[Broadcom Combo BT/Wifi Card] 21D3 21D7 Bluetooth does not detect anything at all

[Jeff Lane ]

Tried several attemtps to scan for new bluetooth devices (BT icon -> Set up new device). I tried this with three bluetooth headsets, a bluetooth mouse and a cellphone, in an environment where there are multiple active bluetooth targets that are discoverable.

The bluetooth adapter on this system did not, at any time, detect ANY bluetooth device. I verified MY devices by pairing them all with my own laptop and all three were pairable.

rfkill indicates that there are no blocks

ubuntu@201107-8317:~$ rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

and syslog shows where the device entered discovery but it failed to detect anything.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic 3.2.0-38.60
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-38.60-generic 3.2.37
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-38-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.1
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 1: Generic_1 [HD-Audio Generic], device 0: ALC269VB Analog [ALC269VB Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: ubuntu 1769 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 1769 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: command ['iw', 'reg', 'get'] failed with exit code 1: nl80211 not found.
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Generic'/'HD-Audio Generic at 0xa0344000 irq 52'
   Mixer name : 'ATI R6xx HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100200'
   Controls : 6
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card0.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'Generic_1'/'HD-Audio Generic at 0xa0340000 irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC269VB'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,102804c3,00100100'
   Controls : 18
   Simple ctrls : 10
Date: Tue Feb 19 01:50:56 2013
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=7cf2dba5-3ce7-4345-8773-ac7bd6078a79
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120823.1)
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
MachineType: Dell Inc. Dell System Inspiron M4110
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB:
 0 radeondrmfb
 1 radeondrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-38-generic root=UUID=b677d5d5-25d4-4eae-b0c2-84a4e8c5dd92 ro quiet splash initcall_debug vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-38-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-38-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79.1
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/22/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: X19
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag Unknown
dmi.board.name: Q4E3A3
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A11
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 0.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrX19:bd07/22/2011:svnDellInc.:pnDellSystemInspironM4110:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rnQ4E3A3:rvrA11:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr0.1:
dmi.product.name: Dell System Inspiron M4110
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Jeff Lane  (bladernr)]

This is 12.04.1 w/ current updates on system 201107-8317

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Jeff Lane  (bladernr)]

This also affects the Vostro 470 desktop system which includes a Dell (Broadcom) BlueTooth/WiFi Combo card. Same results... the bluetooth adapter is visible and not blocked, but does not detect any devices at all while attempting to pair.

This one is system 201201-10358

[TienFu Chen (ctf)]

BT ID from lsusb:
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0a5c:21d7 Broadcom Crop.

[Jeff Lane  (bladernr)]

Another one with a slightly diferent ID:

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0a5c:21d3 Broadcom Corp.

[Anthony Wong (anthonywong)]

Tested 0a5c:21d7 with a firmware provided by broadcom can make it work, but we don't have the right to upstream it. 0a5c:21d3 should also be due to firmware issue.

[Jeff Lane  (bladernr)]

This also affects the quantal kernel in 12.04.2

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Also affects Dell VOSTRO 2421

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Affected list update

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Still affecting 3.8 kernel, 201308-14057

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Still affecting Trusty

[Michal (michalkochman)]

Same problem, Trusty Tahr, lsusb: Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0a5c:21d7 Broadcom Corp. BCM43142 Bluetooth 4.0

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Ariel Schiera (arisolucion)]

Ubuntu 14.04 on Dell Inspiron 14z 5423. Same issue.

Hardware details:
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0a5c:21d7 Broadcom Corp. BCM43142 Bluetooth 4.0

[Jeremy Rickard (jrickard)]

Same issue for Ubuntu 14.04 on HP Pavilion P228TX

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0a5c:216c Broadcom Corp. BCM43142

[Vincent Gerris (vgerris)]

also for 15.04 with 105b:e065 Product=BCM43142A0.
details for fix:
https://github.com/gnebehay/gnebehay.com/blob/master/contents/blog/lenovo-flexpad-bluetooth-debian/index.md
it works for 3.19. the 0-31-generic 4 bit kernel, I just had to :
sudo rfkill unblock all
to get the bluetooth soft unblocked before the un- and reload of the module.
I suppose that approach works for more hardware.

How can we get it in the kernel?