Bluetooth not finding any devices ( Ubuntu 18.04 )

Bluetooth not finding any devices in Ubuntu 18.04. I tried different solutions that were found on the internet but with no success.

After Bluetooth is enabled, it keeps searching for devices until it is turned off. All the devices that I am trying to connect with are fully functional, they were paired with other OS and working fine.

Solution 1:

In my case the BCM43142A0-0a5c-21d7.hcd was missing. Try this command:

dmesg | grep -i 'blue'

If you get:

Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: patch brcm/BCM43142A0-0a5c-21d7.hcd not found

then you have same problem.

Download the BCM43142A0-0a5c-XXXX.hcd file from this GitHub repo; replace XXXX with the exact name that appears in your error message, in this case 21d7, but it could be different for your device.

After that perform:

sudo cp  BCM43142A0-0a5c-21d7.hcd /lib/firmware/brcm/BCM43142A0-0a5c-21d7.hcd
sudo modprobe -r btusb
sudo modprobe btusb

Shut down your PC and restart and it should work.

You might find these answers useful as well:

• Bluetooth Broadcom 43142 isn't working

• https://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-2274335.html

Solution 2:

These commands may help you:

1. Install bluez:

   sudo apt-get install bluetooth bluez bluez-tools rfkill
   

2. rfkill check and unblock:

   sudo rfkill list
   sudo rfkill unblock bluetooth
   

3. Start bluetooth service:

   sudo service bluetooth start
   

4. Install bluetooth manager GUI:

   sudo apt-get install blueman
   

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-K8IcS_nVw

Solution 3:

I had this issue too. I tried the suggestions here but none worked for me. My fix was a simple one.

I restart the Bluetooth service using this

sudo service bluetooth restart

I could find and connect to new devices after.