Bluetooth trouble shooting

Bazzite
1

First, let me say that Bazzite is great. I also own a Steam Deck, which I often connect to my TV, and I wanted to replicate the same behavior on my mini PC. Everything works fine except for Bluetooth.

My main problems were:

  • Audio stuttering when using Bluetooth headphones.

  • DualSense gamepad not working correctly (loss of control during games).

  • No wake-up from sleep mode using the gamepad.

My mini PC is a low-end Chinese model with a fairly basic BIOS. I wish I could disable Wi-Fi to reduce interference. I’m completely new to Fedora, being more used to Debian. ChatGPT was heavily used during troubleshooting. I’m also glad I installed SSH, as it allowed me to control Bazzite from my main PC and not from my couch :-).

Hardware & Setup

  • Mini-PC: TS-12C with AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 @ 5.16 GHz, 24 cores

  • OS: Bazzite (Fedora Atomic-based) – bazzite-deck:stable, kernel 6.16.4-108.bazzite.fc42.x86_64

  • Internal Bluetooth: Intel AX210 (8087:0032)

  • External Bluetooth Dongles Tested:

    • ASUS USB-BT500 (Realtek RTL8761BU chipset) → mostly functional

    • Ugreen dongle (Realtek as well) → failed

  • Devices tested:

    • Sony WH-1000XM4 headset

    • TaoTronics SoundSurge 90 headset

    • Sony DualSense controller (PS5)

Issues Observed

  1. Low audio quality & stuttering

    • Headsets were stuck in HSP/HFP “headset” profile (low quality, telephone-like audio).

    • Even when switched, audio often reverted from A2DP high-quality profile back to headset.

    • Severe stuttering on both internal and external adapters.

  2. Controller problems

    • DualSense connected but showed poor range (unstable beyond ~1 meter).

    • Could not wake the system from suspend via Bluetooth, while USB keyboard worked fine.

  3. Interference & distance issues

    • Mini-PC placement and nearby devices created interference.

    • Required USB extension cable for the dongle at first.

Troubleshooting Steps Taken

  • Checked firmware availability under /lib/firmware/rtl_bt/ (firmware for RTL8761BU was present and loaded correctly).

  • Monitored kernel logs (dmesg, btmon) confirming firmware loads and reporting TX power levels.

  • Verified profiles using pactl list cards → saw only headset-head-unit active at first. also seen on kde mixer

  • Experimented with systemd service to auto-select the ASUS dongle.

  • Tried both adapters (AX210 & ASUS BT500): both showed similar issues initially.

Workarounds & Fixes

  • Interference reduced: moved mini-PC and disabled Wi-Fi/BT on a nearby system → significant improvement.

  • ASUS dongle on extension cable: stabilized audio and controller range.

  • Profile fix: after shutting down and unpluging the the pc for 30 seconds/rebooting, A2DP profile became available and worked stably. (why ?)

  • Wake from suspend:

    • AX210 theoretically supports USB wakeup (/sys/bus/usb/devices/.../power/wakeup).

    • Set to enabled, works but the other problem remains

  • Ugreen dongle → discarded as it never worked properly.

  • Internal AX210 finally disabled to avoid conflicts it was always default BT:

    • Created /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-intel-bt.conf with blacklist btintel.

    • After reboot, only ASUS BT500 remains active (bluetoothctl list shows BC:FC:E7…).

Current Status

  • Audio: A2DP high-quality profile works fine, no stuttering.

  • Controller: Works over Bluetooth, but range is limited works fine with an extension cable.

  • Suspend: Controller cannot wake the PC via Bluetooth via external dongle .

  • Final Setup: Running with ASUS BT500 only, Intel AX210 Bluetooth disabled.

One path we haven’t fully explored is changing the Bluetooth radio power via the OS. i’m not even sure it’s possible.

:white_check_mark: Posting this could help others struggling with poor Bluetooth quality / stuttering / controller issues on Bazzite, since the combination of interference management, firmware confirmation, and forcing a single adapter solved most issues.