Logitech Dinovo Bluetooth keyboard fails after upgrade to 11.10

[Martin G Miller]

Ubuntu 11.10 32 bit upgraded from 11.04 on 12 Oct. 2011

What is expected to happen: The Logitech dinovo bluetooth keyboard/trackpad should continue to work as before.
What happened instead: The keyboard now fails to connect and cannot be paired with the bluetooth dialog.

The problem is in the udev rules. In 11.04 there was a special line in /lib/udev/rules.d/70-hid2hci.rules for Logitech devices that started with KERNEL=="hidraw*".
This is now missing in 11.10
I edited /lib/udev/rules.d/62-bluez-hid2hic.rules and changed the hiddev to hidraw, saved the file and rebooted.
The keyboard and trackpad now work as expected.

The file as it exists now is less complex then the one in 11.04 as there were several items listed in the Logitech section. I suspect that the 11.04 version allowed other logitech devices to work in hiddev mode. Someone more knowledgeable then me needs to compare the 2 versions of the file to ensure total compatibility.

The Logitech section from 11.04 looks like this:
# Logitech devices
KERNEL=="hiddev*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c70[35e]", \
  RUN+="hid2hci --method=logitech-hid --devpath=%p"
KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c70[4abc]|c71[34bc]", \
  RUN+="hid2hci --method=logitech-hid --devpath=%p"

The Logitech section from 11.10 looks like this before modification:
# Logitech devices
KERNEL=="hiddev*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c70[345abce]|c71[34bc]", \
  RUN+="hid2hci --method=logitech-hid --devpath=%p"

This is what I changed it to:
# Logitech devices
KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c70[345abce]|c71[34bc]", \
  RUN+="hid2hci --method=logitech-hid --devpath=%p"

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Bao Liang (timbao)]

Yes, I have the exact the same problem(same HW configuration). And the approach posted by Martin fixes the problem prefectly. Just curious, why the new udev rules includes the device which is supposed to be a raw device?

[NicMagic (nic-network-group)]

I can confirm this bug and moreover that the fix above suggested by Martin does indeed fix the problem.
My Logitech DiNovo Edge Keyboard now works perfectly again.
Thanks Martin you're a lifesaver buddy!

NicMagic - Oneiric Ocelot 11.10 32-bit

[hartmut bischoff (topofocus)]

This definitivly solves the bug.

[theking2 (johannes-kingma)]

 i just witnessed the same problem. Is it suggested not to upgrade until an upgrade is available that does address this?

[theking2 (johannes-kingma)]

Btw I don't think that this a duplicate of 123920 as that one doesn't deal with the keyboard working and than failing after an upgrade. Initially it is working, the upgrade breaks it.

[Martin G Miller (mgmiller)]

theKing2...As long as you like all the other changes in 11.10, you can try the upgrade. Just change the hiddev to hidraw and your keyboard/trackpad should continue to work. In fact, now that I think of it, if it was working before the upgrade, then perhaps you should make the change as soon as the upgrade process is finished, but before you reboot. That way your system should come back up with working keyboard. Otherwise, you will have to plug in a wired USB keyboard/mouse to make the change.

If you wait for this to be addressed by the Dev's, you might be waiting till April 2012 and then it may still not be "fixed".

Something else to watch for is that after I got it working, there was a bluetooth update that set the hidraw back to hiddev. I noticed it before I rebooted, so I just changed the file back before rebooting and didn't have any further trouble. The lesson here is to look at the updates so you know what to expect before rebooting. This happened a few weeks ago, so if you are just starting the process now, you already have the "new" bluetooth update and don't have to worry.

If you are just doing the upgrade now, you only have to do the fix once. If you are doing a clean install, then do all the updates after the install before fixing the keyboard issue or you will just have to do it again after the bluetooth update is applied.

[Sam Brightman (sambrightman)]

I don't know how it is even possible not to be aware of this by now. I will buy a diNovo Edge for an Ubuntu developer if they stop this happening 2/3 upgrades. It has been going on for years, and it doesn't seem to be at all complicated.

[Daniel Beauyat (dan-beauyat)]

This solution solved my problem with Logitech Wireless MX 5500 on Ubuntu 15.10 Wily Werewolf!
I have keyboard/mouse combo from Logitech named Logitech Wireless MX (Revolution) 5500; this combo has 1 bluetooth dongle to receive input from both mouse and keyboard.

I was using it without problem on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.
I just switched to Ubuntu 15.10 and keyboard/mouse do not work at all!!! After some search, I found this webpage and tried that solution:
Change: KERNEL=="hiddev*"
To: KERNEL=="hidraw*"
After reboot, MX 5500 Wireless keyb/mouse combo now works on Wily Werewolf.

On 15.10 Wily Werewolf though, the path to the modified file is:
/lib/udev/rules.d/97-hid2hci.rules

I modified line 14:
From: KERNEL=="hiddev*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c70[345abce]|c71[3bc]", \
To: KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c70[345abce]|c71[3bc]", \

Thank you for sharing the solution :)

[Dylan (dylanromans)]

This bug still exists in newer versions of linux. Ironically enough, the patch still works like a charm. Strongly recommend it.