the timeout in the messages. I don't have any data to say how many times per week on earlier releases, and will be unable to get it - I don't particuarly want to reinstall my laptop to get that data.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Thanks,
Brad

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Brad Marshall, the issue you are reporting is an upstream one. Could you please report this problem to the appropriate mailing list (linux-bluetooth) by following the instructions _verbatim_ at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/kernel ?

Please provide a direct URL to your e-mail to the mailing list once you have made it so that it may be tracked.

Thank you for your understanding.